Why I Hate Car Dealerships (long rant)

Mark ... hahahaha.....REVENGE IS SWEET!!!!!!...isn't it?

Thanks,
UZY

 

Let em have it when they call.

 

When I bought my XK8 (used) from a Mazda/Hyundai dealer that had sat outside for a couple of weeks. I started out annoyed because I had called the salesman that morning and asked that they have the car washed (it was black and dusty) when I drove an hour to look at it. I specifically told him, I'm not a tire kicker, I want to drive it and then talk about my trade.

No wash. I should have walked then and told them when they wanted to sell it to call me.

After driving we started talking about price difference. Normal negotiations. I really think it was out of habit the salesman and his manager started shucking and jiving to my great annoyance. I had told them I would be paying by cashier's check. They started with financing options. I told them it would be a cashier's check. We have this rate X, for X per month. IT IS A CASHIER'S CHECK i told them. As I got more annoyed my price ceiling lowered, probably helped me with negotiations actually. I didn't care if I bought or not.

I ended up buying the car (cashier's check). Probably took twice as long as needed. Or three times. When we left it so happened the general manager was leaving at the same time and saw us walking to it, he asked how our experience was. I simply told him that I BOUGHT this car, they did not SELL me this car, and that actually most of what I experienced that night should have made me walk out.

 

Another one was the terrible BMW/Porsche dealer where we had our 3-series serviced. Picture every stereotype of a dirtbag salesman you can imagine, they had them. Now back that with an apathetic incompetent service manager and monosyllabic grease monkeys actually spinning the wrenches. We unloaded BMW and vowed never to buy another one as long as they are our closest dealer.

A week after getting rid of the car we received a call from BMW USA with a survey regarding the service experience. I vented and then told her (truthfully) that we no longer had the car because we had traded it for a MERCEDES.

She says, "oh, you don't have the car anymore you don't need to take this survey..."

I told her, "yes, I guess there won't be any further problems."

 

Whats the big deal about giving a SS#? There are plenty of people you have given it to if you are a business man and own real estate etc. Seems to me its much easier to use a credit monitoring service like lifelock than to get all upset everytime requests your SS.

 

Personally I think its no big deal. 98% of the people in this country give their SS# to the DMV or power companies, credit card companies etc. Thats the way it works and how you are identified. Other people seeing your number means nothing unless someone is targeting you specifically to obtain something in your name in which case any credit monitoring company will notify you and block it. If its your pet peeve I understand it but I am sure you understand when some paper pusher has a policy where they need it you can either waste your time and go elsewhere, make a big stink everywhere you do business or write it down and move on.

 

Hey Mark, why'd ya buy the car from them after being treated that way? Let your dollars do your talking...in the long run they won. Even with the survey they will be off the hook with the manufacturer after 90 days. If I walk out of someplace I never walk back in.

 

I too do not like to give out my SSN. It is meant to direct my monthly payments into the social security system so I am credited with the proper amount to determine my future benefits for when I retire or if I become disable...nothing more. It is not a form of national ID.

 

I also paid cash for a car, and they almost lost the deal because they wanted my SSI..

I have no idea what they need it for... and I agree with the OP, why would I give out my info to the lowest salesman on the lot.. Same with the Dr.s office..

I was at lowes a few days ago and they asked for my phone number...

Why? All I want are these screws... I said no..

 

Very wise, Sir.

I often think consumers can be too quick to lambaste an entire company's ethos based entirely on the under-performance of an individual employee.

It wasn't exactly an honourable transaction the whole way through, but I'm glad to see you gave them a fair shot to fix their mistakes.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

All good and well, but then if/when he has a warranty issue he has lost his leverage.

Yes they treated him like a monkey, no need to lower yourself and do the same.

I purchased my last vehicle [due to supply issues] from a interstate dealer 500miles away, agreed on a price and transport charge, mailed them a company check [cheque] and all the reg. details, it arrived 2 days latter, they did\'nt even wait for the cheque to clear.

No brainer or issues.

Cheers

 

I would like to say they needed it for OFAC, but they probbly don't know what that means.

 

You don't need a SSN to run an OFAC on a customer. I've heard of DMVs requiring an SSN for registration of a car. But if it's a cash deal and the customer is concerned about his information, the dealer should have reassigned the MSO and handed it over to the OP and told him to register the car himself.

 

I was an Internet Sales Manager for four years and you don't need a Social for OFAC, but 99% of people who paid cash I would never push the issue. If they seemed shady they would need to provide enough information to make everyone comfortable, but the SSN has really been abused to be used as an ID. Someone said something about Lifelock....save your monthly fee they don't do anything. Someone conned our postman into giving him our mail, and the crook opened up over 40K in credit in my name and 30K in my wife's name, at B of A, Neiman Marcus, Wells Fargo, Life Lock did not even notify me, I caught it because I did not get mail that day and called the post office.

So I call Life Lock, "hey guys I got my id stolen" the call center staff on the other side of the phone "uhhhhh are you sure" so anyways they went on to tell me that because I stopped it before they got any money they did nothing to help clean up the mess so I spent months on the phone getting it all cleaned up with the banks. The local police did nothing as well, only after I worked with the security people at Neiman Marcus, and spent about a month running down leads, to produce the name, last known address, phone numbers, collected the tapes from the call centers (again the guys at Neiman Marcus amazing), then the police came and collected all the evidence and issued an arrest warranty for the guy. He is now in Jail somewhere in Central California. They really need to develop a better system to protect credit information and ID.

 

Believe it or not, the California DMV is now the first line of defense for the Homeland Security Dept. They now require each CA dealer to have a Red Flag Officer who is in charge of authenticating individuals and positively establishing their identity. I just took my bi annual DMV test and at least 50 percent of the questions involved requirements for this new component of dealer responsibilities.

My understanding is that it only currently applies to dealerships that offer financing but I'm not at all surprised to hear that the dealership enacted a policy to credit check everyone, as running afoul of DMV policy is less problematic than an occasional irate customer.

 

Sorry I meant to say "more problematic". I'm really not trying to make excuses for the dealership, but I can see how these new DMV policies are a difficult burdon for dealers, especially seeing that they are now required to perform this invasive task. Invasive DMV policy + junior salesmen + fear of God = bad experience

 

the thing i hate ,is take a company corp. check to a bussiness to buy something [$20-$1,500]and they want my dl#,its a corp ck mot my personal ck,this even happens if i send an employee [then they want his] we have been told this is if the check bounces they have someone to chase

 

Check your credit report for a hard inquiry from the dealership or a third party associated with the dealership. They don't need a SSN to do it.

 

That is true all they need is your name and address and they can pull a credit report.