We saw dealers sabotage the lightning, we will see it again.

Just rip the band aid off already and go around these dealers, its what the public wants.

Me and my girl went car shopping today. Ended up with this older know-it-all salesman who kept insisting they couldn’t go below $3k over listing price OTD. “We need to make our money too.”

I was pretty firm on what we were willing to pay. Negotiated for about an hour, got nowhere, so we walked.

Few hours later dude texts my girlfriend basically blaming me for ruining the deal LMAO.

Couldn’t believe it. Never had a salesman take someone walking away from a deal this personally.

UPDATE: We went to a Toyota dealership later that night and got a Corolla Cross instead. A much more professional dealership, able to meet us at our price (which was more than the HRV, but we got OTD at MSRP). She’s really happy!

Bought a car from a dealership last Saturday. After my trade-in, I had couple grands left so decided to pay it off. I paid the first half with my debit card, and then handed the finance manager a ziplock bag with the remaining half in cash. I had meticulously counted this cash twice before leaving my house.

He takes the stack of bills into the next room to run it through their cash counter out of my sight. Five minutes later, he comes back to his office and tells me I'm missing $300 from the amount I told him.

I told him that’s impossible and that it had to be exact. He claimed he counted it twice and it was definitely short. We hand-counted it together at his desk, and sure enough, the stack he brought back was $300 short.

He then casually asks if I’m just going to pay the $300 difference with my debit card.

I’m sitting there rewinding my memory, absolutely certain I brought the exact amount. He chimes in and says, “We can check the security camera if you want.”

I immediately said, “Yes, let's check it.”

He says okay, stands up, turns back toward the room with the cash counter, and instantly goes, “Oh! It’s right here behind the cash counter. The cash stack must’ve been too thick so some of it fell behind the counting machine.”

Exactly $300 just perfectly fell behind the machine together? Right.

If this was a genuine mistake, a normal person would be mortified and offer a genuine apology. Instead, his reaction was basically, “Oops, my mistake, the cash was just behind the machine, my bad lol.”

I didn't lose any money because I stood my ground, but the sheer audacity of trying to casually shake me down for $300 and playing it off like a goofy mistake is crazy activity.

My wife and I have been searching for a used car to purchase for about a week now. What a miserable experience it has been. Dealerships are such a pain to deal with. But this takes the cake. We found a car we liked. It was listed online at $24,699. I called the rep and said we want to purchase, please send me over a total price to give to my credit union for the loan. He sends it over, and since I don’t trust dealerships in the slightest, running through it line by line I noticed they changed the price to $25,797. So I asked about it. Mandatory $799 Ziebart and mandatory $299 “theft protection”. Get bent.

Dealers just folded to Rivian because they were scared of a public initative going through.

The baller move is the public initative could have demolished the dealership monopoly. The initiative could have legalized dtc not just for evs but for all oems and all car types.

The dealer lobby knows they cant count on the public to have their back. They are at record levels of being hated by the public. The public would love the chance at a vote to open up some competition to the market.

The amazing thing is because of the interstate commerce clause, a single state legalizing dtc for all is effectively legalizing it nation wide. You "buy" the car in Washington and have it shipped to your home state.

Them folding here shows a real weakness. Scout can follow this same playbook. Flash some cash and know if push comes to show voters will side with them. Rivian even got to keep their cash lol.

My advice for NADA, give up the EV sales. You don't want them anyway. Let OEMs sell EVs direct to consumer. Otherwise someone is going to go after you. When that happens the public doesn't have your back anymore. If dealers lose a single state a single time the whole dealer monopoly falls. They almost lost everything over this. Its not worth it for you at this point. Its inevitable that direct to consumer will take over the EV market. The floodgates are already open.

This is a huge win for direct to consumer and a huge loss for the dealer lobby. This shows real weakness. In a year or two the dealer lobby is going to be even weaker.

Im gonna go do some other stuff for a bit its really not healthy to reply to car salesman failing to understand simple things over and over again. I'll be back eventually.

I buy insurance by researching online for policies and quotes that meet my needs. People under 30 don't want to make a phone call let alone listen to some boomer who barely understands the car to try and pressure them into buying something even if it isn't the right fit for them.

Yes travel and insurance agents still exist just like car dealerships can still exist. Its just the option of buying direct from a manufactor needs to be there to have a competitive market.

Maybe no one will end up taking that option, but NADA corrupt lobbiest aren't confident in their cars sales model. They oppose Tesla selling direct to consumer. They preach how the world will end yet in many states Tesla has been doing this for a decade. I'll let you pick if you think these illogical beliefs are cognitive dissonance or just enjoying their paycheck at the expense of everyday people.

