ahhhhhh!!!! car shopping sucks!!!

kimberley wrote:

some used car salesmen should be shot and tortured! my crappy car is on the verge of falling apart so we have to get a new one. we figured there is no point in getting another beater and have to replace it in a couple of years so we have been looking for a newer used car. well, due to bad credit, we can only get reasonable financing (bank rates) from this one dealership my dad has a line of credit with (his credit is bad too except for this place). so i looked at their inventory over the net and called and spoke to someone named Steve. nice guy... he is new there and looking for sales on his record regardless of making cash for the dealership. but due to bad timing, everytime we went in he wasn't there. well he called last week about a Saturn SL2 that was fully loaded. the list price was 10, 900 but Steve assured me i could deal down to about 9,000. well we went to test drive it saturday and this James guy starts yapping a mile a minute trying to force me to test drive (only Jamie did) and i literally had to be short with him and say NO i have to stay with the baby. then he starts drawing up paperwork for sale and tells me the list price is not negotiable. i felt rushed so i told him that i want to hold the car until monday so i can think about it over the weekend and come back with my dad. so he tries to take $1000 from us to hold the car and tried to get me to sign over the ownership to my vehicle (deal was based on a trade in) right then and there! i told him i'd give him $500 to hold the car and that was it. we went back today with my dad and he starts pushing through my dad's paperwork without a word to me. i told him i thought the price was unreasonable since i found the same exact car with half the mileage for only $500 more than he was asking. again he is not willing to deal. instead, he starts talking to my dad about bringing the lower mileage car to their dealership from the other one!! HELLO!!! are Jamie and I not the one's buying and paying for the car?!?!?! so he says they called the other dealership and should have the car by this wednesday. i feel like a deer in headlights stuck in one crappy deal after another. i ask him if i get the deposit back and he starts dancing around it with that "there, there dear" attitude saying he needs it to get the other car in. WTF!! that deposit was for the other vehicle not the one he is trying to get in without consulting ME and i am in no way obligated to buy the other car since this is his deal with my dad, the two of them can go buy the car together we had to go pick up James so we just left.

later in the aft, i decided to call the other dealership and inquire about the lower mileage car. what is the first thing the guy tells me? the car has been sold since saturday!!!!!!!! so obviously this jerk James is lying if he said he called them or he is just trying to hold onto my deposit and force me to buy a car from him. i was furious and called the manager. i told him i hate his salesman's fast talking and pushy ways and the last thing i will tolerate is a liar and a crook! i told him that the guys condescending attitude towards me because i am female is appaling and demanded my deposit back and said *if* i ever return to his lot, i never want to deal with him again. he agreed to give me my deposit back but also left a lower price on the table and said that James' non-negotiable price was NOT his call. he was obviously looking for a higher commission. so the lower price seems reasonable and i am dealing directly with the manager of the lot now, so Jamie and i are considering it again. i mean it is a good car at a fair price and Jamie likes the car... i am just angry and don't want to give them my business anymore. in the same breath, i don't want to look anymore either and go through this a million more times with a million other shady salesmen. ::Shudder::

well, thanks for listening to my rant lol. i feel better now.

paradisemommy replied: oh man i so totally know what you mean..i swear they are all vultures..i always see them swarming the lot standing right by the entrance any time i pass a car lot.

i'm sorry you had to deal with that big piece of turd - but at least you guys are getting a good deal and you know it's the real thing since you are working with the manager of the lot..

just take lots of deep breaths and think how nice it will be to be driving around in your new car and how much safer you'll feel!!

to that doo doo head..

Boys r us replied: I know your pain! We bought a new car a month or so ago and as always, it never fails...I came home from the dealership with a new car and a FREE MASSIVE MIGRAINE!
But I love my new car and so will you!!! Congrats!

jcc64 replied: Dealing with cars and mechanics and salesmen is something I refuse to do w/o a male present. It is well known in the industry that women are taken advantage of, lied to, disrespected, and frequently pay far more than men. Unless you have an uncommon knowledge of cars(which I clearly don't), don't go alone. I hate that I am an independent, educated women and I feel I need a man to "help" me in this way, but old attitudes die hard, kwim?

