Making an Offer

[brainpause]

Gotta tell the story of buying my last Explorer.

Went in to "check out" a deal I heard on the radio -- 4-door Explorer XLS for around $18,500.  Sounded too good to be true, but heck, why not look.  Told the kid of a salesman that if I gave him my 1 year-old Explorer Sport (TOTALLY loaded) as trade, they would add 6-CD changer, running boards & Lo-Jack and my payments wouldn't change they'd have a deal.  They laughed, I started to walk, and they chased me down and wanted to keep talking.  Ended up getting the deal I wanted.

However ...

2 days later I had to go back to pick up a couple of things I left in the old car.  Was met by the a sales guy (whom I'd never dealt with before) who told me that they couldn't get the financing they thought, so they had to re-write the contract & either increase my payments or my interest.  (There's a name for this, and I forget it -- sound familiar, Wavery?)  I said, "No thanks, give me my old car back."  He wouldn't do it.  I staged a 5-hour sit-in in the sales office.  Wouldn't budge.  Had to call a friend feed Brandy.  Finally, they got in touch with the general sales manager, who told them leave the deal alone.  I went home.

2 days after that I got another call from the finance manager, who said they were still having trouble getting the deal financed, so they needed to re-write the contract, showing a steeper discount on the new car.  By this time I'd called Ford, the newspaper, Channel 4 -- anyone I thought might be interested in how dealers try to rip off people by trying to change the deal after it's been made.

I went in to re-do the contract, and ended up with a smaller payment (by about $50/mo) and less interest than I originally had.  Dealer got screwed.  Ended up selling me a brand-new car for almost $2,000 under sticker.  

Turns out that my old car had been sold the very first day I was there, and they couldn't get it back.  They HAD to make something work, even if it meant that they made no money or even took a loss on the deal.

I like shopping for cars ...  :Z   Just have to figure out the RV thing.

Say........you wanna go shopping for trucks with me?

Larry

[Azusateach]

Heck, yeah!     Will you fly me to Tennessee?

[griffsdad]

Like I said above, have the financing done ahead of time. I belong to a credit union and their financing rates can't be beat. Laura you must belong to a teacher's credit union. Get your financing through the credit union, not the dealership. You will save $$$.

My experience has always been, if they don't want to sell at your price, then walk away and find another dealer who will. Chances are if you walk; as posted above; they will call you back to see if the deal can be closed. If you are $500 apart - walk away. So what! $500 is a lot of money. You can always find the best deal. Be educated. Know what exactly what you want, and have fun!! LOL

[griffsmom]

It's called "Bait 'n Switch" oldest, most dishonest trick in the book.

In its legal form, it's known as "fraud in the inducement."  Glad you were able to kick their liar, liar, pants on fire patooties, Laura!

[griffsdad]

A car dealeaship wanted to redo a contract??
Hi my name is bank and I want to redo your mortgage because, well........I messed up and you're paying too little on your mortgage and I want to make more $$$$. Please sign here on this new contract.
 
A contract is a contract. A unilateral mistake does not void the contract. Glad to hear that it worked out for you Laura.

[Camping Coxes]

In its legal form, it's known as "fraud in the inducement." Glad you were able to kick their liar, liar, pants on fire patooties, Laura!

Man, it pays to have some laywerly-types on the forum!  LOL  Glad you still remember those terms that drove me nuts in reporting school!  :banghead:

[tlhdoc]

So, what do you do when you get down to the point where you are, let's say, $500 apart on price? They hit you with their line, "You want this (camper/car/whatever); you don't want to let the deal go down over such a small amount do you?" I'm afraid I always cave in at that point. Lately I've been thinking about using that line myself - on them - before they get to it. Think it would work?

Turn the line around on them and say "Do you want to loose this sale over such a small amount?", after a few seconds, get up and head for the door.  They will call you in a day or two, (in most cases) if they even let you out the door.

[Azusateach]

Like I said above, have the financing done ahead of time. I belong to a credit union and their financing rates can't be beat. Laura you must belong to a teacher's credit union. Get your financing through the credit union, not the dealership. You will save $$$.

