Offensive, Shady, Bait-and-switch, Disrespectful. These guys don't have much going for them.
After shopping around, and going to this dealership to look the day before I was pretty confident in a 2014 TDI Golf (the recently recalled one) they had on the pre-owned lot. I had found it online listed by them for $16.5k. Not bad, and I was comfortable paying even the advertised price, what I wanted was it with tax title and license included. A difference of a few hundred dollars to what was advertised on a still warrantied car.
The young salesman from the day before was nowhere to be found, and I was paired with an older guy who reeked of cigarettes. After the test drive I let him know I was interested in buying today. Looking at the car a few pieces of the interior were broken, and the car was covered in a layer of ash from the recent fires... inside and out. I noted when I was driving the slight water marks on in interior, and I suspected they were from where the windshield met the front of the car as it looked like a seal was missing... this is where things got... weird.
The salesmen had my friend who was joining me slam the door, while he put his ear up to where I thought the seal should be on top of the car. He had her so it 3 times. "Nope! No air coming through there! Nothing!"
The next bit of weird... he laughed to himself and said "I've got a test I do on all cars. It's a good one." He hit with his palm cupped the door of the TDI, so it made a low noise. "See that? See?" Then he hit the door of a 2018 Subaru Outback next to it with his hand flat, to make a high noise. He returned to the TDI and said "THIS! This is a good car!" Because the noise a car door makes when you hit it tells all...
The salesman led us into an office to talk negotiations. Before he even got to the price of the car he asked to have me fill out an auto loan application. I declined, my financing was all figured out and I had the letter in hand... and the print out of the car listed for $16.5k on their website. He went back and said they just wanted to run the numbers to see if they could get me a better deal on financing than what I had. Fine, I filled out the few sections that were necessary for this soft hit. He came back in with a form to sign, $21k for the car and a few thousand in add-ons. I declined the add ons, and he had worked out monthly payments. Asked me to sign at the bottom. I said no, that wasn't the advertised price of the car. He went back to the finance guy, and returned with the same price for the car but a longer term loan. I again told him, that wasn't the advertised price of the car. He had the finance guy come in to tell me they couldn't find my offer for the car online, that I'd have to use their financing. I said that was impossible. Both left, and sat for awhile gabbing at the desk before coming back, no mention of the financing offer, somehow it was found, and saying "Okay hun, we've got a sale on that car for $18k right now. You're hurtin' me but I can do that."
Do not. Call a woman "hun" when she's buying a car from you if you actually want to sell it.
I said no. The price of the car online is $16.5k. After a few more back and forth a with shady math and trying to get the loan longer... I handed him my financing offer, and said that's what I would pay - $16.5k with tax title and license included, and I wanted the car cleaned. (It still had a layer of ash.) He said they don't clean used cars, but he'd see what he could do. He asked me to sign the offer I was handing him, that if he could match that I'd buy. The salesman came back and said "Okay **kiddo**. You're really hurting me here. I can do $16.5k on the car (the advertised price) plus tax and license. Only with our financing. Can't go any lower. Can't do anything else." He showed me some arbitrary numbers about he was losing money, and just said it's "how math works."
I stood up, after hours of this, and walked out. Had the price been non negotiable that's a conversation, but to go down after hours to the advertised price and act like it was a win for me? And to call me kiddo when I'm about to spend thousands of dollars was offensive, not the way to make a sale.
Bought a 2016 Golf SportWagen a few days later, ironically from another Subaru dealership. Not sorry that Gresham Subaru didn't get my business.
Word the wise - If you're set on using them don't give them any of your information until you're set on a price for the car. That wasn't a soft hit to my credit and I got a letter in the mail a few weeks later regarding an auto loan I applied for there... I didn't. read more