Do you always "split the difference"? I hate that.

People are also very "regional".

One of the worse dealers in my area is about 2 miles from me. I see his stickers on cars in my neighborhood all the time. People like to stay close to home and won't drive to the other side of town to save $100 (or don't know that they can). My sister-in-law did that. Bought from the local dealer in town despite being obviously lied to rather than drive 5 miles to the next town over and buy from that dealer. Small town mentality. (BTW, she was told by the local dealer that they would not service the car if she did not buy it from them - what unadulterated BS).

I have seen a few smarter dealers that when you start serious discussions, and when they figure out that you have a few brains, admit that with the internet, they can't hide very much from you and stop lying. Other dealers just keep treating you like you are stupid, stupid, stupid. I walk out on them.

I find far more of the latter than the former.

I am always looking for the best deal, but I would rather pay an extra $100-$200 (or so) and deal with someone who treated me with some respect, with no BS. I know that the dealers have to make money to stay in business, and that money comes mostly from me. My decision is usually based on how much money do I want to lose that day. As I trade for fun, as a hobby, I am rarely in the position of having to bend over.

 

I never "split the difference." We don't negotiate (we sell everything for $200-$500 below invoice), so there's nothing to "split!"

We don't put stickers on our cars. Can anyone tell me the point of those? Has ANYONE ever bought a car from a dealer because they saw his name on the back of a vehicle?

We have a local dealer that does this all the time. He's putting his Ford franchise in jeopardy, but he'll throw you out of his service department if you have another dealer's name on your vehicle. If you want to know any one service department's policy on this, ask the SERVICE MANAGER, not someone in the sales department.

Interesting....I've had people tell me the same thing; they still go to the schmuck down the street and buy because he advertises that he'll beat any other dealer's price by $100. Okay, you saved $100 by buying from him. You also bought a V6 Explorer XLS that he told you could tow 7,000 lbs. And you were told that the side air bags were standard in ALL Explorers, even though the "airbag" labels are nowhere to be found in your vehicle. I could go on, but I think you all get the point: they didn't save $100 at all. In fact, it cost them a whole lot more.

 

Well I started this thread so I could let everyone know I was P-O'ed. If you get jerked around at any of your local dealers You should let Jeff (1956mkII) know. He has sent me two messages today that did more for me than two weeks of going to a different dealerships and leaving mad at nearly all of them.
Thanks for your help Jeff!

 

It was the NY Attorney General who sued Ford over this practice. As I remember, as part of the franchise agreement, Ford did not require Ford dealers to service cars that they didn't sell. The NY AG sued Ford and forced them to stop this practice.

So, that dealer is in trouble from Ford and the NY AG.

Not me. I've got a couple of dealers here in town that I'd never buy from. As I told my wife, "Would I buy a car from the Devil if the price was right? - - No." I am lucky. In Dallas-Fort Worth, I have plenty of choices for every brand.

On the other hand, you all pay the same. If the other dealer is willing to take $X, you should be willing to take that too. So when one dealer is $2000-$3000 lower than my neighborhood dealer, I figure the neighborhood guy is being greedy.

 

Examples of how dealers play "The Game":

http://wdb.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_gre...part/index.htm

http://wdb.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_wor...part/index.htm

If you look, the entire focus is to separate a customer from his/her money rather than helping a customer find what he/she wants.

Face it, dealers play customers like a con man plays a mark.

 

Jschira, if you don't mind saying so, which dealers in the area do you avoid like the plague? Wondering since I'm in the same area and wondering if we've had the same experiences. Probably the worst buying experience I've ever had was when my Explorer was totalled in a rainstorm. The salesperson knew I was in desperate need of a vehicle at the time (since I was in a rental), and offered no rebates or "deals". Didn't even want to show me the vehicles I was interested in, just what he wanted to sell. It was a dealership that my family had done lots of business with, and one that probably will never get any business from us again. Sadly, I was driving past a ford dealership five minutes from my house to do business there. Ended up getting my F-150 at the local dealer, after doing lots of shopping around.

 

Buz Post dealerships
Park Cities Ford
Bankston Ford in Frisco
Vandergriff dealerships
Don Davis dealerships
County Line Ford
El Dorado Chevy
Randall Noe in Terrell
Jerrys in Weatherford
Lynn Smith Chevy
Longhorn Dodge
Bruce Lowrie Chevy
Westloop Dodge
Almost any Toyota dealer (All TX Toyos come through Gulf States Distributing, who love to play games and add $100 mudflaps)

Ones that have been pretty good:

Mike Brown Dodge in Granbury
Hiley VW
Lewis Chevy in Canton
Ford Dealer on I-35 in Gainsville (forget the name)
Sewell Lexus
Grubbs Infiniti (A friend has had good luck with Grubbs Nissan and Jeep too)

I bought a used Chevy from the Chevy dealer on I-35 in Temple. They were pretty good.

