Must all car salesmen be complete assholes?

No, really, is there some rule?

I'm in the process of purchasing a 2007 Scion tC. I test drove it and applied for financing on Saturday. I made it pretty damn clear that I wanted a specific car on the lot. We set up an appointment for tomorrow morning. I also made it perfectly clear that I only had a couple of hours to spend with them in the morning, so any advance work they could do would be greatly appreciated.

The sales guy was really nice, even offered up a few things he could do to expedite the process.

Until today. Yeah. I still haven't gotten word back on the financing. Don't know if I'm approved (though given my score, I don't know how I couldn't be) and I don't know what interest rate they'll charge. Makes it a bit difficult to shop for alternatives.

I also haven't received the detailed invoice I requested. Makes it conveniently (for them) impossible for me to obtain financing from anyone else.

I just called the sales guy to find out what was up. It took him 5 minutes to find my paperwork. They haven't processed it. I practically bit his head off and demanded the financing info and the invoice by 4. We'll see how that goes. :eyes:

Why, when I'm so obviously about to drop bank in their direction, do they suddenly refuse to cooperate? Shouldn't they be saving that shit for AFTER I give them money?


:rant:

Just sayin

practical in Los Angeles.

Just sayin'.

I don't know why but they are.

I've been buying my cars for the past 20 years from the same guy. He's honest, fair, and will bend over backward to get you in the car you want at a price you can afford. He doesn't do it because he's been my friend for so long - he treats everyone like that - and he doesn't do it to make tons of money (the last car I bought from him probably netted him about a $25 commission) - he does it because he honestly wants to help people get a vehicle they can depend on. Rare thing.

Of course, he's in Vermont and I moved to California 7 years ago. I still buy from him - last car I bought, I bought while on a visit home and drove it all the way back to California. He's also a good Democrat and activist.

Only problem is, he retired in January. :( Still has connections though. We'll see what happens.

The last new car I bought (or, well, my parents bought for me) was in Nebraska, from a friend of the family.

Alas, that's not an option here. x(

worked in a car dealership for 5 years, go shopping somewhere else, no contact for 2 days, they will leave umpteenth VM's.

Don't make yourself so accesible!!!

A stands for Asshole

Fleet Pricing!

Note: The fleet pricing salesmen (you contact your credit union first) do not have all the usual BS!

Do tell!

..Fleet pricing is a lower price, just for credit union patrons. It's the only way to buy a car! And, the person at the dealer (not every single dealership has a fleet person, but every kind of car we ever looked at had fleet pricing) is usually very cut-and-dry, just the facts, kind of person....mainly, because the salesperson doesn't make as much commission off the car. It's the only way to buy a car. Ask your credit union where the fleet person is, in your area, for the kind of car you want. Good luck...and don't put up with the B.S.!

And by walk, I don't mean don't buy a car. Just not from them.

no worries there. LA's got 10-20 other Toyota dealerships. I casually mentioned that the last time I talked to the sales guy... ;)

It is approaching the end of the month. Do they not have quotas?

although I think the car I want is selling at an amazing pace.

His attitude did change a bit after my reference of other dealers (as though I didn't know they exist...).

surely you can find a better deal elsewhere!!

I am looking for a Scion tC, or an Acura RSX, sadly the RSX is now defunct as of 2006, so I'll go used

I bypassed the showroom experience completely. Couldn't be happier with my perchase.

But I'm sorry you're having to go through all that HL.

Now see, that scares me! Actually, used cars in general scare me.

Though now that I'm dealing with this jackass, it's looking more and more appealing.

I have to ask - did this take place at Toyota of Orange, by any chance?

It's Toyota of Hollywood.

Why? Should I be avoiding Orange? ;)

Oh, and Welcome to DU! :hi:

Your story remonds me of something that happened to me at Orange - so much so, in fact, that I scrapped my "gee, I had better lurk a little so as to really get this place and make my first post a memorable one" strategy and posted my first one here just in case you were dealing with Orange.

Good luck and thanks again for the welcome. :)

I appreciate it. Since it looks like I may be shopping for a new dealership, I'll be sure to avoid them.

:hi:

try to sell me big, huge ones.

I know what I want, don't try to sell me something else.

although he does keep forgetting which car I want.

The Scion tC, you asshat, not the Prius (though I'd love it, I can't afford it).

