Buying in Florida? I'm so Sorry...

[ChrisNLA]

That doesn’t seem ‘frightening’ to me…. You don’t wanna know what I paid for my 2024 Mojave X.

I bought in a bad market because I NEEDED a truck. Paid $44K for my Gladiator Sport S that I ordered.

Now loaded Rubicons with painted fenders, roofs, safety gizmos, and heated power leather seats are $49K locally.

So annoying

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[WilldWilly]

I fail to understand how anyone is getting ripped off by a specific dealership. We all bend over for Jeep, but I just priced a shadow ops on jeep's web site, and after incentives it was still over 68k with all options picked, so I fail to understand how the dealer is ripping you off. Unless you are talking about all the dealer bla bla bla starting with LOJACK.

 

[BourbonRunner]

Junk fees are a thing but nobody says you have to pay them. We're in a buyer's market for cars, especially Jeeps.

If the dealer doesn't want to remove their junk fees, walk.

If you're not in the middle of nowhere there's liable to be another Jeep dealer within a short drive eager for your business. And even if you are in the middle of nowhere, there's plenty of dealers who will ship it to your door.

 

[Setec641A]

I'm sorry if this post is "vague", or seems like I'm complaining. However, like I said in a previous post, I am a consumer advocate, since I am a consumer, as are every member of this forum. It's dealerships like this, that advertise $X,000 off the price of the vehicle, but then use, "Claw-Back" fees such as Lojack, window etching, tinting, F*CKING Nitrogen filled tires - REALLY???!!! and then try to convince people that these are necessary dealer add-ons that they have to pay. Let's face it - People are stupid. If I can educate, and call out these shysters, then I'm a happy guy, cuz I saved someone a whole lot of money, and someday, these rip-off artists will think twice about their shoddy business model. Car buying is a messy game, and the uninformed are completely taken advantage of every day. It's you and me, and all the other educated consumers that do our homework that have to fight tooth and nail to get a sensible deal. It shouldn't be that way. I should be able to buy a car the exact same way that I walk into my local supermarket and buy a head of lettuce.

 

[RougeShot12er]

I'm sorry if this post is "vague", or seems like I'm complaining. However, like I said in a previous post, I am a consumer advocate, since I am a consumer, as are every member of this forum. It's dealerships like this, that advertise $X,000 off the price of the vehicle, but then use, "Claw-Back" fees such as Lojack, window etching, tinting, F*CKING Nitrogen filled tires - REALLY???!!! and then try to convince people that these are necessary dealer add-ons that they have to pay. Let's face it - People are stupid. If I can educate, and call out these shysters, then I'm a happy guy, cuz I saved someone a whole lot of money, and someday, these rip-off artists will think twice about their shoddy business model. Car buying is a messy game, and the uninformed are completely taken advantage of every day. It's you and me, and all the other educated consumers that do our homework that have to fight tooth and nail to get a sensible deal. It shouldn't be that way. I should be able to buy a car the exact same way that I walk into my local supermarket and buy a head of lettuce.

What does this have to do with buying a vehicle in Florida?
There are shitty dealerships everywhere.
If you don’t like the BS the car dealership is doing, but from another one. That is how free markets work. Eventually the dealership will go out of business. Most likely they are already on their way out if they are pushing BS like you stated.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Most likely they are already on their way out if they are pushing BS like you stated.

And therein lies the problem, it’s become so commonplace that they probably AREN’T on their way out. Most people don’t question it. They just “baaaaa” and take it on the chin. The dealer I bought my Gladiator from had a different price for the vehicle when we sat down to deal. By $8k or so. Thankfully I’d saved the internet ad and had the screenshot or it would have been way harder to get the deal I did. Not sure if it was on purpose or a simple mistake in the ad but they actually honored the lower internet price and I got a pretty decent deal. It did go back to the sales manager a couple times but I stuck to my guns because I really did like this Jeep. I felt the deal was fair in the end but it’s very easy to walk out of a dealership with buyers remorse these days. Far more common now than it was 10-15 years ago. The term “stealership” didn’t originate from nothing.

 

[BourbonRunner]

STLA as well as other manufacturers know the dealer experience is a weak point. Problem is nothing changes. Maybe Carvana getting into the game will shake things up the way Carmax did years ago with no-haggle pricing becoming a thing but I'm not holding my breath.

The OpEx in the industry has forced consolidation into massive regional and national chains but has served to only further auger it into the ground. It's increasingly rare to find an indy or small local chain anymore in many of the population centers- and even then they are still a crapshoot.

 

[ChrisNLA]

And therein lies the problem, it’s become so commonplace that they probably AREN’T on their way out. Most people don’t question it. They just “baaaaa” and take it on the chin. The dealer I bought my Gladiator from had a different price for the vehicle when we sat down to deal. By $8k or so. Thankfully I’d saved the internet ad and had the screenshot or it would have been way harder to get the deal I did. Not sure if it was on purpose or a simple mistake in the ad but they actually honored the lower internet price and I got a pretty decent deal. It did go back to the sales manager a couple times but I stuck to my guns because I really did like this Jeep. I felt the deal was fair in the end but it’s very easy to walk out of a dealership with buyers remorse these days. Far more common now than it was 10-15 years ago. The term “stealership” didn’t originate from nothing.

My local dealer was wonderful.

Walked in with a build sheet from the website and a printout of my corporate discount.

I paid MSRP minus the discount . One percent below invoice I think it was. This was at a time when discounts were not widespread unless you went to a handful of niche dealers around the country. Summer '22.

There was only one or two 'extra charges'. Extremely reasonable title and license fees.

 

[MSFTMatt]

Florida has plenty of issues but that’s not one IMO

 

[RougeShot12er]

And therein lies the problem, it’s become so commonplace that they probably AREN’T on their way out. Most people don’t question it. They just “baaaaa” and take it on the chin. The dealer I bought my Gladiator from had a different price for the vehicle when we sat down to deal. By $8k or so. Thankfully I’d saved the internet ad and had the screenshot or it would have been way harder to get the deal I did. Not sure if it was on purpose or a simple mistake in the ad but they actually honored the lower internet price and I got a pretty decent deal. It did go back to the sales manager a couple times but I stuck to my guns because I really did like this Jeep. I felt the deal was fair in the end but it’s very easy to walk out of a dealership with buyers remorse these days. Far more common now than it was 10-15 years ago. The term “stealership” didn’t originate from nothing.

Well that is on the purchaser if they agree to the terms. No one is forcing them to buy something.
Most people are idiots. Most dealerships will capitalize on stupidity. This is not a new concept nor is it location dependent.

 

[Setec641A]

The dealer I bought my Gladiator from had a different price for the vehicle when we sat down to deal. By $8k or so. Thankfully I’d saved the internet ad and had the screenshot or it would have been way harder to get the deal I did. Not sure if it was on purpose or a simple mistake in the ad but they actually honored the lower internet price and I got a pretty decent deal.

That was completely intentional. I looked at the fine print on a dealer site about 1 month ago, and couldn't believe what I read. It said that, "Prices and inventory change daily", and that in order to get the price listed on the internet, one had to bring basically the entire webpage in, printed out with the dealer name, date and time clearly visible on the printout. If I remembered the dealer, I'd call them out.

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