I bought a new Jeep in Austin after trying to buy here local.
I bought my new truck in Huntsville after trying to buy local. I have lived here 49 years and cannot buy here because they are crazy high or put add ons onto the price.

paid 7000 less for the Jeep in Austin, a transparent clean cash transaction
Why can't this happen local ???

Because they know it's a bit of a drive to get a deal somewhere else.

They don't move the volume Austin does is one issue but also so many people don't shop around so they just wait for those people.

I bought a Toyota several years ago. Local offered me $2k on trade in and couldn't come off MSRP while a dealer 2 hours away gave me $10k for trade in and 15% off MSRP. Needless to say, I made the 4 hour round trip drive. Had a similar but even worse experience with local GM. Ended up having a car shipped from Arkansas for 17% off MSRP. I made the mistake of going to look locally without discussing price ahead of time. They had me sit there for an hour while they hung out in their bosses office only to keep coming out and giving me next to nothing off. Won't do that again.

I gave a few different local dealerships multiple chances a few years ago when shopping for my wife, and every one that I went to was a pain in the ass to deal with. I'll probably be in the market for a new truck in a few years, and I won't even consider the local ones; it's a total waste of time.

Keating owns many of the dealers in BCS. They are known for very shady practices.

maroon barchetta said:

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Because they know it's a bit of a drive to get a deal somewhere else.

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I guess so if people think driving down or up the bypass is a chore.

but you can spec out a vehicle online and find it in houston for way under the prices in town. Then drive down and get it.

Same experience 21 years ago - it was like they didn't want to sell me a car. Drove to Corpus Christi and got what I wanted with no hassle or problem. Haven't shopped for cars locally since.

Douglass Nissan sold my wife a lemon used car.. awful experience and they were just like .. oh well deal with it.
negative experience's with Atkinson Toyota and varsity ford …didn't buy from either them.

Since then I've bought 3 new vehicles all from out town.. Weatherford, Houston and madisonville

In market for a new truck in the next 2/3 months… won't even consider anyone in BCS.

They have been that way since the 80s. And they don't care

My inlaws bought an SUV from Atkinson Toyota a number of years ago. It had a recall on the engine and Atkinson Toyota delayed the service multiple times and evenually the engine had major issues and the service manager lied and tried to say he had not contacted them.

He fought them for about three months w/o a vehicle and after calling the national customer relationship director and multiple threats to sue Atkinson Toyota and the parent company, he not only got a new engine but Toyota National sent him a $1,500 check.

We have tried to purchase locally but due to the above mentioned issues, but we can't get any deal at all. I always feel like they think I am a moron. We purchase in Houston.

I buy local when I can, but I won't get screwed doing so.

Went to look at trucks at CS Ford and couldn't find stickers on most of the F150s. Asked the salesman where things were starting price wise and was told low 50s for a base model that I see in the lower 40s everywhere else. Very disorganized and extremely aggravating that they don't even take the time to upload true images online anymore, just a bunch of stock images.

"Shop local!"

Um…what if local really sucks?

And local car dealerships really suck. Glad to be part of the out of town vehicle purchase crew.

I have not had one good experience even talking to dealers here locally. I'll buy in Houston or further away because all the "keep your money local" guys play games.

B-C/S dealerships are too difficult to deal with. I haven't purchased a new vehicle in B- C/S in years. We typically go to Madisonville and San Antonio for new trucks and cars. Local dealerships have always low balled me on trades. The add on game has gotten worst as well.

We ended up buying our Hyundai Palisade from Weisner in Conroe after College Station dicked us around. We went back and forth three times on price and their stupid APex product that they want to charge $3k for. We were on our phones looking at other dealerships while they yucked it up in their office. Weisner had the car we wanted. Emailed them and asked about price. Got a call in 15 minutes. Told them what we wanted on our trade in and how much we wanted to pay for the car. They call back in 10 minutes and say if we can come get it tonight we've got a deal.