My experience has always been, if they don't want to sell at your price, then walk away and find another dealer who will. Chances are if you walk; as posted above; they will call you back to see if the deal can be closed. If you are $500 apart - walk away. So what! $500 is a lot of money. You can always find the best deal. Be educated. Know what exactly what you want, and have fun!! LOL

I offered them my PUP in trade and $7000 CASH.  No deal.  I'd done my homework, I thought.  But the NADA isn't in the ballpark with their little bank blue book.  It's okay by me -- I don't need a new trailer.  And it's good to be reminded of that.  The day will come when I can no longer do the popping up thing & still want to camp.  Then I'll have to make some decisions about how much I'm willing to spend/finance.  It's still fun to look, though!  

[griffsdad]

Hey Laura, when you're ready to buy, we will too!! Then they have to give us a big discount. Right?

[TheViking]

A car dealeaship wanted to redo a contract??
 Hi my name is bank and I want to redo your mortgage because, well........I messed up and you're paying too little on your mortgage and I want to make more $$$$. Please sign here on this new contract.
 
 A contract is a contract. A unilateral mistake does not void the contract. Glad to hear that it worked out for you Laura.

 
 We bought a car once and a couple of days later they called and said they had to re-do the contract because they had the interest rate too low.  We told them ok, have the car we traded in ready to go when we get there and we will give back the new one and go elsewhere.  low and behold it worked out, imagine that.

[TheViking]

I offered them my PUP in trade and $7000 CASH. No deal. I'd done my homework, I thought. But the NADA isn't in the ballpark with their little bank blue book. It's okay by me -- I don't need a new trailer. And it's good to be reminded of that. The day will come when I can no longer do the popping up thing & still want to camp. Then I'll have to make some decisions about how much I'm willing to spend/finance. It's still fun to look, though!

 
 Laura, don't trade in....sell it outright.  When we bought the TT last year they wanted to give us $3,000.00 for our pop-up on trade, we sold it on a street corner for $5,200.00

[Azusateach]

We bought a car once and a couple of days later they called and said they had to re-do the contract because they had the interest rate too low.  We told them ok, have the car we traded in ready to go when we get there and we will give back the new one and go elsewhere.  low and behold it worked out, imagine that.

That's basically what happened to me, and hence, the sit-in.  It was really quite a sight.  The sales manager kept trying to get me to sit out in the showroom, but I was smarter than him.  Every time he asked me to move, I said, "Give me back my old car & I will."  Kept telling me that he couldn't.  He couldn't do anything without me hearing him.  Probably screwed up lots of his deals that night.  What a horse's patutty!

Interestingly enough, I wasn't the only one in the dealership that night who was having their contract re-done.  Another woman (is there a pattern here?) was, and they had her over a barrel, because she didn't have another car, and really needed her new one.  

Dave, we'll have to talk ... maybe in October at the Pomona show?  

[wavery]

That's basically what happened to me, and hence, the sit-in.  It was really quite a sight.  The sales manager kept trying to get me to sit out in the showroom, but I was smarter than him.  Every time he asked me to move, I said, "Give me back my old car & I will."  Kept telling me that he couldn't.  He couldn't do anything without me hearing him.  Probably screwed up lots of his deals that night.  What a horse's patutty!

Interestingly enough, I wasn't the only one in the dealership that night who was having their contract re-done.  Another woman (is there a pattern here?) was, and they had her over a barrel, because she didn't have another car, and really needed her new one.  

Dave, we'll have to talk ... maybe in October at the Pomona show?  

This didn't happen to be an AutoNation dealership did it Laura?

[Azusateach]

This didn't happen to be an AutoNation dealership did it Laura?

Don't know what those are.  It's the only American car dealer in Pasadena on Colorado Blvd., just west of PCC.  And it's under new ownership.

[TheViking]

This didn't happen to be an AutoNation dealership did it Laura?

 
 
Ours was an AutoNation............