New Guy / Weird Dealer Experience

[punk'n]

When buying my second JT, I drove out of state to 2 dealerships who both previously confirmed on the phone they had exactly what I was looking for -in stock with no add-ons.

I drove 3 hours to each one to find out they were each lifted with angry grilles, lights etc. and an inflated price.

I was not a happy camper.

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[saintpauljeff]

I swear some of you on here have some of the most bizarre experiences at dealerships… I’ve never had anything close to these stories

 

[Dryfly24]

We went to Lost Dutchman/Superstition Mtn pass Two guys and a dog and they tell us how beautiful it is up top, they were on their way out.

We go about 200yds and there’s about an 8’ dip in the trail. On my left rock wall straight up. On my right 10’ drop off straight down and just rock.

Im leading because it was 72* and we were told 70-90 they may come out to feed. I’m bebopping along with my head on a swivel and it felt like I’d been hit with a bat in the shin. I lift my left leg and a purple egg is coming up on my shin.

I look down and a western diamond back is coiled, tail shaking and looks like it’s about to strike. I hopped back still on one foot and I guess landed on a small rock and fell flat on my face.

This thing is 1-2’ from my face and half striking at my face but stopping short. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a life long martial artist, he was on my left and I’m left handed or what but I backhand slapped the snake up against the rock wall. He flipped and flopped and I saw white belly.

I get to my feet and she’s pissed. She’s kinda coming at me and then goes sideways. Back at me and then the other side. I’ve never been afraid of snakes but this scared the sh!t outta me.

I took a step backwards and fell off the little cliff. I think I hit every rock on the way down. I had my wife’s camera around my neck and hit the bottom chest first and my legs kinda whipped to the ground. My first thought was oh crap I broke Kathy’s camera. But not a scratch on it, my chest felt it though.

I get to my feet and this thing is making its way down to me. Thru her was the best way out. I found another way out. My wife and kids were at the top of the little 8’ rise and all three are crying. My wife is hysterical. A fear hit me and I thought one of them were bitten.

They said when I fell on my face but still on the trail I yelled for them to get back I had a snake. I don’t remember saying that or anything but all three said I did. They didn’t know I’d been bit but when I fell off the cliff they thought it killed me and then I come bounding out.

A small crowd had formed and one was an ER nurse who’d taken the day off to hike. She’d already made a call and within minutes an ATV came and picked me up. Go to the hospital and get squared away for a while.

The bite was bad but taken care of. My lower left ribs were banged up, my chest from landing on rock and camera, front right quad hit something and was sore for a while, a sharp rock caught me from the base of my palm where it met my wrist and cut me from the base of the palm down my forearm to my elbow. Three fingers on the left hand and two on the right were cut real bad where they met my palms and both hands had a LOT of small rocks buried in them. Worst was both knees were banged up BAD.

Its been a few weeks now and the only residuals are both knees are still sore and I still have a knot on my shin where I was bit that’s still tender to the touch.

Ive seen these things in books, internet, etc - it’s amazing how invisible they are in their habitat. It was FAT and about 3’ long. They think it was pregnant and sunning and I got a light strike and she was lethargic. It was a rough day.

My Dad was getting our mail while we were gone and the hospital bill beat me home.

Ive heard many times that health insurance will not cover rattlesnake bites. Can you either confirm or debunk that? I’ve also heard that the treatment is in the tens of thousands of dollars.

I retired to rattlesnake country so I have a good reason for asking. There have been many spotted around my property since we’ve been here and quite a few killed.

 

[redrider]

You need a mongoose habitat.

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

Ive heard many times that health insurance will not cover rattlesnake bites. Can you either confirm or debunk that? I’ve also heard that the treatment is in the tens of thousands of dollars.

I retired to rattlesnake country so I have a good reason for asking. There have been many spotted around my property since we’ve been here and quite a few killed.

I believe that is MOSTLY a myth. To my knowledge, most insurers will cover it, but it may come with some hefty copays/deductibles. I recall something to do with people in certain jobs having problems because their insurance wants to consider it a work related injury.

One of the problems with killing rattlesnakes is we typically kill the noisy ones because they are the ones we find. They don't want to waste their venom on a human, so they warn us. The ones who are shitty at warning tend to be the ones that survive near humans and reproduce to create more rattlesnakes that are shitty at warning, leading to more humans being bitten rather than just freaked the fuck out at the sound of the rattle.

