I was working on a 330e loaner for with a salesperson and got them to agree to a sales price of $44,000 (I explicitly stated that I wanted a sales price absent of any rebates) from an MSRP of $56,000. When we got to preparing the paperwork, they decided to pull out because I brought up the $6000 rebate that is currently available.
They claim that they quoted me a price of $44000 including the rebate but I have emails that prove otherwise. I know at this point, I can’t force them to make a deal but I would like to report this. What are the proper avenues I should follow?
That’s sucks. Before heading out to the dealership I usually email them the full deal and have them confirm. It is always my worry that they will do something dumb when I actually get there. The process is inefficient
It’s insane. I’m just glad I didn’t fly out and get shafted. It was when I picked up the phone and tried to pay my first months payments that this came up.
If I was in the dealership and this happened, I probably would have lost my mind and smashed a few windshields. Wouldn’t be my first time losing it in a public place.
A tip for anyone who ever does payments over the phone or a deposit, use AmEx. I had Manhattan CDJR pull this on me years ago. They took $500 and when I showed up, the contract for a car they sent over email was no longer “valid” because that car was sold. They added on over $100 to my monthly payments and I threw few chairs on my way out. AmEx refunded my money the same day, no dispute process needed.
Out of curiosity were you dealing with a CA or an SM? I just can’t imagine you’d have gotten to the point of a monthly payment with them without this having come up.
Somewhat bizarre, that car you looked at was priced at $47,999 two weeks ago. Now it’s $49,999. Seems backwards.
I was dealing with a CA. There was definitely a couple of back and forths between him and his manager so I don’t know why they didn’t bring it up any earlier.
That should have never happened. This is why screen shots are important to share when going to the next step of the buying process. I know I usually dont like to share them because the first thing a client will do is shop you and every dealer will always say they can beat any deal from any dealership. At least 90% of the time.
They (BMW of Portland) pulled the same thing on me. I was working out a deal with them on a 330e about 6 months ago. When it came time to sign the paperwork, they switched the mileage to 7500 on the contract instead of the 12 that we discussed in writing the entire time. They told me if I didn’t take it right away, the deal wasn’t available anymore.
Of course I didn’t take the deal because I felt cheated. I called back about 30 minutes later after raelizing that i’d never actually drive 7500 miles a year anyway and they told me the deal was off the table. They quoted me like $120 more per month about 30 minutes later.
I don’t know what they’re thinking with their sales strategy but its horrible. I’d run away form that dealer. I’m confident that they’re just trying to scam people.
Annoying on all accounts. Another dealer to blacklist until shown otherwise.
I’d be willing to bet that the true contributors of this forum are not inclined to shop numbers that way. We want stupid crazy deals that border on impossible, but we know when to say when.
Also, I have to say, shopping numbers at the deals we work at is not likely to yield much success. I feel like many would say “best of luck, you should go buy.”
This is true. I always expect deals to fall apart right around the time that they start to plug in numbers. It always feels like a normal deal until they feel bad that they aren’t getting it for themselves or aren’t making as much as they want to be.
@hunter I know you had a bad experience with BMW of Portland, but you should reach out to David Padgalskas (contact info below). He’s a Bimmerfest sponsor and gives good deals - so ask him about the 330e loaner. He won’t bait/switch you.
Yes, many a deal is going smoothly and then the monthly payment comes out at $300 on a $60k car and the greed kicks in. The managers often can’t bring themselves to sell that car at that payment. I have had multiples sales people directly indicate their managers saw the ultimate payment and killed the deal even though all inputs were correct.
Well, the sales guy doesn’t have to worry about managing the cash flow of the dealership, thus disconnect when a deal goes up for approval.
There’s a good episode of This American Life that’s been shared here where they spent a month at a dealership. One sales guy in particular was great at working both the customers and his GM to get the approval on the sale. Both sides had to be convinced.
