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Dealer Scams

Shootist

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Westgate Jeep in Raleigh, Hendrick Jeep in Concord both had misleading Prices and lies in their advertised pricing here in NC. Gerry wood Jeep in Salisbury was the only one that had honest pricing, sold for advertised price or lower with haggling.
i bought my Gladiator at Hendrick only because it was the only one within a large radius that had the options I want and only after they wouldn’t transfer it to Gerry Wood. I would much rather have bought from Gerry Wood and saved another $1500-2000 without having to deal with the lying shitheads from Hendrick who by the way tried tacking on about $2200 on addendum and then attempting to steal $5000 in my trade by offering $28000 where I already had two prior trade offers of $33500 for the same truck. DO NOT BUY from HENDRICK’s in Concord, NC unless you really watch yourself. The salesman had the audacity to agree to removing the addendum and then passing it through to the finance guy with it still in the deal. I fortunately caught that before signing the delivery forms but I am sure that many have not been so lucky.
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siggy

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By the way, the dealer was advertising the Mojave for $51K, then I got the sucker punch of over $60K out the dooor!
Yes, out the door includes sales tax which appears to be about $2,500 based on what you posted. No dealer includes sales tax in their advertised pricing. I don't understand what the scam is though. You posted an itemized list. The only scam would be if you don't understand the various line items of a $60k purchase. It's all laid out rather nicely for you. Don't see the problem. If you don't like the price, negotiate or move on.
 

Casique

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The scam is the nitrogen in tires and other crap for almost $3K!
 

Shootist

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That scam is called the dealer add game or addendum sticker. It is common for dealers to add cheap components for exorbitant prices. Like charging $300-$400 for tinting two side windows that a pro shop would do for $100-150 tops on a Jeep. Or the $200+ for a pinstripe that costs $10 and 30 minutes to apply. The one that is comical is the paint protection for hundreds that is nothing more than a good synthetic wax or paint sealer that you just have to trust they even did anything in the first place. The one that kills me most is the bait and switch let’s advertise it for thousands off to get people in and then make up excuses why they aren’t honoring the price they posted. Read the disclaimers that is where the addendums come in as dealer added items. I just tell them take the crap off I don’t want any of it and won’t pay for it. If they balk I walk.
 

WhippetTaxi

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I have been seriously looking for a Gladiator for the past couple of weeks and I've experienced the trifecta of dealer scams and poor customer service.

(1) At the first dealer, the financial worksheet they gave me on a Rubicon has over $1800 (plus tax, of course) of traditional snake oil like window etching, vehicle locator (although included with the Sirius feature), and paint protection (on leather??). I told the sales guy I was taking my business elsewhere. He insisted this stuff was added by the dealer to all of their inventory as they received the vehicles and it was not possible to remove the package or to waive the cost. The sales manager texted me a few days later saying that he authorized the sales person to remove the stuff, but I decided I didn't care to do business with an unethical dealer.

(2) The second dealer had a beautiful black Rubicon Gladiator that we test drove and would have purchased had it not been for the color. I was specifically looking for Gobi or Gator and their entire inventory was black and white Rubicons. Before I left, the sale person found a Gator Rubicon in one of their sister stores in the San Antonio area (or so he said) and they could make me a great deal on it. It was more heavily optioned than what I needed, so when I got home I pulled it up online and it was not at one of their sister stores, but at a competitor's lot in Austin. Ironically, the online listing at the other dealer's site was several hundred dollars cheaper than what the second dealer had quoted as their best price. If the second dealer had simply said they didn't have what I needed in their family of dealerships but could probably do a dealer trade and then negotiate some on the price, I might have been okay. So, lying to the customer didn't sit well and I marked that one of my list.

(3) Hoping the third time would be the charm, I drove to the other local dealer in Austin to look at the Gator Gladiator and the sales person walked out in the lot to show me and then he couldn't find it. Turned out the sales manager had loaned this new vehicle to a relative of the family to drive, calling it an "extended test drive." This was last Friday and as of yesterday afternoon, they still didn't have it on the lot. They did text me a great discount on it, but it is challenging to agree to something that was still out and/or may had a lot of miles racked up during the bizarre test drive adventure. So, they were marked off my shopping list.

I ended up going out of town and found what I wanted about 90 minutes away from home, for a slightly higher price, but with a sales and service team that has been responsive and straightforward. I don't mind paying a little more for good customer service and an ethical dealership culture.
 

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ZTMAN

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I don't mind going into the mud pit to negotiate with high volume dealers. Last thing that I would expect is that they would be ethical. They are trying to make a profit for their dealership, and you are trying to beat them up on price to get the lowest price. Let the games begin. If they don't want to sell you a JT at the price you targeted, move on.

There are many smaller dealers in our area that are "ethical." They are upfront about their pricing which in my case was $3,500 higher. They would not budge on price, so I went to the mud pit, got my JT, and I take it to the local dealer for service.
 
