It’s amazing the hassle Bruce went through trying to buy a Jeep with $24,000 cash. Even though he’s ready to buy the car outright, the car salesman almost convinces him to finance because that way you get $1,500 back. Total cost of the loan: $31,732…they wanted him to spend an extra $7,132 to “save” $1500. Luckily his mom steps in and saves him from getting taken for a ride. His journey doesn’t stop there, nor does it end with a successful Jeep purchase. They can’t even sell a car to a guy who shows up with cash in hand ready to buy… no wonder they needed a bailout. Full story inside…
As the economy suffers, I am extremely lucky and grateful to have a job. Many friends and colleagues have been fired or laid off and watching the news or reading the daily paper leads me to believe that doomsday is approaching. America is a country with an amazing history and home to people of great pride and resiliency. We will overcome, no doubt. Now that my optimism and I are on the same page I am ready to partake in one of the greatest American luxuries… buying my first new car!
I began the search for my first new car in late 2008 and I became serious about making the purchase this past weekend. I, a responsible consumer, really did my homework and surveyed dozens of makes and models, choosing a car based on four key criteria: American, under thirty thousand dollars, four wheel drive and room for my hockey equipment. The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited satisfied my requirements and I had heard good things about the quality of Jeep vehicles. I was at peace with my decision and now onto the easy part; spending my money.
My first step was going to http://www.jeep.com and using the “Build My Own” feature that is prominently displayed on their website. I went through the checklist and chose the most basic features and was surprised to see that this vehicle would only cost about $24,000. Chrysler is offering employee pricing this month along with many other incentives. The stars were aligning and I was very excited and ready to make my purchase. I printed a copy of the Wrangler Unlimited that I just “built” and set out for a dealership.
My normal work schedule is 9-5:30, Monday through Friday. I wanted to visit my first dealership on a Thursday night to lay the groundwork for completing a purchase by the coming weekend. I searched the Greater New York area and the first dealership I targeted was a Chrysler Jeep Dodge located in the Bronx. I arrived at the dealership at about 7 o’clock, and it was empty. I approached the doors, with $2,500 in cash, like I was Captain America, ready to do my part in resurrecting this great country. I was instantly approached by a man who identified himself as the manager and he started talking business. He asked what I was looking for, I explained my situation and he was anxious to get the ball rolling. He sat me down with one of his sales associates, from this point on he will be known as Dr. Doom (for all you non-comic book fans, Dr. Doom is an arch nemesis to Captain America, me), and we began discussing what I was looking for. After 15 minutes of small talk and feature choosing, we were ready. I explained to Dr. Doom that I was prepared to write a check for the full price of the car I “built”, which was $24,000. Or so says http://www.jeep.com. My loving mother was kind enough to lend me the money…you see, I come from a long line of people who believe in resurrecting the economy; crazy, I know. So here I am thinking, cue the rose petals, pop the champagne…we have a young man ready to fork over $24,000 up front. Have the Gods sent him to us in our time of need? Maybe there’s hope in this dang economy yet! But nay, there would be no rose petals, no bubbly…a glass of lukewarm water would have been a stretch. After 20 minutes of car-salesman-lingo-slinging, Dr. Doom had convinced me that financing the vehicle would be my best option. Huh? You…you don’t WANT me to just give you the whole thing right now and call it a day? Hold on a second, you’re telling me that I don’t get any incentives if I put a guaranteed $24,000 in your pocket? I didn’t know that car salesmen were so humorous…or is he serious? You’ve captured my attention, Dr. Doom…please proceed. Apparently, Chrysler financial only offers the $1,500 cash back on the car if I finance. I found this odd but nevertheless I agreed. After going through the subsequent paperwork (giving him my social security number, monthly income, age and place of residence) we were ready to go. Next, Dr. Doom uttered a phrase that I would come to know well over the next three days, “Let’s get you into YOUR car.”
