As hard as it is for me to stomach the thought of giving - jvabsher
As hard as it is for me to stomach the thought of giving a car dealership 5 stars, if anyone could deserve that, it would be these people.
First of all, many mainstream prominent looking car dealerships actively engage in systemic fraud on a regular basis by advertising a particular price to get you on the hook, and then adding a host of semi-legitimate sounding “fees” other than state mandated tax and license to raise their price, often by thousands of dollars. And they do this even when the ad clearly states “includes dealer fees”. I spent much of my working career in direct sales where I had to take annual classes on “Waste, Fraud, and Abuse”, and this is a textbook example of “bait and switch”, which is defined as a fraudulent sales practice. I’ve seen texts where the actual definition of FRAUD lists this practice as an example. I do not understand how so many car dealers do this so openly, seemingly without fear of prosecution. But they do.
So when I saw what looked like an incredible price on a great car, my guard was up. I made my salesman (Jimmy Noel) state IN WRITING numerous times that nothing would be added to this price other than state mandated taxes and tag fees before I agreed to come in and look at the car. His only hesitation seemed to be when he’d need to confirm something with his manager. I knew this was a great deal if the car checked out as I’d negotiated the same car with a different dealer the day before, except this one was a year newer with 10,000 fewer miles, for almost $1,000 less money, so I made an appointment the following morning.
When I arrived the next morning Jimmy greeted me with the keys to take a test drive. I told him I needed to see how the car drove at 60 to 70 mph (which is difficult at this location), but we found a way. I noted that there was a slight vibration at 65 which was probably nothing but a front wheel out of balance. Jimmy then took it to the shop and had the wheels balanced, alignment adjusted, and tires rotated. When they finished, we took it out again, and it was perfect.
During this time I also met Carlos, whom I believe to be their finance manager. He knew how leery I was of car dealers and encouraged me to take all the time I needed to read the documents I was required to sign. I told him of my previous experiences with other dealers and how pleased I’d been with Jimmy. He told me similar stories of his own from an insider’s perspective and indicated this place was under new management which was purging the place of unscrupulous actors. From my experience, it was working.
Of course, I was obsessed with finding different numbers from what I was quoted, so I was quick to notice their “out the door” price had suddenly changed… It was about $150 LESS than I’d been told! When I brought this to Carlos’ attention, he apologized for overestimating the tag fees.
So all in all, I got a great deal on a seemingly perfect car, and I can’t think of how the people I worked with could have been better. So yeah… this is a 5 star review. And believe it or not, I left with a FULL tank of gas!
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