# Share your worst car buying experience



## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

Curious to hear about your worst car buying experience. Tesla for me has been a breath of fresh air and we’ve all had toxic dealerships experience so go ahead and vent


----------



## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

I had one Mitsubishi years ago that had to be ordered from Japan because it had slow production issues. It took 4 months to get to me, and during that entire time, the dealer blew me off when I called, making me wonder if they ordered it at all. Finally it showed up one Friday at 3 pm, and they gave me 2 hours to drive across town or they give it to someone else.

The worst _dealer _experience, in two different cases (one mine, one a family member's) was Dodge/Chrysler. Trying to get reasonable warranty service for those two separate cars resulted in me being banned from two dealers: One simply telling me not to come back because they were unable to balance wheels properly. The other, I went to the zone office to get the A/C controller covered under warranty (the car was covered, but the dealer called it a "wear part" that wasn't covered) and the dealer was forced to cover it. When I picked up that car (a relative's) the main dealer manager had the key. He took me aside and told me to take my service requests somewhere else, and if I set foot there again, he would call the police. That relative traded that car in for a Mitsubishi a month later.

Mitsubishi for the most part has been a bit like Tesla. Communication problems with car deliveries, service appointments where I dropped the car off and the advisor would disappear so no one would know what the repair status was, etc. I think Tesla has been a slight improvement from that, but for me, not that drastic a change. At least I haven't seen Tesla quibble over warranty repairs or argue about return visits to fix stuff that wasn't done correctly.


----------



## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

Honestly, my biggest gripe is the haggle. Jan2018 walked into a Honda dealer to buy TWO Hondas (after verifying on my own through websites that they have the EXACT configs I was looking for). Thought I was gonna make a salesman's day as I walked in there with a spreadsheet showing EXACTLY what the numbers were for both vehicles. I laid out the numbers for EVERYTHING. Included reasonable value for trade-ins, sale price, accessories, and TTL. I wasn't one to try to milk every penny out of business, I understand they have families to feed too and figured I don't mind paying a bit more just to avoid the back and forth.

Mind you I was only grabbing one of the vehicles (but was buying both and would return with the 2nd trade-in). After FIVE hours I finished signing the paperwork on the first vehicle and paid exactly what I said I was on the spreadsheet. Cussed up a storm and left in the new car, but returned the next morning with the 2nd trade in. Once again, FIVE hours went by while they kept trying to get more out of me. Still left with the 2nd new car paying exactly what I'd showed them on the spreadsheet.

I get it, they're sitting there anyway so why not try to get more. But I made it abundantly clear I wasn't paying a red cent above what I had written down. It's essentially a reversal of how they sales people get you to "sign" on a piece of scratch paper that you'd buy a car. I was trying so hard to be nice and explained in so many polite ways that if they can't sell me the car for what I'd written it's ok and we'd each happily go our separate ways.

This back and forth has been with EVERY dealer I've ever bought a car from. Happened a couple months ago when buying an Audi for my mom. I just can't comprehend how dealers don't understand that the buying public can be well informed now. If their goal is to make everyone into a sucker then just let those of us that know what we want walk away. Save everyone time. Kills me that they have ZERO value for a customers time.

Even now, with the Ford Lightning pre-ordered I'm fretting over the fact that the dealer will add markup and I won't know till I have to show up on-site.

Till this day I'm in utter disbelief at how easily I ordered our two Tesla's. And the pickup even easier. Shoot, for my wife's Y I LITERALLY spent ZERO seconds inside the store 😂 . Showed up, found the car with our name on it, signed a single paper, and drove away🤯


----------



## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

shareef777 said:


> Kills me that they have ZERO value for a customers time.


That is _very_ intentional. They know exactly what the value of your time is, they want you to feel it ticking away so they can wear you down. The more tired and worn down you are, the more likely you are to agree to things just to get the hell out of there.


----------



## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

JasonF said:


> That is _very_ intentional. They know exactly what the value of your time is, they want you to feel it ticking away so they can wear you down. The more tired and worn down you are, the more likely you are to agree to things just to get the hell out of there.


But I told em I'm as stubborn as a mule and that there was exactly LESS then zero of a chance that I'd pay more then what I wrote. What irked me was that I KNEW what I was paying wasn't the lowest someone has paid for that vehicle. Even when a customer tries to be fair they can't help but be the sleazy stereotype that ALL dealerships are known for.

