Car dealership SCs: A Special Kind of Suck

[spookysonata]

So, I went down to my friendly neighborhood car dealer to see about a new vehicle. I've been buying cars here for years and always been treated right.

While I'm waiting for my salesdude to run some paperwork, an irate customer of salesdude's storms in and demands the manager. You know those open-partition offices they have in car dealerships? Manager's office was right behind where I was waiting, so I was entertained for a bit by the following:

Salesdude (B)
Manager (M)
SC..well, really.

SC: This is CRAP! Nobody EVER told me about commercial plates! I need commercial plates and now I find out I can't have them!

M: Sir, we don't allow commercial plates on personal vehicles.

SC: Well nobody told me that!

B: You didn't ask. I didn't know you wanted them.

SC: You should have known! And another thing, you said it would be four days till my car was ready! I was here on Friday!

B: I said "Usually it's about four days". Friday was the 20th. Today is the 23rd.

SC: .....

M: That's three days.

SC: Are you SERIOUS? ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! I am a CUSTOMER [*SS shudders*] and that's how you talk to me? I never got a call from anyone here! Not one call!

B: Sir, first, I made it clear that four days was an ETA. I said "Usually". And even so, it has only been three days. I didn't call because it isn't ready yet.

SC: This is ridiculous! [*shudders some more*] I'm getting the runaround here! I want a call by 4pm today or I'm stopping my check and calling the cops!

And he stormed out, yelling "If I did business like this I'd be out of business!" As he passed me, I couldn't help saying, loud enough for him to hear me, "Give me a freaking break." He looked around, but didn't stop.

Best part: Once he was gone, the finance manager (who also overheard everything) said to the sales manager: "Cancel the deal. Let him buy a Hyundai."

B came back, apologizing profusely. I said, "What an asshole."

B: "Thank you."

[donruss]

Best part: Once he was gone, the finance manager (who also overheard everything) said to the sales manager: "Cancel the deal. Let him buy a Hyundai."

PWNED!!!

[protege]

Ugh. What a bastard.

With that said, I've only had one poor instance at a car dealer. First car I bought (well, the first car I bought myself, anyway...) I got nailed. Not happy about paying more than I should have.

Second time, I was a bit prepared. I knew what I wanted, and went for it. I didn't raise a fuss, didn't hassle the sales people. It went much better that time--they were kissing my ass. Of course it helps if your parents and brothers bought 5 or 6 cars from there, and your father knows the sales manager...

[Gruesome]

I've had one bad time at a car dealiership.

I was collecting info for my FIRST car purchase out of college. I had a short list of cars I wanted to check out and I figured it would be courteous to tell the sales man right up front that I was NOT buying that day, and if he needed to ditch me to pick up another customer I understood and encouraged him to do so. Hey, he needs to sell to eat and I don't want to waste his time, but I still want some info on the car and I want to sit in it at least, and only if the place is dead will I ask to drive it.

So this jack-hole gets me within 10 feet of the car and then starts with the 'what will it take to get you in this car today?' business. I reiterated my position, nicely. We go another three or four minutes on the car and again he hits me with the hard sell sh!t. I offered to let him off the hook, told him if he needed to go help another customer I would not be offended and I'd just like his card. I got the card, and five minutes later I get more 'What's your trade in? What monthly payment are you after? What will it take to get you into that car right now? I can make you a hell of a deal but only right now, not tomorrow.' Et cetera. I kinda went off on him (still fairly nicely - I'm just too damn nice for my own good) and went all 'wheres your sales manager' and all that.

What followed was a mildly ugly three way among me, the sales guy and the sales manager where they were (politely) accusing me of wasting the guys time and he needs to make sales and yadda yadda yadda. I ended it by throwing my hands up, apologizing for wasting everybody's time (I wish I hadn't gone THAT far) and as a parting shot I mentioned that I still knew squat about the car other than I wouldn't be buying it THERE.

[Coconut]

Buy a Hyundai? HILARIOUS!

[Samaliel]

Sorry, I'm kind of car-uneducated : what's so bad about Hyundais ?

