lwise4

Just so you know before I start, I sold Buick, Pontiac, and GMC back in the mid 90's. I have been trying to sell or trade my 03 Anniversary on the Forum. Monday I found a 07 Coupe on the internet at a Dealer 75 miles from me. The car was the color I wanted and had the options I wanted. There were a couple of problems, one was that it had 48K miles on it the other was the carfax showed that it had 1 owner for 8 years and 1 owner for 3 months! I questioned the Dealer about the 3 month owner and He told me that the guy returned the car because His wife could not drive a stick shift. This sounded a bit funny to me but I decided to look at the car after we came to a understanding on price!

Yesterday, I went to look at the car, a 75 mile drive one way! Whoever had the car had put stripe on it and a Corvette sticker on the windshield. The Dealer had removed them but there were all kind of doo dads on the engine and outside of the car. They were removable so I drove the car and it ran well! On to the negotiations, they offered me the same price for my car as they did the night before but they did not match the price we talked about the night before. I think that it is called "bait and switch". It seems that their "advertised price" on their car was their lowest price!

I am just writing this as a vent and to remind folks that Dealers will tell you anything to get you in their building and then work you over to get the maximum buck out of you! PM me if you would like the Dealers name.

Sunnyvale Dave

I hope you enjoy your new ride.

I had a 1:00 PM Saturday service appointment at the dealership a couple of months ago. I waited while my car was serviced. The sales department was very busy. I just watched the customers and the sales staff. All I could think of was the interrogation room on the TV show Law and Order.

dmk0210

Don't ever believe anything a dealer tells you. They will lie and cheat and promise anything. Unless it is on paper and signed, just assume it's a lie.

I was looking at two identical brand new Miatas a few years ago. One was $2k cheaper than the other, but it was 150 miles away, while the other one was about 100 miles away. I tried to get the closer dealer to match the price, but no dice so I made plans to go look at the cheaper one on the next weekend.

That other guy hounded me for the entire week. He promised me lunch, dinner, gas, t-shirts, all kinds of garbage. Finally on Saturday morning, when I told him that I was leaving for the other dealer, he said stop by him first and he'd match the price. He lied, and when I got there tried to back pedal. I got back in my car, drove another 50 miles and bought the other one. They must really think we are idiots.

cclive

Or the interrogation room on NYPD Blue, with Andy Sipowicz...LOL

Mavrick1

I have been selling cars for over 20 years and I can assure you that customers lie far more than any Salesman. There is a saying in the car business that buyers are liars. Nobody ever mentions the great experience that they had buying a car but the one bad experience will be shared 10 fold.

RC4G

"I have been selling cars for over 20 years and I can assure you that customers lie far more than any Salesman."

BWAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! !!!!

MikeERWNC

I had a great Corvette buying experience at Boyd Chevrolet in Hendersonville, NC.

I called a couple of days before to see if they still had the car I had seen online.
The price was very low compared to every other car within 400 miles... 75 miles is nothing to drive for a car and I often wonder why so many people whine about distance?
If you drive and hour and hate the car turn around... Or do something else fun while you are in the area. But don't b1tch about 75 miles on a forum of car guys who like to drive.

I didn't haggle over the phone, as I don't ever!
I walked into the dealership at 0900 and met the salesman I talked to on the phone... Their online price was great and I went in armed with that price printed.
I took the keys to their Corvette and they took the keys to my G35.
I went for a 45 minute drive, mountain twisties and interstate and everything checked out.
When I got back to the dealership they had numbers for my trade. I wanted 5K period.
Their car was 26.9K. The four square came and I looked at my trade value 7.5K and I countered with, " I want to be out the door TTT at 25K!"
Sales guy left for a few minutes and came back and shook my hand.
I walked into the finance office and did the paperwork and handed over 25K.
My wife and I drove home.
That evening I found out the car had the headlight problem.
Sunday I was rewiring the fuse block so I could drive with headlights.
A month later I installed the harmonic balancer.
After 3.5 years I still love the car. I am going to miss it when she sells.

Then I will move to the C7 forum full time instead of browsing.

dmk0210

That's because there is no such thing. It's a battle. It may be polite and dressed up pretty, but it is completely adversarial nonetheless.

First you have to fight over the price of the car you are buying. Then you have to fight over the price of your trade-in. Then you have to fight to keep them from adding more costs to the price of the car. Then you need to fight about the finance rate. They try to pull something over on you every step of the way. It's exhausting.

Every time I've purchased a car from a dealer (new or used), I dread going and when I get home, I just want to have a stiff drink and go to bed.