Told College Station we were done and we'll shop around at other dealers like Weisner. They salesman was like those guys aren't great to deal with, we'll never lose a sale to Weisner. LOL. He called me the next day asking what we had decided and I told him we bought from Weisner because they gave us exactly what we wanted. He was all like man I wish you'd give me another opportunity to earn your business. Bull***** You had numerous opportunities. We'll use them for service but I'll never go back there to try to buy a car.

They all say "we never lose a deal on price".

I have found this to be wildly inaccurate, even just looking at this thread (and all the other ones).

With the internet, there is no differentiator between a car here versus a car sold in Conroe, Houston, Dallas, etc. What the internet does do is allow us to find those deals much easier.

I would "keep my money local" if it didn't cost me $5k to do so.

halibut sinclair said:

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Anyone ever bought in Huntsville or Conroe?

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I believe the Toyota dealerships in BCS and Huntsville are owned by the same company. Won't be any different there.

Kiddoc bought his car in Tomball and can't even get it serviced in a reasonable amount of time at Aggieland Chevrolet. They would keep it for days without even touching it.

Now he takes it to Navasota because they actually know how to communicate and manage their schedule.

One Louder said:

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Kiddoc bought his car in Tomball and can't even get it serviced in a reasonable amount of time at Aggieland Chevrolet. They would keep it for days without even touching it.

Now he takes it to Navasota because they actually know how to communicate and manage their schedule.

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A friend of mine in another town was trying to buy an Accord from the dealer in her town. The dealer wanted more money and add-ons than the Houston dealer she had talked to.

She said she would just leave and go to Houston. Her local dealer said "That's fine, but if you ever try to get service here it's going to be very slow for you since you didn't buy from us."

She bought from Houston and when she needs service she just goes to Houston. Doesn't want to give her local dealer a dime.

I always liked the old "Come up with another couple hundred bucks and I'll run it past my manager, but I think I can make it work" schtick.

Of course they already know what they can and can't take, but a lot of buyers don't know that and fall into that trap.

Goose83 said:

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I always liked the old "Come up with another couple hundred bucks and I'll run it past my manager, but I think I can make it work" schtick.

Of course they already know what they can and can't take, but a lot of buyers don't know that and fall into that trap.

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I'm in sales. I don't appreciate it. I don't appreciate you wasting hours of my time so you think you can squeeze a couple thousand out of my frustration.

I do multimillion dollar deals. I don't play games like that with my customers. Therefore, I don't do stuff like that going back and forth on a $50k car deal. I expect to negotiate everything up front via phone / email.

If a car guy says "just come on down and we'll work it out.." Do not under any circumstances just come on down, unless you want to waste your day, walking away with no car.

EMY92 said:

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Keating owns many of the dealers in BCS. They are known for very shady practices.

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Even the non-Keating ones suck. Allen Honda is awful

Goose83 said:

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I always liked the old "Come up with another couple hundred bucks and I'll run it past my manager, but I think I can make it work" schtick.

Of course they already know what they can and can't take, but a lot of buyers don't know that and fall into that trap.

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That whole process is such a sham and it's kind of hard to believe dealerships still do it.

My last two purchases have been completely over phone/text/email (Toliver Ford in Quitman and Classic Kia in Beaumont). I told them what I was willing to pay and that I wasn't going to accept any add-ons and we went from there. I didn't even have to go to Beaumont for the second one, they drove it to CS and we signed the papers in my kitchen.

I've had mixed results with Lithia Dodge. Had to buy wife's Jeep in Brenham (2014), bought Pacifica here (2024) good deal. Best experience of my life was through Military Car Sales while stationed in Iceland.Started making down payments in advance up to a certain amount and get a percentage off the price. Additionally, once down payment began/contract began, whatever the lowest rebate during that time was applied to the truck. Got lowest price and decked out exactly like I wanted it. Once I got to my next duty station, the truck was waiting for me at the Dodge dealership right off base. Signed the paperwork and drove off. I wish I could buy that way every time.

The economy and law of averages is the answer. First, College Station is not bleeding like many parts of the US. We are often isolated in good times and bad times. Second, the dealers know that every 5th or 6th customer that walks in will pay what they want.

One guy told me that driving to Houston to save $5k wasn't worth his time. I don't think he knew that 5K is $5000 and it would take about 3 months for him to earn that.