The only car sale bad experience is when my parents went to buy a new car for my mother. The sales guy seemed only interested in selling them, not a car, but the loan to pay it. My parents had already stated they'd be paying the grand total right there, right now. Apparently, car dealerships around here make more money from the interests of the loans than from the car themselves, these days.

But the salesman insisted, splurting out every and each argument in the book, but he was talking to wall. My parents were adamant they'd pay upfront. At one point, my mother stated she was a housewife, with no income, and surely they wouldn't grant her the loan. The salesman then turned to my father, along the lines of "Surely, Mr. can help... ?" My father held up his hands and replied : "Don't look at me like that ! I'm just driving her around." like he wasn't concerned in the least. The salesman finally took no for an answer.

[protege]

Hyundai has always been the butt of many jokes. Some of it deals with their past reliability record (in the '80s, their vehicles were truly shit). They've gotten better since then, but still carry that weight. I was willing to give them a chance in 2000, but after sitting in a *brand new* Elantra...and having the driver's seat literally *collapse* under my weight , I still think they make shit Things aren't helped by the simple fact that the cars simply *look* cheap. IMHO, the company is about where Toyota, Honda, and VW were in the 1970s--simply builders of low-cost transportation. (We all know that's changed--all 3 companies have moved upmarket a bit, and are actually taken seriously now.)

Also, some of their models pretend to be things they're not--I really doubt that a person who can afford a BMW, Mercedes, or (god forbid) Jaguar is going to be looking at Hyundais. Why? Stuffing leather into an economy car doesn't make it a luxury car.

[Kogarashi]

My sister's Accent has behaved itself well.

I've yet to brave a car dealership yet myself, but I've promised myself that if at all possible, I'll go into it being able to pay the whole price of the car right then and there. After dealing with student loan payments, I'd rather avoid other monthly payments unless they're for a house.

And now I'm curious to know why the guy thought he'd be able to put commercial plates on a personal vehicle. I've never seen them on anything smaller than a pickup truck.

[Javarod]

Actually out here in Phoenix its not uncommon to see them on anything, since they just mean that the vehicle is being used in a business. I think its an insurance matter, my car still is registered as a personal vehicle and insured as such. Ifn I'm in an accident, they won't pay the claim, as I'm not allowed to use my vehicle for business. On the other hand, ifn I register and insure it as a commercial vehicle, then its not a problem. Because of this, anything can be commercially insured, after all, a sales representative driving to meet with a client is violating his personal insurance.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I wonder if two former coworkers would be considered car dealership SCs?

The first would walk into the dealership and demand to negotiate a price before he picked out a car to buy. Apparently he had a lot of success, and good deals, with this tactic.

The second was about to sign off on buying a new car when he noticed the dealership across the road had a model he had wanted to test drive. He excused himself, leaving his wife and the salesman sitting there, and went over to the other dealership. After he test drove the other car, he came back and finished the sale.

[tropicsgoddess]

Best part: Once he was gone, the finance manager (who also overheard everything) said to the sales manager: "Cancel the deal. Let him buy a Hyundai."

Owned!

[wolfie]

Hyundai has always been the butt of many jokes. Some of it deals with their past reliability record (in the '80s, their vehicles were truly shit). They've gotten better since then, but still carry that weight. I was willing to give them a chance in 2000, but after sitting in a *brand new* Elantra...and having the driver's seat literally *collapse* under my weight , I still think they make shit

Also, the rear jack points have a tendency to rust out from the inside. Looking at them from the outside, they look OK, but if you have to change a flat tire, the jack goes right through. If you're really unlucky, it'll hold long enough to get the car raised and the flat off, then break through.

[powerboy]

My parents drive a Hyundai and it does just fine. Just the seat belt is messed up right now, but that was because my dad would jerk on it

[mattm04]

Also, some of their models pretend to be things they're not--I really doubt that a person who can afford a BMW, Mercedes, or (god forbid) Jaguar is going to be looking at Hyundais. Why? Stuffing leather into an economy car doesn't make it a luxury car.

I had friend look at a one. It had leather but the dash looked and felt like crap. It was flimsy in places. He ended up getting something else.