Just a question here, are you allowed to post about a particularly bad dealer experience in the Share Tips section? I don’t see any rules written formally against it, so just an inquiry here.
There will be tons more bad experiences than good experiences. Do we really want to allow everyone to share their bad experiences on here? Maybe allow 1 thread that people can post to, but a thread for every single bad experience seems extreme.
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I don’t know, I’m just asking if there’s a rule about it. Knowing if a dealer definitely won’t be Hackr friendly could be useful.
Maybe you have a thread then for bad dealer experiences.
Is any dealer really Hackr friendly nowadays?
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All I’m doing is asking a question about forum rules, because I find it helpful when forums are governed by readable, understandable, and publicly available rules.
I’ve seen a few threads over time calling out a certain dealer. IMO just keep the dealer in the title so a fellow user knows whether to take the time to click on it since it is a localized experience. We’ve all had crappy dealer experiences before and I’m sure it is part of the reason this forum is so popular.
Maybe a sub forum isn’t a bad idea though I’m not sure how helpful it’ll be. You interacted with Tom at Dealer A & had a crappy experience while someone else interacted w/ Suzy and had a good one.
I have seen many threads where folks complain about bad experiences with dealers. They often do not name the specific dealer, at least at first, and the threads generally do not really accomplish much.
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Maybe we should have a rule against it then, I’m not for or against it really heavily one way or the other, what I’m for is clear guidelines on what is and is not allowed.
There’s no rule that I’m aware of.
We’d probably end up consolidating them as Jon said.
If you want people to really know though, you should cross post on Google, yelp, dealer rater, cars.com, etc.
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+1 to this.
- If dealing with the dealer directly and after all attempts to rectify the situation have failed, put them on blast with a public review or, even more damaging, the manufacturer provided email asking you to review your experience.
- If the dealer is on LH, try to resolve it with them via DM or text.
- If the deal is through a broker, then contact the broker to let them know about the experience.
I think a dealer should only be posted here if they are directly advertising on the forum and are misleading or have actually wronged a user(same goes with brokers, as one was kicked off the site several months ago). We don’t need to start witch-hunts.
Same: no rule I’m aware of, don’t see why not, but we’ll probably end up consolidating.
The biggest obstacle I see to their usefulness here (as just a dealer review, vs a question about leasing/buying from that dealer):
- after a day it’s going to roll down the list (especially if it’s about 1 dealer in 7000)
- almost nobody searches for their niche issue that has 50 results, let alone “is Sonic Lada of Boise bad mean disreputable” (if we even converged on how to phrase and find BAD DEALER)
- Even if we agree how to name the threads and find them later: if I posted a video of their GM calling me an asshole and running my kid over with a service loaner in the thread, someone who saw it would still buy there (with their kids) because they sold a car at $1 under MSRP
Dealer Rater is really the authority on this, but we name plenty of dealers in threads about lease/purchase issues.
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Most dealers are YMMV but I will say out of all the dealers - I can confidently say McKenna Norwalk BMW is the absolute worst 
Not sure how bad yours was, but I was shown a car, sat down and negotiated a price…then right before signing, oops, we put the wrong VIN on your deal, let me fix it, and in the ‘fix’ they added $2500 into the deal.
The car I started with and the car they ‘swapped’ to were identical MSRP, Color, Options, Destination.
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Oh they play every trick in the book
Back in 2017 they agreed to sales price and monthly and $0 DAS. Call in morning confirm the car is there with the “keys in hand”. Arrive 30 minutes later “we are still locating the car, it must be on another lot. It looks like it was sold, here is a lower MSRP (same trim) with a much higher monthly payment and money DAS.
Then in 2019 they did the 4 squares box bullshit with $300 monthly higher than agreed after agreeing to sales prices, MF, etc over email.
I can confidently say this is the worst BMW in California after being to almost all in so cal.
They only hire and teach rotten practices
In 2017 I got a Giulia and 2019 340i in Ontario bmw
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Agree with @max_g. There’s no rule against posting bad experiences, but depending on the context, it could make sense to consolidate them.
From a lease hacking perspective, I try to keep my mind open about dealers, even those that others have reported bad experiences with, as often it’s more about the staff member you’re dealing with, rather than the institution as a whole. Also, management changes over time.
Just as an example, I’ve worked with the dealer @Warbeast called out and had a great experience back in 2019. My cousin walked out with a sub-$300/month 430i GC loaner.
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My buddy just used @cody few weeks ago, little over msrp, but prior many people have(i have), Simple no BS deals. You know before you get there what the price is. Nothing changes unless you add miles etc.
This is really important.
I had an awful experience when I looked at a new vehicle at one particular dealership, and returned some months later to the same dealership and bought a CPO from a different employee.
I was also really happy with the dealership where I got my current lease in 2019. I worked with the sales manager, who is no longer there, and the dealership has since been sold to Lithia.
May still be a solid place, or it could be a awful now. Who knows?
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This is an important point. People have vastly different experiences at the same dealer depending on who they actually deal with. It would be unfair to paint one dealer in a particular light since people here might avoid a particular dealer based on someone’s single interaction with them.
But I can see the argument on the other side. Maybe the dealer is really crap, but I would rather people find out on their own, rather than this place turning into a dealer review forum. Although I’m fairly surprised given how much interaction everyone here has had with dealers, that this forum has been very careful about actually morphing into a bunch of posts complaining about specific dealers.
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I’m my opinion, based on recent searches, the worst dealerships tend to be Hyundai and Kia dealerships who are adding on those idiotic $2-3k “protection” packages to everything including used vehicles.
I think that because they tend to attract lower income customers that this also translates into less educated customers and therefore are able to tack on fees after fees and blame it all on market conditions and too many times they get away with it.
Not to say that other brand dealerships don’t do it as well but it seems prevalent in Hyundai and Kia dealerships.
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Honestly, after leasing a few Hyundais, the dealership experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I had trouble returning a lease before COVID. I literally called 20 dealerships in my area that wanted nothing to do with grounding my lease - even the damn dealer I leased the car didn’t take it back. Called HMF and all I got was - sorry, we can’t force a dealer to ground a lease.
Had to drive 50 miles from my house after I found a dealer that finally took my lease return.