@mllcb42 - Agreed! I’m all up for the concept! I have interacted with some of the higher-ups there as well. I really don’t think they have the ability to make it work but if this concept succeeds, I would surely be happy
I see that a lot of people on here have strong opinions. I tried Rodo last weekend and it worked decently for me. I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars…
The good: I did get the car at nearly the price promised. Everything advertised about the car was accurate. The price was somewhat better than what was being advertised by dealers which is why I went with them and it avoided the ridiculous back and forth negotiating which I hate. I’ve been through sales training back in the day similar to car sales and I have no tolerance for it. The actual face-time required at the dealership was minimal, about 45 minutes to sign paperwork, which is very positive in my book.
The not-so-good: Rodo said the dealer was 20 miles away, but it was actually 40 and Rodo had my correct address. There was no free delivery available and Rodo’s concierge asked me to pay $100 for delivery despite the location snafu (this is counter to what is advertised by Rodo). The concierge was not particularly useful except to make excuses and apologize. It took them 5 days to get a hold of the dealer and the concierge just kept saying he was calling them and leaving messages…, at one point the deal looked dead. My guess is that the dealer is understaffed given the COVID thing and the concierge just called the receptionist once a day and left a message that never got delivered. Not very concierge-like in my opinion as there should be some contact available if they have a business relationship. The price, as I said above, was not exact. The monthly payment went up $4 but the cash down decreased about $35. Not enough to say screw the deal.
All in all, I would use them again if the price was right but they are not exactly what they advertise, which is pretty much par for the course in the car sales business. They’re basically a broker with little influence over the dealers. If the dealers want to play bait-and-switch or doesn’t want to do delivery, then Rodo just shrugs. They’re not revolutionizing much of anything, but I do appreciate that the negotiating is minimized.
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What was the deal?
Buick Encore “Preferred” 1450 drive off and 223 a month. This is about $20-30 less per month with a similar drive off advertised by dealers in the Bay Area of California.
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UPDATE:
I had a 45 min conversation with someone fairly high up the food chain at RODO. Out of respect for their time, I will not say exactly how their model works but merely that the lack of supply of new vehicles, which is non-existent with most manufactures, is a huge issue for their model. They realize that the system isn’t perfect but I do understand that because of COVID-19 - they model suffers. In the long run, I think it works more often than not.
This is a tough one for me. I used the RODO app (Honcker at the time) to lease a GMC terrain last year at a very good price and the experience was awesome - basically zero dealership interaction which is what I feel is so promising about the app. Not that I don’t enjoy going to a dealer, and there are great sales people out there especially on this forum, but it did eliminate the “why don’t you come in and see the car” BS that is tiring.
Fast forward to today… I have spent dozens of hours researching out which truck I wanted to buy, and of course a determining factor was which truck had the best deal on RODO. I finally selected a truck (2020 Silverado LT Trail Boss) and went through the ordering process but selected the concierge model becuase some previous interactions with RODO staff assured me that they would make sure the Costco Incentive was included in the deal (this is not an selectable option in the app). After about 2 hrs, I get a phone call from RODO stating that the truck I have ordered is “in transit” and the dealership doesn’t know when it’s going to arrive. I say no big deal, I have time… well not so easy becuase if it get’s here after June 30, all the incentive programs change - which I also understand. Ok, how about getting me another truck at the same price, I can be flexible on colors and options? Hours go by and he cannot source the truck from any other dealer. My options are to cancel my order and start over OR leave the order open in hopes the truck comes in. I could also cancel the order over the phone should another truck become available.
The next morning, I find another truck that meets my basic requirements in the app. I am now corresponding directly through text with the regional dealership contact through RODO. I ask him to confirm that truck is in fact on the lot and I will move forward with that one. Few hours later, no the truck is not on the lot and has “sold” already. After a several back and forth’s via text, I get a message yesterday afternoon that in fact NONE of the trucks being advertised on RODO at any price are available in the entire dealer network (he rattled off like 8 cities). SO they couldn’t deliver any of the trucks being advertised (8 at the time). There are 7 as of this moment, 2 of which are offering a flash sale…
I also confirmed with him that one of the dealerships he had in his network was Connell Chevrolet in Costa Mesa. Not 12 hrs before his text, I was going back and forth with them on virtually the same truck that they had now told him (RODO) was either not on the lot, sold or in transit. The dealership has figured out that the truck is in high demand and is playing RODO like a fiddle! I told the RODO advisor this and no response.
Not only is there some sort of issue with advertising vehicles that may not be actually on the ground or sold, but it is obvious that the dealers have no real obligation to fufill what RODO is advertising.
What a mess!
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Best of luck. Might be easier to use AutoTrader to find a truck and negotiate using the LH tips instead of relying on RODO.
Similar bad experience with RODO. Placed order on a very well priced car/trim that most dealers didn’t even have in stock. They kept on prompting me to upload docs and do credit check etc (thankfully I didn’t, was waiting for dealer confirmation). Next day I get a text from RODO concierge that “dealership said car unavailable please select another”. Bye.
Guess I never posted another experience here with rodo. My BIL needed a new vehicle, so I found him a Taco on Rodo that, all in, was about $5/mo less than any brokers. He pulled the trigger and submitted the app. About 2 days later, the toyota dealer contacted them and said that truck was in transit and maybe they could try to find another. Since this was last day of May deals, I told him to go to broker and pay $5 more, so he did. Got a better color anyway, so he was happy. Rodo rep called next day and was unhappy their affiliated dealer acted that way and mentioned something about this happening before. If my BIL had waited, he would have wound up paying more in June. Maybe that is what Rodo’s toyota contact was hoping for.
