Typical sleazy car sales people – Not ready to sell... - Corey N.
Typical sleazy car sales people – Not ready to sell luxury cars.
I went to Southpoint Hyundai/Genesis of Austin to talk about securing a Genesis GV80 SUV they had coming in the following week. I had been talking to one of the sales guys for weeks who was working on securing the car for me. He asked me to come down to the dealership to talk about the details and chat with management about the pricing, my trade, etc. I headed down with my wife in what I was hoping would be a pleasant negotiation.
It ended rather quickly and went about as bad as it could have gone. The assistant manager (or the assistant to the manager – not sure), Mike, was brought in to close the deal. He explained how most dealerships were selling these cars above retail price, which he agreed was short-sighted, and that they were not going to do that.
After explaining to me that they don’t mark up their cars above list price like other dealers do, he proceeded to insist that I buy all kinds of aftermarket add-ons for $2,000 that were of little value to me but that carried high profit margins for them. That’s in addition to an absurdly high interest rate they offered me, which was clearly padded for their benefit, that we didn’t even get to.
Now I get it: the car market is tight right now and prices are higher than usual. I was already willing to pay full retail, which I have never done in my life, so they were going to make their full profit on this deal. Then they got greedy.
When I asked if all those aftermarket items had to be part of the deal or he wouldn’t sell me the car, he said yes. “Then we’re done” I said, and proceeded to find my original salesman. While I walked across the mostly empty sales floor, he called after me “You don’t need to walk over there!”. “Yes I do.” I replied as I proceeded. Not sure what he was trying to do there. I guess he was afraid of being called out in the middle of the dealership?
I explained to my salesman what had happened and that there was no deal to be had because Mike insisted on selling me a bunch of aftermarket stuff I didn’t want. I shook my salesman’s hand, thanked him and left. He understandably looked disappointed and I’m sure I looked pretty irate. Never heard from him or anyone at the dealership again.
On top of that, the dealership is pretty banged up. There are stains on the ceiling tiles and no sign on the building indicating it’s a Genesis dealer. Some of the staff are dressed like they’re in their living rooms. It’s basically a repurposed Hyundai office. Not the place you’d want to spend big money on a car – unless maybe it went to replacing the ceiling tiles. I can only imagine how they handle the concierge service Genesis is supposed to offer.
This was a complete waste of time and energy. And totally short-sighted on their part. They could have sold me the car at full retail and gained a new high-end customer for their relatively new luxury brand. Instead, they’re going to try and rip off the next person and hope they don’t read this review first. And let’s face it, Austin may be growing, but it still acts like a small city in many ways, including word of mouth.
Bottom line: never buy a car from Southpoint Hyundai/Genesis of Austin. Not only is the assistant manager unprofessional and off-putting, but I’m assuming that decorum comes from the top. They are in no way ready to sell $70,000+ cars to anyone, let alone $30,000 ones.
Read More
Sign In
