Ugly side of a car dealership

[XtremeDunkz]

Re: Ugly side of a car dealership

I bought a car and at that time was given a bunch of business cards and the guy said if I referred anyone and they bought a car I would get $300. A couple years later my GF bought a car there. I was with her and brought it up to the guy. He was like oh yeah yeah absolutely i'll take care of it we will mail you a check. 6 months later I am in for an oil change and I remember I never received it. Bring it up the the guy again, he asks for my name her name yadda yadda, says he will look in to it and let me know. Never heard back from anyone. They are all shady man.

[GritSnSpeed]

Re: Ugly side of a car dealership

There is, buying used through a private owner. I've always got great deals this way and sold some of my cars more than i bought them for. There is always a desperate person needing to sell their car.

I'm a car guy, very knowledgeable about them.(I'm a parts sales guy) and I got screwed on my last craigslist find. Nice guy, nice house/neighborhood and test drove the car. It ran great that night. 3 days later the motor locked up having spun every bearing on the bottom end. Spent 3 grand on the car plus another 2k fixing it. Private sales are just as shady.

[Dirty Turtles]

Re: Ugly side of a car dealership

Very unfortunate to hear of your situation!

I guess I've been lucky, only purchased one car in my lifetime. Got it used with under 10,000 miles for 8000$. 120,000+ miles later and still going strong with only a few moderate repairs/tune-ups needed. I'll drive this thing until it falls apart around me.

Only other direct car purchase I was involved in was for my ex-fiance and she was the one that did the screwing over to me, not the dealership.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: Ugly side of a car dealership

I'm a car guy, very knowledgeable about them.(I'm a parts sales guy) and I got screwed on my last craigslist find. Nice guy, nice house/neighborhood and test drove the car. It ran great that night. 3 days later the motor locked up having spun every bearing on the bottom end. Spent 3 grand on the car plus another 2k fixing it. Private sales are just as shady.

Sorry that you got burned there. Did you take it to a mechanic? Also what type of car and year? Just wondering because I know you're a muscle guy and I would only buy a muscle car only if I knew the guy and knew how he took care of his car or drove it.

I've always bought Japanese imports that are no more than 6 years old and always took it to my buddies shop to get checked and diagnosed.

If it weren't for him I would have had a couple lemons for sure.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: Ugly side of a car dealership

I would never go to an independent used car lot. Certified used from a dealership. 1 year bumper to bumper warranty for most manufacturers. If you live near a big city there should be plenty of options to find one that isn't super shady and has people who are nice to work with.

Yeah I got my car through craigslist. Had to dig pretty hard, and I have pretty much no knowledge of cars. Just used common sense, mainly. The listing was very detailed, we met up, I gave it a spin and coming up on 4 years later with only one trip to the shop for some work.

Anyone tried stuff like TrueCar or whatever they are? Supposed to be hassle free, no haggling and all that junk.

Isn't TrueCar just informational? So you know what others have paid for the same vehicle.

[slickdtc]

Re: Ugly side of a car dealership

Yeah it is. I was thinking CarSense. I believe they give you a flat price according to the specs you input.

[GritSnSpeed]

Re: Ugly side of a car dealership

Sorry that you got burned there. Did you take it to a mechanic? Also what type of car and year? Just wondering because I know you're a muscle guy and I would only buy a muscle car only if I knew the guy and knew how he took care of his car or drove it.

I've always bought Japanese imports that are no more than 6 years old and always took it to my buddies shop to get checked and diagnosed.

If it weren't for him I would have had a couple lemons for sure.

It wasn't anything hot rod related. Bought my wife an 05 grand prix. Had just over 100k. Asked him if he had ever replaced the intake, as they are notorious for leaking. Knew what to expect out of a used 3.8 but had no idea it was a p.o.s.

It was a salvage motor. It still had the mileage in yellow chalk pen on the block and the salvage rebuild freeze plugs.

The guy swore for months he had no idea about any of it. Lol. I dropped it eventually.

[GritSnSpeed]

Re: Ugly side of a car dealership

^^ Thats ABC Salvage, a junk yard about 20mins from the guys house. Lol.