Erroneous ads
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 244
Likes: 3
Erroneous ads
Just got off the phone with a dealer inquiring about a new Vette. The ad listed the Vette at $4k off MSRP. Of course the rep says that something is wrong with the ad. This is the 2nd time this has happened in the past week. Seems like a lot of scams on new Vettes. 
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 1,787
Likes: 646
From: Retired to Mississsippi.
I found three like that on Auto Trader almost three months ago.
From what I was told, there is an outside Company that GM uses to do the Postings, including the Inventory on the Dealer Sites.
On more than one occasion, the Invoice Price was listed as the Sales Price. Of the three I found, only one had the Car in Stock. The other ones had the Cars in Transit and they told me the price was obviously an error and they wouldn't honor the mistaken pricing.
The third Dealer that had the Car in Stock wouldn't sell it for the "mistake" Pricing, but they actually negotiated with me and we agreed to meet half way. I ended up getting my Z51 for $2,500 under MSRP, or from their perspective, $2,500 over Invoice.
The Dealer only had three Corvette allotments to that point, mine being the third. I was very surprised they would try to make it right, but they did. I actually think my Car was ordered by a Customer who backed out of the Deal when it arrived, but I got no affirmation of it.
This has been discussed on some previous Threads.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 244
Likes: 3
Which Ad, the Dealer or one of the online sites like Auto Trader or Cars.com?
I found three like that on Auto Trader almost three months ago.
From what I was told, there is an outside Company that GM uses to do the Postings, including the Inventory on the Dealer Sites.
On more than one occasion, the Invoice Price was listed as the Sales Price. Of the three I found, only one had the Car in Stock. The other ones had the Cars in Transit and they told me the price was obviously an error and they wouldn't honor the mistaken pricing.
The third Dealer that had the Car in Stock wouldn't sell it for the "mistake" Pricing, but they actually negotiated with me and we agreed to meet half way. I ended up getting my Z51 for $2,500 under MSRP, or from their perspective, $2,500 over Invoice.
The Dealer only had three Corvette allotments to that point, mine being the third. I was very surprised they would try to make it right, but they did. I actually think my Car was ordered by a Customer who backed out of the Deal when it arrived, but I got no affirmation of it.
This has been discussed on some previous Threads.
I found three like that on Auto Trader almost three months ago.
From what I was told, there is an outside Company that GM uses to do the Postings, including the Inventory on the Dealer Sites.
On more than one occasion, the Invoice Price was listed as the Sales Price. Of the three I found, only one had the Car in Stock. The other ones had the Cars in Transit and they told me the price was obviously an error and they wouldn't honor the mistaken pricing.
The third Dealer that had the Car in Stock wouldn't sell it for the "mistake" Pricing, but they actually negotiated with me and we agreed to meet half way. I ended up getting my Z51 for $2,500 under MSRP, or from their perspective, $2,500 over Invoice.
The Dealer only had three Corvette allotments to that point, mine being the third. I was very surprised they would try to make it right, but they did. I actually think my Car was ordered by a Customer who backed out of the Deal when it arrived, but I got no affirmation of it.
This has been discussed on some previous Threads.
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 1,787
Likes: 646
From: Retired to Mississsippi.
I actually stayed on the Phone with them while they looked it up. The first two just said it was an obvious mistake and that was it. One of them went into the system within the hour and Posted that the Vehicle was sold. I must have been the first guy to call them.
The third Dealer (that I ended up buying from) just about freaked out when I told him about it. He checked Auto Trader where I first saw it and then I told him to go to his own Website, and there it was.
He had no idea.
After I had talked to him he had other people calling. I was the first guy in line and they stepped up when they could have told me to fly a Kite. It's hard to find Car Dealers that would do that, but they did.
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Racer
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 485
Likes: 7
From: MN
Most states have laws against intentional bait and switch advertising, and some of those laws even have some teeth if you really wanted to make trouble.
But generally it is difficult to enforce when they simply claim it was a mistake. As has been mentioned, they can lie their way out of it as well claiming that car is already sold, etc. Also, the fine print in the ad will disclaim against any errors or omissions in the pricing AND also say the sale is subject to whatever dealer fees, so you are never going to win.
But generally it is difficult to enforce when they simply claim it was a mistake. As has been mentioned, they can lie their way out of it as well claiming that car is already sold, etc. Also, the fine print in the ad will disclaim against any errors or omissions in the pricing AND also say the sale is subject to whatever dealer fees, so you are never going to win.