I bought a used car from Serafini that was practically new, a 2015 Chevrolet Sonic. 23k miles. We test drove it and I knew my wife wanted it. I fear conflict situations, ruminating over "Woulda coulda" type thoughts for quite some time, so I wanted nothing more than to negotiate a modestly lower price and get out of there.
They use every sales tactic in the book and I ended up absolutely traumatized. Even before the test drive, they claimed it was sold, then instantly confirmed the buyer just "backed out". They also have this spreadsheet that shows you they're losing money on the car you want, and won't move the price.
If you say "Ten seven" they take that to mean $10,795. Are you going to correct them and stay vigilant? They give you tons of opportunities to make mistakes, taking advantage of each one. Of course the finance guy adds on fees. If you do the DMV work yourself, you can save the $75 they try to tack on.
We had a beat up car we needed to offload. It wasn't worth much as a trade-in, and they suggested they've worked out where they sell it for scrap, for around $200, and they coordinate it being picked up. But I forgot to explicitly negotiate that, so we were left to figure it all out ourselves, and they remained tight-lipped about the matter.
Also, despite my diligence in trying to check out the car, the car started making a squeaky sound the minute we parked it after the short drive home, while idling. I emailed asking for advice. No response at all, even though they claim to want to be there for us if we had any problems. Fortunately after some initial friction from the local Chevy service center (like suggesting they didn't know how long the car was sitting on the lot for), they agreed to fix it under warranty. We had to leave the car there for a day, which was a pain. No help from Serafini. They had their money.
But I gave them two stars... Why? Well, we checked out other dealerships, and they did actually have a price that was better than most in the area. Maybe it would have cost them $100-200 more and a little more of their time to have actually made it a tolerable or even pleasant experience. But I suppose that's used car dealers for you. Bunch of jerks.
My advice... Go there only when you're able to easily walk away from the car you're interested in. Decide on what price you want to pay, and how flexible that is. Make your offer. They'll have a little fake conversation in the other room, and tell you no. Make a second and final offer, not at your bottom line. If they finally start to negotiate, go at it and make sure you're explicit about wanting the final cost, down to the dollar, after all taxes and fees, including stuff from the finance guy, and figure out something that works for you for your old car. If they don't accommodate everything, find a car elsewhere. read more