My wife and I were recently re-introduced to the world of car buying. You see, we relocated from Detroit to Fort Worth last summer. We have leased or owned a number of cars since we've been married, and we can't really recall a negative car buying experience. It led me to think about what's different.
We purchased our first new car as a couple in 2001, and it was a Chevrolet. We had the benefit of getting the GM Family Plan, as my wife's grandfather retired from GM, and her grandmother had survivor benefits. She received a number of referral numbers each year, and we were able to buy a few cars over the years, mostly from the Pontiac brand until they discontinued it.
This was our first car buying experience as a "regular consumer" and at first it didn't seem too bad, but ultimately it was a dissatisfying experience. Gail was recently employed by a company who makes diesel fuel additives, so we thought the next new car should be a diesel, and the Chevy Cruze came out with a diesel engine in the last year. Our interest was piqued on December 18, when we saw the 20% off for a number of Chevy models through the end of the year. I submitted an online request through my phone, requesting pricing information from three local dealerships.
My first contact on Friday, December 19 was from Gary Walker at Moritz. I described what I was looking for, and he found a Chevy Cruze diesel on the lot, and we made plans to see it later that day or Saturday. I was reminded that "with this newest deal, I can't guarantee that it will still be here."
Later I heard from Tamara Hitt from Autonation Chevrolet, and she had a red Chevy Cruze Diesel on her lot. We discussed seeing that car on Saturday. A third company sent an automated reply, but never followed up.
We went in Friday night as soon as my wife was able to get there, and we met up with Gary at about 5.00p. She wanted to make sure I was there, so we brought our two boys ages 3 and 10. There was a play room there, and the 10 year old was able to keep the 3 year old under wraps for quite a while.
Gary spent on a lot of time "selling us" on the car, when we came in telling him THIS IS THE ONE WE WANT. The pricing had been reduced, and with the added incentive, the car price was significantly reduced from $27K to under $19K. The first sign of trouble was the added $500 for Nitrogen in the tires, and tinted windows. The dealer adds this to EVERY CAR, and "since you got such a good deal, there isn't anything I can do about that." (P.S. The car requires 38PSI in the tires, and we later found out it only had 30PSI requiring a return trip to Moritz) I realized that this was simply a way for the dealer to grab a few extra bucks in profit, and since we had such a deal, I didn't argue it.
Then there was a lot of back and forth over the trade-in, the current value and the payoff amount. I was able to get a lot of documentation from my phone, and send Gary screen shots of the monthly payments, the current payoff, etc. The next payment was coming out on Monday, but "he couldn't take that into account." I was assured we'll get a check within a week or so on the difference between the actual payoff and the loan amount.
Gary went through this whole process of shuffling papers, seeming to look for something and making small talk. The trade in offer came in at $3000, and this seemed about $900 light from the Kelley Blue Book value I ran, but I didn't want to have to deal with selling the vehicle myself. We begrudgingly accept the offer and moved on.
At this point, we've added on $500 for the "Nitro and Tinting" and accepted about $900 less on the trade in to get the transaction done. We've agreed to an interest rate. At this point it was 7.45, the boys were starving, and the three of us left. I told her to turn down all of the insurances, as we have life and disability all set.
Gail then went to "finish up the financing." She called at 8.06 and said that they had a way to offer us a "bumper to bumper" warranty by only increasing our payment by $8 per month. This was possible because the "finance guy" was able to reduce the interest rate. I thought about this later, and wondered, how he did that at 8 o'clock on a Friday. He didn't work for the bank.... We later determined that the financing ended up with Chase Bank, but they ran Gail's credit through multiple banks. The dealership must have a way of keeping the difference between the actual rate and the negotiated rate, similar to a mortgage broker. Rather than offer the lowest rate to begin with, they create this savings process after the fact. I'm assuming it's more profitable for the dealer to sell an extended warranty than to keep the interest rate .5% higher.
We left with the new car that night, but had to return the following morning to clean out the old car, and "detail" the new car. The "detailing" took about an hour for no apparent reason because it was spotless to begin with. Gary had offered to help clean out the old car when we left Friday, but had other things to do on Saturday leaving Gail to do this by herself.