Dr. Doom ran my credit and explained that my score would not allow me to get 0% financing. Let me take a moment to advise all of you college-aged readers; credit cards do not equal free money, but I digress. Regardless of this small setback, Dr. Doom still encouraged me to pursue the financing route. I still didn’t understand why. If I could pay the car in full, Chrysler would have a guaranteed $24,000 in their pocket and I would have a car, isn’t that what we both want at the end of the day? Nevertheless I trusted Dr. Doom and decided to ask my mother to co-sign a loan with me; at least this would “guarantee” the car I wanted with 0% financing. Dr. Doom’s finance manager/ evil henchmen, let’s call him Flag-Smasher, said I could get the loan and pay it off in full after 2 months. I thought that was great, now I can get the car I want for even cheaper then I had thought. I left the dealership with a semi-positive attitude and was prepared to bring my mother back on Friday night to complete the purchase. I got back into my 1991 Volvo wagon, affectionately named Steve, and sputtered up Boston Post Road towards my house and then it hit me: I was never given a price on the car. Oh but that’s right, I “built my own” Wrangler straight off of the Jeep website. Whew, that was a close one.
I left work a few minutes early on Friday so I could pick up my mother and get to the dealership before they closed. Steve, my mother and I pull into the parking lot of the dealership at 6:45 pm and upon opening my car door I was met by Dr. Doom. Had he been waiting outside for me all day? Did he propel off of the roof to greet me? You are a wily one Dr. Doom. Regardless of his method of appearance, he escorted us in and offered us bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches. An odd but intriguing selling tool Dr. Doom, however we politely declined. He proceeded to run my mother’s credit with such enthusiasm all the while asking if I wanted to take home the car tonight. “Wow, this is really going to happen and I get to take it home tonight,” I thought to myself as we were invited into the finance office. Wait a tick, Dr. Doom didn’t even ask what color I wanted, and he still didn’t say how much he was charging me for this transaction. I suppose Flag-Smasher would explain everything to me. The three of us talked for a few minutes and finally Dr. Doom presented us with a sheet of paper documenting my new vehicle. Flag-Smasher readily appeared, picked up the phone and wished us luck as he began dialing Chrysler financial; the call was abruptly cut short by my mother. Dr. Doom must have sprayed me with some kind of mind fog (new car scent, if I had to wager a guess); I was applying for a loan, the amount unknown. My mother, utilizing the common sense that I had been robbed of, asked the most simple of questions: “how much of a loan are we applying for?” The disappointment on the face of Flag-Smasher was unmistakable. Was I so anxious to get a car that I never asked for a price? Was the price of the car I so caringly “built” on the Jeep website nothing but a phony ploy to get me in the door? And then I remembered something, something I had heard many times before: Car salesmen are liars. I had simply forgotten that the website is nothing but an electronic car salesman, an e-liar. The number on that sheet of paper in Flag-Smasher’s greedy little hand, displayed in minuscule font, destroyed all faith I had in the rejuvenation of American car companies. $31,732! Didn’t the government just give Chrysler 4 billion dollars? This number shattered my dream of owning a car. I felt betrayed by Dr. Doom and decided to leave on the spot.
I was awoken at 8:43 am on Saturday morning by Flag-Smasher calling my cell phone and asking me to come in for a test drive. I was perplexed, I thought that walking out the night before was an adequate signal of my disinterest. Apparently they were looking at the wrong car and gave us the wrong price, honest mistake. Re-energized and reassured I picked up some cappuccino and Steve, my mother and I headed back to the dealership to seal the deal. Dr. Doom was so happy to see me, I had made his day. After a few minutes of small talk we took the Wrangler for a test drive. Great ride, by the way…I really loved the car. Anyway, we were back at the bargaining table and ready to finalize the deal. Flag-Smasher sat us down and gave us the new number, 29,970. Unbelievable, I politely explained that he had just wasted our time and stormed out of his office. I was so eager to get that car, MY car, that I probably would have considered $28,000 even though http://www.jeep.com had told me that I could buy the car for less. However, on principle, I gave up and decided that they would certainly not get my business.
