We had just started looking for a new used car Sunday. We had seen all the commercials on TV for this place, so we were excited to look around and see if we could find our next car. We had already been pre-approved for a car loan, so we were all set to buy if we found the right car, the right price, and a decent sales person that was honest and straight up with us. What we found we when went to the dealership was anything what we wanted. The experience we had made us never want to shop at this dealership again.
I am in my 50's. My wife is in her 40's. My daughter is 8. We have learned from past experience to mistrust sales people, especially used car sales people. Most every car salesman we have ever dealt with has been dishonest, and has taken advantage of us.
We we have learned to go shopping on Sunday, when most car dealerships are closed so we are not harassed by sales people. We take the further precaution of not walking, but driving through the car lots just in case. Well, when we pulled into this dealership, we were shocked to see a salesperson walking around. My wife wanted to just leave, but I talked her into sticking around and looking.
Then I told her that we needed to take the next step of actually getting out and walking around to see the cars. As a Christian , I try to see the best in people. My long held hope is that I will actually find a good, honest car salesman, that will not placate us but tell us the truth about pricing, not try to pull the wool over our eyes and tell us out right lies just to make a sale.
As soon as we got out of the car, we were assaulted by this young kid salesperson. His eyes were odd looking, Like he had a hang over, or was on something. He said that the other salesman was in a meeting, so he was all alone on the lot.
We told him that we were just looking, but he did not take that for an answer. He made suggestions and we did look in a few cars. Every car we looked at, he followed us like a vulture. We wanted to just look in the cars, but he unlocked the cars and told us that we needed to sit in them. Then he practically shoved the keys in my face and wanted to to start the cars.
So far, I was not too annoyed, because I know that dealerships have very stringent quotas that they make their salespeople meet and I know they are often aggressive. The 1st thing we asked at each car was the price. It seemed like a valid question. He did give us the price, but then said that "they (whoever they is) are very negotiable on the prices of the cars and he had seen "Them" comes down as much as 8k on the cars.
This seemed good at 1st, but later when I got home and did my own research on the prices, I found out why.
At the very 1st car we looked at, he asked about our financing. We said that we had it already taken care of. He asked that if he could beet the percentage rate we were getting, if we would be interested in using him for financing. I said maybe, but really I was just being polite. (Though in retrospect, I should have just said no) We love the Christian Credit Union that we are with and feel that it was God that we were approved for financing with them and wont leave them.
At one of the cars we were looking at, I mentioned that we wanted better gas mileage that this one car offered. He said that 30 was the norm and he had never seen anything higher then this. I knew that this was a bold faced lie and tried to call him on this, but he would not leave it alone and just kept insisting that I he had never seen anything higher. We did spend some time at the dealership because we did find some cars that we were interested in. But this salesperson hovered and followed us around like a dog. I love dogs, and love to have them around, but they tend to follow you around and are very aggressive at wanting your attention to the point that you just want to kick them into next week. Of course I would never do this to a dog, because they are sweet and just want to love you. But that rule does not apply to used car salespeople. It took every ounce of restraint I could muster to not kick this guy into next week!
After about 4 cars, we had had enough of this guy. We just could not stand it anymore. We made a bee line for our car. This guy though was in hot pursuit. He was like a Rottweiler. Once he had us in his sales grip, he was not about to let us go without a fight.
At the end, I just had to say; "We are leaving". I asked him for a business card just in case we decided to return. But he said he did not have anything. After we got home, we looked up the Kelly Blue Book on one of the cars we had looked at and been interested in. The sticker was over 20k. According to Kelly, the car had a value of around 17k at the absolute highest.
This dealership was the absolute worst experience we have ever had. It was exhausting and overwhelming.
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