As the day wore on Saturday, it was clear that the tire pressure was off, and I contacted Gary on Monday. He said to bring it back in, and they would refill it and top off the gas. We did this on 12/24. The 99% nitrogen is supposed to be affected less by the cold, but the pressure is already back down to 34 per tire. If I had a way to test the tire, how much you want to be that the nitrogen purity is 78%, or THE AMOUNT OF NITROGEN IN THE AIR WE BREATHE!
In one of the e-mail responses, Gary asked us to fill out the survey from Chevrolet with 5s, because anything less is considered a failure and can affect his future employment. I told him that it certainly didn't warrant 5s across the board, and I offered to discard the survey. He agreed that this was the best course.
The latest (and hopefully last) surprise was that the diesel fuel exhaust fluid purity was poor and required service. In a few miles, Gail will be limited to a max speed of 65 mph, and the longer it goes, the lower max speed she's allowed. I called and made an appointment for Friday to deal with this. I put in my appointment request that I'm hopeful this will be resolved without cost to me. We'll see what happens. My guess is that they won't flush it and refill it, but rather top it off with fresh fluid and hope that fixes it. This fluid has an expiration date, so the fact that the car sat at the dealer for a year, probably means that this fluid soured. I'm sure we're not the first client to experience this.
I contacted Chevrolet via the "chat with us" feature on the website, and bounced around to a couple people. One person didn't know what to do with me, and a second wanted to "record my concerns" on the VIN. The dealers are all independently owned and operated, so they weren't able to say what's normal when it comes to pricing decisions.
One last thing that has soured me on the car buying experience... As we returned home on Saturday, I called Tamara Hitt at Autonation. I told her that we had already purchased another Cruze for $19.5, and without knowing any of the specs on the car, she immediately retorted, "We could have beaten that!" Okay....... I guess they don't all work for Chevrolet! I thanked her for the trouble, but couldn't believe the process. We now know better, and the next round will be much more different.
The one thing I really don't understand is, if the salespeople are expected to put the screws to every customer, how can they ever get "all 5s" for the sales process? Are people naive? Do they feel embarrassed (as I do) after the fact that, well you got me good, and as a reward, I need to give you 5s on a review?
Who knows if anyone will ever find and / or read this blog post. I just wanted to vent to the universe while it was fresh in my mind........
We purchased our first new car as a couple in 2001, and it was a Chevrolet. We had the benefit of getting the GM Family Plan, as my wife's grandfather retired from GM, and her grandmother had survivor benefits. She received a number of referral numbers each year, and we were able to buy a few cars over the years, mostly from the Pontiac brand until they discontinued it.
This was our first car buying experience as a "regular consumer" and at first it didn't seem too bad, but ultimately it was a dissatisfying experience. Gail was recently employed by a company who makes diesel fuel additives, so we thought the next new car should be a diesel, and the Chevy Cruze came out with a diesel engine in the last year. Our interest was piqued on December 18, when we saw the 20% off for a number of Chevy models through the end of the year. I submitted an online request through my phone, requesting pricing information from three local dealerships.
My first contact on Friday, December 19 was from Gary Walker at Moritz. I described what I was looking for, and he found a Chevy Cruze diesel on the lot, and we made plans to see it later that day or Saturday. I was reminded that "with this newest deal, I can't guarantee that it will still be here."
Later I heard from Tamara Hitt from Autonation Chevrolet, and she had a red Chevy Cruze Diesel on her lot. We discussed seeing that car on Saturday. A third company sent an automated reply, but never followed up.
We went in Friday night as soon as my wife was able to get there, and we met up with Gary at about 5.00p. She wanted to make sure I was there, so we brought our two boys ages 3 and 10. There was a play room there, and the 10 year old was able to keep the 3 year old under wraps for quite a while.
Gary spent on a lot of time "selling us" on the car, when we came in telling him THIS IS THE ONE WE WANT. The pricing had been reduced, and with the added incentive, the car price was significantly reduced from $27K to under $19K. The first sign of trouble was the added $500 for Nitrogen in the tires, and tinted windows. The dealer adds this to EVERY CAR, and "since you got such a good deal, there isn't anything I can do about that." (P.S. The car requires 38PSI in the tires, and we later found out it only had 30PSI requiring a return trip to Moritz) I realized that this was simply a way for the dealer to grab a few extra bucks in profit, and since we had such a deal, I didn't argue it.
