Subaru Dealer Bait-and-Switch

This can take all the fun out of buying a car :-) When I bought my 97 OBW and perhaps even the 2002 Passat, buyers could not get a firm quote unless they went to a dealer with a specific model and accessories in mind and were "ready to buy".

Even before the price switch I was upset that the salesman said I would have to pay MSRP for the trailer hitch plus a $160 installation fee, which I thought was rather excessive

- especially after he said during the test drive that he would be willing to "come down a bit" on the dealer-installed accessories.

Well, I did tell the two salesmen that since they tried to bait-and-switch me I wasn't interested in buying a car from them any more even if they gave me the price they had originally quoted. (I will pay another dealer a higher, more reasonable price, but will not pay that higher price to them!) Since they were clearly not going to give me that price they had nothing left to negotiate with and I'm not surprised they let me walk.

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

Reply to
Victor Roberts
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I have to tell my story of a bait and switch. I used cars.com and did searches in the area I live in. It came back with 3 '06 Foresters. They were all listed as 25 miles on them and as well a amazingly good price for a new Forester. Well at that time I was looking mainly at used, 03 to 05 Foresters. I have been seeing these anywhere from $15K to $20K with mileage matching their age. Well I told her of course what I was looking for and of course like most dealers she tried to ask how much I wanted to pay. I know then she would want to put me into something matching that. When I told her $15K she started talking about '99 Foresters. Then I told her I'd rather just pay whatever matches the type of car. I would go with fully loaded, maybe basic, maybe 03, maybe 05. The point is I would do a Kelley Blue Book and whatever that car is worth pay it. It all was about what i felt was a good value. Well I finally asked what she thought she could get a 03 to 05 Forester for used and she said about $19-$21K. To me that sounded outrageous. Now understand when I called on this It turned out the lady was a auto broker and invited me to her office for a interview to find out about what i wanted. They were in office with barely a parking lot so it was obvious those 3 Foresters she had advertised were not there. She asked me about financing and basically I told her I wasn't going to lease (which she wanted me to) and as well was not going to finance but would pay cash. She kind of made a funny face and I know it's because she wouldn't make as much. She explained how with financing the banks pay her her fee but since I'm not financing she wouldn't make that money and woudl charge me a $250 fee. I knew someone that went with a auto broker and I know that's normal and have no problem with that if she finds the car at the right price. The thing is the more she talked about how she finds cars it just didn't sound like she knew what she was doing. I have heard of them sending people to auctions and she talked about all these ways she could find cars, such as ebay motors. The thing is everything she was telling me is stuff I could easily do on my own without the $250 fee. What upset me is with the prices she mentioned they were as high as the 06 Foresters she advertised. I finally asked her where they are, I'd like to look at them and she said "They aren't here. They are at Subaru dealers." I asked which one but she wouldn't say. The thing is she did talk like she goes to dealers also to find good prices and get them without the fees and negotiates for you. My and my fiancee who was with me both agreed, those cars don't exist. I think they were simply like a bait and switch, put in the ad to make you call and then find out it's a auto broker who calls you in. They were simply too good to be true. It turned out when I left she gave me a application to fill out sayign how she works hard on this so needs this filled out first. it wasn't a committment of any type. I didn't want that becuase I was scared I'd leave and find a good deal and am committed to buying from her. What it was is simply a financial application. The thing is if I'm paying cash why does she need that. I simply took it home and didn't fill it out. She called twice the next day but I was gone so she left a msg. I thought she' d forget about me but called the following Monday saying she was going to a auction Tuesday and a Forester was there. She didn't give many details on the msg. so I called her back. Well she didn't even seem interested in talking. I asked about which model it was. All she knew was 03, nothing else about it. I told her I'd need to know more and she just wasn't that helpful and just said "Well call me back sometime tommorrow. I can tell you then." Well I did call her once but she wasn't in and she never called me back. Any good salesperson even without me calling would have just said "I'll get the information to you and call you back." I don't know if she was just unprofessional or more likely, maybe she felt I was less money than the people going with financing that it was no reason to work hard for it. The thing is I am still in the market and likely buying a new '06 now but I could have worked with her. I haven't heard back from her in the last two weeks though but the fact it was that bait and switch at the beginning just makes me question ethics anyway.

Reply to
Mark W

The dealer is trying to locate the car I want from an another dealer's stock (I'm looking for a base OBW SE with no options, and they all seem to have extras on them like the "auto dimming mirror-compass" and whatnot).

I do have a final price, assuming he can find the car I want. The problem is that the base SE doesn't seem to be readily available, (I even called Subaru NA to have them check inventory), so I may have to spring for a few extras that I'm not necessarily interested in.

Reply to
BrianW

I didn't fined any Forester Premiums that did not have the auto dimming mirror, and most had "rub strips" on the roof that I also don't need. One interesting fact is that one Forester on the lot had the old non-auto-dimming mirror still in the back. That can mean only one thing, that the auto-dimming mirror was NOT a factory-installed option. In fact it seems like it was installed at the dealership. Why else would the old mirror still be in the car? Do dealers have the capability of creating a new "factory" sticker that lists stuff they added to the car?

