Stealership Stories

I only have one story. In 04 I went into a local Chevy dealership looking to buy a 04 Vette (they were offering ridiculous money off to clear the lot of C5's). Found the one I wanted, but was eventually denied. With a straight face the salesman looked me in the eye and told me not to worry, they could put me in an Aveo or Cobalt with no problem. As I stood up with a "Are you berkleying kidding me" look on my face, he quickly told me they had just gotten a Mustang GT in, would I be interested in looking at it. I said sure and drove off in it that night. It's been the best car I've ever owned.

Spam.T Nice grammar btw...

First story was when I was 18. I went to Hendrick Chevy in town, and I was looking at a new Z/28. 5 sales-people were outside smoking and would not even talk to me. I couldn't get any help at all because of my age. I ended up going to the Ford dealer down the road and buying a Mustang GT that day. I went back to the Chevy dealer and asked to speak with the sales manager. I had bought a truck there before and calmly explained that I would never buy from them again...and then I roasted the meats in the parking lot.

A few years later... I went to the dealer that sold me the Mustang (It was replaced by a 350z now) to look at the 05/06 Mustangs. After I bought my Mustang there, my parents and sister bought cars there and the dealer had been really good. Not only would they not let me test-drive a 06 Mustang GT, but they refused to even unlock a used 05 GT for me to look at. They said, "Nobody drives the V8 cars." They wouldn't even look at the trade for my 350z. "Its too high-end." Its a friggin Nissan!!!

The last time I was at a dealership, I dealt with the "internet sales manager" instead of one of the regular sales guys. His office was tucked back in a remote corner of the place; I had to ask for him by name, as he wasn't out on the lot trying to make sales. He was much easier to deal with than one of the regular sales guys.

When I bought the Mighty Dak back in 97... I was on my way to go riding so I was dressed in horsey gear, albeit clean horsey gear. Several salesmen stood around talking, none of whom would acknowledge me –even though I came armed with sales brochure and notes (these days I'd just march up and ask if any of them had time for me). Finally, the single female salesperson put down the phone, and asked if she could help me. I stated that I was looking to buy a Dakota, maybe a lease return, under 30,000 kms. She actually gave me the up and down then said "We don't have any". Fine. I went to an out of town dealership, bought my truck and pulled it right up to their front window... and went in to see the owner. He was pretty pissed. Gave me a free tuneup, and upgraded the stereo. I had several follow up phone messages from the rude saleswoman, which I didn't return.

FGC wins.

I took my 87 Pontiac Firefly in for its 60k service to the dealer. The service cost was three times what I expected. looking at the invoice, they charged me $70 to replace the fuel filter, and $35 for oil "conditioner". 1988 prices! - I asked why so much for the filter? thes service writer explained the high pressure fuel injection required a special filter and it was time consuming to put on. I explained it was carbed, and it should have been $10. He went to look into it. The service tech sood behind the FI filter, so I popped the hood showed him the carb, and filter....Charge removed. - The oil conditioner was what they added when a customers oil looked like it needed changing. I asked why they didn't just change the oil because it was the same cost to the customer...charge removed.

Lesley wrote: When I bought the Mighty Dak back in 97... I was on my way to go riding so I was dressed in horsey gear, albeit clean horsey gear. Several salesmen stood around talking, none of whom would acknowledge me –even though I came armed with sales brochure and notes (these days I'd just march up and ask if any of them had time for me).

Must be a truck thing. When I was truck shopping, the only one that would give me the time of day was the GM dealer. I was all over a Toyota inside the dealership, but none of the sales people would even acknowledge me. Nissan dealer was the same. The Mazda dealer made me wait, then lied to me about just about everything.

When I was ready to buy, I chose the local dealer, to keep some money in our small town. He gave me the price (I had a supplier discount), but I wanted a better deal. I said, do it for $300 less, and I'll take it. No dice.

Went to the city dealer, he gave me the same number, then looked outside and asked if that was my Z24? It was, and there was a $1000 GM loyalty discount. The guy was a total pro. Just the facts, no BS, and he saved me $1000.

I got one....

Customer comes in for an oil change and free brake inspection. Needs new pads front and rear. We quote them out and they decline. Customer comes in a week later with severe brake noise. They went to Car-X where they were duped into buying pads, calipers, rotors and brake hoses to the tune of $1200 (where our quote that was "too high" was under $300 for what was needed). The geniuses at CAr-x put the pads on BACKWARDS, had eaten the rotors.