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Shootist

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Paying enough for a dealership to make a profit I do not have a problem with. I don’t typically even shoot for the lowest price or highest trade value like I used to years back. I understand needing to pay employees and keep the bills paid more today than I did when I was younger. But don’t be a lying douchebag about things like addendum stickers. This seems to plague the American car dealerships more than others from my casual observation but I may be wrong there or it could be just in my area.
 

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You may be an upstanding person Shootist, but I think the lying customers are no better than lying salesmen. Go on the sales person blogs and forums. I do that from time to time for a little counter intelligence and entertainment. The stories are hilarious.
What about the never ending advice to tell the sallesman you are going to finance for a better price, or tell them you do not have a trade until they give you a price. Is that lying or a negotiating tactic. Just part of the game.
There a lot of bad salesmen and dealerships out there looking to take advantage of the uneducated, but if you know where the head of the snake is, they are easier to deal with.

If you want a good read, Edmunds did a piece some time ago called Confessions of a Car Salesmen. Very interesting.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-a-car-salesman-updated-for-2009.phtml
 

siggy

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I don't mind going into the mud pit to negotiate with high volume dealers. Last thing that I would expect is that they would be ethical. They are trying to make a profit for their dealership, and you are trying to beat them up on price to get the lowest price. Let the games begin. If they don't want to sell you a JT at the price you targeted, move on.

There are many smaller dealers in our area that are "ethical." They are upfront about their pricing which in my case was $3,500 higher. They would not budge on price, so I went to the mud pit, got my JT, and I take it to the local dealer for service.
Finally someone who gets it! People take it so personal. Look at it as a sport. If you're not happy with the price, move on! Lots of options out there. You can do a nationwide search and have any vehicle of your choosing delivered for $1k. Usually the high volume dealers are the best because they're not as concerned with margins...think Wal-Mart. They know they can make more money moving more product.
 

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You may be an upstanding person Shootist, but I think the lying customers are no better than lying salesmen. Go on the sales person blogs and forums. I do that from time to time for a little counter intelligence and entertainment. The stories are hilarious.
What about the never ending advice to tell the sallesman you are going to finance for a better price, or tell them you do not have a trade until they give you a price. Is that lying or a negotiating tactic. Just part of the game.
There a lot of bad salesmen and dealerships out there looking to take advantage of the uneducated, but if you know where the head of the snake is, they are easier to deal with.

If you want a good read, Edmunds did a piece some time ago called Confessions of a Car Salesmen. Very interesting.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-a-car-salesman-updated-for-2009.phtml
This is not directed to you personally, just a comment on the statement of lying customers.

The whole Kabuki dance that has to play out buying a car from the traditional franchise dealership model is set by the process that system created, not the customer. There is basically three parts of the deal, sale price, trade-in and finance. The customer should not have to resort to playing psychological warfare in "lying" if all three parts of the deal were done fairly and above board. The dealerships and their proxies the salesman and other dealership employees, play the game of sliding the numbers of the previously mentioned three parts back and forth over the course of the deal to get to where the expected profit point is to be had when said and done. If each part was done above board to the customer, then the customer having to "lie" should not be a concern. If a lying customer pulls out a whammy at the last minute on having or not having a trade and it make the deal go south for the dealership, then it was fuckery on the dealerships part in the first place.

It will never happen, but the whole state level vehicle dealership franchise laws need to be scraped and are what is 99% of the problem and has created this adversarial relationship between dealership car sales and individual consumer. While I despise Tesla vehicles, their direct to consumer retail sale and delivery cuts through the bullshit of the dealership franchise model. I wish direct corporate to consumer sales was more widespread to cut out the unnecessary dealership franchise model.
 

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Factoid

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Buying a car these days is like sitting through a time share presentation. It is ridiculous and to the post above, is full of loss leaders, ADM, Voodoo financing, etc. no one show have to play this bs she’ll game!
 
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akneppers

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So took a trip to see their stickers and now they’re adding “high speed buffing” to their gladiators for a new car...

F6CD8ADE-EAD7-4D5C-B1A2-71088E390E09.jpeg


A010E5E0-0D88-4981-B485-87DF18DA13BB.jpeg
 

ZTMAN

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So took a trip to see their stickers and now they’re adding “high speed buffing” to their gladiators for a new car...

Jeep Gladiator Dealer Scams A010E5E0-0D88-4981-B485-87DF18DA13BB


Jeep Gladiator Dealer Scams A010E5E0-0D88-4981-B485-87DF18DA13BB
Wonder what the fee is to remove the swirl marks from high speed buffing.
 

Ozarkgolfer

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...and they list that specific Jeep on their website at a sales price of $53,535, but if you meet all the discounted criteria it comes out to $48,535....one of the criteria is you need to be a realtor, and an employee of a realtor, serving in the military.

I think the buyer will get the buffing, don't you?
 

Factoid

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“Adjusted Market Value” what a bunch of horse shit.

What makes this a real scam is that they then advertise a sale price that reduces or eliminates this non-value adding mark up. This is one of the many reasons that sane people hate car dealers and most salesmen.
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