A few days ago, I had found a deal that was basically too good to be true. Car was being advertised as 7500 below sticker. When I hit all the links and was waiting to finalize the paperwork, the sales guy calls and tells me the cars are all gone and it was an error. From that point, I basically moved on as I wasn’t 100% sold on the vehicle. Fast forward a few days, I received an email from the dealer listing something similar. While the cars they have isn’t the color I want, but they were still showing a decent discount. I honestly believe it is truly an error as I dont think they even have any of the cars, how should I proceed with this? This is on a Toyota
Toyota dealers are a dime a dozen. If you don’t trust this one, don’t play ball with them and go on to the next one. Don’t make it harder than it has to be.
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This is their typical ‘scam’. If you look at the fine print, you’ll see they’ll list the stock # of the vehicle they are advertising and say “While supplies last” or something similar. It is your typical bait/switch move. Also, a lot of times that $7500 below sticker includes a bunch of rebates you may not even qualify for (military, recent grad, competitor lease, etc.).
If you are looking at a toyota, then do some research to find out what a ‘good’ deal is. If you are looking to lease, you can search around here to see what the ‘normal’ deals are for that particular car. Then go from there.
Of course they never called back, pricing error is still showing. This is not a bait and switch, they literally have express payment option to close the deal. I didn’t want to give out my credit info without confirming they have the car (I am pretty sure they don’t)
Have you tried calling them?
When I sold at a Nissan dealer in Northern VA they would do the same stuff. We would advertise the cars as low as possible (25% off MSRP on most) and then tell customers it includes all rebates. Then bump them for the rebates they don’t qualify for, like college grad, military and owner loyalty coupons. The problem was, not a single person could qualify for all the rebates. You couldn’t combine military and college grad and couldn’t use multiple loyalty coupons although they would bump for all of them. Then the kicker of it all, on the more expensive cars like platinum Pathfinders, Muranos Maximas, we couldn’t even give the price even if we bumped for all the rebates. Don’t get me started on the $1000 reconditioning fee we charged on used cars. It was all games and bait and switch. That is why I left and now don’t have to deal with that. Online prices, are real prices.
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I noticed the same at a few NoVA dealers when I was shopping for my Jeep. I’d look at the fine print and some even listed the rebates. They’d have rebates on the list that were for Lease Only and Retail Only as part of the equation. That is downright wrong. Luckily as an educated buyer I knew exactly what rebates I qualify for.
On Japanese and Domestic brands everyone seems to want to have the lowest price and don’t care how they get there. I noticed only Hyundai in NoVA break out their rebates on their site, so while the price may be too good to be true, they let you know what you need to get it, so no surprises. When I started at Nissan we only bumped for destination, and we included financing with Nissan in the pricing (at the time you got a rebate if you financed with Nissan) so we only had to bump if they went with their own financing or paid cash.
I did, they don’t call me back. They know they screwed up.
This is not a case of bait and switch, they f-ed up on their site. A few nights ago, they sent me the purchase option with lease, finance or pay in cash with my personal info. When I elected lease, my numbers popped up along with taxes and all fees associated with the car. This is the final listing, they just won’t honor it and I don’t want to submit my credit app without knowing the car is there. Maybe I should to force the issue 
I’m not sure why you’re fighting them. Move on to the next dealer. If they won’t honor the price without submitting a credit app, what makes you think they would if you did?
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I am not fighting them, I am just waiting to see how it plays out. I am getting $5K off based on the typical market price, thats why I am waiting to see if they will go through
I think I tried to get a maxima from you like 20 years ago! Not serious but I had a similar experience at a nova Nissan dealer.
They wrote back today with another offer that is $7K higher, totally contradicting the original price they sent me.