I've never had so much trouble buying a car before.

[turkeyrun]

Being in sales most of my life. Bells should've gone off with this GM long ago. Its a fine line between selling a lot at a small markup, and selling a few at a huge markup. Ive learned to choose my battles and get that money when its offered. A little profit is better than no profit... Unless......... Lack of product changes the game rules. sellers markets vs buyers etc.

I got into a huge argument with my boss, to the point I quit the job. Told him it was better to make $1 each off of 10 HAPPY customers than to make $10 off of 1 and they feel like they took. He claimed I was of lesser intelligence because we both made $10 and he only had to deal with one idiot. Tried to explain that was my point. My 10 each told 10 and I had more sales coming. He had 1 and only 1 because they told everyone how they were taken..

 

[OkieMoe]

I got into a huge argument with my boss, to the point I quit the job. Told him it was better to make $1 each off of 10 HAPPY customers than to make $10 off of 1 and they feel like they took. He claimed I was of lesser intelligence because we both made $10 and he only had to deal with one idiot. Tried to explain that was my point. My 10 each told 10 and I had more sales coming. He had 1 and only 1 because they told everyone how they were taken..

10 happy customers will tell far more people about you than the 1 who youve made 10 from. word of mouth is the fastest and cheapest form of advertisement. Now granted IF you can make 2 or 5 dollars per those ten and STILL hook them up, by all means. Its a line

Oh and thinking of your customers as all idiots isnt going to end well. Some yes. all ? lol no It comes with sales. But educating them can help things.

 

[leemozoid]

A black on black GMC Sierra Denali. Denali's in either black or white are a dime a dozen.

My company is in the southeast only. OK/TX is our west border and we go east as high as south Indiana and Kentucky over to the Carolinas and down to Florida. We aren't even in Missouri yet, but I drive through there on the way to Kentucky. I guess I could ship from CO, but it's easier to pickup from a state I travel through.

You called Thompson's in Springfield? I know the owners. Who were you dealing with?

 

[don ewald]

I've been trying for over a week now to buy a new truck. I'm not exactly sure how many vehicles I've purchased from dealerships, but it's somewhere in the range of 15-20. Typically, the experiences are as bad as I choose to make them because I love to negotiate. For some reason I find pleasure in all the tension and discomfort. Well karma seems to be paying me back for all the trouble I've been to dealers in the past.

This time is different. I'm not trying to negotiate. I have nothing to trade in. I'm not financing anything. I'm just trying to buy a truck as advertised. It seems to be impossible. The dealers will list the MSRP. Then they will list the price they are willing to sell it for after all discounts and rebates. The prices are itemized on the websites with all the things you "may" qualify for. I qualify for nothing. I am asking for nothing. They all have a *dealership name* discount. When you hover your cursor over the little "1" by that discount, it says all customers qualify for this. I ask to pay that price plus their doc fee. Impossible.

I tried to buy in Midwest City. You must pay for a clear bra (that absolutely looks like garbage covering nearly half the hood and fenders), interior protectant (scam) and something else equally as worthless. I'd pay more to not have the clear bra. I asked to buy one in transit before they put that crap on there. Nope, goes on all vehicles. It's just a way to get some extra money on the backend. Funny thing is, it wasn't even that great of a deal. Truck was ~3k more than several other places without the extras. Next....

I drove to Baton Rouge. Probably the second lowest advertised price within 500 mile radius. I walked in last Tuesday when it was raining. Only customer in the building (and probably for the day). Picked out what I wanted and was quoted a price. Told them I'd come in the next morning with everything they asked for and to test drive it. They added in ~$1k in fees, including $250 for Etch (scam). I told them I wasn't paying $250 for Etch and I'd be willing to wait for another truck in transit that they hadn't spent the $10 on for Etch. Nope. Next...

I left south Louisiana on Thursday night (early) and spent the night in DFW just so I could try to buy a truck Friday morning. I went to a dealer in Fort Worth first thing Friday morning. Drive the truck. Take the salesman over to my truck where I have my laptop already open with the exact truck on their website. Told him the trouble I've been having and asked if I could just pay the price advertised and their doc fee. He says yes. When we are filling out paperwork, he leaves and comes back and asks if I have someone with a TX DL to sign for the truck (it's a company truck). Sure, I have probably 30 employees in TX. He asked if they are a signer for the company in the state of TX. Well hell no they aren't. Salesman says he can't sell me the truck unless I have someone with a TX DL that is a registered signer for the company. Really? We've probably bought 75 vehicles this year throughout several different states, probably 20 of those in TX. I personally picked up an F250 last month in Arlington. It was all done via Docusign and the money wired. We buy vehicles where we need them. How about we just write down all the numbers and then we'll let someone else smarter than you figure this out? So he writes down the deal and adds $1899 for window tint and locking lug nuts. It comes with all the windows tinted from the factory except the front 2. So it's $100 in tint and $40 in lug nuts. I told him I'd take one in transit so I didn't have to pay that. Nope. Next...