Sure feels like a universal code that must be adhered to. Sooner the dealership business model dies the sooner world peace can be achieved 😂


----------



## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

shareef777 said:


> But I told em I'm as stubborn as a mule and that there was exactly LESS then zero of a chance that I'd pay more then what I wrote. What irked me was that I KNEW what I was paying wasn't the lowest someone has paid for that vehicle. Even when a customer tries to be fair they can't help but be the sleazy stereotype that ALL dealerships are known for.


That's the thing - most dealer sales people have customers who come in prepared with spreadsheets all the time. They're used to it, and they still try to wear you down. What _really_ scares them the most are people who walk in with nothing in hand, know their tactics, and neutralize them all. I did that by having a price in mind, and telling them I had an appointment in 2 hours. And I left in _exactly_ 2 hours! The first dealer called my bluff and let me leave, and the 2nd one made a deal in record time (to keep to the 2 hrs though I told them I would come back the next day to pick it up).


----------



## gary in NY (Dec 2, 2018)

I’ve found that if you’re not ready to walk when they start with the BS, they can really lay on the hard sell. Last buy for me was a used Tacoma from a used car dealer. I looked it over, made an offer, when they balked, I said “you probably will get your price, but my offer stands. Have a nice day.” I didn’t even make it to the door before they came around. Did the same thing with my sister the last time she bought a car. This time with both a Honda and Hyundai dealer. They were both slimy. Felt like I needed a shower afterwards. She did end up buying the Hyundai.


----------



## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

JasonF said:


> That's the thing - most dealer sales people have customers who come in prepared with spreadsheets all the time. They're used to it, and they still try to wear you down. What _really_ scares them the most are people who walk in with nothing in hand, know their tactics, and neutralize them all. I did that by having a price in mind, and telling them I had an appointment in 2 hours. And I left in _exactly_ 2 hours! The first dealer called my bluff and let me leave, and the 2nd one made a deal in record time (to keep to the 2 hrs though I told them I would come back the next day to pick it up).


Issue was that they're the only ones within 50mi that had the config I wanted. Worse was that they'd agreed to the price the first hour, then we had to "wait for the manager" who comes in with a different price. Argued and got him to sign back onto the agreed price and then we had to wait another hour for the trade-in valuation. They obviously low-balled and after they came around on that price had to wait for the service/accessories department on the added parts. Rinse and repeat with the finance manager. So every time I got tired of waiting and proceeded to walk out they'd come back and promise the price is good but that I have to "go through the process". It was just a super slow process and seems that you have to go through an entire team to buy any car at a dealership.

And the killer was that everything was repeated the next day with the second car.


----------



## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

shareef777 said:


> Issue was that they're the only ones within 50mi that had the config I wanted.


That's where they get you on the hook, when they know they have something you want. They don't want to tell you that dealers can order from each other (at least with new cars) because they're property of the manufacturer until they're sold.


----------



## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

JasonF said:


> That's where they get you on the hook, when they know they have something you want. They don't want to tell you that dealers can order from each other (at least with new cars) because they're property of the manufacturer until they're sold.


Not really, they had the car I wanted and I got it at the price I wanted. Just aggravating that it's so tedious and time consume to close the deal. I've never paid more then what I've thought was fair value after doing research on a car I've wanted. Sometimes the config I want isn't available locally so I'd pay more for a vehicle with extra features, but I'd always do my research to pay a reasonable price. But every single time I'd have to go through the same rigmarole, no matter the manufacturer.

Though now that I think about it, if I offered to pay sticker price I'm wondering if they'd of jumped on me to close the deal ASAP for fear I'd come to my senses. Maybe THAT is the beauty of Teslas model, they don't have stores competing against each other. They all equally screw us into paying the sticker price 😂


----------



## Bauminater (Jun 4, 2021)

Buckle up because this is going to be ride! 

The year was 2016. The new generation of Toyota Tacoma was coming out, and in a brand new color, Quicksand. This color was basically the same color as my 1982 Toyota Pickup that I owned so many years ago. Needless to say, I had to have it! 
I reached out to a couple of local Toyota dealerships via the internet to inquire about special ordering one so I could get the exact specs especially the color that I wanted. 2 dealers said "no problem" Dealer A said they would place the truck on order, notify me when it got to build time, and go from there. Sounded simple enough. Side note: I had purchased my current vehicle, a Toyota Prius, from Dealer A. Dealer B wanted me to come in to finalize my order, and made it sound like it was just part of their process. I figured why not and I wanted to have this truck on order from 2 dealers to cover my bases just in case.