 

[MonkeySkunks]

Jumping on the Gupton is the way to go bandwagon. Didn't notice you were already in TN when you first posted. Order exactly what you want rather than picking out of their stock since it'll probably be sold before you get there anyway. That is unless they have exactly what you want.

Hell I may be stuck buying Jeeps for the rest of my life just so I can keep buying from Gupton. Best car buying experience ever even including having to deal with airlines and an 11 hr +/- drive home. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend them or do it again myself.

 

[DickensCPA]

Shady dealer wasn’t here in knoxville was it? Because those same add ons they tried to pull on me as well same “added options too” even on a used jt launch edition. I went elsewhere and got almost exactly what I wanted minus leather.

No the shady dealer was Rhythm in Madison, TN

 

[DickensCPA]

My would-be second Jeep was negotiated at a shady dealership. Sometime between me buying my first Jeep from them (No trade-in) and my second (with Trade-in) they got a new sales manager. The deal went south, quick, with them changing and adding numbers. The sales manager came out when I was trying to walk away and told me my trade-in was now their property and wasn’t able to leave in it.

I don’t typically do the whole “I’mma sue you” thing, but informed them I am leaving in my vehicle and they’d be hearing from a lawyer soon.
Within the next 12 hours I’ve never heard so many apologies for the “miscommunication” in my life.

The place I bought my JT from was the experience you should expect when buying a new vehicle and have since sent a few people their way who have said the same.

Run, don’t walk away from shady dealerships and tactics.

That's pretty much been my experience to a "T." I bought my truck at this dealership 11/27/20 and it was seemless. I really liked my salesman and it was pleasant. I asked for him and got the "he's no longer here" deal and I didn't recognize anyone. The salesman I dealt with Monday had been there 3 mos and still had milk on his breath.

 

[DickensCPA]

Ive heard many times that health insurance will not cover rattlesnake bites. Can you either confirm or debunk that? I’ve also heard that the treatment is in the tens of thousands of dollars.

I retired to rattlesnake country so I have a good reason for asking. There have been many spotted around my property since we’ve been here and quite a few killed.

I learned a couple things after getting bit: 1) You can only get antivenom from a live snake and they said it's only good for one day possibly two 2) Each vile is like $10k apiece and you need three.

I don't know how much they gave me and on the bill there is a charge for "Pharmacy" but they gave me all kinds of stuff so I couldn't decipher how much was antivenom. The total bill was $183k and change.

I had a widow maker heart attack back in 2017 and in an emergency situation they took me to an ER that was out of network, but it was an emergency. I was obviously out of network on the snake bite but it was an emergency. For the heart attack my max out of pocket was $7550 and six days afterwards I was receiving bills from Drs, ERs, Ultrasound people, etc. I knew I had to pay at least $7550 so I called Cigna and said who do I pay first. After 15 min of conversation I asked them if I could just send THEM $7550 and forget it and they said yes. Those bills totaled $204k and I was done.

Now my max out of pocket is $8100. Cigna told me to mail the ER a check for $8100 and they'd handle the rest.

I'm 50 years old and kickboxed for 25 years and still train BJJ. Until my heart attack at 45 I'd never spent a night in a hospital. I've never had a broken bone, I can not remember ever having a headache or flu in my life and just never needed a Dr. but paid for a family of four self employed health insurance since 1998.

So far everything appears like Cigna is taking care of it.

 

[DickensCPA]

Gupton just got back with me. On the new Jeep everything is square. On my trade they offered me about $4500 less than everyone else.

In TN we don't pay sales tax on the trade in amount (which most states are like that) so between that and the extra balance my pmt goes up $249/month unless I add to my down pmt. My plan was to have $5212 in trade equity and add $7500 cash as a down pmt.

I gave them a direct payoff of my truck from my bank but for some reason on the sales sheet here my payoff is a few hundred more so instead of $5212 in trade equity I now have $1633.

I'll have to think on this some.

 

[MonkeySkunks]

Gupton just got back with me. On the new Jeep everything is square. On my trade they offered me about $4500 less than everyone else.

In TN we don't pay sales tax on the trade in amount (which most states are like that) so between that and the extra balance my pmt goes up $249/month unless I add to my down pmt. My plan was to have $5212 in trade equity and add $7500 cash as a down pmt.

