New car shopping advice

One of the smart moves that one can make
before visiting a new car dealer is seldom mentioned.

I was receiving some email from the fleet manager of one particular
local dealer urging me to come in and deal with him.

I went to the web site of the Better Business Bureau and found that
this dealer had a "F" rating from the BBB. That is the "bottom of the
barrel" rating.

I then checked the BBB site for the rating of another nearby dealer
selling the same make of car. The other dealer had a "AAA" rating.
It goes without saying which dealer would be first on by visit list.

I responded to the last email from this fleet manager by asking him
why his company had a "F" BBB rating. Since then I have received no
further email from that company.

My lesson from this is to always check the BBB web site before making
any major purchase.

Old_Timer

 

Good advice. Thanks.

 

Hey thanks for the useful advice.

in message

 

Yea, but...

If you have 2-3 dealers close by, and the lowest rated dealer has the
lowest price, why not save some money? You can still take your car to
the highest rated dealer for service. Leaves a bad taste, but hey,
it's money.
-

Bob

 

I would agree with this if I really could get the best price at the
dealer with the low BBB rating.
I am prone to believe that the dealer got that low rating by screwing
over the buyers or attempting to screw over prospective buyers.

About a month ago a local dealer had a left over 2007 advertised at a
VERY low price. I called the fleet manager and asked if I could
really buy the car at that price and if he did still have it in stock.
He answered yes to both questions. When I arrived at the dealership
he pulled out the infamous four square cheat sheet. (He wans't even
really the fleet manager, He was sent oout later) I told him to
forget the 4 square sheet but he didn't.

I haggled and argued and they then went into the game of sending out a
series of different salesmen to give me a try, (The one that claimed
he ws the sales manager was not the sale manager.)

When I insisted that they sell to me at the advertised price and they
refused to sell me the car at the advertised price they pointed to the
fine print in the ad. The words were to the effect that any dealer
installed items would be added on at retail price. They were trying
to add on $3000 for fabric treatment. I told them I didn't want the
fabric treatment. They said that they had already sprayed it and
could not take it off so I had to buy the $3000 fabric treatment in
order to buy the car at the price in the paper.

Obviously, I left without buying. This is the kind of shady dealings
that earn a poor BBB rating for a dealer. I did go to the BBB web
site and write down my experience with this dealer.


Old_Timer

 

You should be ashamed of yourself. They spent at least $1, maybe $3 plus
labor to spray that fabric treatment. Their only consideration was your
protection and you just walked away.

I went to a dealer to buy a car only to be told it was just sold a half hour
ago. They wanted sticker price for anything else available on their lot or
any around the region. I walked and went to another dealer who said that
same car was on the list, but it had sat for a few months and they'd get me
a "fresh one." I walked from that dealer also when he gave me pricing.

 

I don't care what their rating is when I buy the car, I am going to
pay what I want or I walk anyway....as far as service, I think your
observation is a good one!
On a similar note...how many people check their local health
department web site before eating out? Believe me...it's an eye
opener. You will also find that many of the schools have the worst
records.

*****************************************************
My music: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=789610

 

Where did you see these letter grades? I checked out two local dealers,
one of which is honest and the other which is a thief. Both were rated
"satisfactory", which really tells you very little and shows that their
ratings are very reliable or useful.