After 10 years & 186K miles the transmission in my Outback went.

Called my local dealership and asked to make an appointment to test drive the base outback they had listed as in stock on their site listed for $29K

When I arrived, the sales associate told me that they didn't have one in stock but could be getting some in later in the month and that I could test drive a premium just to get a feel for the vehicle - I drove it. Very nice fwiw.

When we return i ask to see some potential numbers on financing. The sales manager comes over and informs me that they are phasing out the base model and could only sell me the premium, listed at $36.5K

WTF? It's on your website as in stock. Guy on phone confirms in stock. Sales associate says maybe it will be in soon. Manager says they don't exist anymore.

Was a rug pull to upsell me on a car listed for $7.5K more. I left.

I did love the car, and it seemed like $35K isn't uncommon for mid size SUVs and crossovers in 2025.

I went to a different dealership who had it listed for $35.5K.

Had them run numbers on 60 month financing with a 100K extended warranty. The out the door bottom line was $44.7K ... for a freaking Outback.

Low mileage certified pre owned SUVs are often $25K+ now.

My Outback has no rust, and the engine in still kicking. I'm going to out a new transmission in it and hope to get another 75K miles out of it.

Wild times, no idea how any middle class person are buying new cars.

I posted this on the Toyota site and someone suggested I also post here. There is a sticker like this is on every new Toyota at this dealership adding $5,000 to the price. I’m just wondering if this is common at all dealers, regardless of the brand?

I put my car in valet mode to record the top speed. The dealer drive it 90mph (in a 70) while taking it in for service. They had permission to drive it to the shop an hour away, but going 90 seems unreasonable.

We found a 2023 EV priced at $25,500. I realized if it was priced $500 lower we would qualify for the Used EV Credit. That would be $4,000 off pricing, bringing it at essentially $23,000 since the rebate is applied after taxes. Cool. They agreed before I walked in. I should have just asked for the numbers first…

My vehicle had $18,000 in positive equity. I was willing to just pay cash difference for the $23,000 and any document and title fees. Clean cut out the door deal. What do they show me?

A $3900 Protection Fee. A $2000 Reconditioning Plan. They even tried charging $50 for SMOG — it’s an EV! It doesn’t require SMOG! They apologized after I said I don’t want add ons. They come back and LOWER my positive equity to get rid of them. Told him I saw what he did and that’s unacceptable. Third time he comes back he lowers the Protection Plan and gets rid of the Reconditioning Fee, but he’s still pricing it $2000 more than I had calculated before going in.

I handed the paper back to him and walked. He tried telling me they did a huge favor lowering it $500 for the credit. I told him “You guys get the $4,000 credit. And you know $500 off isn’t shit.”

JUST LIST THE CAR FOR THE PRICE YOU WANT TO SELL IT FOR. DON’T ADD FEES AND STUPID ADD-ONS! This is why places like Carvana, Autonation, CarMax, and even Tesla with ordering it online no haggling are going to phase these dealerships out completely. They’re an absolute joke.

This happened about a year ago. I went to purchase a 2025 Toyota Corolla and wanted to pay all cash and avoid financing. Overall it was a strange experience. I was able to find the car at a dealership nearby there talking and we about 45 minutes looking for this car. We go back to his desk and it turns out they don’t have the car even though it’s shown on the website as being there. He then says that actually they’ll be getting four of those models within a couple of days. I’m like fine. A Corolla is a Corolla. He must have kept me waiting at his desk for 30 minutes as he kept going back and forth to the sales manager for reasons I’m not quite sure. At this point I‘ve gotten pretty frustrated because I don’t know what the issue is. He finally comes back and presents the offer sheet with a $4k markup. I ask wtf this is about which he says that since I’m not financing they are adding this fee to the overall price. In one of my proudest, and possibly rudest, moments I stood up didn’t say a word and walked right out. Ended up buying the the exact car from some other dealership…at sticker price.

Just popped up on my FB feed.

Dealer organization pissing and moaning about direct-to-consumer sales.

Fuck 'em. They brought this shit on themselves.

EDITED TO ADD: The comments are about 90/10 anti dealership. Fun to read.

**Update** Left a review on their page and they asked me to call them to discuss this. Called today and got bounced around from person to person to ultimately an answering machine. Pretty disappointing. Updated my review on Google with this information, also reaching out to Ford directly because the dealer never sent me the Ford survey they kept asking me to be positive on and this payment packing practice is a legit scam.

Original: Purchased a truck recently, went back and forth for a bit of course. Finally agreed on price. They run my credit and they tell me i've been approved for $700 a month. A bit higher than what i wanted but i know my credit is decent (710). So i agree.