I had an agreed-to price through my credit union, and they STILL tried jacking up the price because the new model year cars had come out. Fuckers. I walked out, and when they agreed to a price lower than the original, I went back.

The sad fact is that most car salesman are interested in a sale, not developing a long-term relationship with the car buyer.

I mean, I don't want to be BFF with this guy either. The weird thing is, he doesn't seem all that interested in making a sale.

I've been SO easy. Show me the car. Good, I like it, I'll take it. When can I get it? Wednesday morning? Sounds good. Can we start the paperwork early so I can get in and out in a relatively short time on Wednesday? Yes? Fabulous. See you then.

All the guy had to do was process the financing paperwork and send me the results and an invoice. He's had since Saturday morning to do that. Can't even get that right. :wtf:

Maybe he's taking advantage of how easy you are. ;)

that is, a customer with a good credit score who doesn't want to do business RIGHT NOW. it's better than being a "mullet," someone who wants to buy, might even have a sizable down payment, but shitty credit.

you may as well not even exist unless you are right there with them ready to sign up.


if your credit was that good and you seemed like a motivated buyer, i would have spot delivered you to get you burning gas and falling in love with the ride, by the time your paperwork was ready, you'd be all over it.

but rule number one: NEVER USE THEIR FINANCE DEPARTMENT, ALWAYS HAVE YOUR FINANCING ARRANGED BEFORE YOU GO IN, THIS GIVES YOU THE MOST LEVERAGE. and you don't need a detailed invoice to arrange your own financing, you need the vin number of the particular car. or you can download a reasonable facsimile from the internet. in fact, most credit unions and banks already know how much they will finance on any given ride. not a problem.

car salesmen like to talk about repeat business and client bases (which can happen in small towns and if you work for the same place for 10 years), but 95% of car salesmen are looking for "fresh ups" and people who will buy RIGHT NOW.

as far as them dropping the ball, like i said, you don't even exist to them, if you don't sign up RIGHT NOW. they really don't care. depending on your location, there are other potential commissions to get. customer service is not something one can reasonably expect from a car dealer.

Even though all we have left to do is finalize paperwork? I did the test drive on Saturday and made an appointment to buy the car on Wednesday morning.

More to the point, when I called him this afternoon regarding the paperwork, he hadn't done SHIT...so how am I supposed to do it "right now". Now I probably can't even buy it tomorrow. Not because I don't want to, but because this asshole fucked up.

and did you sign a buyer's order?

is your credit score super high?

it sounds like they might have submitted it to financing, but if you are super duper triple a plus prime, you shouldn't be going through this.

but he knew damn well that I was going to tomorrow morning.

My credit score is really good considering my age...it's quickly rebounding after 9 years of college. And since my age group is the target for this particular car, I'd think my credit score is phenomenal compared to other people buying the car.

they are absolute.

still, he could have tried to help you a little more, as toyota dealers usually have better service.

go see the GM at the store and bitch about it in a strategic way to make yourself look victimized. they sometimes can put fire under asses.

the sales tower (centralized desk configuration usually on a riser) is where to go. deflect the salesmen and go up and tell them you need to speak to the general manager.

he is like GOD as far as day to day operations is concerned.

if anything, they might put you with a more experienced sales person.

someone who wishes to have that car, but doesn't have the credit or the $$$$

you can always walk away from the deal, and you can use this over and over again to keep them in line. You can always use this to negotiate a lower price. We were actually driving away from the lot when the salesman came running after us to say that his boss OK'd our offer. You have the real power in this situation, and you should use it often, and be serious about it. You should leave at the slightest offense. Don't tolerate any mistreatment or manipulation whatsoever. Your power is in your pocketbook.

in a market like los angeles, the numbers game is much better. your better car salesmen are immune to rejection and simply stuff the pipeline full of deals.

for each 25 deals you submit, at least 12 will hit. in used cars, 12 cars can be a good month.

i've seen managers kill an otherwise good deal simply because the customer was an asshole. that's how much an individual customer's business is worth to the average car dealership.

your way is tremendous power. If they do anything that offends you, just leave and go to another dealer, who will treat you right. This is the real power that you have.

unfortunately.

This salesman doesn't seem to care if he gets my money or not. He could have sold a car tomorrow morning, with very minimal effort on his part, and he didn't even submit the paperwork.

