re: I miss going to a car dealership that has

I ended up buying my last car at Carmax. I know a lot of folks have issues with them, but in this case I wanted a very specific car in a very specific trim and color that I had been having issues finding even new (2024 Mazda Miata RF in grey with the Brembo, Recaro, BBS package). They had one in New Jersey, in the exact spec and color that I wanted, 6 months old with only 800 miles on it. I do autocross and these cars are perfect for that. I actually did find one new in Fayetteville, NC a few weeks earlier, but the dealer was an absolute prick and when I called told me that I couldn't test drive it unless I agreed to have them run my credit. No way I was dealing with that BS, especially since I was buying in cash.

I had Carmax ship it to North Carolina for $99. They sent a text when it hit the lot in NC, I made an appointment to drive it. When I showed up the car was ready to drive, went out solo, no car salesman tagging along. They asked me to be back within an hour. Got back, waited maybe 10 minutes for my rep to finish with another customer. Did the paperwork in about 10 minutes. The longest I waited was about 20 minutes for them to file the paperwork and give it a quick detail. All told I was there less than an hour and was on my way.

Say what you will about their pricing, I feel like they priced this car right. Bonus that after tax and all the other fees, that I got it out the door for about 8k less than the current MSRP for essentially a brand new car.

I'm sure that if I was able to find that car on a dealer lot and haggled back and forth and dealt with the typical dealer BS I could have saved some money, but not having to commit time with a dealer was worth a little extra money. Kind of understand why there are so many of those places around, was just so easy in comparison to a regular dealer. Just have to be really careful of the quality of the car that they have, not all of them are in good shape.

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You can search inventory online, you can email them to verify the car is still there, ask for the out the door or all-in price including whatever fees they try to tack on, pre-shop interest rates and e-mail multiple dealerships.

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Find a make, model, and trim you want and duplicate the above at 6-10 dealerships. Work with the online sales person. Email them all 7-10 days before the end of the month and tell them you will be buying on the last day of the month. Tell them you want their best out the door price emailed to you and they'll only hear back from you if they win the bid.

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Two similar cars with similar stickers have different OTD prices.

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But "similar" isn't "the same"

And the OTD price can be negotiated per person, right?

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Just buy a tesla.

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The OP may not be gay.

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We show up, no car. They try some bullshite about well someone came in and bought it between your phone call and you driving here (30 minutes).

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Had a similar experience at Northshore Toyota in Covington. First they said the manager took it to run an errand. Sitting in the salesman's office for 20 min with him pretending to work on his computer. I ask for an eta when the manager returns. Walks out the office for 5 min comes back and says they no longer had the car.

Screw that dealership.

Same evening ran to one of the Bowers dealerships in Slidell which had the car I was looking for. Salesman got the keys within a few minutes. Test drove the car. Sat at the salesman's desk made him an offer which he accepted; this was after 8pm. Came back the next day with the cashier's check and less than 30min drove off with the car.

This thread is not going the way the OP thought it was going to go lol

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Hertz is hard to beat.

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You've got to be out of your mind to buy a used rental car.

I bought a sports car in 2017, 2018 model and the first dealership wouldn't let me drive ANY of the cars without a credit app and signed contract. I didn't even want any of the cars they had on the lot, I wanted to order.

The next place was even worse. Didn't even try to sell me a car.

I asked around online, found another dealership. We drove 3 different cars including a more premium limited run car. They said order how you want $XXX over invoice. I picked the care out and ordered that day, it was delivered a couple months later. It wasn't IF I was going to order a car, I would have probably paid more that what I did, but nobody took me serious.

When I bought my last car I wanted to drive a GR corolla and Civic Type R. They didn't let me drive, oh well, there are plenty of other sporty, reliable commuter cars out there. It's a second vehicle for me, so it doesn't have to be spectacular, just fun.

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The only reason to step foot on a dealership should be for specific purpose identified before you get there, not to shop.

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When I bought my A5 and Sierra I showed up to the dealership with everything pre-negotiated and took the cars for a quick test drive before signing. When I got my Yukon XL I went to the local GMC dealer to see the difference between it and the standard Yukon and then shopped pricing around the state.

I've never added on any of the extra packages and always bring my own financing so things move quickly.

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I've never added on any of the extra packages and always bring my own financing so things move quickly.

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Yeah, you can take care of so many things now from home if you don't test drive the vehicle on the purchase visit, you can be done in less than 45 minutes at most places.