Why are car dealers shady?

TARHEEL78

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So I've been looking for a new car and finally found something that had almost everything I was looking for in the correct interior and exterior colors. I worked out a price with the dealer and was ready to drive almost 300 miles to get the car. I had them send a buyers order with everything totaled up so I could get the check from my bank and i see this.
Screenshot_20191014-212826_Gallery.jpg

Almost $1400 worth of junk I don't need or want in addition to the almost $1500 of doc fees and other silly dealer fees. The salesman claims they put these on every car they sell and refuses to remove them. I told them to keep the car. I guess they figured they weren't making enough off of the price of the car and weren't going to make anything on financing or a trade so they had to drain some extra money out of me one way or another. Do people really let dealers pull stuff like this with them?
 

anonomous09

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When they do that I ask them to take that amount off of the cars price. A negotiated price is a negotiated price. In every region there seems to be a dealer or two that specializes in volume sales. Usually ones that run large eBay stores do. Find them and the overall price will most likely be lower as well as no BS add ons.
 

AZMSGT

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EVERYTHING is negotiable and removable from those. Added dealer items are known as SUCKER sticker items.

I absolutely hate buying a vehicle. They are all Crooks.

I have gotten my best deals when I have bought via True Car though.
 

Sailingeric

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I would keep shopping. My last car I bought, a Mazda CX-5 I was putting down a sizable down payment-over half, and was approved through Mazda/Chase for .9% financing. The dealer try to stick me with an 8% rate and said what Mazda/Chase quoted me was a sample rate, which I knew was bs. I called Mazda/ Chase and the rep on the other end called the dealers bluff and even found a car just like mine at another dealer across town and said they would be more than happy to contact them and let them know I was on the way. Amazingly the dealer I was at "found" my pre-approval. I have never been back the dealer for any kind of service and warn people they are shady. Always get pre-approved. Dealers get paid on the back end for sticking you with a higher rate than what you really can get, don't let them screw you.
 

C. Eymann

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When I went to buy my SS sedan I really wanted to stay away from dealers for this very reason, but considering how rare these cars are here in the US I couldn't avoid it, They tried to add dealer fees, processing/paperwork fees etc etc. I held pretty firm that I would be paying their list price and nothing more, they at first told me to basically kick rocks, then called me back a week later and offered list price + registration fees, and I settled for that.

For anything but warranty work though I will always take it to a speedshop / mechanic, because they dont call them "stealerships" for nothing.
 

vetteguy53081

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THESE FEES AND STUPID ADD-ONS LIKE DOCUMENTATION FEES ARE REDICULOUS !
Especially on a used car, why are there documentation fees ? You already collected that when it was new !!
Documentation is part of doing business. Don't do the documentation and I wont buy the car !

Funny is, I have a 2020 SUV and the vehicle had a small scuff on the back. The salesperson acknowledged this and his detail guys were gone at delivery. I told him I can bring the vehicle back. three weeks ago, I had some wind noise and they kept the vehicle for a week+.
I called salesperson to let him know vehicle was there and it would be a good time to have that dealt with. Not hearing back , I called three days later and left another message. Still no reply. I went to pick it up and scuff still there.
Just spoke with sales manager and demanded resolution which they are taking care of it, and told him how amazing it was I could reach salesperson ANY hour and get a response Prior to sale but how that has changed.
I ALSO EMPHASIZED THAT THE SALESPERSON IS N O T ALLOWED TO CALL ME AT ALL.
 

ajhudson15

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I work for a credit union and do about 20 auto loans a month. the etch that is on there is done by 90% of dealerships and none of them will take it off. the other however im not sure if its legal to make someone purchase extras they don't want
 

hyprc

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Tell them you'll wait for a vehicle to come in fresh without the extra installed equipment and if they make an excuse, walk. Also, depending on your state AAA might have more negotiating leverage than you might think (Colorado comes to mind, they can get INSANE deals in CO, usually well under invoice OTD - much better than in Cali where it's more like 500 under invoice + TTL).
 

EMeyer

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every market in which prices are negotiated rather than listed outright is infested with people who do the kind of thing you describe. and somehow still get up and look themselves in the mirror every morning.

negotiated prices are for third world countries and I wish we'd get rid of the last few markets where it still happens.
 

ajhudson15

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every market in which prices are negotiated rather than listed outright is infested with people who do the kind of thing you describe. and somehow still get up and look themselves in the mirror every morning.

negotiated prices are for third world countries and I wish we'd get rid of the last few markets where it still happens.
are you saying we shouldn't have the ability to negotiate?
 