Anyway, now batting 0 for 4 with rodo. I will no longer be recommending my friends/family try going through that app.
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It’s unfortunate that for over two years while they have been releasing new features the key issues has never been solved.
But then again LH crowd aren’t their prime target group.
It’s the average folks who don’t even know about LH existence and source of SAL listing used for Worse Leases thread are their clientele who will wait and pay more via RODO vs completely taken to cleaners at dealership F&I
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Assuming the same dealer discount, wouldn’t the extra monthly just go to the mfgr/bank if the extra was due to higher MF/lower incentives owing to a change in programs?
Well forgive the long story, but here goes. (Disclaimer: This is a Success Story!)
I live in Fishers, Indiana - a suburb of Indianapolis.
Had been browsing RoDo for close to a year. Before this signed lease from RoDo, I also have a 2018 Tiguan SE 4 Motion that, in September, will be 2 years into a 3 year lease.
Last month put in the Tiguan on Carvana and Vroom, and Carvana is offering so close to payoff (within $500.00). So with that quote locked in, I found the following:
Added this along with some other Sonatas to my Showroom on RoDo on Friday, 7/10. On Saturday, 7/11, I was notified of a flash sale. They were offering it at 290ish, I “made an offer” of $265. They countered with 283, with 288 due at signing (including all fees and taxes and etc.). I accepted their counter Saturday evening.
Sunday morning I was contacted by phone saying that the inventory was confirmed. The dealer happened to be open Sunday, so they were able to start processing credit. With all the stories posted here, I was very pessimistic of this continuing to go through. However, yesterday (monday) I was notified that the credit went through and they were scheduling delivery, for TODAY, Tuesday 7/14. The dealer delivered it from Alexandria, KY to my office just after 1pm today. Signed all paperwork at my office, I made my copies, wrote a check for the DAS amount of 288, and that was it.
I know this is a rare story within this thread. Maybe it has to do with my locale? Regardless, the deal went through in less than 2 business days, and it started on a Saturday night!
RoDo Customer Service was FANTASTIC, very responsive, very helpful. Dealer was very pleasant. When I leased the Tiguan, I did it all via email and spent less than 30 minutes at the dealer through their sales pitch in financing. This was a SPEED CRUISE in comparison. Literally, no haggling, no having to listen to a sales pitch for any addons.
I will ABSOLUTELY do business with RoDo again. In about a year, my daughter will be driving, so I’ll be back to get her a car.
One app related gripe; I wish you could set a default to the lowest upfront payment possible - just the 1st month. Having to do that OVER and OVER for each car is tiring.
Bottom Line… this was such a success. Thanks RoDo!
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Have to share my Rodo success story. Leased a taco last year and realized I needed something bigger. After extensive research, I decided to go with the the Tundra. I started with my usual method of contacting all dealerships within 100 miles for best internet pricing and leases. They were ridiculously high due to no MF offers from TFS in my area.
Long story short I stumbled upon Rodo and saw offers between $150 to $200 lower per month with only 1st month down. I was pretty skeptical and even more so after reading this forum. I even tried to get the dealerships to match what Rodo showed with no success.
I decided to just go for it and see what happens. I placed the order with Rodo and it took about 2 days for them to confirm it was in shock with the dealer, as I wanted to make sure before doing docs/credit. Once I got the confirmation I uploaded docs and credit info. Within 24 hours everything was confirmed and I scheduled delivery!! It turns out I already spoke with this particular dealership a few days before going through Rodo and they “couldn’t even come close” to the number I presented.
I’m now a believer!!
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These last two reviews are promising. Rodo could really provide a valuable service for so many buyers who are in parts of the country where dealers have little competition and little incentive to lower pricing. And outside of major metro areas, finding a broker to work with is a real challenge.
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Thanks for sharing the review. I am just curious, after the point that you provided your credit details, was there any transparency from Rodo or the dealer in “locking in” the price that you were given before credit approval? I am seeing a competitive price on a vehicle, have put it on order, but am hesitant to provide credit details and get a hard pull on my file if the rug gets pulled out after the fact. Waiting to hear back from Rodo on this as well.
I don’t know, if that uploaded correctly. But it was a screenshot saying order has been completed and my Honda Civic lx $153/month (tax included) $1900 das will be delivered 07/31/20. It still says that on the app ha. Anyway, Deal fell through due to taxes not being included; Dealership customer service is terrible and would not honor the price. RODO basically told me that they’d rather preserve their relationship with the dealer than to make them honor the $153, which included tax. This happened with the Jetta I leased in January 2020, dealer tried to add tax, but RODO made them honor the original agreed monthly payment. However, that car has now had two check engine lights on it and almost a lemon now…
Not sure if anyone else got the email or noticed, but Rodo is now in the vehicle purchasing game. I just submitted an inquiry on my XC60 so let’s see where they fall in comparison to Vroom and Carvana
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Let us know how it goes. Very curious if they’ll be competitive with carvana, vroom, etc.
I wonder if they’re doing any buying or just leveraging their dealer network to get offers.
They gave me a printout of my KBB value, which was ~$4k lower than what Vroom and Carvana are currently offering me.
Not even worth an email response back.
But, YMMV. Wouldn’t hurt to try.