Stupidly or optimistically, I dragged my girlfriend and her brother to a Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Westchester County. Her brother had purchased a Jeep Cherokee a few months ago. Talk about having the upper hand; $25,000 (I added $1,000 for good measure) in cash and someone who just bought a car at that dealership. Done deal, I couldn’t wait to drive my car home. We were greeted by the same salesmen that had sold my girlfriend’s bother his car. He’ll be Grim Reaper in my little saga, another enemy of Captain America characterized as one who must suck the life out of a human every 24 hours in order to survive. Grim Reaper was with a fellow sucker, I mean consumer, and had us wait for 45 minutes. Just the hospitality and attention my $25,000 demands. Grim Reaper finally came over and told us that he would need an extra fifteen minutes and introduced us to a man that I swear was the old guy from The Mighty Ducks movies, Hans. Anyway, Hans didn’t really know anything about cars but he was assigned the task of showing us the Wranglers that were currently in stock. I was finally reunited with the car that I had fallen in love with on my four and half minute test drive. Hans awkwardly stumbled through a few questions supplied by my girlfriend and then shuffled us back inside.
Hans walked us back into the dealership to meet with Grim Reaper again. He was just finishing up his last meal, I mean deal. He sat us down and offered us coffee and made small talk. Next came business, Grim Reaper said “let’s get you into YOUR car.” It had the same effect as when Dr. Doom said it, my exuberance was undeniable. Jeep, take my money, please. We ironed out some details: hard top, power windows and four wheel drive. I had to endure yet another 20 minutes of Grim Reaper trying to persuade me to finance the car. Oh, remember what I said earlier – about why they want me to finance? Turns out that since the big bail out Chrysler Jeep no longer “needs the money”. I kid you not; this is what I’m being told as I’m trying to force $25,000 onto this man. Regardless, I politely declined financing, explained that this option was not appealing and assured him that I had $25,000 ready to go. Grim Reaper was disappointed but continued to talk business. Again, just like Dr. Doom he shied away from getting into details about the final price until we hammered out all of the “features”.
Initially I was set on purchasing the vehicle in Red Rock Crystal, a nice rugged maroon color. He explained that the only color he had in stock was black, but for an extra fee he could find the color I was looking for. I cringed and accepted black; after all it would get me the deal I was looking for. I wanted Sirius satellite radio; alas the in-stock car was without said feature…but then again for an extra fee…Ok, so no Sirius. I was barely able to squeeze power locks and windows into the deal and then finally, the moment of truth arrived. Grim Reaper had spoken to his superior and the price had been laid out, $28,300. Again, I was crushed. To reiterate, I began my search with $24,000, I knew the exact color and features that I wanted, I priced everything out online at the Jeep website and thought it would be nothing more than walking into the dealership and ordering up my car. Reality: I came up with an extra thousand dollars, accepted a color I didn’t want and just barely escaped a lifelong affliction of carpal tunnel from hand-cranking non-power windows. There must be room for negotiation, right?
After privately meeting with my girlfriend ( she explained that she could no longer handle being lied to and would sit out the remainder of the negotiations) and her brother we decided that I would pay as much as $27,000 for the car. I stormed into Grim Reaper’s office like former President Bush into Iraq (was my persistence as foolish as his?) We battled for another 10 minutes and Grim Reaper got the price down to $27,770 with a remote starter “included” – don’t mistake my words and assume he included it for free; he included it in the price. I was so worn down and prepared to take the offer and run. I called my mother and she knocked some sense into me, “Bruce, you realize that you’re almost $4,000 over the price Jeep themselves quoted you, not getting the car that you want and are paying extra for basic features?” Well when you put it like that…I left with $25,000 burning a hole in my pocket, without a car and with feelings that can only be described as a mixture of defeat (you may have won this round Grim Reaper!) and the disappointment of a kid on Christmas waiting for his parents to surprise him with that puppy he so badly wants.
