re: Your Most Insulting Car Salesman Story?

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I thought those leather bug guards came attached to those early 90s model Hondas

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They were definitely a thing. What the frick were we thinking.

Car salesmen are some of the lowest of the low

I took my truck in a couple weeks ago for 30k mile service. The dude told me it was time for a new battery and it was going to cost whatever. I just said ok and let them change it. When it came time to pay, he gave me the total and I said I had a service plan. he checked…sure enough it was covered, so it was no charge.

I never mentioned that the battery they replaced was only 5 months old.

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I took my truck in a couple weeks ago for 30k mile service. The dude told me it was time for a new battery and it was going to cost whatever. I just said ok and let them change it. When it came time to pay, he gave me the total and I said I had a service plan. he checked…sure enough it was covered, so it was no charge.

I never mentioned that the battery they replaced was only 5 months old.

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The service departments are worse than the sales departments - especially when the service writer is on commission.

In the late 80's, I had a 71 Mercedes 280SL that would run rough unless you put really shitty gas in it. I took it to the Mercedes dealership (a stupid mistake) and the service writer said "$1500, unless the computer is not working properly, then it would be several thousand more." Of course, the 71 had mechanical fuel injection s0 (1) there was no computer and (2) the fuel injection system was something I could work on and I had already checked it out.

I would never take a car to a dealership for paid service work.

Looking at LTZ Tahoes about 10 years ago at a local dealership and the place had it priced about $5K more than I wanted to pay and would not come down and also low-balled a trade-in offer.

He pulled me over and asked if I had a problem (other than the price) because he was black and thought I may be racist.

Two weeks later, I bought the exact same model in GM’s White Diamond Tri-coat (which the previous sales guy said would be 2-3K more) for $7K cheaper 2 hours away.

My parents bought a new car in Covington in the early 1970’s. A couple of weeks later, my mom found a note under the windshield that said “I hope you’re enjoying the car - I loved it but couldn’t make the payments.” The odometer was close to zero when they bought it.

In the late 1990’s, I went to a BMW dealership to buy a 3 series. The body style was new and they didn’t have to deal on the price because of such high demand. I asked the sales guy if there was any wiggle room because of holdback or something. The guy blew his stack and ranted about how I didn’t know what I was talking about and how the internet was making his job so much harder. I walked out.

Early 2000’s I was looking for an SUV and called several dealerships to check availability. One dealership had a car close to what I wanted but it was 4 wheel drive. The sales guy said to come down to look at it and he’d have the service department switch out the 4 wheel drive before we got there. We didn’t go.

I bought a car last summer at the height of scarcity. Every dealer I went to was asking for a $500 refundable deposit except for one that required $1000 non-refundable deposit. I asked the sales guy to see if they’d make it refundable and even said I’d put up $2k if it was refundable. He said “okay” and I pulled out a digital kitchen timer I had set to 3 minutes and showed it to him and said I was walking out if he wasn’t back in 3 minutes. He jumped up and came back in time but said the deposit was non-refundable. I walked out.

I went to another dealer and worked out a deal. The sales guy had a plastic sheet that explained what you get for the BS $1500 they were adding to the price. For some reason, the locking tire nuts caught my eye. After picking up the car, I realized it didn’t have locking lug nuts so I went back and demanded they be installed free of charge. They did it.

Last story: I got a car serviced and went to the cashier to pay. For some reason, I glanced at the receipt and added the 4 or 5 digits in the cents column and realized they didn’t add up. Somehow, the computer added a few cents to the bill. The cashier manually processed a new ticket with the right total. I didn’t make a big deal out of it but I thought how illegal that was and how much money the dealer stole over the years. Sleazy.

Had a guy tell me “my family has to eat to!I don’t budge on these.” After me laughing at him for trying to sell me an unseen suv at sticker price.
When I told him that I have the exact one for a far better price waiting at a dealership back home and I was just “trying to shop local” he told me that it had to be wrecked or a joke. Walked out and went home back home that weekend and and got it.
He called a week later and had miraculously met my price. Told him I bought the other and that he should consider getting out of sales.

Car buying now is as easiest as it’s ever been. There are an ungodly amount of dealerships that will deliver all over the country. Find the make/model/color vehicle you want, search for that car on any number of car search engines, and start getting quotes over email. If it comes down to a few different dealerships that are close in price, send the quote from the others to each one and tell them upfront you are going with whatever dealership can get to the best price.

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You now sign paperwork that says you have to bring it back/re-finance if you are not eligible for that rate or you can’t get a loa

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? That's what I said.

Also you are not responsible for any damages or reconditioning or anything else for that matter.