Dealer B experience: 
I went to Dealer B where they had me test drive the new 3rd Gen Tacoma, which was fine as I had not driven one. After the drive, we went inside. They asked for my keys to the Prius, which was going to be a trade-in, so they could get me a rough idea on value so they could put together numbers for me. I had a feeling something was up, but I played along anyway. We went inside to do paperwork to order the Tacoma. About an hour or so went by as I waited on the salesman to come back. He returned with paperwork with, you guessed it, the Tacoma I had test driven listed on it! I questioned him and he said this was just to put something on paper to "give me numbers to look at" I wasn't buying it, and explained again I just want to order a specific Tacoma and was not buying anything today. He tried to assure me that this was part of the process and tried to get me to sign the paperwork. I refused and asked for the keys to my Prius. Over an hour later, he finally returned with my keys! Needless to say, I left and was not happy. I went home and and wrote a scathing review of the dealership and posted it on multiple sites (Google, FB, etc) The manager responded to the reviews apologizing and asking to give them a second chance.
A week later, I remembered that a guy who lived in my neighborhood had posted on our neighborhood FB page that he worked at this dealership. I decided to reach out to him to see if he could assist me. He said he now worked in the used car dept. but would see what he could do. I did tell him about my prior experience and he said he would look into it. A few days went by and he messaged me saying he could help me and we set an appointment for me to come in. When I got there, he was busy so they had me wait. About 15-20 minutes later, he showed up but on his way in, he went to the manager's office. About 10 minutes later, he came out and walked over to me. He said "I have some bad news. The Managers had a meeting about you after seeing the reviews you wrote and have decided they don't want to sell you a car. They are worried about what you might say if after purchasing, Toyota Corporate contacts you." I was livid, told him about the managers response, which was clearly bull**** and I left. 
At this point, all my hope was on Dealer A 

Dealer A experience Part 1: 
A few months went by and my sales rep finally contacted me letting me know my truck was being built! He said he would contact me again in a few days to review options. A few days later, he asked me what options I wanted (which I had done when ordering!) but whatever, so I told him and everything seemed like it was going smoothly. A week or so passed and I got the call, my truck was in!!! 
I arrived at the dealership, met up with my sales rep and we went to check out the Tacoma. It was equipped exactly as I wanted, with 2 things added. They added on a chrome tailpipe tip and Predator tube steps. I had not asked for these and it was clearly a ploy to get more money, but at this point, a few hundred dollars more was not going to stop my purchasing. We went inside to do the paperwork and this is when I met Mr A-hole the Manager
I knew when we got to doing the paperwork that there was going to be some negotiating. Right off the bat, they low-balled the heck out of me on the trade. My rep had to call the manager over to explain as I was not going to accept their crappy offer. I reminded him that I had bought this Prius from them and he left, came back a while later and had raised the offer several thousand to around what I had expected. They refused to budge on the sales price, which they had at MSRP, but I kind of expected this as this was the hottest new truck out there and it's a Tacoma. 
I was leasing the vehicle so once we got to the final numbers, everything seemed in line, except for one thing. The options on the truck listed a tonneau cover. which the truck did not have! This was a $700 option so obviously it needed to be removed. The sales rep went to the manager to get this fixed but the manager came back and said "Since you are leasing this, we have to include everything that it comes with for when you return it." I calmly explained that there is not a tonneau cover on the Tacoma. He insisted that there is one as that is what their info shows! I said "do we need to walk to the truck and look?" He still wanted to argue about this and said they could not remove it! He left and came back and had added a credit to offset the amount, but it still said there was a tonneau cover on it. At this point, it was semantics so we moved forward. Hours later I finally left with my new Tacoma. Content, but not happy.

