I hate car salesmen... (or women)

I know I've railed on this in the past, but man I REALLY hate car salesmen. I had episode recently flare my hatred recently.

You know when you get the hankerin' for a new car you can scour the Internet for pricing and availability of a car you might want to buy? You can go to a host of sites, but the main ones are Car.com and Autotrader.com. As a conscientious buyer, you might also check out Kelly Blue Book to see what your old car might be worth, so what the real value of your new car is, etc, etc...

Well, give this a try... go out to Autotrader.com and search for a car you might like... I did, and here was my experience when searching for a for a Saab 9.3 convertible. A bunch of options popped up in my general area. So I'm scrolling down the list. "No, I don't want a 1995 with 300,000 miles for $2000. . . No, I think I'll pass on the 2000 with body work and 89,000 miles for $5600. . While I'd love to, I don't think I want to spend $35,000 on a lightly used 2008. . ." But wait! Here's one... a 2004 Saab 9.3 convertible with 23,000 miles for $13,600 ! That sounds reasonable! Great!

So, the next step was to contact the dealer. Ugg. Ok, so I send an email simply asking if the vehicle is still available. I mean, of course it is available. It is January, we are covered in 5 inches of snow, the economy is AWFUL. The car manufacturers are giving away cars and financing. Who is actually looking to buy a used Saab convertible right now? So, I wait a day and get the response:

Dear Stephen,

Sorry but that vehicle has been sold. We can locate another one for you if you like. When can you come down to locate a vehicle?

Please call me at 203-xxx-xxxx

What a joke. I've been down this road a million times. These crooks post an ad on the Internet that is WAY too good to be true, and then they get you into their "virtual store" (via phone or email) or their actual physical store to sell you some other, way more expensive, vehicle. My gut tells me that many of the ads are fake and that cars never existed. But, if I give them the benefit of the doubt that the original ad WAS true and that there WAS an actual car at that price at one time, the ploy is to "give away" a car to someone and never take down the original ad. Then people contact them asking about the original car (that was probably sold in a few hours) and they try to sell them something similar that costs more. You know the story... "Oh, that original car was nice, but had some body work done and was sitting on our lot for 8 months so we had to get rid of it. But we have a bunch of similar cars without any issues, yeah they are a little more but they are better vehicles..." Blah, blah, blah

The above played out about 3 days ago. I'll give you another REAL LIFE story to justify my intense hatred for people who sell cars for a living. I was searching for a fuel-efficient car about a year ago and was poking around the sites I listed above. I was really interested in a Mazda 3 or a Nissan Sentra. Something small, good on gas, and inexpensive. So I found just what I was looking for: A recent year Mazda 3 with low miles, power accessories, at a low price (I think it was about $14,500). I sent an email to the dealer (Country Nissan, an AWFUL dealership in Hadley Massachusetts) and their "Internet Sales Department" responded that they had the car and I should call for more information. I called up and talked with the "Internet Sales Department" and he listed the options on the car and provided me with basic information. The car seemed good so I figured I'd go look at it. The dealer was in Massachusetts, about 50 minutes from my workplace so I figured I'd head there after work one day.

The day to visit the dealer came and I was getting my information together and reviewing the car online again when I noticed that the pictures of the interior of the car seemed off. My research on the car indicated that certain power features of the car would be controlled on the steering wheel, yet the pictures showed nothing on the wheel. I called the "Internet Sales Department" and asked for confirmation that the car had all the features I wanted. I re-iterated that the dealership was an hour away so I didn't want to waste my time if the car didn't have all the desired equipment. He assured me that it had everything I wanted.

So I drive up and look at the car. Looks nice, but it was night-time so I couldn't REALLY see the car in good light. I took it for a test drive and it drove well. So we go in for the "BS" haggling over the price. At one point the salesperson actually asked me to "initial" this piece of scrap paper to indicate that I would buy the car if he could meet the price. Really? Seriously? So we go back and forth and come up with a price and JUST before I sign the paperwork I realized that I didn't see any power window buttons on the car (it was dark and the car & interior were black). We go check and not only did the car not have power windows, it had no power locks and no cruise control. Those were the 3 things I specifically asked about before driving down.

I ask for the manager and told him what had happened. He gave me a lame, "the information tags must have been switched" and offered to have the power windows and cruise control installed on the vehicle at his cost. I wasn't sure, but since I'd been really wanted to buy a car and waiting for so long I went along with it... it was dumb and stupid on my part. They clearly had this car that they were trying to move... I should have seen the warning signs.

The car is delivered about 5 days later and what a piece of junk. The exterior was fine, but the interior of the car was beat up, cigarette stains on the interior ceiling of the car, scratches on the dash, and the cloth seats were starting to pill. Clearly (to me) it looked like a salesperson's company car. Someone got the car, put their briefcase on the dash (scratching it up) and smoked while they drove from office to office. Just a guess. Anyway, what was worse were the power windows. When you used them it sounded like a noise a 6-year-old boy would make when flying a toy plane. Just terrible. The cruise control didn't work right... it was constantly accelerating and braking to keep a constant speed.

I called Country Nissan and told them I wasn't happy with the car (this was two days later). They told me to come back and we'd work something out. I told them I was interested in a Sentra they had... but I didn't want to drive up again if we were not going to "work something out". Of course, they said they would put something together. I drove up and - OF COURSE - there was nothing worked out. They simply wanted to trade the Mazda back to them (at a loss to men) and sell me the Sentra. What a joke. I could do that ANYWHERE. But, that is how car dealers work. They NEVER do anything that would impact THEIR ability to make money. A normal store would accommodate the customer. Car dealers rarely do anything in the best interest of customers. At least that has been my experience.

Honestly (that is a funny word to use in this blog entry, huh?), why does it have to be like this? Shouldn't it be fun to buy a car? Why is the auto industry the only major one that allows bartering and haggling? Does that make sense at all?

Ok, this went on much longer than expected. Enjoy your MLK holiday!