.

cclive

And don't forget a shower to get all the slime off...

lwise4

Everyone has a different experience when it comes to buying or for that matter selling a car. I did not post my experience for a lecture about driving 75 miles one way to buy a car only to have the Dealer back off on His quote! I think that I mentioned that I also sold cars but that is neither here or there, if you were happy so be it, I was not!

lwise4

I see that I got a few responses to my post and that is a good thing! Today, I noticed that I had a missed call on my cell phone so I called the number. It was answered by the salesman at the Dealership. He said that He did not remember calling me so I asked Him if He got my email which He did. He then told me that there were indeed two other guys looking at the car and they offered less than I did! The car is still there! Don't you just love it?

By the way, I no no way blame the salesman, I know that the Sales manager has to approve all sales and the Used car manager sets the trade price. It gets better at the end of the month especially if you are short of quota or you have too many cars on the lot.

airmed2

Nobody ever mentions the great experience they had buying a car? That's because you all have made experience something akin to throwing up on a crowded bus. Of all the cars sold, I bet less than 2% have a good buying experience. As dmk0210 said, it's a relentless battle, with the dealer trying to take every penny they can get.

I realize the lights need to stay on, and employees need to be paid, but greed has turned it into something almost more slimy than our politicians. Well, almost.

lwise4

What does the customer have to lie about? If they have a trade in, you will set the price! Other than the trade there is not much they can lie about.

wayback

I had pretty good dealings on the 3 new C6's I bought. Made one offer either they accepted it or not. All 3 accepted my offer.

Totally different story when I tried to buy a demo 08 Z06. Nightmare of an experience and I will never go back to Vandergriff Chevrolet in Arlington, Tx. Decided then I would just keep the 07.

pagosawingnut

And that is the way to do it. Make up your mind what you are willing to give and make that offer. If they want to sell it, they will or not.
The Chev dealer I had purchased 4 trucks from wouldn't be competitive on 2 of the last 4 trucks I bought so I went elsewhere. when I take them in for service, I always get the grilling about why I bought somewhere else and then the next time I get ready to upgrade, they remember.

PAULEB07

I had a great experience when I bought my 07 Z51 last year. I drove about 66 miles an hour n a half. I spoke to the dealer and they were very nice over the phone. So I had to go and see the car. It looked very clean and only had 5500 miles online. So I owed it to myself to check it out. There were a couple of things that needed to be changed and/or replaced. We agreed on a price and they said fix whats wrong and send a bill and they will reinburse me. So I did and they stood by there word! They had a few corvettes. More then six. A big shout out to Bridgewater Acura in New Jersey.

Gary '09 C6

Both of my Corvette buying experiences (new '09; later traded on a new '10) were very satisfactory. Without question I did all my homework
and then some...I was as knowledgeable as possible for each transaction. I have had a more recent similar experience buying a new JGC as well.

If I think about it, my experience buying cars over 35+ yrs hasn't been bad; one just needs to be both well-prepared and patient.
Of course, I have bought a couple of bad used ones...it happens. C'est la vie.

BlindSpot

Unfortunately, buyers give up all the power they have in negotiations. First, they have very little experience compared to the salesperson who does this for a living.

Remember that YOU have the MONEY. That's the power. Most of the power from amateur buyers is ceded because they're too excited over the purchase and they have little or no preset limits.

As a buyer, you must control yourself. The other thing you must be able to do is say NO. If you do your homework and know what you want and how much you're willing to spend, the power is all yours. They might not or cannot sell the car BC they might have made a bad deal on the front end, but, as far as Corvettes go...There is another one just like you want right around the corner.

dmk0210

It's all great and everyone's friendly when they accept your offer on the car, then you get to the trade in and they offer you $15k on an absolute spotless car when the NADA is saying $20k on a dealer trade in. They charge you a $700 document fee when the average for your area is $200 and offer you a loan for 3.8% interest when their bank says you could be getting 2% with your spotless credit rating (they won't show you what the bank actually tells them).

Yep, great guys. They'll never steer you wrong.

06orangeZ51

Last vehicle I bought (2009 GMC Yukon XL) at a dealership was "thoroughly inspected by their qualified mechanic"...I've since had to replace faulty TPMS sensors (one of which was bad when we bought it-but they swore it was the cold causing lower tire pressures), both front and rear rotors (rears were vibrating a day after purchase), the rear climate and heated seat controls (missed this on test drive), drivers power folding mirror (didn't work on test drive-they "knocked" some off the sale price)...I could go on. In my experience, the best avenue of used vehicle purchasing is a private seller....I'm still kicking myself for buying it at a dealer.