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

Reply to
Victor Roberts

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The last time I was shoping for a used car at a sales lot, I was wandering through the lot and a sales droid came over and asked how much I wanted to finance. I told him nothing, that I had cash to buy anything I was interested in. He then asked which one I was going to take. I told him I was just looking and hadn't decided yet. He then asked me to just give him the cash, and when I decided, I could come back can get that vehicle. I don't think I've ever left a lot faster in my life!

Reply to
Ken Finney

Reply to
Edward Hayes

Probably the reason they get by with it is people do fall for these type of tactics. It's hard to believe. Even in my case I asked the lady on the phone before I went in if these cars are where I could see them. If they were new, if that was the actual mileage, etc. and she said yes to all. It's obvious it was a bait and switch.

Reply to
Mark W

Well, these days of course so many people shop online the dealers have to give you quotes. Usually they have an Internet sales manager who handles those. With our 96 Civic we did have to go from dealer to dealer and ask for quotes, and many of them would of course say to come back when we got quotes from other dealers and they would beat them. But even with Internet quotes, I assumed that at least one of the dealers was low-balling, since his quote was so much lower than anyone else's and he didn't have the car on the lot (but said he could get whatever we wanted.)

They can come down some on the dealer-installed accessories--they don't pay MSRP of course. We did have to do a lot of arguing about the installation fees because the salesman said he had no control over the service dept. fees. We had the splash guards, bumper cover, and side moldings installed--easy jobs and I suppose if we had to, we could have installed these ourselves.

Walking out is a negotiating tactic like everything else. Many dealers will try to make a better deal if you do get up to walk out. In this case they obviously knew they had lost the sale and there was nothing left to negotiate. I agree, I wouldn't go back to them but it doesn't take much for me to walk away from a dealer. That's why this time we only went to the dealers' lots to test drive the models we were interested in, and when it came down to buying did as much of it online as possible. We also got a loan pre-approved by our credit union, so that when it came to financing we were able to tell them we would only finance with the dealer if he gave us a better deal than the credit union (again, usually they will).

I was also pleasantly surprised this time around that there was little pressure to buy the extended warranty (well, the finance manager did show us his own warranty to prove that he thinks it's a deal), or undercoating, etc. Last time we bought, the finance manager tried to tell us that our loan wouldn't be approved for the special rate the manufacturer was offering if we didn't buy the extended warranty (not true, of course.)

--yngver

Reply to
yngver

Side moldings? Are there side molding available for the Forester, or were you referring to your Honda? This is one accessory I would like to have that seems to not be offered.

As for the trailer hitch, I have since looked at aftermarket hitches, specifically DrawTite. They have a very nice Forester hitch for about $140 with drawbar and wiring harness and they say it is a bolt-on installation that can be done in about 50 minutes by an ordinary person. This certainly makes me wonder about the 2-hour labor charge at $80 per hour quoted by the dealer.

And yes, the salesman talked about the service department as if it was a different company that just happened to be located in the same building :-)

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

Reply to
Victor Roberts

My God! I can't believe it! A dishonest car salesperson. I've never heard of such a thing.

I once took my girlfriend to "look" at Ford trucks. She really wanted a truck. Anyway, the salesperson gives us a price, and he says we should write up a contract -- just in case she decides to go for it -- and the paperwork will mostly be done with. While I'm sitting there he pushes a contract in front of her and tells her to sign it. I take one look, and I'm no attorney, and realize that if she signs this contract she's just bought a car. I told him to write into the contract that she could cancel at any time, and after a lot of stalling he finally wrote that in. I couldn't believe a salesperson would do something like that. Interestingly, there's no way she could qualify for a loan.

Furthermore, there's dealer's invoice and there's dealer's invoice. They can show you whatever they want, and you may look up what the dealer pays, but you never really know what the dealer actually paid for the car. People who claim they paid $100 over dealer invoice either bought a car the dealer has been trying to get rid of, or they are buying from a dealer that will soon be out of business.

Good luck in your search for a new Forester, but meanwhile you still have what I assume is a great reliable car. I've got a 97 OB.

Reply to
Sheldon

If your mechanic cannot fit a trailer hitch in less than 30 minutes then go elsewhere. Hell, I fitted mine in about 40 minutes and I'm not in that business at all.

(maybe he was going to open the job card and then drive across town to pick it up) :)

Reply to
Bugalugs

Reply to
Edward Hayes

But he was going to charge me 2 hours - plus the car would already be in the shop being prepped for delivery and having the block heater installed.

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

Reply to
Victor Roberts

Reply to
Edward Hayes

Sorry, I meant the bumper side moldings--they go on each side, back and front. They aren't much but are better than nothing. I wish they did have side moldings for the Forester! My husband's Legacy has them, but there's nothing for the Forester to protect the sides from dings. Or nothing that I know of. Those cheap plastic door guards won't even fit in the right place.

Yes, our dealer told us that normally they would charge 2 hours labor (at $100 an hour) to install the splash guards, moldings and bumper cover. My guess is that at most that is a 30 minute job.

-yngver

Reply to
yngver

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