My2Beauties replied: That is so funny you mentioned that, I was in a car accident about a week before we left for Vegas, May 28th to be exact so I too, had to buy a car. I went Friday. The guy was like we have you financed you're approved your payments will be $280 a month which sounded high to me for a car that is 11900 with $1000 down. It was a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant. So I get in there Monday to pick it up and the guy you sit down and sign paperwork with had my payments at over $300 a month and my APR was 19.5% because I have bad credit!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was like yeah right the other dude told me $280, so the guy lowered the price of the vehicle to 10998 with my $1000 down. I have to get my credit straightened up and refinance next year...that APR is way too high, but I had to have a car. My other car was at 7.49% but at the time I got it I had wonderful credit, I made some bad choices with credit cards my first few years of college! Now I'm in debt up to my ears. Anyways this guy told me all kinds of nonsense to get me to buy this car, but I stuck to my guns and said nope, I will walk away right now unless you lower my payments, so he lowered the price of the car, heh heh! Now i Just have to pay these darned credit card bills off and refinance...I can't afford 19.5% interest, but like I said before, I have to have a car to get Hanna back and forth to Dr.s Appts and back and forth to work and school, our public transportation here sucks.

kimberley replied:
that is exactly how i felt and it is soooo true. i brought DH with me but he doesn't talk!! which is why i brought my dad on monday then he let the salesjerk talk him into another crappy deal that turned out to be a lie! that is why i did what i did and called the manager and demanded my money back and told him to stick his salesman where the sun don't shine! lol then i started to get a little respect back. i feel like we are still in the dark ages sometimes.

A&A'smommy replied: ((((BIG HUGS)))) I am SO sorry you had to go through all that to buy a car, my dh and I are about to be in the same boat because I just know the transmission is about to go.. . My dad use to be a car salesman for like six months and abosultly hated it because he was told that he had to be fast talking, and lie lie lie! My dad couldn't do it and he couldn't stand being around the other salesmen that could so he quite and we moved here. ((((BIG HUGS))))

dolfinrse replied: The worst experience dh and I had car shopping was when we just happened to drop into a dealership just to look, not really planning on buying that night. Well, we found a SUV that we liked (used). Anyway, the salesman ended up telling us that in order for them to run our credit on Monday (we went in on Sat. night) that he would need a deposit. We told him we didn't have our checkbook on us. He said how about cash, just to show that you are interested. We had like $3 literally on the two of us and he took our last $3 to run our credit. We ended up not buying the SUV and getting our money back, but honestly what is that $3 really going to do.

kimberley replied:
hahahaha that is ridiculous!!!!!!!

coasterqueen replied: Ugh, typical salesman! Sorry you had to go through that and hopefully you can resolve the issue soon and get your car .

Car salesman are interesting, really. We studied their tactics a lot in college in my management courses. They really are slime. Sorry if I offend anyone with that statement, lol. But in that same sense they are also VERY smart because they get us most of the time, right?

I always feel so violated when I get home from buying a car.

We always go to buy a car knowing the highest payment we can afford on a car. I tell DH we can't go any higher than that before we even deal with them. So what happens he gets in there, the guy says the payment will be $50 or so more, DH says "well, ok, sure". I say "uh, wait a minute, NOPE." Then the salesman starts dealing with me instead telling me how much better this vehicle is because of mileage etc. I said to the guy "I don't give a rats *#$ about mileage, I care about how much it's gonna cost me each month!". ROFL.

I'm always better at getting the job done than DH is.

BTW, one thing I was always taught in those classes studying salesman is that you should negotiate the price of the car you are buying BEFORE telling them you are going to trade in your other vehicle and BEFORE telling them you are going to make a down payment of any kind. Because they figure all that in and you really get ripped off when you don't do them seperate .

jem0622 replied: I hate car shopping also. We have only bought our cars online for a no-haggle price or gone to CarMax. I'm just not the negotiating type and then it's not a gender or racial issue. Unfortunately there is too much of that in existence and it's shameful really.