Rahter than have us fix it and have the 'tards the messed it up pay the bill, the customer went back. Repeatedly. Got screwed every time.

Oh, wait, you meant this as a slam to all those bad "stealers" because they are al lthere to steal from you. rolls eyes I'd take my car to a "stealer" (some of us actually find that term offensive) than to the hack jobs that hired in trade school drop outs.

Brett_Murphy wrote: The last time I was at a dealership, I dealt with the "internet sales manager" instead of one of the regular sales guys. His office was tucked back in a remote corner of the place; I had to ask for him by name, as he wasn't out on the lot trying to make sales. He was much easier to deal with than one of the regular sales guys.

I actually had a really positive experience with one of those once.

Wandered into a dealership with a friend of mine, looking to test drive the gen2 ms3, to compare. I was/am not looking to trade in, and neither was the friend. We both have gen1 ms3's BTW. Walk up to the dealer, usual crowd of clods out from smokin' and whatnot. Ask if one can get some keys to this here turbo car so we can go drive it. They all suddenly get busy and have too much to do so they go "find" a guy for us- meaning they're trying to pawn it off on someone because they knew we weren't a real sale. (Little did they know, i'm usually the influence of about 6 cars a year if not more. My standing record is convincing 4 of my friends in one week..) Internet guy comes out, looks at us, and is like "We don't test drive these" Simultaniously, buddy and I turn, hit the unlock buttons, and he sees the pair of speed3's sitting next to each other in customer parking flash. His mind changes INSTANTLY. " You know what? Screw it, lemme go get some keys". He didn't try ANY sales mumbo jumbo on us, just showed us some of the tech changes made for 2010. He was a smart man, because he knew that if we both had em, we were connected, and we'd likely say "Go see so and so at xxx and he'll get you plugged in". We've made more than one sales squid VERY happy with this game.

Of the few times I've had to take my cars in for repair, I have taken them to the dealer, and found them to be nothing but professional.

In 04 my MIL was looking to replace her 95 Cav. She also wanted to keep the money local, and went to the smaller town dealer beside her house. The guy wanted full MSRP on a leftover 03 Cav. She would have bought it, if only he'd rustproof it for free. He wouldn't. I just happened to speak to her that day, and she was pissed. She didn't like the process, so I offered to help her find a better deal. I called up the dealer in the next biggest town, and told him what we wanted, and made an appointment. When we showed up, he had 6 cars, all different colours all ready to test drive. We chose the one she wanted, then talked price. He gave us the price we wanted almost right away, so I talked him up on the trade in, and he gave her $6500, on a 9 year old 4 door cav base model.

I've been casually shopping for a replacement DD for a while now. Most of my experiences have been positive but I have one standout. I was in downtown Toronto dropping off two horses for the Royal Winter Fair and I figured I'd drop into a BMW/Mini dealer while I was in the area since I'd seen a demo online that I was interested in. I have to admit that I was dressed in farmer wear and driving a 13 year old truck with a gooseneck horse trailer behind it. I pulled up to the front of the dealer and there were four salesmen standing outside. I saw them eyeing the truck and my outfit as I walked up. One of them asked me if I was lost and the other three just smirked. I laughed it off and asked about the demo Mini that they had advertised. The same salesman simply asked " How are you going to pay for it?". I turned around and walked away.

Positive dealer experience: After having a local tire shop "align" my 328i and do a toe-and-go that had visible amounts of negative camber, I took it into United BMW in Gwinette, in the hopes that they'd know how to work on it correctly. Not only did they do a much better job at aligning it, they charged less than the tire shop.

Latest negative dealer experience: Responded to a "for sale by owner" ad on Craigslist for a Camry (looking for a transportation appliance for my wife and for toting around a baby). Instead, it turns out to be a Buy Here / Pay Here sort of lot. (Oh, BTW - the guy's still running the ad, though I have been sometimes flagging it as "miscategorized" for claiming it's by owner.) It did run smoothly, all right - much to my surprise given what else I found about it:

• There wasn't much in the coolant overflow tank except a quarter inch of rust.
• I couldn't see any liquid in the radiator, either.
• There was about a quarter inch of black sludge clinging to the bottom of the dipstick, but the crankcase otherwise seemed empty.
• The upper motor mount was visibly torn.
• The transaxle had a bunch of paint pen numbers and appeared to be a junkyard unit (what's it take to kill a Camry transaxle, anyway?)