 

When looking at a new truck with my brother and mom, the salesman said, "this is a whole lot of vehicle for you, why don't we try this one out and you can tell your husband what you think." Are you kidding? It was so off the wall, it was like he practiced it. Hell hath no fury like a 4'11" Italian mother of 2 after having something like that said to her. It was about 2 years ago, you may have actually felt the ground shake.

 

There is hope for some dealers. I purchased by 1999 F150 4x4 used from a Chevy dealer. It was in retail condition -low miles for the yr., interior and exterior in excellent shape, mechanically excellent except for a loud noise from the left whl and an oil leak that showed up on bottom of the engine. When I was looking at the vehicle, the salesman made no attempt to pressure me. He tried no tricks at all. I offered them $2000 less than what they were asking on the condition that they fix the oil leak and problem with the left front wheel. I spoke with the Sales Manager who explained that both items were covered under an extended warranty and that would take of it. He only asked that I wait 30 days to bring the truck back for repairs since under the 30 days, he would have to foot the bill instead of the extended warranty co. I said sure, as long it was taken care of (I didn't care who paid for it, as long it wasn't me) I brought it back on day 31 and the Chevy dealer farmed it out to a Ford dealer that was right next to them. Turns out the extended warranty co would cover the left front whl but not the oil leak(both cylinder heads, go figure, -they said it was pre-existing condition, to what I don't know). But the Chevy dealer did as promised and PAID FOR the $2500 repair without any argument from me. From the pre-sales, during sales, and after sales; everyone at the Chevy dealer gave me absolutely no hassle whatsoever and was very respectful to me. I would recommend this Chevy dealer to anyone looking to purchase a Chevy. However, dealing with the Ford dealership was exactly as some on this board have described, awful. In the dealings with anyone at the Ford dealer (Parts guy, Service manager, Service writer, Shop Supervisor), I got the attitude that customer didn't matter and I saw this with other customers who were there also. Myself and people close to me have had Ford vehicles for the past 20 yrs and this is the attitude I've received from multiple Ford dealers. I'm sure there are good Ford dealers out there, but I have yet to encounter them. I'm not trying to offend anyone, it's just my personal experience.

 

Word has it that Ford Motor Co. monitors this site. I sure hope they're reading this thread- SOMEBODY (read: Bill Ford, Jr.) needs to be aware of all this.

 

Van Bortel Ford is a great dealership, the only Ford Dealership I even visited (coincidentally the only one the replied to my e-mail requests) and it was refreshing to have them be so up front about everything, no haggle pricing was great for me b/c it sped things along and cut out the BS (if you like to haggle you can always use their price against another dealer who does haggle). Their fixed below invoice price allowed me to leverage the dodge and chevy dealers too. They have always been couteous, efficient and eager to help and not once did they lie to me with my trst questions (already knew the answers just wanted to see what they would say). I went to two different Toyota dealers and they were so shady and ridiculous it totally turned me off to their product, not to mention the Nissan dealer who didn't return e-mails or phone calls. I would actually pay a few hundred more to a dealer who didn't treat me like crap just to spite one who did but it turned out they actually gave me the best price. As an aside, to those of you interesed in dealing with Van Bortel Ford, here is a recent story of mine about them... first off their service dept. is open till midnight so I went in for a 8PM oil change at 1500 miles, very convienient and cheap (almost not worth it to do myself at about $20) and less than a week later their representative called me to see if I was pleased with my visit. I mean they actually called to see if everything was ok even though it was just a freakin oil change. That is concern over customer service. I am in no way affiliated with this dealership just a very satisfied customer trying to do them a favor b/c I feel they have earned the good word of mouth.

 

now can you get Van Bortel Ford to open a dealership the west coast

 

We're just a couple miles from the west coast......of Canandaigua Lake! Check it out!

http://www.canandaigua.com/

 

Jeff

Well i just asked the boss about that and she said Not in DEC but that would be a good reason to visit Canandaigua Lake and Rochester! So i may be there yet. Just have to make a short trip to Oregon first.

 

That is GREAT! That's exactly what I teach in my car-buying class: ask questions you already know the answer to so you can test the salesperson's honesty and product knowledge. Excellent idea, and thanks for posting it.

And thank you for those kind words. It's good to know that it's appreciated, and I already printed it out and put it on Denise's desk (she's the one that called you); she works very hard at her job, one that doesn't get enough recognition.