@dunn2500 wrote:
@Loquat wrote:
@Crowhelm wrote:
@Loquat wrote:
@roughdraff wrote:
They can refuse to sell to anyone but only within legal constraints. If they refuse to sell a vehicle thats available for sale to a consumer and /or a financial institution because it solely is in the interest of the dealership, That my friend is Unfair Business Practices, that is illegal Mr. former finance manager.
@roughdraff You can disagree with it as much as you like but it doesn't make it wrong or illegal. Dealerships can and will employ such practices anytime it benefits them. Our dealership was selectively audited by the attorney general a few times in my 10+ years there and while there may have been a hand slap for one thing or another, this certainly wasn't a reason...and there have been folks such as yourself who have tried to make this very argument and found it to be nothing more than a waste of their time. In the very last sentence of your post you drove home my point "...That my friend is Unfair Business Practices..." with a focus on "unfair". It may be "Unfair" but it isn't "illegal".
Like I mentioned before, you can show your distaste for how they go about business by spending your dollars elsewhere but that's the only option you have in this scenario. As long as a dealership doesn't violate any discrimination laws they can go about business in this situation, any way they choose.
And then those same dealerships wonder why people have such a low opinion of car dealerships. I think you just demonstrated really well why we don't trust them. But by now I know how to deal with it. Our last two purchases were smoking deals. It required a 200 mile plus trip to another dealer for one, but I got what I wanted nevertheless. Funny how the local dealer called me afterward and said we would have matched the price. Really? I told you what I wanted at what price and you told me that is impossible on a new vehicle/model. Guess I found the impossible, lol.
@Crowhelm Truth be told, most dealerships don't care about consumer opinions of them. Most of them know how the general public views them and their line of work. Being hated comes with the job and the business. Truth of the matter is, for every one customer that refuses to buy from them, there will be a line of others who will. I'm not saying that's how it should be but it is what it is. Some of the really bad dealerships will faded away but a good amount of them won't.
The feeling you described isn't just something that exist in the auto industry. You have people who swear they'll never shop at Walmart again because Target treats them better. The same for folks who will never shop at Sam's Club but will happily spend money with Costco. Some folks will never buy another Chevy because it's junk to them and Honda is better. And as you and I both know, Walmart, Sam's Club, and Chevy are still in business today despite those who have sworn them off.
The auto industry isn't any different. When I was in the business I really didn't care what most thought of me because I have a pretty good idea already...but at the end of the day, I can't pay my mortgage with likes so those who passed through my office served one purpose...to help me pay my bills by purchasing products I had to sell at the highest interest rate I could get them to swallow.
I have since left the dealership life behind but I do miss it sometimes.
very true.......plenty of dealerships near me that get horrid reviews for bad business practices, people infuriated on reviews dating back years claiming how they got ripped off and going to call BBB and start legal actions and blah blah blah but they are still one of biggest dealerships for that brand ..........i would imagine in this case they wouldnt outright say its because your paying with cash.....be more along the lines of "oh that car already sold and we forgot" or some other excuse..........**bleep** straight they will refuse and do it all the time for various reasons........cant think of another business that pisses more people off than the car business, maybe the illegal drug business trade but idk, lol
exactly correct for every 1 that wont use them there is a line out the door that will.........they use basic human traits and sheer volume of customers to make it work.........
@dunn2500 You are spot on. The car you're interested in today is one someone claimed yesterday, and is taking delivery of it today. Is it true?...probably not, but the customer can't prove it and the dealership still won't sell it if they truly want house financing as the condition of selling the vehicle.
I understand why folks get upset with dealerships, trust me I do. I knew it as a consumer before working at a dealership, I knew it while I worked there, and I still know it now. But dealership tactics haven't changed in many, MANY years. So when I hear of a customer being upset, my mind always thinks, how have you not learned to play the same games they're playing? It's not like they've created a new strategy...it's the same things they've been doing...for YEARS! However with the Internet, it should be criminal for anyone to walk into the dealership uneducated, spend (or finance) thousands of dollars without due diligence of the process.
I know of folks who spend more time planning dinner than they do researching about the car buying process. In the dealership, if you're a victim it's because of your lack of education of the process and it's your own fault. I feel this way simply because the process of buying a car, and how to not get taken advantage of, which is well documented on probably thousands of websites and YouTube videos. Heck you can probably even tap a family member, friend, or neighbor can get a good grasp of what you can expect and how to handle the process.
Ignorance as it relates to dealerships these days can no longer be an excuse or a reason to cry foul. If a customers don't do ANYTHING to educate themselves they still hold the ultimate power because they can simply walk away from the deal if they feel it's shady, that the dealership is being pushy, or they simply don't understand what's going on.
To sit there, sign papers for thousands of dollars, and then cry foul later falls on deaf ear with me.