I was kind of amazed the dealer wasn't even bothering to hide problems like that - though I should be grateful he didn't bother. He also didn't try to keep us from leaving when I just told him, "No thanks, we're not interested." I suspect he knew very well how bad the car was.

The chevy/buick/honda dealer where I used to work put in a new Goodwrench Fast-lube addition. I had a car under warranty (which is the only reason I went there) and I would toss them $25 bucks every 3000 miles just because I was lazy.

The service manager's 16-year-old son was the kid that checked the windshield wipers, the air cleaner, and topped off the washer fluid. I watched as he carefully removed my K&N cone air filter and brought it over to me:

Kid: Sir, you see here that your air filter is clogged with dirt which hurts performance and fuel efficiency.... (etc)

Me: Hmmm... I guess you better replace it then, thanks for letting me know.

He walks over to the computer, gets the part number for my car, then goes to the shelf. He pulls down the box, takes out a large square flat filter and just stares at it. Back to the computer, back to the shelf, back to the car.

This goes on for almost a half hour and he finally comes back:

Kid: I'm sorry sir, we don't have your filter in stock

*Me: Why can't you just put some dish soap in it and hose it out? *

I thought I was going to have to pick him up off the floor.

In reply to Bobzilla:

The experience in a dealership can vary wildly depending on the culture there. It's the same with private shops, too. They'll charge what they think they can get away with.

I hope you've noticed that most of the stories involve salespeople and not the service department. I think the bad or exasperating experiences are a bit more common on the sales side than on the parts/service side.

My wife wanted a used Scion xB and she wanted a pretty specific combination of options. I told her what they were worth, we discussed a budget, and she went looking.

At the time I was temp-ing at a cubicle customer service call center. She emailed me at work with the one she wanted at a Caddy dealer. It was listed at $9000. I called and made a 30-second phone conversation that went something like this:

Me: Hi, this is Curtis from Miles Davis Chevrolet. My wife wants that maroon xB you have. What's the best you can do out the door with TTL?

Salesman: (after a pause) $7500

Me: Consider it sold, I'll fax over my driver's license. You want a down payment over the phone?

Salesman: Nah, you're in the biz, I trust you.

Me: Great, see you Saturday

I thought I was pushing it with the "Miles Davis" part, but it worked.

I worked at a Jeep dealership in the late 80's. Two of my friends were mechanics there. They live on a country road about 3 miles apart. They witness a Jeep, with a very unique paint job, run a stop sign, force an old woman off the road and tear up a lawn. The clown driving the Jeep did not stop. My friends helped the old lady and told the cops what they saw and who was driving ,as they had worked on the Jeep. The cops did nothing but file a report. A month or two later the unique Jeep is in for service. One of my friends gets the work order. He did the tune-up and a "little more". Two weeks later the Jeep is back with a badly smoking engine. Someone else got it this time. When he tore down the engine the cylinder bores lookes like chrome. It is amazing what a tube of valve grinding compound will do in the oil sump.

Lesley wrote: When I bought the Mighty Dak back in 97... I was on my way to go riding so I was dressed in horsey gear, albeit clean horsey gear.

Horse people in Canadia must be different than down here. Around here, a salesman would look at a woman in riding gear and see $$$$$.

Most of my dealership experiences have been benign. One that stands out was when I went to order my '03 TDI wagon. I had already test driven a TDI and another dealership some months prior, but I knew I wanted a wagon and I knew I'd have to order it. I walk into a VW/Subaru dealer we've bought 3 cars (Subarus) from in the past and a timid Hispanic woman is the first to snare me. Still, the saleswoman insisted on a test drive. Ok. My g/f and I drive around for a bit with the saleswoman and return. During the conversation, she would reveal it was her first week on the job and it showed.

Now I had already built the car online and knew exactly what I wanted and what the MSRP should be ($23K). I figured there wouldn't be too much haggling room on an ordered car, so I had $22K in mind as my target price.

The lady writes up the order and then brings in the sales manager, who of course, says he'll call around and see if there are any available. He comes back a few minutes later and says, "well, there's one car in production, but it's sold... and the dealer said I was the 10th guy to ask about it...." So we start to finalize the order and get to the price.