Monday I tried Ferguson in Norman. Hover cursor over the Ferguson discount and it says everyone qualifies. I said I'll take it for the advertised price and $599 doc fee. They tell me it will be an additional $2k because I'm not trading anything in. The "everyone qualifies" discount includes $2k trade assistance. It wasn't a good price to begin with. It was just convenient. Now it's a terrible price. Next...

Monday night I messaged a dealer in St. Louis. They called me at 8:02 A.M. on Tuesday. For the past 2 days I've been working with the dumbest human I've ever spoken to. This guy is so dumb, I actually think the dealer is getting some kind of tax break to employ him. He hasn't been able to get any emails from me because he can't tell me his correct email address. He sent me a text and misspelled his own name. I finally ask if there is someone else I can email and I get another salesmen's email. I realize they idiot I'm talking to has been giving me the wrong email because he doesn't know the difference between a period and an underscore. I'm now 2 full business days in and haven't seen anything in writing for him yet. He asked me to put $500 down with my personal card to hold it and he'd refund it when we wire the money. Let's look past the fact they are the largest volume dealer for this brand in the nation and they have probably 8 of these on the lot. I told him I needed something in writing showing what I'm buying and how much I'm paying. He said he was working on it (for 2 days). I told him if he could get me something in writing, I'd just wire ALL the money. Dumbass.

I got so tired of waiting on the St. Louis dumbass, I called Springfield, MO this afternoon. Give the guy the stock number, asked for price, told him I'd take it. Started paperwork with this guy all within 30 minutes of the initial phone call. Send him all the information so he can work on it. He calls back and asks if I have a signer for the company in Missouri. They don't do Docusign. They need the person paying to physically be there. So you don't ship? Yes. But a person buying over the internet that wants a vehicle shipped, has to physically show up? Yes. So all my hopes are back with the dumbass in St. Louis.

I never thought it would be this hard to buy a truck with no trade in, cash and just trying to pay an advertised price without all the backend scams. Don't let them tell you the economy is bad. They have no problem sitting on these things.

I'm 77 and have bought a lot of cars/trucks over my decades. Never have I heard of anything like this. What happened to walking into a dealership with cash and driving off with the vehicle you want? In my experiences I've always skipped the lacky salesman and gone straight to the manager, or in a couple of cases the owner. I'm guessing every dealership you've gone to have their sales staff on commission. Regardless, my how things have changed.

 

[JR18]

During the pandemic I was looking around at new cars. I qualified for the military discount but since I wouldn’t finance through the dealerships you don’t get that. Went to one dealership and we agreed on a price of a suv in transit and did an appraisal on my truck. Vehicle shows up but since I didn’t want to finance with them the price of the vehicle goes up and my trade dropped. I was finally able to score a new Tacoma at post oak for about $1K over MSRP. Wasn’t a huge fan but I was able to pick my tint percentage and the truck was very close to checking all the boxes on what we wanted in a new truck.

 

[John6185]

i'm tryng to buy a new Corolla and I had to wait a month before the car came in and then they want for a vehicle protection package- $1599 and it includes a ceramic window tint, door cup guard and door edge guard. Protects from fingernail scratches behind the door handle, door dings and paint chipping on the edge of the door and the ceramic window tint helps protect the interior from fading....No thanks!
Big deal! I refused and then asked what they wanted for window tinting...$599.00! No hanks!
They will not go down on price and the OTD cost is nearly $10,000 more than a couple of year ago.

 

[SoonerP226]

Sounds more like the problem with just purchasing a vehicle outright with cash has to do with, maybe something about the 'Patriot Act', you know, the laws that requires all sorts of government paperwork for any transaction over $10K, and treats Americans as if we were all terrorists?

I doubt it. That’s going to be just another checkbox on a form with automated reporting, not a big deal from a dealership’s perspective. I’d wager that it has a lot more to do with the fact that the dealership makes significantly more money on financed sales than on cash sales.

 

[FullAuto]

You called Thompson's in Springfield? I know the owners. Who were you dealing with?

Yes, that was the last place I was trying that told me they don't do Docusign.

 

[leemozoid]

Yes, that was the last place I was trying that told me they don't do Docusign.

They probably don't. They're old school in a lot of ways. The owner (Lynn Thompson) is a Shrine Brother of mine. His son Tyler is one of the sales managers as well as nephew, Miles and lots of other family. It really is a family run store. Since it's an out of state purchase they won't be required to prepare any licensing documents. I would suggest having the vehicle purchase paperwork done in your name and finalize the transaction via wire/FedEx. Once you get the paperwork you can have the titling done in the company name in the final State of record. It won't matter whether there's a Missouri resident representative or not.

 

[leemozoid]

I doubt it. That’s going to be just another checkbox on a form with automated reporting, not a big deal from a dealership’s perspective. I’d wager that it has a lot more to do with the fact that the dealership makes significantly more money on financed sales than on cash sales.

The fact that it's a durable good does subject it to OFAC guidelines but they won't apply here. If the purchase is made with a wire transfer or certified check (non-cash instruments) then 8300 reporting doesn't apply either.