This has easily been the single worst buying experiences of my life. America, I assure you I am trying to do my part to stimulate the economy. Jeep, I desperately want to give you my money. Did I mention that my 2500 dollars was a tax refund from Uncle Sam?! Jeep, feel free to e-mail me at brucebrucek@gmail.com. Only e-mail me if you want $25,000 though. I can have a check ready as early as this Wednesday.
By the way, Grim Reaper called yesterday and offered me $94 off of the price, I respectfully declined.
Please take my money [My Efforts to Stimulate the Economy] (Photo: Ben Popken)
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Car dealers are among the greediest and sleaziest businesses around. Sadly, a lot of American car dealers are greedier and sleazier than imports (although import dealers can be pretty bad) because they have to push harder to sell their wares. My wife made the mistake of going into a Dodge dealer last year and was treated like a moron by a sleazy sales person.
When I bought my new 1986 Toyota 4Runner, the sticker price was about $3000 less than what the dealer dude told me. I had just looked at the sticker and went in to buy it. “Oh, that’s the dealer prep fee.” Yeah, sure it is, buddy. Just give me the keys and I’ll “prep” it myself. I finally talked the guy down to sticker plus $500 worth of rust-proofing. And I still drive that truck.
“I had heard good things about the quality of Jeep vehicles.”
…AND you were willing to pay MSRP or more, AND you almost got talked into financing when you had the money, AND… well, I could go on, but…
You, my friend, and people like you, are the only reason Chrysler is still in business at all. However, despite your apparent lack of basic reasoning skills, I’m still happy that you didn’t get totally screwed. Now go buy a car that isn’t a horrendously overpriced piece of junk. And do yourself even more of a favor and buy a one- or two-year old used car. You can keep about 12 grand of that money that’s burning a hole in your pocket.
This is a horror story worse than “Nightmare on Elm Street”. It’s like this kid’s virginity was being taken by a street whore with a venereal disease.
It’s a shame that the American automobile industry has fallen to such a pathetic level of crap but who else will hire these salespeople? It’s like nature keeping them from polluting the rest of the workforce gene pool.
Note to Chrysler: destroy your entire dealership network and start from scratch.
BTW, noticed that the original article (blog) is suddenly AWOL.
Good God Bruce is an idiot.
Maybe God is just telling you not to buy a Jeep….
Just bought a brand new Honda Civic in Dec. I got it hassle-free and at a good price (800 under invoice). How’d I do it? I e-mailed (via carsdirect, cars.com & edmunds.com) 8 dealerships within 30 miles of my house. I explained EXACTLY what I wanted – make/model, options, color & accessories. I told them I was paying cash, I was not in a hurry to get the vehicle so would wait if one needed to be factory ordered to meet my specifications. I told them I only wanted an ‘OUT THE DOOR’ price and that the lowest bidder got my business. I had 7 quotes provided to me via e-mail within 24 hours and just 3 days later I was driving my new car off the lot. Good luck.
How many of you go into a grocery store or BestBuy store, or whatever other store and go ” hey, there’s another Food Emporium in Brooklyn, 15 miles from this here location. Your Brand x can of soup is $3.39. How about I buy it from you for $2.99, store manager?” Ya think they’ll say yes, morons? Why do you people think its ok to do that with a car dealership? If you cut out all the dealership and buy “direct” from the manufacturer, you may not see it instantly, but that is just a baaaaaad idea: economy goes down, YOU will lose your jobs and the only people who profit will be the group of people directly manufacturing the vehicles. You may think you will get a better price, but that also means MORE unemployment, which affects YOUR industry, YOUR housing values, YOUR LIFE everything, MORONS! Get some common sense!
