Post #303359 by Mai Tai on Tue, May 1, 2007 5:39 PM

On 2007-04-29 12:20, VampiressRN wrote:
I still think men probably get a better deal on their cars, but would love to hear opinions from others. :)

HA! When it comes to car salesmen, used or not, they are "equal opportunity exploiters"! Coco Loco and I needed a new car a couple of years back, and decided to buy a Honda. We have been extremeley pleased with the car, but the buying process sucked ass big time. Being big time Costco fans, we decided to try their auto buying program. You send in an e-mail, stating what area you live in, and what car you are looking at with the trim level details, etc, and they send you back an e-mail quote and a "Costco approved participating dealer." The dealerships are hand picked by Costco, and remain under their scrutinous eye to make sure there is a good level of customer service.

Although this sounds great, and a local dealer had the model we wanted in the trim level we wanted, they still found an area to jerk us around on, and that was financing. Honda does well enough that they don't have to offer 0% financing, and the best they were offering was 2.9%. Well, they made sure that we would not qualify for that financing no matter what. My dad even offered to co-sign for us, and they rejected him, and he's a retired doctor with immaculate credit and an extremely high fico score!!!

When they rejected my dad, the guy at the dealership - who was actually one of the managers - told us that we weren't going to qualify for anything less than 8.9% or higher, so too bad for us, and basically told us to get the f*ck out of his office! I was shocked, because I figured that we'd just get a loan through Maria's credit union or something, and then just come back with the cash. As we were standing in the lobby, near the exit, wondering what the hell just happened, the manager came out, and started yelling "Get the hell out of here! Yeah, that's right, get out of here, coward, before I kick your ass! You wanna see what'll happen to you if you stick around, buddy?"

Needless to say, at this point I was more than shocked. Coco Loco asked what we should do, and I said let's get outta here before I pop that guy in the nose. He was screaming "Yeah, just try it buddy, see what happens" as we walked out the door. My friend was outside, and he's about the size of BigTikiDude, and I'm no small guy either. I told him what happened, and after further thought I knew that I didn't want him to get away with it - I wanted management info to report the whole thing.

My friend and I walked back in, and the manager's back was to us. He was standing in front of all of the employees, telling them what had just happened. I heard him say "yeah, what it takes in this world is for a guy like me to put a guy like him in his place.... he knew who was boss... he wasn't going to mess with me...bla bla bla" All the time I'm standing RIGHT BEHIND the guy, getting angrier and redder and redder in the face. All of his employees started laughing quietly to themselves, as the guy kept on bragging. Some of them were actually holding their hands over their mouths as to not laugh out loud, and they were all muttering "Oh no!" and "Awww, man!" under their breath. Finally, after almost two minutes of this, the manager asked all of his employees what was so funny, and the sales guy with the biggest grin on his face (as in boy I hate my boss and I'm glad this is happening to him) said "Look behind you." I tapped the guy on the shoulder at the same time, and just like the voodoo witch doctor ghost tapping Shaggy on the shoulder, the guy totally blanched pale white, and had the most shocked look on his face! It was priceless! He was caught totally off-guard, and was actually scared shitless! I guess he thought my friend and I were going to beat his ass!!!

I was seriously scowling, and still red in the face, and I exclaimed "You and me - in your office. Right now!!! MOVE IT!!!" And he immedietly scampered into his office like the weasily coward he was. I demanded all of upper management's contact info, which for a second he hesitated to give to me, because he didn't want to incriminate himself. Then I told him that my friend and I weren't leaving his office, and neither was he, until he gave us the info, and that we could do this the easy way, or the hard way. Then my friend and I both leaned forward at the same time, looking him right in the eye. He started singing like a lark!

After he gave me all of his info, I told him that if he could have just sat tight for a couple of days, then I would have come back to buy the car from him. But no, he had to be an asshole about the whole thing, just like I'm sure he is in all of his business transactions. Then I made him apologize to me! As I walked out of the dealership, the other salesmen applauded my friend and me.

Then I contacted the Costco auto program. They were mortified! I must have received 5 or 6 phone calls from their corporate people, all wanting detailed info. They ended up yanking the Costco affiliation away from that dealership within a week or two. Then two weeks later Costco called us up again, and lo and behold they had a car waiting for us at another dealership. They must have ordered it directly from the factory, because it was exactly the color we wanted and had every option we wanted. It was October of 2004, and this car was a 2003, but it must have been the last 2003 to roll off the assembly line, because it was still all wrapped in plastic inside and outside. We test drove it that way! And they basically gave us such a good deal on it that we couldn't refuse!

So we ended up getting a good deal, but had to go through hell at first to get it. Yeah, those guys will try to screw over whoever they can to make a buck. And the jerk I had to deal with was a manager, so it goes to show you that it's definitely a top down management kind of thing.