Went to Gib's because they had a hard-to-find vehicle, a 2011 Airstream Avenue, which was new enough to be in reasonable shape but old enough to fall into our price range. For the following reasons, Gib's seems to operate more like a shady used car lot than a reputable dealer.
Please note that I sent all of these concerns in writing to the dealer weeks ago and never heard a response.
Misrepresentation of vehicle: To work for us, the second row captain's chairs needed to be removable, with no giant hole left in the floor. I contacted a salesman and he implied it wouldn't be an issue.
We drove to Coos Bay and made an offer. While waiting for the vehicle to be prepped, we found the manual online and read the Airstream forums and could find no indication that the seats are removable. When I asked the salesman if they could remove a seat and send us a picture to verify, he said that since we had already made an offer, they would have to charge us shop time at a rate of $150/hour.
When I pointed out that I had previously asked about the seats, the salesman stated that he only said that it "looked like" they could be removed, not that they actually could. This is the most weaselly, used-car-salesman nonsense I have ever encountered.
In the same vein, we had asked about taking the vehicle to a Chevy dealer for an inspection. He said that it was no problem, and that the nearby dealer didn't even require appointments. "They'll get you right in. It's first come, first served." This was not the case; the Chevy dealer was backed up for a week. I got the feeling the salesman would say anything to make the deal happen.
Finance: After filling out our credit information through the Gib's website, we've been bombarded with spam emails related to credit. This started immediately after submitting our info.
If they didn't keep our emails safe, how can we be sure they kept our other info safe?
Also, we were not initially offered the best rate for which we qualified. While I understand that the dealership is not legally required to provide that rate, every other dealership I've previously dealt with on both used and new vehicles has gotten me the best rate. I checked the suggested lender's website, and their best rate was exactly .5% less than Gib's offered us. Was the dealer hoping to keep a cut?
Also, this initial lender was far from the best rate available. The difference between the initially offered rate and the number we settled on translated to approximately $3,800 over the term of the loan. The dealership said they didn't know that we could handle a shorter loan term to qualify for the better rate, but our projected down payment and requested monthly payment were clearly listed in our credit application, which would have made it easy to figure out the loan term.
In addition, both of our credit scores took weirdly large hits after they ran it with multiple lenders.
Price negotiation: As mentioned earlier, we had initially wanted to get a pre-purchase inspection of the vehicle components by the local Chevrolet dealer. When they couldn't get us in that day or the next (Thursday or Friday), we negotiated a price sans third-party inspection, with the understanding we'd be able to pick up and leave with the vehicle that Saturday, while we were still in Coos Bay.
We had left Lincoln City a couple days earlier due to fire danger and wanted the vehicle in case it wasn't safe or healthy for us to return.
When the dealership discovered issues with the vehicle that would require a week or more to address, we asked the finance manager if we could get the vehicle inspected in the interim, and he said that would be okay. (If there was one positive in our experience, it is that they did catch issues in their in-house inspection. However, they don't do this until after they have a deal on a vehicle. So there is the potential that the purchase could be a weeks-long endeavor, especially if they find issues and have difficulty sourcing parts.)
When I mentioned the third-party inspection to the salesman a couple days later, he implied that this was not a condition of the negotiated price. But from our perspective, we were giving up the inspection to get the vehicle quicker, which ended up not happening due to repair needs that they found. It seems odd that they wouldn't stand by a price if an inspection was made; that doesn't give me much faith in the quality of the vehicles they are selling. If issues were found, they could then choose to either lower the price or back out of the deal; the inspection wouldn't put them on the hook for anything.
Masks and COVID protocols: Even though the salesman wore a mask, he constantly pulled it down to talk. Also, we were disappointed in the lack of partitions at the desks. Many businesses currently offer these protections.
Overall, our experience has led us to believe that Gib's is more interested in the bottom line than creating happy customers. read more