"How about $20,900?". I was so unprepared for that, I didn't know what to say. Maybe I could have haggled down some more, but it was already a good bit below MSRP, so I was happy. Signed the paperwork and started my 8-10 week wait.

Ten weeks later, I get the call the car has arrived. I go back to the dealer and the saleswoman is still there. However, gone is the timid woman that sold me the car, replaced with a much more confident person. I sign the final paperwork and I've been driving the car ever since.

I've come to suspect the sales manager saw me as an easy sale and decided to offer a decent price to start as a way of getting the the noob her first sale (which I was).

My "stealership" story comes from their service dept.

Part of the sales pitch includes free inspection as long as you own the car. While going to this dealer is rather out of my way, I figured why not... so a year later I drop the car off to be picked up the next day. Only to be handed a $58 bill. What? The service clerk looks at it and says, "the free inspection is only for the safey inspection. The emissions inspection is not fee." "But it's a diesel - it doesn't get inspected for emissions???" "Well, I'm sorry, but you'll have to talk to the service manager tomorrow". Needing the car, I grumpily paid the bill anyway and haven't been back since.

Brett_Murphy wrote: I hope you've noticed that most of the stories involve salespeople and not the service department. I think the bad or exasperating experiences are a bit more common on the sales side than on the parts/service side.

I've got a service dept story.

Wife's 2005 New Beetle A/T was shifting like crap. Dealer says it needs a new transmission. Dealer claims that wife hit a rock, dented the pan and killed the valvebody. I call B.S. and say let's try the simple things first, like a fluid and filter change. I tell them specifically I want the pan dropped and checked for contact with the valvebody. Dealer calls the next day, the car is ready and it is still driving exactly the same.

By this time I had already found a local shop to rebuild the suspect valvebody. We picked up the car on Saturday morning and I immediately went to work on dropping the valvebody. Interesting, the only place where dirt was disturbed under the car was at the drain plug. All the pan bolts were untouched. I called the dealer service dept while UNDER the car and asked to speak to my service adviser. I asked him point blank if they had dropped the pan like I asked (and paid for) and changed the filter/inspected the valvebody. He gladly replied yes, so I asked him how on earth his tech did it without disturbing the pan bolts. Busted.

He blamed the tech. After a long embarrassing conversation I had them agree to checking and topping off the $$$ VW auto trans fluid for free, as well as refunding the transmission fluid change as an apology. I swapped the valvebody myself, carefully catching and reusing the $$$ VW auto trans fluid, then I drove the car to the dealer for a final fluid check (which is a MAJOR pain to do at home).

I will admit, the service adviser was majorly embarrassed when I came back with the car. They had advised against me doing the valvebody swap myself as it was a "highly complicated and very delicate process." Truthfully, it was a piece of cake.

Brett_Murphy wrote: In reply to Bobzilla: The experience in a dealership can vary wildly depending on the culture there. It's the same with private shops, too. They'll charge what they think they can get away with. I hope you've noticed that most of the stories involve salespeople and not the service department. I think the bad or exasperating experiences are a bit more common on the sales side than on the parts/service side.

As you can see... it doesn't matter. We all get lumped into the same E36 M3. Gets old and tiring after a while. There are bad apples to any business, and we're NOT all the same.

To be honest, I'm getting tired of the same offensive lines thrown out there. I don't call every Miata person Gay. Or BMW owner a prick. I'd appreciate the same respect....as would the rest of us "stealership" workers that bust our A$$ to do any and everything to help our customers.

I should have stated I was talking the salesmen end and not the service end. Salesmen are slime (I am one) and I hate the tricks they pull.

If I knew as little about my product as most of these car salesman knobs do or act like they do; I would be out of a job. I had to walk the Honda salesmen through the finance rates that Honda clearly advertises. (multiply $17.05 times each thousand your borrowing; no, not $17.50.........no, not times $15,000; just times 15.....no, not the total price......)

Bobzilla wrote:

Brett_Murphy wrote: In reply to Bobzilla: The experience in a dealership can vary wildly depending on the culture there. It's the same with private shops, too. They'll charge what they think they can get away with. I hope you've noticed that most of the stories involve salespeople and not the service department. I think the bad or exasperating experiences are a bit more common on the sales side than on the parts/service side.

