so i was buying a new car. didn't want a ton of options on it so i decided to order it (bmw).
so anyway the guy said $500 over invoice, order it 8-10 weeks we'll be golden. went to the dealer near my parents house when i was visiting. parents had bought from there before. seemed reasonable at the time.
anyway, its been almost 5 weeks since i put my deposit down on the order. car hasn't started production and its normally supposed to take less than a week (it'd be about 8 weeks minimum from production start to get it...) and i'm getting pretty irritated. i asked for terms in writing just to square it away, don't have them , he said dont worry about it we'll take care of it once you have a vin number (when production starts). in california you can't make deposits non refundable so i figured whatever, i can negotiate at the end and stick them with my custom ordered car if need be. that said slightly suspicious.
so i post on a bmw forum the troubles with the car order (amongst others whose orders have been delayed) because we want to take advantage of some holiday offer (which we wont get at this rate). another dealer in the area says... you know theres a car in your area i can just trade for right now thats exactly like yours except it has parking sensors. so i kind of wanted those anyway so he goes, ill do invoice if we can do the trade, you can just get your custom order refunded.
anyway, given my custom order hadnt even started building yet, didnt think this was so bad instead of waiting 2+ more months. not to mention i get the holiday offer and its cheaper so significantly cheaper . so given the first dealer had me first, i just said hey if you can trade for this car i can just buy it from you...
so here is where car salesman bullshit begins. apparently the guy is an idiot and can't even keep his lies straight. so he goes, that car is a demo car you dont want to trade for it. so i say oh ok fine dont really want a demo car anyway. so then he goes yeah its a service loaner in his next email. so being a bit suspicious i call the dealer the car is physically at and they are like, uh its brand new.
so i email my first dealer and tell him they said it was brand new, and im going to buy it one way or the other as waiting longer for the custom order that seems to have been royally scrweed up by them seemed unreasonable. so i go with dealer 2 and tell him to trade for it and ill take his invoice price offer (really good offer by the way). anyway, 8 hours later dealer 1 finally replies (he was replying quick earlier).
now i think he knew i had figured out he lied. so he tells me its really bad for him to have to cancel the order (doesnt make sense they can still change the specs on the order since it hasnt started). then he says if i cancel he will also be forced to cancel my mothers car (my mom also placed an order for a car a couple days ago from the same guy). so seeing this threat i ask my dad about his new car and he's like i dont care we've only just ordered it... so i text him to just cancel both cars.
so.... now he seems frantic and keeps texting me to give him a call and we can work it out whatever. dealer 2 says he should be able to get the car friday. i have gone to carmax and also got dealer 2 to give me a trade in quote for my current ca (amazingly this has gone up like $1000 in the last 2 months, thank you hurricane sandy).
so in summary. we have yet another car salesman trying to pull lies. dealer 1, not only tried to string me along on a custom order. then tried to lie to not have to cancel / trade a car so he lost at least 1 sale. then by threatening to cancel my mothers car, loses 2 sales. (i think ill steer my mother towards dealer 2 , hell its cheaper anyway).
so i won't say never trust a car salesman. i've had good experiences in the past. but 'ive got to say every car i've bought that was a decent experience was through a guy i met on the internet or internet sales except 1. watch your back with cars people.
so anyway the guy said $500 over invoice, order it 8-10 weeks we'll be golden. went to the dealer near my parents house when i was visiting. parents had bought from there before. seemed reasonable at the time.
anyway, its been almost 5 weeks since i put my deposit down on the order. car hasn't started production and its normally supposed to take less than a week (it'd be about 8 weeks minimum from production start to get it...) and i'm getting pretty irritated. i asked for terms in writing just to square it away, don't have them , he said dont worry about it we'll take care of it once you have a vin number (when production starts). in california you can't make deposits non refundable so i figured whatever, i can negotiate at the end and stick them with my custom ordered car if need be. that said slightly suspicious.
so i post on a bmw forum the troubles with the car order (amongst others whose orders have been delayed) because we want to take advantage of some holiday offer (which we wont get at this rate). another dealer in the area says... you know theres a car in your area i can just trade for right now thats exactly like yours except it has parking sensors. so i kind of wanted those anyway so he goes, ill do invoice if we can do the trade, you can just get your custom order refunded.
anyway, given my custom order hadnt even started building yet, didnt think this was so bad instead of waiting 2+ more months. not to mention i get the holiday offer and its cheaper so significantly cheaper . so given the first dealer had me first, i just said hey if you can trade for this car i can just buy it from you...
so here is where car salesman bullshit begins. apparently the guy is an idiot and can't even keep his lies straight. so he goes, that car is a demo car you dont want to trade for it. so i say oh ok fine dont really want a demo car anyway. so then he goes yeah its a service loaner in his next email. so being a bit suspicious i call the dealer the car is physically at and they are like, uh its brand new.
so i email my first dealer and tell him they said it was brand new, and im going to buy it one way or the other as waiting longer for the custom order that seems to have been royally scrweed up by them seemed unreasonable. so i go with dealer 2 and tell him to trade for it and ill take his invoice price offer (really good offer by the way). anyway, 8 hours later dealer 1 finally replies (he was replying quick earlier).
now i think he knew i had figured out he lied. so he tells me its really bad for him to have to cancel the order (doesnt make sense they can still change the specs on the order since it hasnt started). then he says if i cancel he will also be forced to cancel my mothers car (my mom also placed an order for a car a couple days ago from the same guy). so seeing this threat i ask my dad about his new car and he's like i dont care we've only just ordered it... so i text him to just cancel both cars.
so.... now he seems frantic and keeps texting me to give him a call and we can work it out whatever. dealer 2 says he should be able to get the car friday. i have gone to carmax and also got dealer 2 to give me a trade in quote for my current ca (amazingly this has gone up like $1000 in the last 2 months, thank you hurricane sandy).
so in summary. we have yet another car salesman trying to pull lies. dealer 1, not only tried to string me along on a custom order. then tried to lie to not have to cancel / trade a car so he lost at least 1 sale. then by threatening to cancel my mothers car, loses 2 sales. (i think ill steer my mother towards dealer 2 , hell its cheaper anyway).
so i won't say never trust a car salesman. i've had good experiences in the past. but 'ive got to say every car i've bought that was a decent experience was through a guy i met on the internet or internet sales except 1. watch your back with cars people.
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