In the past 20 years I’ve done almost ALL deals via email - one I had to get on the phone and this last one I used a broker from here. Even Lexus did all negotiation via email. I have been to this dealership, 2 years ago, when I decided I’d give the in person routine another shot.
I hit Kia/Hyundai/Ford and Dodge… They are all big dealerships all on the same road.
I walked into each with what I wanted and what I wanted to pay. On the whole it was a complete waste of a day. Kia and Hyundai, even after telling me they had what I wanted, DID NOT have a single trim of what I wanted. Instead they tried to get me to go to a different car in that was at the highest level trim (I wanted the middle option) for around 300 more per month than what we had outlined before I went in. Walked out of there telling them that this is why I asked about the models they had and why they had lied to me. It became clear that their ONLY objective in life is to get you into the dealership and hope that they can dazzle you with new things and you’ll forget all about the fact that you would never pay redic high prices for cars that are supposed to be affordable.
Dodge laughed at me when I said I wanted a car that had excellent lane keep assist for no down payment and under 400 bucks. I remember someone saying “Frankly sir, you wont find that here”. Okay, at least he was honest, over I went to Ford.
I was looking at possibly getting the ranger, if the deal was good enough, even though no lane keep assist was avialable.
Walked in saying the same thing, no down payment 400 or under/month (lease or buy I didn’t care).
This dealership kept me there for almost 2 hours, test ride was fine as expected. They started off at stupid high numbers. 3000 down, 650 a month. okay 1500 down, 550 a month. At this point the guy had my license on his desk (he made a copy “for the test drive”)… and had taken my car key (ford explorer) so they could “value my trade in”. At the 2 hour mark I stood up and asked for my Key back. He apparently had handed it off to the manager guys behind the “big desk” - the folks he kept running over to when I kept rejecting deals. I walked over to the managers desk and said “I need my key back” and believe it not they refused at first. Asking me what I need to make this deal today. I repeated “nothing down 400 or less a month” and they all basically said “there’s no way we can do that” I said “Okay, give me my key” - at this point I leaned over his desk and found it was under some papers. When he refused to do it himself I reached over and grabbed my key and walked out. All while the sales guy was begging me to give him the number that can make this deal today. For the 30th time I repeated it and he said “well maybe we can get you into an escape for that” - I said “NO thanks” and left.
After that I came back here, found a broker named “Mani is kool” and 2 weeks later I had a honda accord sport 2.0t in blue with tinted windows for nothing down, 15k/year and pay 300ish for it, dent, scratch, rim and tire protection INCLUDED (have already used the tire protection once and it’s payed for itself).
I walked into the Honda dealership that Mani had arranged for me to go to and within 15 mins I was in the new car driving off the lot. The sales guy was impressed at the deal and didn’t even bother trying to talk to me about anything in the car… he said “you want to be out of here fast right?” I said YUP and signed the papers, walked out and was on my way. They even offered a free burger, sadly I had just had lunch.
Sure there’s a sucker waiting to pay, but since I have 13 months left, I figure eventually, especially with the Santa Cruz (as it is not a car/truck that appeals to the masses, especially with its short bed) they’ll be desperate enough to sell them.
The honda ridgeline I expect will be tough to find at any good price.