As you can see... it doesn't matter. We all get lumped into the same E36 M3. Gets old and tiring after a while. There are bad apples to any business, and we're NOT all the same. To be honest, I'm getting tired of the same offensive lines thrown out there. I don't call every Miata person Gay. Or BMW owner a prick. I'd appreciate the same respect....as would the rest of us "stealership" workers that bust our A$$ to do any and everything to help our customers.

Yeah Bob, There are no stories of good dealer experiences. Especially not in this every thread where you're whining (how many of them involve a bad experience and going to another one where everything went just fine?). It's all bad, and we're all out to get your poor victimized self.

Here are some positive stories:

1) Buying our Fit new, we called around and most dealers were above MSRP by a thousand or so, as this was during $4+ a gallon gas a few years back. I was selling appliances at the time and a customer mentioned he was a Honda salesperson. We came in the next day and bought our Fit with the options we liked (none of course), and paid less than MSRP with no problems. He threw in the first 2 years of oil changes.

2) Looking at something for myself recently, I test drove a used Element at a Ford dealer. The sales guy didn't know anything about the car as they had mostly Fords on the lot, so he just grabbed the keys and let me take it out for a while. I walked that day, but eventually a couple weeks later I came back. Sales guy remembered my name off the bat, and let me take it out again with no pressure. I came at him with an offer $1000 less than their asking, which was already the best price in the area. He knocked another $500 off my offer. I don't understand the sales tactic, but I'll take it.

I have been to a few dealerships for various things:

My first dealer was used lot that was selling an 88 Saleen. I couldn't figure out why the price kept dropping and what was wrong with it. Nothing. Car dropped $4K over two months before I bought it. Loved it. Never was anything wrong with it.

Second was another used lot for a 2.5RS. They saw a sucker coming and wrangled too much money out of me. Took that Subaru to the dealer for a clutch and they took good care of me.

Bought a Odyssey from a Toyota dealer. Had an in with somebody in HR who hooked me up with the "honest salesguy" Her words not mine. He gave a decent trade on the Subaru and broke down all the expenses over the trade in price on the Odyssey. I new exactly how much money went to the dealer and how much the salesman got to pocket. The service department tried to deliver it to me after the safety check and detail with a brake light out and the warning light glowing on the dash. There was about half a gallon of gas in it too.

My most recent ordeal was a 99 Neon R/T from the sleaziest dealer I have ever been too. Walked up and saw the sold sign in the windows of the car. As I get ready to see if there is anything else of interest on the lot, like the Typhoon or the Talon TSI I had seen, the sales guy asks if I need help. I tell him I was interested in the Neon but it was sold. He gets up real close and asks if I have cash. Of course I have cash. "Well it is isn't that sold." Apparently somebody had written a post dated check for after they were to be paid later in the week. The dealer said they would hold it but when cash showed up they were willing to sell it to me. As we are sitting doing paperwork he gets a phone call. "No problem," he says, "we can hold that for you. Just bring us a post dated check." I had a hard time not laughing out loud.

keethrax wrote:

Bobzilla wrote:

Brett_Murphy wrote: In reply to Bobzilla: The experience in a dealership can vary wildly depending on the culture there. It's the same with private shops, too. They'll charge what they think they can get away with. I hope you've noticed that most of the stories involve salespeople and not the service department. I think the bad or exasperating experiences are a bit more common on the sales side than on the parts/service side.

As you can see... it doesn't matter. We all get lumped into the same E36 M3. Gets old and tiring after a while. There are bad apples to any business, and we're NOT all the same. To be honest, I'm getting tired of the same offensive lines thrown out there. I don't call every Miata person Gay. Or BMW owner a prick. I'd appreciate the same respect....as would the rest of us "stealership" workers that bust our A$$ to do any and everything to help our customers.

Yeah Bob, There are no stories of good dealer experiences. Especially not in this every thread where you're whining (how many of them involve a bad experience and going to another one where everything went just fine?). It's all bad, and we're all out to get your poor victimized self.

We had a great dealer experience when we bought our HONDA RIDGELINE, WHICH IS A REAL TRUCK.

That should stir the pot.

Tom Suddard wrote: We had a great dealer experience when we bought our HONDA RIDGELINE, WHICH IS A REAL TRUCK. That should stir the pot.

Yeah a real Bob Costas Truck