He doesn't give a fuck if I walk.

so there is most likely a set (read: low) commission on them. The TCs are very popular, and some colors are almost impossible to get. If you're not ready to take it right now, there's someone else who is, so he really couldn't care less about you.

I despise buying cars, and will never buy a new car, regardless of how much money I have.

and aren't too negotiable. a new car salesman will make a 75 - 125 commission on one new unit.

same car (or toyota, honda, negative equity bucket, what have you), 5 years old, it's really easy to juice the consumer and end up with a 900 commission off of it.

walk away from the whole thing, as long as you haven't signed the paperwork yet. This is tremendous power - you have the power to call the whole thing off, and go to another dealer who will treat you right! And if you live in a state with a "cooling off" period law you still have 3 days, or whatever it is in your state, after the sale to cancel it. I disagree that it's "not much power" - it is huge.

to the time the deal funds.

that can be 2 weeks after signing the paperwork.

banks are sketchy about ANYTHING that might indicate an inability to pay.

the fleet manager over at Longo in El Monte. They are a huge dealership and will set you up with the car you want at a good price. My husband bought his last Camry there back in 99 - still going strong, by the way. He wanted a 6 cylinder with a stick (rare) and they had two on the lot. We drove about 60 miles to that dealership but didn't regret it.

:-)

because in 40 years of buying cars I've never dealt with
a car salesperson that I'd call an asshole

the dealer off the 101 in Calabasas, CA. I was trading in a car that needed midgrade gas, and so one of the first questions out of my mouth was "Does it take regular?" The guy was all, "Of course. I drive one and it's all I ever use." Took the car out for a test drive, was happy. OK, write me up.
All over the sales office are signs saying "Buyer beware: Under California law there is no 'cooling off' period. Your contract is binding."

OK, so I sign the papers, take the car home, settle in with my owner's manual, and guess what? The car only takes premium!! The guy out and out lied to me.

I still like the car, but that guy was a lying asshole.

See my post elsewhere on this thread

will make up some bogus line about your credit score not being good enough for them. Then, they'll have you sign and tell you that you have 10 days to get your own financing, THEN a couple days later, they'll tell you that you only have a couple days and you should have paid attention to what you were signing.

GO and get your OWN financing from your OWN bank or even better, a credit union.

Tell them to fuck off and give you the car now.

I went through the same thing with them, and luckily had my own financing within a couple of hours from my credit union or else I would have been stuck with their scam.

Read the contract VERY VERY CAREFULLY and make sure they're paying the license fees like they're supposed to as well.

BUT I LOVED MY SCION!!!!!!!!!!!

Those trolls are going to wear you down, UNTIL THEY GIVE YOU A DEAL YOU WILL ACCEPT!!!

Incident this weekend at a dealer telling me the car, he heard, has gotten up to 50 MPH on the highway. The car gets in the 30s on the highway and that's the EPA stats.

Why don't you go on the internet and shop around for the inventory that the dealerships have, oh what a novel idea.

I have been doing that for 3 months, some great deals are out there, just BE FIRM and know what you want.

List at least 10 dealerships/owners that have the car that you want and have more than 3 preferable choices and you won't be disappointed.

Last car I bought, they offered my 11% financing, with stellar credit, went to 2 other dealerships and "found" my car AT 0%, so I pay NOTHING but principle

'Nuff said.

Long time no see!

:hi:

OK, so my parents want to buy a new car and they were looking at the Buick Rendevous. So we went to a Buick dealer. The guy goes and gets the keys and we get in the car. He then proceeds to tell us that there are no Rendevous on the lot. So the guy drives us out to the other side of town where their off-site storage lot is (strike 1). And he takes us on the California freeway from hell (91) where we get stuck in traffic and he could have saved time by taking surface streets. After that, he takes a whole hour to get in the storage lot where - get this - there are no Rendevous anywhere in the storage lot (strike 2)! Except for one, and he couldnt get in the damn car to begin with. Then on the way back to the dealer, he tells us that he fucking hates cars and has no interest in them (stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiriiiiiiiiiike 3 - he's out!). After all that, my parents didnt even get to test-drive the car they wanted to in the first place. It was a very weird afternoon. Oh the other irony is - it was the same car dealer where I had purchased my car.