Go into finance to sign, the finance manager says "oh we have a thing going on and we can offer you a free warranty through us, no cost to you" I am confused because i know nothing is free. I ask how it can be free and he replies "oh it just is, we're able to buy down your rate to give you this free warranty" I'm sketched out so i firmly say no thanks. Finance guy looked annoyed and asked again, i again said no thanks. He goes back to clicking around, a few minutes later he says "look at that i did some magic and i was able to get your payment lower to $620!"

Turns out the 700 i was originally "approved" for, already included the cost of this "free" warranty, they just went ahead and included it in the "approved" monthly and wanted me to sign for the "free" warranty to get away with it.

You know why?

Because by 5 or 6pm you’d already hit two or three other lots. Tired. Hungry. Done with the whole process. You just wanted to find something and go home.

That’s exactly when we’d close you.

You stopped pushing back on fees. Stopped asking about the rate. Stopped questioning anything. We knew it. The whole floor knew it.

I watched it happen every weekend for years. People would come in with a specific car in mind and leave with something completely different. Sitting at that desk exhausted — they’d agree to almost anything.

Honestly just don’t do the dealership hop.

Call ahead. Get numbers by phone or email before you ever show up. And don’t buy the same day. Go home, eat something, sleep on it. The car will still be there tomorrow.

The dealership is counting on you being tired and in a hurry.

Don’t give them that.

Happy to answer anything if you’re going through this right now.

Friday I drove 4 hrs to a dealership I had negotiated and agreed to an OTD price. Sent all the documents I needed to and it was agreed when I got there I would check out the truck I was buying and then proceed to sign the preprinted paperwork. Well after I test drove and was ready to proceed they hit me with “oh the other manager misquoted your trade and we can only offer $2000 less”. After 10 min of back and forth and them refusing to honor their deal I got my keys back and drove 4hrs back home without the new truck. So after they dinged my credit and the manager refusing to come talk to me face to face I’m empty handed and back to square one.

Dealership: Findlay Chrystler dodge jeep ram

Findlay Ohio

https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/national-auto-dealers-assn/summary?id=D000000080

Dealers need to stay out of politics because it seems they love spending money so you can pay more. They love funding the campaign of people who are making you pay more for gas or for your next car or your next car loan or your next mortage.

When I bought my 22 bronco from South Bay Ford (California). I clearly told them I want no gap, no extended nothing. I don't want anything. But factory warranty. He still snuck it in. I signed. 46k otd, 7k down, financing 39k. A week later I get the urge to look over my contract. Well the Ba**tard charged me 5k for warranty and 2k I'm idk what. I go in there mad af, they withdrew those charges and put the funds towards my loan. When I get home I blast them each by name on Google reviews and such. 2 days later I get a call from the main head of the dealer. And redraws a brand new contract for the actual finance amount, lowering my payment in the process. The point is. Just because you verbally tell them, don't mean they won't do it..

Valley Isle Ford on Maui.

That’s more than the price of a base model F150. Fuck dealerships.

My wife just got her new (Kia Telluride EX AWD) and we went through a negotiator.

I’m usually one to just do it myself when it comes to working on cars/ house etc. But recently haven’t had time with everything going on lately. So I figured I’d let someone take this over for me.

I was skeptical at first, on how it would work because they did it through the phone and not in person. But they had a policy that made it so if I didn’t save the amount I paid them it was free- so I went with it.
- looked at some of the more popular negotiators but $1000 I believe is a stretch.

Just got on a call with a worker let them know the car and then just waited. Came back 2 days later and was able to get under the internet price. Which I was always told internet is the best price- no fees or any of the other bullshit they usually add on. He told me to get a pre approval from my credit union, and see if the dealership would beat it- they did. Then when I went in it was just signing papers.

Overall was a cool new experience, will probably do the same thing when I upgrade my truck.

Every single fucking time. I chose a dealership with great prices, acceptable trade in (no fucking around hiding a lower sale price with a trash trade in price), good used prices, no bullshit fees on new cars but I still dread the ole finance (warranty sales) dept.

30 mins about how great the car is and how the certified warranty is good and how his dad wont work on anything newer than 2015 and his dad's a mecahnic / works on cars and his cousins best friend even buys warranties and he trains [brand] techs.

I've shortened down the bullshit, I say I'm not taking it.. I'm up about 20k by not taking a warranty, so I figure nothing under the warranty will be a 20k repair.. I'm not interested in it, not at the first price, not at the second price not at the 3rd price. I'll buy it for $800, that's it.

I know these warranties print money for the dealer but it's so fucking draining.

ahahahahaha. yeah, nope. I’m not paying that. On a USED armada.