Dealer A experience Part 2: 
3 years have passed and my lease is expiring and I fully intend to purchase my Tacoma and keep it forever (or at least a few more years) 
I went to the dealership to pay off the truck and move on. Figured this would be a nice simple process. Boy was I wrong! 
I got there and they have a special section for people paying off their vehicle/lease. One of the people who normally works there was out, so they had some sales guy from the used car department assist me. He started asking me alot of personal info including social security number, which i thought was odd, but figured it was for their paperwork. He then asked me to sign on a pad and I reminded him I am NOT financing and am paying cash (check). He said no problem, this was just for the paperwork. I signed and a few minutes later, I got an alert that there was a new inquiry on my credit report! When the sale guy got back, I questioned him about why they ran my credit. He said he was not sure, so I asked to speak to his manager. The manager came over, and said that I had signed and agreed to have my credit run! I explained that was not the case, and I was paying cash so why would they need to run my credit? He apologized but the damage was done. 
Next it was time for finance to f^&* everything up. This was just a comedy of errors. I had personalized plates on my Tacoma and they wanted to give me temp tags. I said "shouldn't I just be able to keep the plates on it. We are not changing vehicles" He claimed I could not keep the plates and would have to put on temp tags and get new plates. I knew this was not true as I had transferred these plates from my Prius to my Tacoma! He went and talked to someone about this who said I could indeed keep my plates but they needed to put temp tags on over them. Whatever! So finally getting done and time for payment. I brought out my checkbook and as I was writing the check, I told asked if they could please hold the check for a couple of days as I was moving money from one account to another. I had already initiated this but the money was not in my checking account yet. He said no problem and would note it on the paperwork. I finally left, happy to be done dealing with the dealership....or so I thought. 
The next day, I got an alert from my bank. My check had bounced! WTF! I called the dealership to inquire and asked to speak to the finance manager. He was douchebag and said yes, they deposited the check and no they should not have said they would hold it. I explained that if they had told me that, I would have simply waited for the funds to clear and come back if that was needed. He was very rude on the phone and even said "I could report you for check kiting!" Anyway, we came to a resolution that I would go to my bank and get a cashier's check and he would send someone down to get it from me. The funds cleared the next day and I got the cashier's check and then I got another alert that they had attempted to redeposit the check! This caused me to get hit with another overdraft charge so I called the finance manager again, let him know the cashier's check was ready and then I lit him up about them trying to redeposit the check. He finally admitted they screwed up and agreed to reimburse me for the overdraft fees. He sent one his lackeys to get the cashier's check and bring me cash. 
FINALLY I was done dealing with the clowns!!! 

And now we get to 2021. I have a Cybertruck on pre-order and got the itch to make the switch to EV but I was still hesitant. I kept pricing out the Model Y and came close to pulling the trigger. Then April hit and the price went up, then 2 weeks later, it went up again, then 2 weeks later, again and finally 2 more weeks and another increase! Along with the price increases, the used car market was going bonkers. Earlier in the year, I priced out my 2016 Tacoma and it was worth about $27000. When I paid it off in 2019, the residual value was $29,000. Now that it was the end of May, I pinged Carmax, Carvana, Autonation, etc and was quoted as high as $32,400!!! So, guess who placed an order for a Model Y LR.......this guy! Man, what a simple process....other than the EDD game  Finally late July, 2 months after ordering, I got my delivery date. I went to the SC to pickup my new car. I had never driven or even sat in a Tesla! 
The pickup experience was awesome! My car was parked in front with a congratulations sign on it. I talked to a couple of the employees inside and everyone was super nice. My rep did walk around had me sign a couple things, gave me my keys, helped setup my phone and done! 
Regarding the Tacoma, I was going to keep it a few more weeks so I had something to drive while my new Tesla was in the shop getting PPF and tint as it was going to be a few days. However, I decided to reach out to Autonation as they had actually kept in contact with me as they really wanted my truck. I was expecting their offer, which was $32,400 back in May, to drop as my weekly checks with Carmax had been dropping. They actually offered me $33,000!!!! So I unloaded the Tacoma and figured I could use Turo to rent a car while my Tesla was in the shop. 

It's been 2+ months since I got my Tesla and every time I drive it, it puts a smile on my face and I find it actually calms me while in traffic! 

TL/DR: Screw dealerships especially Toyota dealerships in and around San Antonio!