Wow, who goes into a dealership and says they’re ready to pay cash. Negotiate the price and then tell them how you’re going to pay.
this is very interesting, because I planned on doing the same thing with my next car. Perhaps its people growing up with the internet allowing them to get numbers before they walk into the dealership. If I specced a car and the dealership wanted more money, i would have walked out. The company quoted me a price, thats the price, as far as I am concerned. Hopefully this will be true, otherwise there is no point in those online builders.
And as far as I could tell the OP (any myself) dont count “tax, title, fees” etc as the dealer trying to get me. But adding a remote starter, etc, thats him raising the price for no reason.
@redkamel: keep in mind I have never bought a new car, I just assumed car deals worked like everything else.
Consumerist should do an article on how to buy a car.
I’d also like to add I read a great story about someone who was ready to get their car, and when it pulled up with a “Joe Johnson” decal above the brand and on the spare wheel cover, he said “oh, wait, I’d like those taken off”. When told they came with the car, he said something to the effect of “well, they dont actually, you added them, and I would like 10 grand taken off the car price, since I am going to be driving around everyday for at least 5 years with your advertisment. Do the math, it works out to less than a dollar a minute of advertising, which is really fair.” Those dumb decals came off quick.
You don’t have the finance 100% of the purchase price to qualify for rebates. Most contracts I’ve seen were $7,500 minimum and no prepayment penalty.
Finance the minimum, pay the difference in cash then pay off the loan when you receive your first bill. You’ll end up paying about 30 days worth of interest on the $7,500 (~$30 @ 5%) but its still going to be far less than giving up thousands in rebates.
Your first mistake was settling on a Jeep – who on earth led you to believe they are reliable? I suggest you reevaluate and look at a Nissan XTerra or Pathfinder – both vastly superior vehicles.
Your next mistake was not understanding how the game is played. The dealer is there to rob you of as much money as possible, through deceit, deflection, misrepresentation, slight of hand, and the obfuscation of financing, after-sell, etc. You can’t allow them to think, talk, or even motion in your direction other than to give you exactly what you are there for – in this case, your $24k Wrangler or whatever. “This is what I want, this is what I will pay, find it and deliver it to me in 48 hours or I will buy it elsewhere, you have 60 seconds to comply….” No matter what the salesman/manager/finance guy then says, jut repeat that sentence over, and over again until they either do as you ask, or kick you out.
Once they saw that you were green (meaning inexperienced, not stuffed with money) – your chances of having it your way were lost. Not even your mommy was able to help.
I’m pretty sure that it is impossible to leave a car dealership having purchased a car and *not* feel like you were just screwed.
Bruce needs to learn the concept of BLUF when telling a story.
I expect to get treated like crap in dealerships. I had a similar experience when buying a Toyota. Offered cash, but learned later that the dealership (and finance manager) gets an extra bonus for vehicles bought with financing. I even told the finance guy I would just pay it off immediately if he could offer me an incentive to finance and he asked me to wait 6 months (to pay it off) or he wouldn’t get his bonus. Amazing….this shmuck thought I was going to pay interest on a loan I didn’t want for six months so he could get a bonus.
The funny thing is that car sales people are still more respectable than real estate agents. Now those people make my skin crawl! “Real estate NEVER goes down!” “The market’s just about to bounce back up again!” weasels…..
I like how he says he’s a “responsible consumer” and then his belief that he needs to buy American leads him to make a poor consumer purchase. Ugh.
My 2009 Wrangler Unlimited X S Package 4×4
Base Price $26,605
My Selections Show me $225
Destination Charge $750
MSRP as Configured $27,580
Purchase Offer Lease Offer
BC Chrysler Financial Bonus Cash * -$1,000
Net MSRP $26,580
Estimated Payment Calculate
thats the cheapest one with power windows. the base model does not have power windows so how would you score it for 24000? it wouldnt have the power windows that you had carpul tunnel thinking of. is that a hole in the story? welcome to auto buying. its their game. not urs…
I’m surprised that nobody has suggested the very valuable Consumer Reports new car price report
[ec.consumerreports.org]
It costs $14 and gives you true invoice cost on the car and all accessories. In this economy, if you look around enough, you will find a dealer who will sell you pretty much any car for $500 or less over invoice. Might be 50 miles from a metropolitan area, but it’s worth the drive, and you can get warranty service on the car serviced at any authorized dealership.