Tiger Brown

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+1 for True Car

I live in a small city without many dealers using True Car. When I bought my new Focus ST I got an appointment at a dealership 120 miles away that did. Then I called my local Ford dealership and told them that in exactly 30 minutes I was leaving for Harrisburg to order a new ST at this price point, if they could match that price I would buy local. Shocker, they matched the price. I also stipulated no add-ons and no dealership sticker on my new car. Pet peeve of mine, why should I drive around and provide free advertising for them? I don't keep the Costco tag dangling off my new jeans.
 

EmdeReef

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are you saying we shouldn't have the ability to negotiate?
I’d argue when it comes to car buying it hardly qualifies as negotiating. Unless you are a dealer and know all the ins and outs, the information asymmetry will always be stacked against you. in the end it’s about minimizing it to your own detriment. In sum you are negotiating against yourself. The dealer wins if he makes you feel good about your negotiating...you have no idea if you got a good deal or just paid 30-40% over...

it’s not entirely unlike if you were thrown into a situation where you were supposed to negotiate with your doctor and your doctor wasn’t bound by almost any rules and laws. It’s astonishing how influential dealerships are in getting exempted from any regulation in this country.
 

shred5

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So I've been looking for a new car and finally found something that had almost everything I was looking for in the correct interior and exterior colors. I worked out a price with the dealer and was ready to drive almost 300 miles to get the car. I had them send a buyers order with everything totaled up so I could get the check from my bank and i see this.
Screenshot_20191014-212826_Gallery.jpg

Almost $1400 worth of junk I don't need or want in addition to the almost $1500 of doc fees and other silly dealer fees. The salesman claims they put these on every car they sell and refuses to remove them. I told them to keep the car. I guess they figured they weren't making enough off of the price of the car and weren't going to make anything on financing or a trade so they had to drain some extra money out of me one way or another. Do people really let dealers pull stuff like this with them?


I have been looking at a new truck and started watching some videos on buying new cars and what a joke some of the fees are especially doc fees..

Then they will try to add appearance packages and paint protection that are like 30 dollars and you can do yourself. Hydrogen in the tires etc.

Tell them to take them off.

Always take your offer from one dealer and shop it around. I was talking to a dealer last week and he says most people come in and leave with a vehicle the first day. Why? Some people must have to much money.

Sandy's last vehicle we shopped around and got few hundred off and they had better financing and saved almost 2 percent on interest from the original dealer..

Costco auto buyers program can get you a vehicle close to invoice. Even if you do not have a membership it might be worth it to save thousands, even if you never use the membership..

There is not a ton of money in a new car.. They make it in all the fees and dealer add ons especially in highly sought after vehicles..

Also if you want a warranty shop around for that, usually they start at double what it actually costs. With most manufacturers it does not matter where you buy a manufacturers extended warranty. you can find prices out online and what others have paid.
 
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Jon Fishman

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Well, my situation is kinda different and the same!

I had an urge to pick up a Toyota FJ Cruiser a couple years ago...... I’m a jeep guy at heart, but digs/kids/etc I just needed something a “Little” more practical....

Being no longer made, it was used or nothing, but I had a set limit for what I would pay for used, and a hard maximum at total mileage it had, and that eliminated a lot of options too.... Oh, and it had to be a manual

Like jeeps, they have a strong resale and they were tough to find! I finally found one that popped up a couple months into my search (I would just check out autotrader a couple times a week)

So..... I call, I get basic details and a few of my questions answered..... and tell them I want to come, drive it for 5 minutes, and if it checks out, I am buying it on the spot......

I know where the dealership is...... I find out when they open, and I tell them I will be there the next day when they open.

They opened at 8am, and it was almost a 2 hour drive from my house..... I was there before they opened, on my day off...... All things I relayed to them when I got the person’s name I was supposed to ask for when I got there......

I walk in when they open their doors...... they had about 8 cars at least parked inside and a big desk in the middle of the showroom floor, and there were probably 12-15 sales-people surrounding that desk having some sort of morning sales meeting

I find a secretary, and she walks me over to one of the guys there, as the meeting was more or less over and they were just comparing the size of their inseams at that point....


Guy walks over, asks me what I wanted to see, and I VERY SPECIFICALLY told him the details of the FJ, and he said.......

“oh yeah yeah yeah...... the green one...... we sold that”

Now.... it turns out, after I explained the conversation I had at 6pm the day before...... that the FJ sold 2-3 days prior......