I gave them a direct payoff of my truck from my bank but for some reason on the sales sheet here my payoff is a few hundred more so instead of $5212 in trade equity I now have $1633.

I'll have to think on this some.

Check with the various used car companies, carmax, carvana, etc. and see if the difference is worth eating the taxes. Back in October carmax offered me 4k more than anyone else for my trade and Gupton had me about 10k under MSRP(4 or 5K under local dealers best offer, I think). 10% tax here so the roughly $2,600 additional I lost by paying tax on full price instead of trade in was still the best deal.

 

[TSquared]

Stories like this are why I decided to order last year.

 

[RichDSport]

I don’t blame people for ordering. I bought one off the lot yesterday at an Autonation dealer. I had bought my last two cars at Autonation and found it to be quite easy, even though they do make you wait around 4-5 hours unless you really get things nailed down before going in. I thought I had this deal nailed down, and they changed it on me when I went in to finish the deal. They added on $600 for some kind of fabric stain insurance, and I lost it on them when they said it’s non-negotiable. I said it wasn’t anywhere on the window sticker and was never part of the advertised price (dealers are not allowed to add on to advertised prices in Colorado without asking.)

At least this dealer had a lot fewer nonsense add-ons than others in town. Buying definitely feels different during this inflated price time. The sales manager tried to act like a soft top Gladiator is a hard top Wrangler, which are order-only at this point. There’s plenty of Gladiators on lots. I ended up getting a pretty ok deal with my trade (They know they need inventory going into tax season). They were trying to work me over the first night, then day 2 realized my affiliate pricing would be the best thing for them and me. The financing wasn’t what I expected either-it didn’t get close to what I was pre-qualified for. So I’m going to have to refinance when I get my title. I would say line something up with your CU before you go in. I used to think that advice was overblown, but it makes a big difference on a truck this expensive.

Anyway if you buy off a lot-even a fairly reputable one, you need to be on your toes and be prepared to go to war. Never take a deal without walking away at least one time. In the end I’m really happy with the vehicle but exhausted from the fight. I hadn’t ever done a trade in before, and that makes it much more complicated. I used a google spreadsheet to keep track of everything they were throwing at me. If you don’t have a trade, I say just order from one of the dealers on this site and have a pleasant experience.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I don’t blame people for ordering. I bought one off the lot yesterday at an Autonation dealer. I had bought my last two cars at Autonation and found it to be quite easy, even though they do make you wait around 4-5 hours unless you really get things nailed down before going in. I thought I had this deal nailed down, and they changed it on me when I went in to finish the deal. They added on $600 for some kind of fabric stain insurance, and I lost it on them when they said it’s non-negotiable. I said it wasn’t anywhere on the window sticker and was never part of the advertised price (dealers are not allowed to add on to advertised prices in Colorado without asking.)

At least this dealer had a lot fewer nonsense add-ons than others in town. Buying definitely feels different during this inflated price time. The sales manager tried to act like a soft top Gladiator is a hard top Wrangler, which are order-only at this point. There’s plenty of Gladiators on lots. I ended up getting a pretty ok deal with my trade (They know they need inventory going into tax season). They were trying to work me over the first night, then day 2 realized my affiliate pricing would be the best thing for them and me. The financing wasn’t what I expected either-it didn’t get close to what I was pre-qualified for. So I’m going to have to refinance when I get my title. I would say line something up with your CU before you go in. I used to think that advice was overblown, but it makes a big difference on a truck this expensive.

Anyway if you buy off a lot-even a fairly reputable one, you need to be on your toes and be prepared to go to war. Never take a deal without walking away at least one time. In the end I’m really happy with the vehicle but exhausted from the fight. I hadn’t ever done a trade in before, and that makes it much more complicated. I used a google spreadsheet to keep track of everything they were throwing at me. If you don’t have a trade, I say just order from one of the dealers on this site and have a pleasant experience.

Yep. The trade gives you a lot of bargaining leverage in this market. Let me guess, Autonation Jeep West on Colfax?

 

[chaosjake]

The sales manager came out when I was trying to walk away and told me my trade-in was now their property and wasn’t able to leave in it.

"Hello, 911? I'd like to report a stolen vehicle..."

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