Thought of the day.
- Thread starter Ohtobbad
- Start date
AC Bill
Well-known member
They wash and vacuum he car every time you bring it in for the $200 oil change?
KBStang
Well-known member
I have been involved in 6-7 vehicle purchases at dealers in the last couple of years. Every dealer I dealt with had an additional $700 - $900 charge disguised as some product or service that was mandatory, and usually not disclosed until the last minute. The Honda dealer had a mandatory tire and wheel insurance fee, the Toyota dealer tried to add $900 for $100 worth of rubber door sill mouldings and a rear bumper moulding. My brother travelled from NS to buy a Toyota in PEI, he walked away over the $900 charge.
When I bought my Honda, they told me there was a mandatory $800 charge for tire and wheel insurance. I told them to give me $800 more for my trade, reduce the price of the car by $800, or drop the $800 fee and insurance, or I was walking. They gave me $800 more for my trade, and left the insurance.
The “ doc fee” varies from dealer to dealer. Some without a lot of other mandatory fees have a high documentation fee. When I ordered my 2024 Mustang, I negotiated an all in price, regardless of any other fees they normally applied.
SVT4MT
Well-known member
Those sort of tactics are playing dirty pool.
I took a look at the deal sheet for a Tremor I bought off the lot years ago from a dealer I had not dealt with before.
The dealer installed locking lugs for $120, "security etching" for $400, ( you can find a DIY kit for $25 ), and a three year "mandatory" tire and wheel insurance for $500 ( try and make a claim with the third party provider ). No way out of it, but guaranteed that particular dealership lost any repeat business.
Not to mention they offered on site Rust Check prior to delivery, which I requested, but on delivery I noticed that instead, they sprayed the waxy, dealer installed undercoating, which was about 4X the cost of Rust Check, and not what I requested. Two problems with that....once it's on, it's on, and I had made the request verbally, with no proof on paper, so I pretty much had to eat it.
Sleazy, but lesson learned to get things in writing.
When I ordered vehicles in the past, with the dealership and sales guy I had a 20 year history with, there was none of that foolishness. Thats' the other side of the coin, where the buying experience was a positive, got a fair offer on the trade in and price, and walked out feeling good about the deal, and not feeling like you got screwed over.
I'm not ripping on Violette Ford specifically Marc, this is a well documented car sales industry wide scam IMO.
Moving on.
I took a look at the deal sheet for a Tremor I bought off the lot years ago from a dealer I had not dealt with before.
The dealer installed locking lugs for $120, "security etching" for $400, ( you can find a DIY kit for $25 ), and a three year "mandatory" tire and wheel insurance for $500 ( try and make a claim with the third party provider ). No way out of it, but guaranteed that particular dealership lost any repeat business.
Not to mention they offered on site Rust Check prior to delivery, which I requested, but on delivery I noticed that instead, they sprayed the waxy, dealer installed undercoating, which was about 4X the cost of Rust Check, and not what I requested. Two problems with that....once it's on, it's on, and I had made the request verbally, with no proof on paper, so I pretty much had to eat it.
Sleazy, but lesson learned to get things in writing.
When I ordered vehicles in the past, with the dealership and sales guy I had a 20 year history with, there was none of that foolishness. Thats' the other side of the coin, where the buying experience was a positive, got a fair offer on the trade in and price, and walked out feeling good about the deal, and not feeling like you got screwed over.
I'm not ripping on Violette Ford specifically Marc, this is a well documented car sales industry wide scam IMO.
Moving on.
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67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
I’m not a salesman, so I don’t have this stuff completely memorized.
But, I think there is up to three options to chose from with varying prices.
I think you can get coverage for 3 or 5 years.
The top one adds an undercoat, fabric or leather treatment inside and a ceramic coating. Some clients have chosen to pick and chose from the three and had their price adjusted.
Like mentioned above, obviously you get your car washed at each service visit.
You also get priority for service loaners. I’ve seen us pull used vehicles from inventory and loan them to service customers when we did not have a service loaner available.
Some other stuff covered for the period chosen includes no paint dent repairs, windshield repairs (not replaced), touch up of paint chips, buffing for scratches that don’t require painting, replacement of lost keys or key fobs (this adds up quickly now with new keys requiring programming, 3 to 4 hundred dollars easy).
I’ve also seen a few wheels get replaced after being bent in bad potholes, as well as some tires replaced for road hazard type reasons.
I also believe that if you get into a collision and chose to get your insurance covered repairs done through our shop, your deductible is covered by the dealership.
There’s actually pretty good buy in from customers.
One salesman in particular sells the big package with the ceramic coating to about 75% of his clients.
Contrary to above anecdotes, it’s not mandatory to complete the sale of the vehicle. It’s offered to clients and they can decide to opt in or not.
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KBStang
Well-known member
My daughter worked at a car dealership several years ago and advised that dealerships do not make as large of a percentage profit on new (or used) vehicles as they did 30 years ago or more. They make more money from servicing vehicles and from financing. You see some (usually private) car lots listing a vehicle for sale at what seems to be a reasonable price. If you check the fine print, that is the price if you use their high interest financing. Should you pay cash, or go with your own financing, the price is $1,000 or more higher.
I don't begrudge vehicle sellers making a profit - it costs a lot of money to pay salaries, taxes, maintenance, keeping the lights on, etc, just be upfront with what the actual costs are, and don't try to slide in something mandatory, that has not been previously discussed, into the deal at the last minute.
Car dealer front-end profit percentages on new vehicles have significantly decreased over the last 30 years, dropping from roughly 10% to 15% in the mid-1990s down to an average of just 3.9% to 7.3% today.
The Shift in Dealer Margins
Thirty years ago, dealerships relied heavily on the vehicle sale itself to generate revenue. Today, the initial vehicle transaction (front-end gross profit) is often a low-margin or even negative-margin activity used primarily to acquire customers for highly profitable "back-end" services.
I don't begrudge vehicle sellers making a profit - it costs a lot of money to pay salaries, taxes, maintenance, keeping the lights on, etc, just be upfront with what the actual costs are, and don't try to slide in something mandatory, that has not been previously discussed, into the deal at the last minute.
Car dealer front-end profit percentages on new vehicles have significantly decreased over the last 30 years, dropping from roughly 10% to 15% in the mid-1990s down to an average of just 3.9% to 7.3% today.
The Shift in Dealer Margins
Thirty years ago, dealerships relied heavily on the vehicle sale itself to generate revenue. Today, the initial vehicle transaction (front-end gross profit) is often a low-margin or even negative-margin activity used primarily to acquire customers for highly profitable "back-end" services.
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Quality is down, prices are way up, they will all fight warranty issues
I could write a noval on experinces over the last 5 years,
It seems to be the way it going with most manufacturers
You will not get the treatment you used to, atleast not with out paying a premium.
Buyer be ware and as they say, don't be afraid to walk away.
Much harder in smaller towns.
I could write a noval on experinces over the last 5 years,
It seems to be the way it going with most manufacturers
You will not get the treatment you used to, atleast not with out paying a premium.
Buyer be ware and as they say, don't be afraid to walk away.
Much harder in smaller towns.