I was very upset, but just kinda shook my head...... being a Browns fan has numbed me perhaps, but regardless, I just got disgusted, and began to walk out......

This is where my sensibilities left me, and I am not condoning this...... but......
I walked out the double glass doors as a couple walked in..... they held the door for me, and this salesman just couldn’t let a potential sale walk away, and he said “I have some really nice 4-door jeeps”

I love jeeps...... but rather than looking at a jeep I did zero research on and spending another minute there, I spun around like Raegan from the Exorcist and dropped a deluge of F-bombs on this guy.....


I hope that nice couple who held the door had a better experience than me.


Side-note, I “rage-bought” a car 5 minutes from my house that I just saw sitting on a lot as I drove by on my way home....... still driving that car today and it’s a constant reminder of how much I want that FJ and how much I hate that dealership, and I can’t even tell people NOT to go there, because nobody else is driving 4-hours round-trip to get a car.....
 

Sailingeric

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I don't want to say they are all scum. Prior to buying my current CX-5 I had a Mazda 3 for 6 years. I had an Xterra and wanted something cheaper on gas and when shopping the Mazda 3 I contacted the other Mazda dealer in town that we have had great service with my wife's Mazda and if they had the CX-5 like I wanted in stock I would have gone there. I negotiated the out the door price over email, set up an appointment to test drive it and when we got there it was all washed and ready to go, the sales guy told us to take the car for the afternoon to live with it and if I wanted to go forward, bring it back in the morning to finish up the deal. The next day we came back and he ever knocked another $2k off the price because Mazda was having a loyalty rebate as well. I think most car dealers would not have said anything about the rebate and would recouped it on the back side.
 

Crabs McJones

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THESE FEES AND STUPID ADD-ONS LIKE DOCUMENTATION FEES ARE REDICULOUS !
Especially on a used car, why are there documentation fees ? You already collected that when it was new !!
Documentation is part of doing business. Don't do the documentation and I wont buy the car !

Funny is, I have a 2020 SUV and the vehicle had a small scuff on the back. The salesperson acknowledged this and his detail guys were gone at delivery. I told him I can bring the vehicle back. three weeks ago, I had some wind noise and they kept the vehicle for a week+.
I called salesperson to let him know vehicle was there and it would be a good time to have that dealt with. Not hearing back , I called three days later and left another message. Still no reply. I went to pick it up and scuff still there.
Just spoke with sales manager and demanded resolution which they are taking care of it, and told him how amazing it was I could reach salesperson ANY hour and get a response Prior to sale but how that has changed.
I ALSO EMPHASIZED THAT THE SALESPERSON IS N O T ALLOWED TO CALL ME AT ALL.
Should have came by me ;) unless you did, then whoops!
 

shred5

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I don't want to say they are all scum. Prior to buying my current CX-5 I had a Mazda 3 for 6 years. I had an Xterra and wanted something cheaper on gas and when shopping the Mazda 3 I contacted the other Mazda dealer in town that we have had great service with my wife's Mazda and if they had the CX-5 like I wanted in stock I would have gone there. I negotiated the out the door price over email, set up an appointment to test drive it and when we got there it was all washed and ready to go, the sales guy told us to take the car for the afternoon to live with it and if I wanted to go forward, bring it back in the morning to finish up the deal. The next day we came back and he ever knocked another $2k off the price because Mazda was having a loyalty rebate as well. I think most car dealers would not have said anything about the rebate and would recouped it on the back side.

If their is available rebates they have to give them to you.. A loyalty rebate is a manufacturers rebate and it is from the manufacturer and not the dealer. It is not the dealers money.
 

Paleozoic_reefer

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Getting my teeth pulled without anesthesia falls (just barely) under buying a new car on the list of Things I Despise Doing. I know no matter how prepared I am or how determined I am NOT to get screwed the fact is; in my life-time I'll probably buy less than 10 cars total from individuals who's job is to squeeze as much $$$ out of me as possible (and as sneaky as possible) who sell 10+ cars per week! So they'll always have the upper hand no matter how awesome a deal you think you just got. I figured I'm forked either way and just try to minimize the financial damage....
 

RJKain-777

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I bought a newer mini van last month. After all said in done I paid an extra 5 k in fees. So my $13k mini van is 18k. It’s a sad reality of how banks and dealers work. It’s why I went with a used van for 13k instead of a new van for 35k . Less damage to my wallet in the end.
 

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