Horrible car buying experience opinions needed

[DJJasonp]

I'll try to make this a short read....

Found a brand new vehicle that the wife liked. Went to dealership as they had it on their website. It was sold. They tried to find one on their lot, but to no avail.

Couple days later, I do my own work and find the EXACT vehicle she wants - and it happens to be advertised at a couple thousand dollars off (dealer discount). It's about an hour or so away (important).

I go into local dealer, and show them the car.....even email the link to the dealership's web page so he knows all the details. Sales guy says they have to negotiate with that dealership, etc. I told him, if they can negotiate that price or lower, we'll buy from them (otherwise, we'll make the drive and negotiate with that dealership).

Sales guy says they can meet that price.

We negotiate terms, etc. and make the deal. Sales guy says he'll drive to that dealership the next day and deliver the vehicle for us later that day.

We pick up car (has a ding in it...grrr). drive it home. all is well.

Wife calls me next day and tells me she was poking around and noticed no spare tire exists.

Im at work, so I pull up the car on the other dealership's website (It's still up....important)....and look at the window sticker, and it shows a spare.

Upon further investigation, the VIN DOES NOT MATCH!

They sold us a different flippin' vehicle!!!!

So I do some investigation on the web, and find the vehicle they sold us - and learn that that dealership where they got the vehicle from is another 40 minutes FURTHER away - BUT FIND:

1. The vehicle's MSRP is a couple hundred less than what we negotiated off of (dealership 1)

2. The options package is slightly different (hence, no spare tire on delership 2's vehicle....the one they delivered to us)

3. The dealership 2 had their vehicle marked down about 1,000 less than dealership 1.

SO....looks like a classic bait and switch right?

I've been back to the dealership twice to complain, and the sales guy says "you said if we matched PRICE, you'd make the deal"

Wrong - we said price on that car.

Not to mention, when we picked up the vehicle, we asked the sales guy "how was the drive to Anaheim??" and he responded "not bad"

So at no point, did they ever mention a "dealership 2", nor did they mention the vehicle we were getting/negotiating on was NOT the same as what we provided them as the EXACT vehicle we wanted.

They've been apologizing, etc....but kind of giving us the delay/stall tactics.

I am meeting with the general manager tomorrow morning (and he told me over phone, he wants to make it right), but what do you guys think will happen?

The original vehicle is still available, but I'm assuming they cant get that vehicle, or they would have do so from the beginning.

The only reason to go further down the road for the one they sold us is either to make more money off of us, or dealership 1 wouldnt deal with our dealership, right??

I'm figuring the bastards will try to throw some "paint protection", "GPS stolen vehicle" crap for free.....as I bet it would be a monster hit for them to get the original vehicle (as they would then need to do a trade-in on the original they sold us, and then have to sell it as "used").

Super pissed obviously.....

What do you think goes down tomorrow morning????

[BryanBusby]

I think that even if he signed paperwork with matching VINs to the car he didn't want, the dealership still has a responsibility to do business in good faith.

Be firm with what it'll take to make things right, OP.

[Bugeater]

Isn't the Jeep spare tire mounted prominently on the back of vehicle? Not sure how you would not notice that missing right away....

[BryanBusby]

Oh it's a Jeep? Get your money back dude.

[New World Order]

Kinda reminds me of the National Lampoon Vacation car.

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Isn't the Jeep spare tire mounted prominently on the back of vehicle? Not sure how you would not notice that missing right away....

It's a Cherokee. Spare is under back floor


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[Bugeater]

With that said, I know shit can go sideways when buying a vehicle. Generally you are overwhelmed just by looking at all of them, then trying to find what you want, then dealing with the slimy salespeople...it's stressful. When I bought my truck I had driven to Lincoln to look at a specific one, ended up not liking it all that much, so the salesman showed us another one. I liked it a lot more and when we asked the price he was being dodgy. Long story short, we bought it, and then I looked it up online the next morning and saw the advertised price was $1200 lower than what we paid. We called and threw a fit and they reluctantly honored it. They could have easily told us to pound sand though because we agreed to the price. Just another lesson learned.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

It's a Cherokee. Spare is under back floor


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Ok, that's some bullshit. I could see where it could be optional on a Wrangler but anything else should have one.

[Infidel Goat]

Contact customer service for the actual car maker (toyota, subaru, ford, whatever) and complain about the dealership if the GM does not make it right.

I had a similar situation (negotiated for a CD player, but it wasn't on the model I got). The dealer eventually offered the CD player but wouldn't pay to install it. Car maker agreed to reimburse me because it was listed on the invoice.

Oh- if it's not on the invoice, you might be screwed. Sorry.

[underEJ]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

Jeep.

And yep - spare tire is NOT standard apparently.

Mine is not quite the same, but it was Jeep also (downtown LA.) I was looking for a pretty specific configuration on a wrangler. Searched inventories on the main jeep website. Sent an inquiry on a listed vehicle by email. They called less than five minutes later saying it was available. I grabbed an uber and went immediately. By the time I got there it was "sold" and gone less than an hour had passed. They want to show me other vehicles but I'm very clear I'd rather just order one exactly how I want it than mess around with the not quite right ones. A guy comes out and says he found one at another dealership, they'll get it today. I wait for hours for a specific vehicle that I've read the specs on and it is exactly what I want except white not black. They asked me to initial the sticker printout and I do. After three hours it arrives and it isn't the vehicle I was expecting. I got pretty pissed, refused to buy it.

I ordered what I wanted specifically and it arrived after four weeks, two weeks ahead of schedule. I should have just done that in the first place. The manager told me he hadn't known my specs were non negotiable and technically the car they bought on my behalf should have cost more than the one I wanted so he thought he was giving me a deal. He hadn't been able to make a deal with the other dealership.

In the end, I still don't believe the first car I went down there for was "sold" in the hour between my email and my arrival at the dealership. That is one lie. I don't know if the car swap was an honest mistake or another lie, but the whole thing gave me a bitter taste in my mouth. My wrangler is awesome, but I don't go to that dealership for service because of the shitty experience.

[Chiefnj2]

You said the option package was different. Other than the spare, what is different?

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by BryanBusby

I think that even if he signed paperwork with matching VINs to the car he didn't want, the dealership still has a responsibility to do business in good faith.

Sure, but if this guy gets an unprofitable gesture of goodwill from a used car salesman, he will be the first.

Stan Kramer still around?

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Ok, that's some bullshit. I could see where it could be optional on a Wrangler but anything else should have one.

Didn't they transition all those to runflat tires, with the Goop can and a compressor built into the car?

Numerous manufacturers have done this

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Ok, that's some bullshit. I could see where it could be optional on a Wrangler but anything else should have one.

My Cadillac has no spare. It came with runflats and a warranty that covers towing. Of course, on my first change of tires, I ditched the crappy run flats in lieu of normal tires and I bought a cheap wheel for a full size spare.

My father in law's Infiniti is the same.

[TambaBerry]

First off I just want to say that you got screwed and from what it sounds like ita definitely bait and switch. With that said, the other dealer was only an hour away? I would have just driven to them to buy the car, hell yesterday I drove 45 min to buy a TV. The best buy by my house didn't have the one we wanted and the newer model was 100 dollars more.