Story Time - Grab your popcorn!

[nycsimone]

Today I had a somewhat heated exchange via text with a dealership as I was inquiring about the Wagoneer. We didn’t even make it to that part to be honest.

I went online to the website for Deland CJDR and found a link for “true car offer” which brought me to this page on their website: https://www.delandcjdr.com/true-cash-offer.html

I plugged in all the info for my 2022 GMC Yukon ($64k MSRP) and I received a TrueCar instant cash offer of $69,900 for my Yukon. I did a little research and this offer is TrueCar version of the KBB instant offer. As long as all the info is right and pending inspection…it’s a solid offer and not a “value” or “estimate”. This made sense because just a couple of days ago a local Ford dealership offered my $69,000 for my Yukon so it was in line with the numbers I had been receiving.

All of the communication with this dealership was done via text. I like to keep it that way so that it limits the “he said / she said” crap.

Here’s how it started…

I scratched out the salespersons last name because I don’t need his full name on here.

Conversation continues even tho he ignores the screenshot of the offer I got from their website.

So I send it again after he says he didn’t get the pic…

So then he starts with the “oh yeah we should be around there…”

Now he starts asking me more info about the vehicle…even tho he should be able to pull it all up from their system since I plugged in the info on their website.

Now he starts dismissing the TrueCar offer from their website and says they only match CarMax. Huh? So he’s dismissing the info on their own website and the partnership the dealership has with TrueCar and instead using the competition to value my Yukon? (CarMax is at $63k for my Yukon btw)

So I call out the dealership for playing games and get on the phone with TrueCar. Speak to the rep for about 10 minutes and they open up an escalation that will be reviewed within 72 hours and the rep says that the instant offer is a solid offer pending inspection but that it needs to be honored and that they’ll likely have to coach the dealership on how it works. Her words…not mine.

So now he keeps saying that the MSRP for my Yukon is $58.4k which is an outright lie. A Yukon SLT with 0 options starts out at a little over $61k (checked the GMC website) and mines has the $3k premium package on it. Regardless…the MSRP of the vehicle is completely irrelevant.

Now he starts getting defensive and says that I refused to bring in the vehicle for inspection. But as you all can see from earlier messages I mention several times that the offer is “pending inspection” and that I would bring it in. Nowhere did I refuse to bring in the vehicle for inspection. He’s just trying to cover for himself at this point I think but not sure…

I also find it quite interesting that he talks about going on social media and trashing me (individual) because I said i’d go online and leave reviews of my experience with him. I mean…isn’t that what consumers do? I didn’t say I would trash his dealership or that I would lie about anything…just that i’d share my experience. Kind of annoyed by this and considering reaching out to Chrysler…what are your thoughts?

More back and forth…he doesn’t seem to understand what a contract is. I didn’t sign it with TrueCar…he did.

Now he goes on about how no dealer will work with me…or how I said that. Huh? Nowhere was that ever said…he’s literally making stuff up as he goes. He also said I threatened his dealership…hmmm no…saying i’m going to leave a review of my experience on his FB page and DealerRater isn’t a threat at all. Again, isn’t that what consumers do all the time? I’m not making up false accusations on my review…just sharing my experience.

Now apparently it’s the owner of the automotive group i’m texting with. I find it hard to believe that the owner is texting with me on a Saturday afternoon but hey…if it is true…even more cause for concern right? You expect ignorance to a certain extent from a salesperson but not from the owner of the automotive group. Right?

Oh…and he wouldn’t buy my car for $10,000 now. Uh uh…

Still telling me the MSRP for my Yukon is $58.4k which is again about $6k lower than what it actually is. But again…what the MSRP on my vehicle was is completely irrelevant. This is about a solid offer to buy my vehicle for the stated amount. He just can’t let it go…

So now he sends me a screenshot of the MSRP of a Yukon, excluding shipping charges, with pricing from 2021…and it’s still not the $58.4k he said originally.

This is where I also tell him that I have a Dodge in the household (we have a Durango as well) and that I think Chrysler would like to know if this is how a dealership talks to an owner of one of their vehicles. Maybe they do…maybe they don’t…who knows.

Well, now that you’ve drank 3 Mountain Dews and eaten and entire bucket of popcorn what do you guys think? Let me have it…

Was the dealer out of line? Was I out of line?