Then there was a lot of back and forth over the trade-in, the current value and the payoff amount. I was able to get a lot of documentation from my phone, and send Gary screen shots of the monthly payments, the current payoff, etc. The next payment was coming out on Monday, but "he couldn't take that into account." I was assured we'll get a check within a week or so on the difference between the actual payoff and the loan amount.
Gary went through this whole process of shuffling papers, seeming to look for something and making small talk. The trade in offer came in at $3000, and this seemed about $900 light from the Kelley Blue Book value I ran, but I didn't want to have to deal with selling the vehicle myself. We begrudgingly accept the offer and moved on.
At this point, we've added on $500 for the "Nitro and Tinting" and accepted about $900 less on the trade in to get the transaction done. We've agreed to an interest rate. At this point it was 7.45, the boys were starving, and the three of us left. I told her to turn down all of the insurances, as we have life and disability all set.
Gail then went to "finish up the financing." She called at 8.06 and said that they had a way to offer us a "bumper to bumper" warranty by only increasing our payment by $8 per month. This was possible because the "finance guy" was able to reduce the interest rate. I thought about this later, and wondered, how he did that at 8 o'clock on a Friday. He didn't work for the bank.... We later determined that the financing ended up with Chase Bank, but they ran Gail's credit through multiple banks. The dealership must have a way of keeping the difference between the actual rate and the negotiated rate, similar to a mortgage broker. Rather than offer the lowest rate to begin with, they create this savings process after the fact. I'm assuming it's more profitable for the dealer to sell an extended warranty than to keep the interest rate .5% higher.
We left with the new car that night, but had to return the following morning to clean out the old car, and "detail" the new car. The "detailing" took about an hour for no apparent reason because it was spotless to begin with. Gary had offered to help clean out the old car when we left Friday, but had other things to do on Saturday leaving Gail to do this by herself.
As the day wore on Saturday, it was clear that the tire pressure was off, and I contacted Gary on Monday. He said to bring it back in, and they would refill it and top off the gas. We did this on 12/24. The 99% nitrogen is supposed to be affected less by the cold, but the pressure is already back down to 34 per tire. If I had a way to test the tire, how much you want to be that the nitrogen purity is 78%, or THE AMOUNT OF NITROGEN IN THE AIR WE BREATHE!
In one of the e-mail responses, Gary asked us to fill out the survey from Chevrolet with 5s, because anything less is considered a failure and can affect his future employment. I told him that it certainly didn't warrant 5s across the board, and I offered to discard the survey. He agreed that this was the best course.
The latest (and hopefully last) surprise was that the diesel fuel exhaust fluid purity was poor and required service. In a few miles, Gail will be limited to a max speed of 65 mph, and the longer it goes, the lower max speed she's allowed. I called and made an appointment for Friday to deal with this. I put in my appointment request that I'm hopeful this will be resolved without cost to me. We'll see what happens. My guess is that they won't flush it and refill it, but rather top it off with fresh fluid and hope that fixes it. This fluid has an expiration date, so the fact that the car sat at the dealer for a year, probably means that this fluid soured. I'm sure we're not the first client to experience this.
I contacted Chevrolet via the "chat with us" feature on the website, and bounced around to a couple people. One person didn't know what to do with me, and a second wanted to "record my concerns" on the VIN. The dealers are all independently owned and operated, so they weren't able to say what's normal when it comes to pricing decisions.
One last thing that has soured me on the car buying experience... As we returned home on Saturday, I called Tamara Hitt at Autonation. I told her that we had already purchased another Cruze for $19.5, and without knowing any of the specs on the car, she immediately retorted, "We could have beaten that!" Okay....... I guess they don't all work for Chevrolet! I thanked her for the trouble, but couldn't believe the process. We now know better, and the next round will be much more different.
The one thing I really don't understand is, if the salespeople are expected to put the screws to every customer, how can they ever get "all 5s" for the sales process? Are people naive? Do they feel embarrassed (as I do) after the fact that, well you got me good, and as a reward, I need to give you 5s on a review?
Who knows if anyone will ever find and / or read this blog post. I just wanted to vent to the universe while it was fresh in my mind........