----------



## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

Bauminater said:


> I reminded him I am NOT financing and am paying cash (check). He said no problem, this was just for the paperwork. I signed and a few minutes later, I got an alert that there was a new inquiry on my credit report! When the sale guy got back, I questioned him about why they ran my credit. He said he was not sure, so I asked to speak to his manager. The manager came over, and said that I had signed and agreed to have my credit run! I explained that was not the case, and I was paying cash so why would they need to run my credit? He apologized but the damage was done.


I've heard of some shady dealers doing this before. They get a kickback from the financing company, so they apply for a loan and close it, and then pay it off immediately with the cash you give them - they need an SS# and a credit check to actually do it, as if they're financing the car for you. That way they get a little extra bonus out of the deal.


----------



## M3OC Rules (Nov 18, 2016)

I have one for you. I bought a new 2006 Acura TL and traded in a 1999 Honda Prelude. It was Good Friday so maybe God was telling me something.

I had done a lot of online research and not a lot of test drives etc. I went in with the Edmunds fair price and they had the color and options I wanted. The sales guy gave me a price that was better than I expected. So I said sure. Then we went to trade in. I knew the price wasn't great since the Prelude was in demand but since I was getting such a good deal on the new one and didn't want to sell it on my own I didn't care. So very little haggling at this point and I feel good. They started getting the car ready while I signed the paperwork. It was the usual extra warranty, paint protection sealant, yotta yotta yotta. I actually bought some of wash wax stuff which I didn't totally regret. So I get done with the paperwork and they are showing me the ins and outs of the car in the showroom. Then the sales guy comes out and says there is a mistake. He says they sold it to me for the wrong price. Of course I ask to talk to the manager and the sales guy says he was told to fix this and the manage was gone. I was told they would not give me the car. I'm not sure what the right thing to do was at this point because I sold them my car and they were not going to give me the car they sold me. I suppose I should have called my wife to have her pick me up or call the police. Anyway I let them charge me more and redid the paperwork. I totally believed they made a mistake but I also knew that wasn't my problem and they had no right to do what they did. So we redid the paperwork and I left with the new car feeling like total crap of course. They did not get all of the original paperwork back from me so I still had a strong case to sue them. I'm not sure if they knew that or not but the following Monday the manager called me and told me they would give me the money back. It was about $1.5-2k on a $35k vehicle if I remember right.


----------



## Long Ranger (Jun 1, 2018)

I'm still steamed when I think about the bait and switch that the Ford dealer pulled on my elderly parents. Twice!

In 2018, my parents went to look at the Ford Fusion. My mom asked if it had automatic braking. Salesperson said no, so my parents said that's a requirement and walked away. Another salesperson came running after them in the parking lot, saying wait, wait, we do have that feature. Showed the car to my parents and agreed to lease terms. My parents asked about changing the color to red. Dealer found a red one, completed the transaction. Later, my parents discovered that the red one didn't have front radar, the ONE feature that they had said was critical. Still, my parents liked the car and some of the other new features, like rear radar, Homelink, NAV, and remote ignition/locks.

Fast forward to late 2019. Someone backs into the car, other driver's fault. My dad's not sure how to handle this with a lease, so he goes back to the dealer. They say they'll take care of it all and get him in a new vehicle. He realizes they're selling him a new car, but it seems like a good deal. My parents test drive a loaded Escape, like it and agree to price. My parents ask about changing the color to red. Dealer says they'll have to do an inventory search. They get back to my parents, found a red one, and it's just missing the cooled seats. My parents say cooled seats don't matter, sign papers, buy the red Escape (sight unseen, I believe). Turns out the red one was totally bare-bones. No front or rear radar, no NAV, no Homelink, no remote ignition/locks, the list goes on. My parents are unhappy with the new vehicle, but just blame themselves for not understanding the line-items on what they were signing.


----------



## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

Worst - bought a Mercedes and while at the finance table filling out the paperwork I caught through the window my car going back out for another test drive. Like a moron I still took the car.

Best - the first Tesla Model 3 purchase and @TrevP you were there! Definitely felt VIP when it was one of the first Model 3's in South Florida and deliveries were slow.

2nd worst - my new Tesla. Delivered with a scratched door handle, paint chips all over, rubs in the paint, and a misaligned trunk that went metal on metal and took off all of the paint. The kicker - delivery was rushed and made me feel like a statistic ("it's around the corner …"). When I walked back in to go over my findings with the car's issues the salesperson was already delivering another one.


----------