Any overall thoughts, comments, feedback, or questions?

[drdvrgs]

[Jrouleau426]

Welcome to the auto world these days. If you don’t want to keep repeating this prob hire a broker for $500! Clutch does jeep

I have the same experiences with Florida dealers. I personally will get a broker if I buy something down here.

[z0lt3c]

If nobody at this dealership realize Yukons are selling for over MSRP, this seems like a lost cause to begin with. Dealership is out of touch with the market. Honestly, even at $69K, no 2022 Yukon SLT has sold on Manheim for less then $71K. This concerns me more then any relationship they may or may not know they had with Truecar.

[nycsimone]

That is one of the main questions we have to ask ourselves. Do they not realize what the value of a Yukon is or do they ignore what it is because of greed?

Even KBB has “good” trade-in value listed at $70,062-74,668 for my vehicle. So $69,900 is just below the bottom edge of that.

[Bostoncarconcierge]

It’s a beautiful Saturday bud. There are much better ways to spend time than ridiculing this poor guy.

Go make a cocktail.

[nycsimone]

This entire exchanged literally took place as I was in my pool with a cold beer (or 2) in my hand. Can’t I multitask?

[wam22]

Sounds like a nightmare client to me.

[legendsauto]

You were being pretty rude to the guy the whole time… Also, no dealer is going to give you a guaranteed offer without seeing a car. I wouldn’t want to deal with you either.

[SteveB25]

Woulda said F it and went with the Ford dealer after the 3rd screenshot of texts and not wasted more of my time.

[nycsimone]

@legendsauto

You were being pretty rude to the guy the whole time… Also, no dealer is going to give you a guaranteed offer without seeing a car. I wouldn’t want to deal with you either.

CarMax, Vroom, Carvana, KBB, AutoNation, and TrueCar literally do this all the time…pending inspection of course. Which is why I said “as long as it all checks out” in my text to the salesperson.

Why even have an “instant-offer” that’s valid for 3 days if you’re not going to honor it?

[nycsimone]

@SteveB25

Woulda said F it and went with the Ford dealer after the 3rd screenshot of texts and not wasted more of my time.

1. It’s a purchase so selling the vehicle to the dealership i’m buying a car from has significant tax savings.

2. After the first 2-3 screenshots of text I realized the dealer was being super shady so at that point it turned into me just proving a point.

[legendsauto]

You’re contradicting yourself… the guy asked you to take the car in for an inspection/final appraisal and thats exactly what KBB, Carmax, Autonation, etc do. You’re refusing to bring a car in for final appraisal…

[nycsimone]

Where did I refuse to bring the car in?

This is literally what I said in my message to him…

How does this translate into “i’m not going to bring it in”?

[jon1]

Don’t hate on the OP, he had an “instant cash offer.” Assuming there are no flaws in the car, it should be binding. I don’t know how much is the dealer’s fault vs. Truecar, but the customer experience here is horrible.

[wam22]

You have no clue what you are talking about. The dealer is not obligated to buy it at any price. It is truecar/KBB writing the check and the dealer is acting as a middleman and has first right of refusal.

[legendsauto]

Don’t hate on the OP? Being rude to someone regardless of the situation is uncalled for, and he was being rude to the guy the whole time. Instead of going back and forth just move on and take your business elsewhere… Some people have too much time on their hands.

[Jrouleau426]

Agreed there’s a reason they pay these companies to get a tremendous amount of leads. Moving metal is the name of the game not sure why they didn’t just honor it and if they wanted to lowball then find an issue with the car during inspection…

The fact the dealer responded so long makes me think he’s very low on the totem pole, especially on a saturday. I would have just called and asked for a sales manager

[jon1]

If everyone did that, the process would never change.

Car salesman on average pull every trick they can to get as much money out of you, some of which are quite sleazy. Why can’t consumers fight back at all?

[nycsimone]

@wam22

You have no clue what you are talking about. The dealer is not obligated to buy it at any price. It is truecar/KBB writing the check and the dealer is acting as a middleman and has first right of refusal.

Hmmm…if a dealer signs up to be a participating dealer for TrueCar with their “instant offer” service then yes they do have to accept it. Even the TruCar rep confirmed this

But this is straight from the TrueCar website so you tell me…