Just venting...negotiated a "drive out" price on a vehicle via email and phone calls detailing the price included TT&L and all other items. I have it in an email from the dealership to document all of this. Start the process of the paper work and the sales manager interrupts claiming price does not include TT&L, etc.

They just lost a sale. Thought they could get another couple of thousand out of me if I had become emotionally attached to the vehicle. Anyone have any stories to share about auto dealership dishonesty?

Idiots, plain an simple. I run the service department at ViperExchange, it's not exactly Rocket Surgery to match your quote to the penny.

11 years ago I found a new 4Runner online in Houston. Emailed dealership and negotiated a drive out price. Drove 2 hours to dealership. Get there and they have 4Runner but now the price is like $1500 higher. Saleswoman said something like well $700 was added for window tint and $800 for clear shield on front of hood. The funny thing is 4runners come with factory privacy glass that is built in except for the front 2 windows which can be tinted for $60. I told her I don't want the tint and clear shielding because we already agreed on a drive out price. I tell her I will pay $60 more for the tint but I'm not paying for the clear shielding and she can remove it. She pulls out the bs that she can't sell it any lower because the dealership will lose money. I walk out the door and as I'm backing up she starts chasing me down in the parking lot beating on the window and yelling to come back in. That was on a Saturday. The following week I bought the identical 4Runner at another dealer for a cheaper price. Now I don't even waste my time going to the dealer. I find what I want online anywhere in Texas or Oklahoma and my guy in Dallas delivers it to me with no bs games and in a professional manner at a price that so far no other dealers in the state have been unable to match.

Negotiate price with internet manager of new car around DFW, dealership in Fort Worth was coming in roughly $1,500 cheaper than everyone else. Ask the dealerships closer to me why they can't match price and they say dealership in Fort Worth is either giving me the $1k cash or 0% financing but not both. Call Fort Worth dealership to confirm price, finance terms, etc...

Head out to dealership that afternoon and start signing paperwork with finance guy. Start going over terms and roughly 5% interest rate is coveniently in paperwork. Argue with finance manager and he says they've never seen them offer the cash discount and 0%, rather it's always either or. He says he'll check with GM and comes back and says GM approves it.

Talk about a freak out moment bout to occur.

I got two stories.

I was just out of college and buying my first car on my own. I did the internet pricing on a Honda Civic (so every dealer has the same car) expect I did not hear back from the closest one.

I decide to show up at the closest one anyways hoping they will match the best offer I have. Do the test drive and go in to talk through the numbers. I mention that I never heard back from them, but had offers better than their number from other locations. They ask me to "show them the offers" and bring me to a computer. I start typing in the gmail website and they quickly usher me away. Out of the corner of my eye I notice that the computer shows an error for not being connected to the internet. I ended up buying from the lowest price offer.

Second story is when I was buying a Toyota truck. We have everything negotiated on the truck and final price ready to go. We take another walk around the truck and my dad notices that the truck has Bridgestone tires, but other trucks had Michelins. My dad was with me and he preferred the Michelins, so we asked them to change them out. They refused and wanted to charge us the full price of the new tires in order to swap out. We laughed and left. Went to another dealer who laughed as well and said they'd never lose a sell over that. The first dealer was calling while we were signing the papers at the second dealer.

Lefty Ag '89 said:

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at a price that so far no other dealers in the state have been unable to match.

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So.... what you're saying is that ALL dealers CAN match. hmmm so why do you stick with THAT dealership??

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Where do I say all dealers will match ?

I can tell you from experience that is not the case. Maybe it has to do with overhead or size but some will actually tell you they can't or won't match the other offers you have.
If you want to price shop a new vehicle with the least bs. Find the vin number of the one you want. Email the new car sales director directly at 5,10,15, 20 dealerships in the state and tell them they have 1 chance to give you their lowest drive out price on that vin vehicle. If you go through the new car sales director directly you cut out the salesperson's commission since they are on generally on salary with bonuses tied to the sales team under them.

two years ago I was looking for a new car. Found one I liked in OKC. called to confirm it was still available and make sure all the details on the website were correct (it was a loaded one for about what a base model went for). The salesman went and checked and called me back saying it was as advertised. I called back the next day and said I'd be driving over Saturday and get there at noon to pick it up (about a 4 hour drive) and again ask if it's as advertised.

10:00 Saturday they call me, so they know I'm already on the road and halfway there. They then tell me that the car has hail damage and that's why it's cheap. I said I'd show up anyway and look. when I get there I go straight to the lot and start putting bright green post it notes on every dent. The salesman come up and I say I'm willing to talk if he's willing to bring down the price. He said he'd have to see.

Takes me in, he goes and gets the sales manager. The sales manager comes in with the documents drawn up for $2200 ABOVE what the total out the door price was when I called earlier in the week.

laughed, got up, called a cab to take me back to the bus stop (there is a huge horrible story on taking the greyhound)

as the cab pulled up the manager comes back out, I wind up getting it for 1400 less than the price from earlier in the week.

i made a deal on a car and they were to bring it over from another dealership the next day. when i showed up, it was an automatic and different color (i was buying a manual). they apologized and swore they "didn't know how that happened". i left after that and bought elsewhere.