I’ve used all of the techniques below. I generally tell the salesperson that he won’t make much money, but if we play by my rules, the whole transaction will take just a few minutes and then he can go hose somebody else.
The biggest single thing in buying a car is to simply take charge of the sales process and NEVER let the salesperson or sales manager get control over you. Be ready to walk at a moment’s notice, tell them it’s a no-BS deal, and the first time they pull any BS you’re gone. When they pull the BS the first time, tell them that’s their one opportunity, and the next time they do that, you’re gone. Usually at that point, they get the message.
As for the “we can’t sell it at that price except on credit”… bull$#|+ I’m guessing a call to the zone sales office of said auto manufacturer will get a nice phonecall to the general manager who will then most likely fall all over himself to sell you the car at the quoted price.
Oh, and watch out for the BS add-ons they try to get you for in finance (which they force you to go through even if you’re paying cash.)
– Rustproofing and paint sealant, extended warranty… if you really want either one, you can buy them aftermarket at half the price or less. They are generally a bad deal.
– Ridiculous fees for registration, titling, etc. Find out what the DMV charges, and don’t allow yourself to pay an inflated fee to have the dealership do the work. Many people get hosed for $250 for the privilege of letting some $7 an hour guy from the dealership sit in line at the DMV processing yours and 50 other transactions. If you’re paying cash, get the certificate of origin from the dealer, and go title the thing yourself, unless the dealer is really willing to do it for $50 or less.
– “Advertising overhead”… this is another complete BS charge. I’ve seen dealers try to tack on $200 per car for this. This is part of the dealer’s overhead costs and should be included in their profit. If they bitch that they’re only making $500 on you total, point out that part of something is better than all of nothing, and there are plenty of dealers who are hungry and will take your business.
@calchip: You can get the same report on edmunds, for free.
I personally think that this headline should be “person with $24,000 cash incapable of buying jeep” but that’s just me.
Why would you buy a Jeep/Chrysler? You know the transmission will fall out soon after buying it.
I run into this all the time selling Volkswagens.
Car web sites do not include tax, tag, title or destination fees. Destination (something we have NO control over) to the east coast of the US is $650. Tax is 3% (refundable, happily, under Obama Stimulus plan) and tag title is under $70.
That said, someone comes in with a internet sheet from VW saying “…this is what I want…” we find it and sell it to them, no drama or games.
Mind you, it may take a couple days to get the car you want, but we will get it.
Sorry to hear he had to deal with greedy clods.
ALL relators and car dealers must hang! Your story is not unlike THOUSANDS of others who unfortunately didn’t have a mother to knock some sense into them before buying. That is how they get you… run your ass ragged until you’re tired of haggling.
I’ve had a similar experience with GM and a 0% lease that was about to expire on two cars we own. Both have less than 30,000 and, the 0% was locked in at the time of signing if we elected to buy the cars at the end of the lease. I gave them 3 shots at selling us a new car. The best they could do was over priced by $10,000 and 5.9% interest.
I don’t know. Maybe I looked stupid. Maybe they thought that the new car smell would hypnotize me and make me give up two cars with low milage and 0% interest for new cars that were overpriced and 5.9% interest. Um, thanks but no thanks GM. I’ll stick with our original deal and the cars I already have.
The sad part……I let them talk me into coming into the dealership 3 times because they had some new great offer that would make the deal better than what I already had. Unfortunately each subsequent deal was worse.
Kind of funny that TWO totally unrelated dealerships gave him the same scenario. Hmmm, were they trying to help him out by saving him money by financing? Sounds like it. So why doesn’t he have his car? Maybe he has totally awful credit and CAN’T get a car. There are two sides to every story and dealers aren’t always scum.
