I mentioned the other day that Karin and I recently bought a car. It was fun driving off the lot in a nearly new Nissan Sentra (or so Karin tells me), but there was quite a bit of stress and angst to be dealt with before we reached that satisfying end result.
A Plan Only Works If You Stick To It
We had a plan: go to Sound Ford and look at the dark blue 2006 Sentra and ONLY the dark blue 2006 Sentra. Period. If they don’t have it anymore, we leave. If they have it, but it’s overpriced or beat to hell, we leave. If they try to show us anything other than what we came to see, we leave. It was so simple.
Sound Ford didn’t have the car we came to see, but did we leave? No. We test drove a black 2006 Altima. It was a nice car, but it had its cosmetic faults: some chipped paint and a CD player that looked a bit abused, stuff like that. Overall, though, we both liked it so we went inside to see about buying it. It only took two minutes from the time we sat down to negotiate for Karin and I to realize our salesperson was a complete slimeball.
I was actually sort of amazed at the audacity exhibited. This kid, who was easily fifteen years my junior, honestly believed he could fleece me. I could see the hubris in his eyes; I could hear it in his speech. Hell, he even shook hands like he thought he did it better than everyone else. He wouldn’t tell me the price of the Altima until after he’d learned how much financing we had, and then wondered why we balked at the number he quoted. He patronized us without reservation, but then seemed surprised when I told him the conversation was finished and that we were going to buy a car elsewhere.
The trouble with car salesmen such as the troglodytes we dealt with at Sound Ford is that they simply refuse to accept the fact they they’ve lost the sale. It’s as silly as a fisherman pleading with the One That Got Away to please, oh please, bite back onto the hook! There we were, driving off the Sound Ford lot in total disgust, and there’s our salesjerk, walking next to our car, bent over and talking to us through the window, “I thought you liked the car!”
“I did like the car,” I replied. “What I didn’t like was the price.”
“Well, what if it was only $15,000?”
Now, I should make it clear that I would have been happy to pay $15,000 for the Altima, had that been the price he originally quoted me when we were sitting at the negotiating table. But considering the new price was $4,991 less than what he had originally offered, all I could do was shake my head and laugh and inform him he was an idiot and should look for a different career.
I swear, after my visit to Sound Ford, I felt like I needed a trip to a decontamination tent.
All’s Well That Ends Well
After stopping for some lunch and taking time to calm ourselves (Karin was even more incensed from the experience than I was), we headed over to Younker Nissan. Unlike Sound Ford, Younker had every car we had seen online and each one of them had the sticker price right there on the car. Not only that, but our salesperson was friendly and arrogance-free. In fact, he seemed genuinely thrilled we had come to see him about a car and did everything he could to make us comfortable and content. We ended up buying our new ride from him.
Karin and I left Younker Nissan extremely happy and completely convinced we had made a good purchase. We both agreed that as much as we would vehemently discourage anyone from stepping foot onto the lot of Sound Ford, we would, with equal vigor, recommend Younker to anyone looking at buying a Nissan.
Call of the Vile
Karin and I arrived home with the new car and the kids informed us that Sound Ford had phoned some hours before – probably mere minutes after we had left their lot – requesting another audience with Karin and me. That bit of news just made our new purchase all the sweeter. The losers at Sound Ford were so desperate that they went so far as to call our house begging for another chance. I resisted the temptation to call them back and instead went outside and took a good long look at our beautiful new car.
Cthulhu is my Copilot 
we had this exact experience when we were shopping for cars for my boyfriend. they harassed, and kept us there for hours. i felt like a POW. it was horrible. they called numerous times. i freaking hate shopping for cars.
You probably did the right thing by resisting, but I would have been tempted to go back to Sound Ford–let them do a little song and dance before you said, "Dudes, I already bought a car at this other dealership, I just came back to yank your chain." Bastards.
Glad you found your car. Here's a lil somthin' fer ya.
Isn't it illegal to not put the price on the car?
Congrats on the new car, and on making your purchase at a dealership with scruples. Purchasing a car can be one of the most infuriating experiences. So many of the salespeople are wankers.
Same thing happened to me at our local Ford/Hyundai dealer. I told them I was only test driving the car because I was actually comparing three cars. Went for the test drive, liked the car, but the trunk would not open and the tilt steering wouldn't work. I told them thank you and went off to test drive the other two cars. As I was getting in my car, the sales manager, not the salesman I was dealing with, chased me down and asked why I was leaving, and I explained the situation, adding that the broken items on the cars did not bode well in my decision. He snidely whipped back "You're going to give up that car because of that? We can fix that." I got out of my car, looked him straight in the eye, and said "If you think I'm going to shell out $15K for a car that is already broken before I drive it off the lot, you're slimier than I already think you are." He kept repeating "I can't believe you're letting that car get away", like I had just test driven the Lost Ark of The Covenant. I also had a message on my answering machine when I returned home, and I called them back to let them know that they had lost the sale, and any future sales, due to the sales managers actions.
Great story, stubbie23. On a similar note, Karin told me a coworker of hers had gone to the same Ford dealer we went to and when he decided not to buy this huge pickup he had looked at, the salesman said something sarcastic like, "I guess it's just too much truck for you."Later, it came out that the truck belonged to that very same salesman and he was trying to unload it because he was having trouble with the payments. Karin's coworker then said to him, "So, it looks like it was actually too much truck for you." Awesome.
good for you for sticking your guns! i'd definietly write/call the manager about the experience you had. sounds god awful to me…
Reminds me of the time our friends were out new-car-shopping and they got the same treatment. As they were driving away down the street, the salesslug RAN after them yelling "What would it take to get you not to think?!" or words to that effect, but I believe I quote exactly.They thought of many smart remarks later, but at the time they just hit the gas to leave him behind… and could see him in the rear-view mirror… he was still running when they turned a corner.Said place went out of business not much later.
I worked at a credit union doing loans for 2 1/2 years and the one thing that I took with me is: stay away from dealerships.The majority of credit unions (and banks now too!) offer Auto Brokerage services, where after you apply for the loan they go out and find you the exact car you're looking for. Typically way below sticker price and sometimes they were able to get new cars cheaper than the used ones. And the service is 100% free!If you were specifically looking for a used car, we had a list of dealers that we worked with specifically, all over San Diego. You went to one on the list, let them know you were a member and you got the BEST service ever, because let's face it: we have all had miserable times at car dealerships. Dealerships would go out of their way to take great care of our members because one bad report and we'd remove them off the list. I only speak so highly of it because after I left the credit union, I ended up getting my 2007 Honda Accord through the brokerage service almost $5,000 below sticker plus my trade in. So yeah, check out your local Credit Unions!
This is GREAT info!!!!!
I have had bad luck with several dealers in the area, but the one I get my truck serviced and parts at has consistently been the best. When my wife wanted a new vehicle in 2000, I had the dealership, a mid to heavy truck only dealership, order her new vehicle. They were more than happy to do it. And when it came in, they liked it so much that they decided to order several more for the wives to browse when the husbands came in to buy new fleet trucks. LOL! Sorry guys!
I'm so so glad you found a kinder and down to earth dealer where you could encourage good community behavior. We should all do that to weed out the evil. If you do call them back I hope you speak to a manager or owner so they can find out that they're scumbag behavior lost them a good sale.
ps The good Karma matches your car nicely! 😉
My sides are aching from laughing at this! This had me falling out of my chair…
'Hell, he even shook hands like he thought he did it better than everyone else'
LMAO!