Sigh, will we ever get rid of the stupid dealership system we have for new cars at the moment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can buy a Hyundai on amazon now.

Not really, it’s a lead generator for the local dealership.

[Anonymous]

There is a guy on YouTube with a business called Delivrd and he will negotiate a car deal for you with a flat fee of $1000. He gets a lot of deals as high as 10% off on certain models. Anyways even as a seasoned professional, he has countless dealers lying to him, playing games, or refusing to give a price without coming in to the dealership. Its tough when sales people are so stupid they cant tell the difference between a clueless buyer and an informed buyer and they try the same tricks regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep, I bought 2 last year using Costco. Super straightforward and simple.

We did this last month. Spouse thought he could do the job and went and negotiated with the dealer. I entered the data online (yes, it's that simple), and sent him the info, which was $4k less than what he negotiated for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep, I bought 2 last year using Costco. Super straightforward and simple.

If you did not buy from a new car dealer, where do you go for routine car maintenance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep, I bought 2 last year using Costco. Super straightforward and simple.

If you did not buy from a new car dealer, where do you go for routine car maintenance?

We go to our local auto body shop. The dealer is a rip off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people just ignore the pitter-patter. If you can't, and it stresses out that much, it probably means you have a social deficit such that you're not within the range of normal.

I asked them not to mistreat me as I had bad experience previously (finance guy adding warranties into my payment).
I can't even start to tell you what they did to me including not giving back my own car keys so I could leave. I asked for them several time. They were too busy surrounding me with chair at all side to make a deal. I counted 11 different ways they messed up the paperwork. I left the place with papers that had someone else's DL number on them. Ofcourse DC DMV sent me away, and dealership didn't pick up the phone, including the guy who sold me the car.
I left the dealership with new car, but nobody could find the second key. When they finally found it, they asked me who had it when I went to pick them up. They had previously promised to bring them to my house. Oh, shut up! Can't even pick up the phone.
And ofocurse, DC DMV had to tell me when the dealership got the tags as dealership couldn't find them. My temporary one were expiring and dealership wasn't doing anything about it. I can go on and on, but I have been trying to forget about the experience.
When I told them when DC DMV sent them out, they found the tags in their basement 20 minutes later.
They fedexed me some paperwork they forgot to ask me to sign.
I did walk out of there with 0% interest loan, but there was no reason not to know what papers I needed.
Oh, I forgot. They were pulling someone else's credit and told me that I had locked my credit with bureaus. Yea, locked my credit and then went to buy a car. WTH. I have never met so many incompetent people at the same place with so much confidence.
The car was supposed to be in the front of the dealership by 10 am waiting for me. I showed up and it took them 20 minutes to find the car. It took me 6 hours to get out of there. Test drive was 10 minutes.
There were other things, but this is plenty.
It had to be the first day at work for all of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep, I bought 2 last year using Costco. Super straightforward and simple.

If you did not buy from a new car dealer, where do you go for routine car maintenance?

I don't even go back to the dealership. My family goes to a local to them body shop in Annandale and I drive there from DC when needed.
So tired of the dealership e-mailing me and sending letters about the maintenance. I would never set a foot there again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep, I bought 2 last year using Costco. Super straightforward and simple.

If you did not buy from a new car dealer, where do you go for routine car maintenance?

You don't have to buy from the dealer to take it there for maintenance.

With that, if you care about your money you only go to the dealer for recalls and warranty work. Otherwise they are a big rip-off and they like to replace large expensive things rather than fix things.

[Anonymous]

If you do your homework (you should . . . it is only a car but it is an important purchase), it isn't hard at all.

I bought a car on '22 brand new. I knew what I wanted, the color, the price I was willing to pay and how I was going to pay for it. Walked in and when the dealer started to try to negotiate I just got up and started walking out. They stopped me and 10 seconds later I had a new car. Total time spent was under an hour waiting for 1 other buyer to finish and the filling out of forms.

NBD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do it all over email. Then just come in to sign papers.

First, I agree that the dealership system is stupid, especially in today's day and age. Its an outdated model, but it is unfortunately locked into many state laws that would have to be changed. Many of the new EV only brands have been trying to change it.