HUGS. Hope it is resolved soon.

kimberley replied:
that is how both of us felt last saturday when we got home... violated! and we NEVER offered to trade in the ford, the jerk just assumed and wrote it up that way. whose to say i didn't want to keep both vehicles? ugh, just thinking about it gets me riled again. we only left a deposit so they wouldn't sell the car before i came back monday with backup (my dad lol) not that he was that useful and i had hoped to deal with someone else. oh well, we are just waiting on the financing right now. keep your fingers crossed for me. this nightmare has to end sometime

holdensmom replied: I won't get into the car salesman thing b/c my brother-in-law manages a dealership. Anyone in the Georgia area, let me know, because he will take care of you with respect.

But..... I totally do feel ripped off with the car repairs. I had to take my Jeep Cherokee in for brake work & I was afraid that I had waited too long with all of the noise they were making. I called Brakes Plus & he told me that I just needed a "friction reline" & that it was $89.95. I said does that include everything, are there additional parts that I would need? He said no, that included everything. So, when I take my car in they said that they would be doing a complete inspection & showed me a few things that were worn. They said they reccomended a few other things & would work up a price. When they were all done, the quote was $600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I found out that I actually didn't need absolutely everything they were saying, but still ended up with $220 worth of work.
I felt taken advantage of, but I needed to get the work done then.

Argh!

Terri
Holden, 4 1/2
http://terri.stayinhomeandlovinit.com

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Well, I won't say too much about car salesmen or managers b/c it puts food on our table. LOL! BUT, DH is the used car sales manager of a dealership (he's never been a salesman, though). Those guys have to make money to make a living, but my DH will not tolerate unfair and immoral behavior from his guys. I'm sorry you had a horrible experience. I hate car shopping, too (and so does DH) he always does it and we go 'behind the scenes' to shop (so to speak) He isn't a fan of any type of salesperson. I guess none of us are, really. You just have to remember that if they are that pushy, they must be really hungry! Either that or they are having a horrible month so far and their boss is pushing them to sell.

aspenblue1 replied: I can not say much about car salesman. My DH used to do that for new cars. Where he worked he got taken on a used care that he sold me they told him that it was 100.00 over cost. Well he got the paper it was over 2000 over what they paid for it. I also think it is the deal you are dealing with.

Kirstenmumof3 replied: OH Kim, I feel so bad for you! This doesn't just happen to women though, a car lot took my DH for a ride! We had no choice about 5 years ago, we had to buy another car. We had 1 week to get the car and drive to Bluffton Indianna for my girlfriends wedding. DH looked at a few cars, money wasn't a problem for us, the bank was willing to lend us a fair amount. Well DH testdrove a few cars, but decided on a Ford Taurus Station Wagon, very little milage, and it was previously owned by an older gentleman who only drove it in the country. Well he bought the car and the next day it was so HOT! So he turned the air conditioning on, only to find out that it was not even hooked up! He went back to the dealership and was told that air conditioning wasn't a neccesity and they wouldn't fix it! So DH had to go crawling to his parents to have them help us pay the $800.00 to have the air conditioning fixed! I will never ever buy a car from that lot ever again! I'm glad you talked to the manager and that you will be getting your deposit back. I hope that you are still able to get that Saturn, it sounds like a really good deal.

Kaitlin'smom replied: I am sorry you had to deal with this..... darn car dealers my first time out to buy a brand new car was not a plesent experience and the sales person was a female! She tried to get me to but a certian color car which I hated and did not buy, needless to say I waited about 6 months and found a better sales person.

ctymom replied: wow.... I can completely understand your frustration. I hate dealing with commission based salespeople. They are the worst! I know they have to make money, but money is never on the initial sales... it's the repeat customers and word of mouth. If they went by that... they wouldnt be such butts.

I hope everything gets straightened out.
Pamela

CantWait replied: I know exactly what you mean. DH and I have been car shopping time and time again, and just about everyone aggrivates me The last place we went to treated us really well though, even treated Robbie well which impressed me. I'm sorry you had such a horrible experience. GL on the car