Sorry but this kid was asking for everything he got. If he had done a little research he would know that while you may be able to “build your own” vehicle online the situation at the dealerships is very different. They have strict package options and the only way to customize those packages is to add TONS of upcharges.
ex. the limited edition may have leather and sirius radio but only the SPORT package comes with a moon roof so if you really want all of the above you need to special order a sport package with a leather and sirius upgrade (more $$$).
He should have followed his instincts about 1/3 of the way into the process and adjusted his buying criteria based on what was ON THE LOT and not what he had created in his little fantasy world.
And to re-iterate again: dealerships make /real/ money one of two ways…
1. Warranties/Service contracts
2. Financing
Typically they’ll break even or lose money on the sale… maybe make $50-$100 if you buy at the sticker price
We haven’t bought a new car for almost 30 years. Why bother with an “investment” that’s going to lose major value the second you drive it off the lot?
We buy demo cars and used cars off the lot. I can always get something close to what I need and add the rest at aftermarket dealers if I really want it. Just go with “dealer certified” cars and make sure you know what you’re buying.
It’s also much easier to pick up your ball and go elsewhere if you get any dealer crap.
Sorry, but the kid is a moron, he went home thinking he bought a car but didn’t know the price, color or options?? He deserved what he got for not doing his research ahead of time on how to buy a car. Please, will someone give me my 10 minutes back after reading the mind numbing story? He is not the first dumb ass to have the wool pulled over his eyes at a car dealership.
Longest. Story. EV-ER.
pretty much everyone is missing the real issue here.
this man believes that captain america’s nemesis was doctor doom.
the red skull must be up to something!
I build and priced a 2008 Honda Accord for $23,500 and drove out with it for $22,120 (this was about 6 months ago) at an official Honda dealer.
Eat it, American car companies!
This kid mentions Boston Post Road.
So, my best bet is this kiddo comes from the Sudbury-Wayland area of MA (tres rich and chi-chi). Seems like he has money to burn or his family does.
Buying a car is always a bad investment because you are supposed to use it.
I feel for the kid but the best thing for him to have done was just to walk out.
Loved this story. Suck to be the OP and not be able to get the Jeep he wanted for the price advertised!
Tell me again why we’e bailing out the Big-3? I keep forgetting… oh right, cuz they’re incompetent inefficient buffoons and we want them to stick around. Now I remember!
He should have bought the same jeep one year later with 5000 miles on it.
It would have been 50 percent off.
Probably 12,500
Haha! $94 off a $4k difference. That’s awesome.
My mother had to help her uncle buy a car recently. He is a hermit who hardly leaves his house. His last care is a 67 VW Bug… and it has less than 30,000 miles on it. An injury required him to get an automatic, so he wanted the least expensive vehicle possible. Enter the Toyota Yaris. The dealership couldnt handle the fact that he wanted to pay by check. They tried to do a credit check, and guess what? He doesn’t have one becuase hes never owned a credit card. After much trouble, they did let him leave the lot with the car. He has put gas in it twice in 3 years i believe
This is the crap that makes a Dealer and buyer mad. The customer builds the truck online and gets a price with all rebate but the customer does not qualify for all of them then forgets that there is tax on the truck as well. If the online build price was $24000 and the rebates were $5000 then the taxed amount would be $29000. Now tax is different in every state but in mine he owes $1790 in tax alone. It sounds to me like the buyer need to have his mom educate him on buying and things like sales tax and the dealer did a poor job of explaining the charges just so they could make a quick buck shame on both of them.
I loved his story!!..sitting here sipping english tea with my apple strudel..hilarious. And i love jeep..*crosses fingers for you kid* hope jeep.com turns around for a positive
Hmm… the original site you listed to is gone now. It says “The authors have deleted this blog. The content is no longer available”
Very strange…
Gary
[GarySaid.com]
http://www.carsdirect.com
Still- the problem is in the present stealorship model. I hate it and so does everyone else.