I agree with this poster. I've bought my last 4 cars this way. It may mean you need to expand who you reach to a little further away, but competition breeds better deals. Make sure you ask for the "off the lot" price and stick to that number only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do it all over email. Then just come in to sign papers.

That's the dream, but I've found the internet marketing usually has no link to the salesroom stuff. It's just bait to get you in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you do your homework (you should . . . it is only a car but it is an important purchase), it isn't hard at all.

I bought a car on '22 brand new. I knew what I wanted, the color, the price I was willing to pay and how I was going to pay for it. Walked in and when the dealer started to try to negotiate I just got up and started walking out. They stopped me and 10 seconds later I had a new car. Total time spent was under an hour waiting for 1 other buyer to finish and the filling out of forms.

NBD

OP here... oh, it's not hard. It's just stupid, unpleasant and unneccessary. And counter-productive and bad for consumers.

For some reason reddit has been serving me posts from autodealers and it is mind-blowing their mentality. They apparently get really irritated at people who come i and "look around" and ask for prices—they don't want to tell you the price until you're going to sit down and ready to make a deal, so they talk about how they put it off. The reason they don't want to give prices is because they're afraid people will get up and walk out and go to another dealership and ask their price there! They're outraged that people want to waste their time like that...

like how people shop in literally every other industry!

Their response is smug satisfaction knowing that the Subaru dealership down the road, or whatever, will have the same price, because the reality is that there is a floor price, which is about the sticker price, and it's only a question of how much they can lard on, there's not going to be any serious reduction below the sticker.

And as another poster pointed out, it's because it's all super tightly controlled thanks to heavy lobbying. Auto dealers are a powerful special interest at the state and federal level.

The dealers claim that if you just posted prices, like they do in every other retail setting, it would drive buyers away, because they wouldn't like "the true cost" of a car... so what's wrong with that? Isn't it worse if I go into a dealership thinking I can buy a new CRV Hybrid for $39.5k and it turns out that, in all reality, I can't get it for less than $42k? Well, if I can pay $42k, save me (and you) a lot of grief and just tell me. Don't tell me it's $39.5k, but you've added on "dealer enhancements" that can't be removed... I don't want to negotiate! It's a waste of time! If I can't pay $42k, I shouldn't be looking at it, and I should go check out Rav4s or a HRV. It's more efficient and more likely to put me in the car I want and the car I can afford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep, I bought 2 last year using Costco. Super straightforward and simple.

If you did not buy from a new car dealer, where do you go for routine car maintenance?

Unless it's covered by maintenance I would NEVER take my car to the dealership for any kind of service. In addition to being extremely over-priced, they're usually dishonest and while there are some good techs, a lot are kind of bottom of the barrel. Find a good independent mechanic. If a dealer ever quotes you something more than $400, take it to a well-rated local mechanic and see what he thinks...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people just ignore the pitter-patter. If you can't, and it stresses out that much, it probably means you have a social deficit such that you're not within the range of normal.

I ignore the pitter patter, but why subject either one of us to it if we don't have to?

Last time I bought a car, there was some "delay" in the paperwork, which gave a nice lady the opportunity to come and chat with us about the dangers of acid rain, and how for just several thousand dollars the dealership could coat my car with protection against it. It was a REAL hard row to hoe for her because I wasn't financing w/the dealership and so she couldn't do the "for just $14/month more you can protect your family's safety by getting this clearcoat" routine.

I let her give the talk, said no thanks and then we had about 25 more minutes to burn so we had a very nice chat about which soccer programs are kids are in. She was really nice and I love talking about my kids' sports. I just didn't need to do it that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep, I bought 2 last year using Costco. Super straightforward and simple.

If you did not buy from a new car dealer, where do you go for routine car maintenance?

Unless it's covered by maintenance I would NEVER take my car to the dealership for any kind of service. In addition to being extremely over-priced, they're usually dishonest and while there are some good techs, a lot are kind of bottom of the barrel. Find a good independent mechanic. If a dealer ever quotes you something more than $400, take it to a well-rated local mechanic and see what he thinks...

Thats what used to think...yes they are expensive but at least they are not using $5 oil filters and the wrong oil. They are forced to use the right parts. The labor is portion is sketchy...I agree