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Dealer ship recorded us, made us sign away our right to sue and changed the price.

Cwykle99

Ready to race!
I got my shadow blue 2dr man w/ sunroof for 24,700 from Gunther down here in South FL. My last vehicle purchase was a Chevy Colorado (i dont know what i was thinking either) about 3 years ago and I didnt do much research and ended up falling for the "if you dont buy the extended warranty then the bank wont approve financing because you obviously dont care about the vehicle..." nonsense. I got bent over and fisted with an absurd 14% interest, being a 20 year old asshat who wanted to act like I knew more than I did ended up costing me a pretty penny. That finance guy will recieve a swift kick to sperm sacks if I ever see him again.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, I did my research, printed out my own credit report before going to the dealer, checked out truecar.com (greatest bargaining tool IMO as it ends all bargaining completely in your favor). Drove my dickbag truck over to Gunther VW, talked to Tomas in sales, there was zero pressure, everyone I encountered was great. When it came time to see the finance guy I was ready for a fight. I walked into his office, he told me his son is obsessed with garbage trucks (I work for Waste Management), asked plainly if I was interested in hearing about all the extended warranty's and other crap they offer, I said no and he simply said ok sign here, here, and here and were done. 1.9% for 60 months without even asking. I had such a good experience I sent them both a nice bottle of wine.

Point is, every dealer is different, as has been stated a billion times. If someone is a dick, tell em where to stick and head to the next dealership.
 

LittleJohny

Go Kart Champion
Then don't pay it. Don't get pissed about it, just find a better dealer that won't do that. Until the final contract is signed, there is no deal.

I agree that the obvious solution is to go find another dealer (or in your terms - you don't play the game). The point was that no dealer should be doing it in the first place.
 

x_paradoxal_x

Ready to race!
Yeah the dealer I went to was great. We knew exactly what cars we wanted, and at the price we wanted. I actually ended up paying less for my GTI than msrp.

The dealer was great, they worked with us as our family was returning from living abroad, and understood we needed cars as soon as we stepped off the plane. They even hand delivered the two cars right to us as the dealer was 40 minutes away.
 

NEOHMark

Ready to race!
Your experience is typical of old-school sleazeball-type dealerships. The running back and forth to the sales mgr is for him to get ideas of how to bump you higher and 'close' you at a higher price. It's also designed to make you more 'invested' in the purchase by making it seem like more of an effort, plus your time is actually now invested in the process. The FI 'manager' is nothing more than an insurance (credit life and disability on the loan) and extended warranty salesman. Most of them are either former floor salesmen or - worse - an old loan/mortgage officer from one of the local banks (often one with which the dealership has floorplan business).

Never ever ever ever negotiate to a payment. Never negotiate to a price 'out the door'. Always negotiate to a selling price, and then fight every extra penny they try to add to it. Sales tax is legit. So are title fees, state/county fees (if any), and a MODEST 'doc' fee to cover the dealer's expense in running the title paperwork. Ask for a 30-day tag and get your own license plates, just to be sure they don't 'pack' that expense too.

If a payment $$ target is in your mind, you can get a 'dollar per thousand financed' factor from any online financial calculator. For instance, if your above scenario was for a 5 yr pmt, 3.9 % financing is $18.37 per thousand. If you had $20k to finance? Simply multiply it (20) by $18.37 and your pmt is $367.40. Anyone can do that quickly, in the dealership, with a hand calculator to make sure nothing 'funny' is going on.

Be better prepared the next time to tackle the games dealers play. There's no guaranty a BMW dealership won't try the very same tactics on you.

1) Negotiate selling price, period. Forget OTD and pmts in the negotiations. 2) Accept ONLY legitimate taxes and fees. 3) Know your finance factor per thousand dollars financed BEFORE you go in and know exactly what rate and term you are willing to work with. Contrary to what they'll tell you, if the dealership is working with a local bank, they CAN negotiate the rate - downward - by at least a percentage point. If you are strong enough credit wise, you might get more. Check with your own bank, before going into the dealership, to know what rate you qualify for and hold the dealership to that as a max if the financing will be local. If VWoA is doing the finance, take advantage of their best advertised deal (beware that there may be an upfront 'dealer participation' fee in the fineprint, which may affect your negotiations on the selling price).

A longtime ago, in another life, I worked for 4 yrs in the business. It sounds like not much has changed at some dealerships.
 

NEOHMark

Ready to race!
Then don't pay it. Don't get pissed about it, just find a better dealer that won't do that. Until the final contract is signed, there is no deal.

In most states, I believe it's one step further. Until the car is 'bricked' (delivered), there is no deal. It's why dealers always push for an on-the-spot delivery, if possible. Upon agreeing to a deal, it'd be my advice to leave as small a deposit on the deal as they'll let you - as low as $50 or $100 if you can get away with it. I believe - believe - they don't have to refund that to you if you back out. For good PR purposes, they probably should, but I don't think it's a given.
 

NEOHMark

Ready to race!
Oh yeah - one more thing to the OPoster - I'm no lawyer, but I don't think you can sign a blanket statement giving up your right to sue the dealership. I believe the laws of the land still protect you against fraud and negligence.
 
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McQueen77

Banned
I have never heard this either and don't know if i was being recorded but if i was, it was without my knowledge. i couldn't have had a better dealer experience. i was watching the car on autotrader for a month or so. after selling my previous car privately (would never do a trade-in), I emailed and then called the dealer internet manager to discuss the car. He basically said that they would not negotiate the price (it was CPO) and that the car was priced x-amount well below blue book and right at the low end of TMV. He told me to research the price and to get back to him. I did, it was priced well, they didn't want to haggle, I went down and drove it, liked it and bought it. No pressure, no sleaze, in and out. Piece of cake. Thankfully the internet now makes the car buying experience much more streamlined.
 

r15maniac

Go Kart Champion
Not sure what you finally did with VWoA, but I'd for sure be calling and reporting the dealership. VW period, does not tolerate this kind of crap from their dealers and will deal with it directly. At least they did with my case here in BC.
 

stevenchkim

Go Kart Champion
Go to a different dealership. They are not all bad.

QFT. Dealerships are like people,some are easy/pleasant to deal with, some not. Oh, wait, dealerships are made up of people!

To the OP: don't let a bad experience at one VW dealership sour you on VWs. The next one you go to, be it a BMW or a Chevy dealership, has exactly the same chance of being as bad as the VW dealership you went to.

Peace.
 

FNR32

Ready to race!
The whole "waiving the right the sue" things sounds more to me like an arbitration agreement which i think is pretty common in various lines of business. More and more these days folks are more willing to head to arbitration to settle disputes instead of court since it cuts down on merit less lawsuits and huge payouts.
 

Tiako

New member
I ended up buying a car from a place that buys them from auction. The price is pretty much what sticker price was. Got them to drop a few hundred for not dicking around before I drove there so I already knew the price. They didn't try to sell me one warranty, didn't record me. Gave me a temp tag and mailed me the title.
 
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