I agree that the customer was unfairly treated, and that sleazy tactics were used to try and swindle the man. However, I can assure you this a a fluke, and most dealerships, given the state of the economy, are practically giving cars away. My father who owns a Chrysler dealership has given up his salary for the last few months to keep things afloat, so he doesn’t have to lay anyone off (he hasn’t ever laid off an employee after 22 years).
Regarding the financing: I don’t know when you attempted to buy your car, but Chrysler financial actually stopped financing their own cars at one point earlier in the year. Dealerships had to find alternative financing usually through local banks, and with credit as tight as it is, this only added to the plight of local franchises, alternatively fucked by Cerberus, Chrysler and banks unwilling to lend to some of the spotless of businesses. Therefore, I wouldn’t say this was a Chrysler-wide problem. Websites like Chrysler.com or kelly blue book are problems in that customers think financing and prices are equal among franchises. In any other industry you would not expect that. You wouldn’t go onto McDonalds.com and quote the price of a big-mac to your local franchise. Sites like these just frustrate customers, and equally frustrate car salesmen (who are heavily dependent on reputation and don’t want to be seen as the guy selling lemons).
Second to this, paying for a car in cash is about as sketchy as you can get. Unfortunately, many people use cars as a method for laundering money. Being from the Boston area, there were many instances where the IRS was more than happy to follow up on some of the transactions my father made. Of course any form of payment is acceptable (and legally, will be honored), but realize that 99.999% of car purchases do not happen this way and dealers will do anything to avoid dealing with that.
So – don’t give up on buying a Jeep. They’re great cars. You had a bit of bad luck, but my advice is to find a small, local dealer (and get to know him, his wife, his kids, everything about him so that if theres a problem with the car it gets taken care of quick), take your time, and be realistic about what to expect (as in – find a good deal from a dealer, the website isn’t actually selling you anything, and the dealership is).
And after searching some more, if you still can’t find a dealership willing to take your money, find me and I’ll take it and put you into YOUR car
If he built the car on-line, he could have tried to find the closest dealer with the exact truck he wanted. Also, how did the dealer tack on 4 or 5k over msrp or was this the total cost of the car after the loan is paid off after 5 years? He can just payoff the loan the next month. Fail.
Here’s a basic, simple negotiating strategy that has been proven to work over time: No matter what, no matter when, as they quote you a price – flinch!
Anyone can do this. Even if you truly hate negotiating, feel you have zero skill for it, you can do this.
Open your eyes as wide as can be. “Wow.. That’s a lot more than I …” “Really? That much? ” or any other similarity will do.
Try it. You will be amazed at the results.
So I just listened to this past Wednesday Dave Ramsey show and he read the story on air. It was quite amusing. If you want to listen to it, it’s on his website.
You tell your tale well, Mr. America.
One more thing you should really consider when you buy a car is the mpg. That’ll savecost you thousands of dollars over the life of the car.
Car salesmans’ favorite tricks seem to be to kill a whole lot of your time, then spring a bunch of crap on you just before the contract comes out. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t mind wasting his own time as long as I’ve wasted more precious time from someone else who pisses me off, so something tells me I’m going to enjoy shopping for cars.
When they spring the extra crap on me, I’ll just walk away… either they’ll concede to my demands in desperation, or they’ll be out that time without a sale, indirectly benefiting my twisted sense of principle. Muhahaha.
And yeah, no Chrysler. Got it
. I’m Canadian so buying domestic isn’t an option anyway. On that subject, it is exceedingly difficult to get reports of what % of cars are made in each country for each manufacturer.
Two things that will stop you from paying sticker price.
Tax
License
In Ca. that generaly runs 11%
mind you the OP’s price given was way off, some dealers also tack on things such as
window tint, lojack, paint and fabric protection, car alarms etc.