The Crimes of Folsom Lake Toyota

It is hard to fathom how stupid Folsom Lake Toyota must think people are. People aren't really that stupid, are they?

I have heard of creative sales approaches. These guys are so ridiculous that unethical just barely describes it. We made an offer on a Prius. The Sales Rep told us the manager accepted our offer.

The rest of the day - 2 hours of my life that I will never get back - went something like this.

Us: we will pay $24.5 for car X with package Y

Folsom Lake Toyota Sales Rep (Mike): (Goes inside and returns):

Folsom Lake Toyota Sales Rep (Mike): Ok, the manager accepts your offer of $24.5 for car X with package Y. Let’s go inside and sign the papers. We should get you out of here quickly, 30 minutes tops.

Us: Sign forms. Drink Coffee. Watch Basketball. 45 minutes pass.

Folsom Lake Toyota Sales Rep: (Disappears to the back. Then returns.)

Folsom Lake Toyota Sales Rep: Please sign these forms for $30. These are not the final numbers. We expect you to put 30% down.

Us: These are not the real numbers. We want to see the real numbers. No need to negotiate here. We've got an agreement. By the way, no one uses a 30% down payment. That is just silly.

Folsom Lake Toyota Sales Rep: Right. Let me get the real numbers. Sorry. Be right back.

Folsom Lake Toyota: (Disappears to the back. Then returns with the Finance Rep.)

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep (Kerry): OK. Here are the real numbers. Please sign these forms for $30.

Us: Uh, we agreed to $24.5, not thirty.

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: Right. $24.5. Sorry. Be right back.

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: (Disappears to the back. Then returns.)

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: OK. So sign here.

Us: Uh? This still says $30. That's not what we agreed to. How did you calculate this figure anyway?

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: I will get the printout.

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: (Disappears to the back. Then returns with a hand printed tally sheet.)

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: OK, here is the breakdown. We start with some erroneously high price that you did not agree to pay. We calculate sales tax on the sticker price plus fees, and add the extra sales tax back to our originally too high price. We deduct a small portion of the agreed upon discount. We use TFS rate of 1 point higher than your bank rate, but you can change that within the next 30 days. Voila, you pay $30.

Us: This is not the price we negotiated. Fix this. Now!

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: I am just trying to help you here. (He actually said that.)

Us: You can help us by using the price we agreed upon, calculating taxes on that amount, and getting us out of here inside of the two hour window we have available to us.

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: (Disappears to the back. Then returns.)

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: OK, here is the new price. $30.

Us: Thank you, and good-bye.

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep: I will split the difference with you. (He actually said that, too.)

Us: Thank you, and good-bye.

Us: (Wife and son walk out the door. I pause to tell the Sale Rep thanks, and that we are leaving.)

Folsom Lake Toyota Finance Rep and Finance Manager – in unison: No! No! We fix! We fix!

Me: Why did you fail to honor our agreement?

Folsom Lake Toyota's Finance Manager (very sharply): "I'm trying to make some profit!" (I swear to God, he actually said that.)

Me: Good luck with that. (I really said that, as I spun on my heel for the door.)

Us: (Drive away in our old car -- 2 hours after we arrived.)

Us: Are people so stupid that they allow these unethical turds to pull such crap.

Is it even remotely legal to over-charge on sales tax and add the overage back into the price? Is it ethical to agree to a price, add thousands onto that price, and then just wear the customer down with the back-and-forth-with-the- manager game? Is this the fashion for all Toyota dealerships everywhere? I experienced this practice at two dodge Dodge dealerships, and two Nissan dealerships. Maybe it is ALL car dealerships. That would be so sad!

Somebody somewhere help me to believe that we have not all fallen to this level.

Update: I am told that a rebate is in fact taxable in California. This does not account for the delta in pricing this morning.

Postscript. We purchased a Prius this evening from Maita Toyota in Sacramento for less than we had offered in Folsom ($4k off sticker). Call Dave Lundgaard there (dlundgaard@maitats.dealerspace.com). Dave is the internet / fleet sales guy at Maita Toyota, and he is great.

We returned home from the dealership in Sacramento this evening to find a voice-mail message from Folsom Lake Toyota. "Mike the sales rep told me what happened to you. I'm very sorry. I think we can make it right." No thanks! (See PSS here.)

Although I like Folsom, California...

it reminds me of George Harrison's song, Crackerbox Palace. My use of the phrase is different from that in the song.

Many neighborhoods in Evansville, Indiana were originally composed of row upon row of shotgun homes. They were privately owned, but essentially "company house" construction. The homes were built with limited lot lines, including a small back yard and usually a small front yard.

These shotguns homes might cover eight or nine hundred square feet of internal floor space. There is very little variation in the floor plans.

Shotgun homes are made socially front-facing. The front porch welcomes visitors. It is where people greet and socialize.

Such neighborhoods are very pretty when they are clean and white washed. They have a certain cultural character that makes them attractive.

These neighborhoods resemble rows of neatly stacked saltine cracker boxes, which are proportionally constructed rectangles. "I welcome you to Crackbox Palace..."


The houses in Folsom, California are virtually indistinguishable on most variables.

The lot lines for Folsom homes are proportionally even smaller than the company house or typical row house construction. There is a ten foot strip of lawn in the front and back, and sometimes a 3 foot strip of rock on either side.

It appears to be the city of seven floor plans. They all feel the same inside, though there is some variation. These are certainly "company houses" though there is a slight variation in the meaning of "company house" here. They were intended to be sold by the companies. The Folsom builders did not have any more imagination than the row house designers.

They are larger than the row houses. Size is correlated closely with price in a non-creative way. Price also varies by school district and elevation. This is perhaps the most sociologically predictable city since Muncie.

While there are, I am told, regulations to govern the similarity of neighboring facades, the actual differences are merely formulaic. The variation is indicative of the range of solutions anyone with only 4 types of Lego would reach.

Folsom houses, while they have a certain architectural attractiveness, have no social character at all. Patio furniture may not be visible from the street. The front porch does not greet with warmth. You never see any actual people in front of the houses. There is no one outside to wave.

These neighborhoods are very pretty when they are clean and white washed. This city and these neighborhoods are very heavily regulated; ergo, they are ALL clean and white washed ALL of the time. Similarly, they have a certain cultural character that makes them attractive. They also have a certain sterility that is as clean and comforting as a very high quality hospital.

From the outside, these neighborhoods resemble rows of neatly stacked saltine cracker boxes, which are proportionally constructed rectangles. "I welcome you to Crackbox Palace..."

    We've
       been
          expecting
             you...

A guy who races go-carts...

lives across the street. They look very small and unassuming. They churn along at over 60 mph on the tracks where he and his son race them. He says they will run 110 mph or faster given enough straightaway. NASCAR drivers train in them.

I was going to challenge him with my Sentra. I'm afraid he would bump me into a fence. His go-carts only weigh 80 lbs or so. Their center of gravity is lower than my Sentra. I would not be embarrassed lose the race. I would not like to explain to my insurance company that my Sentra had been bumped into a fence by an 80 lb go-cart.

I don't have a go-cart, but...

      I
           ride
                a unicycle
     to work.

The guy next door...

is an idiot.

He thinks the same of me. I'm comforted by our incongruent agreement.

I was thinking of buying a dump truck to park in front of his house. Maybe I would store a year's worth of used cat litter in the bed.

Do you suppose there is an ordinance against that?

But for the variable winds...

I'd like to rant, but I simply haven't the energy to spare.

And life is
                        just
            too
short!