I have some doozies to share, various dealers

- "Look it has dual exhaust' as race car driver sales guy points to the one muffler with 2 exhaust pipes. (Honda Prelude)

- "You would have been stuck with both cars", Acura business manager when they messed up some paperwork and *I* caught the mistake, not them.

- "They are just finishing up" 5pm as they just drive my GM crapfire into the service bay for the first time and I see them doing that. 90 minutes later they get me a rental for the night.

- "Well you know something could happen to your car like a fire" GM dealer sales manager suggesting I commit insurance fraud because I'm unhappy with my crapfire.

- "The Canadian cars don't use the same parts" - Acura service manager

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I've seen and experienced so much shadyness when dealing with dealerships.

Rob

In a small town I find they go more with personable people who tended to be slightly popular in high school.

One thing about my town is that the manager at the Toyota dealership did things right, and has his team whipped into great shape--they are like good manners automatons. The other dealerships--lazy and smug.

They had one next to it w/o KDSS.

It is $300 for the running boards and $800 to install them- Sales Manager

A number of years ago I test drove a Ford Ranger with a fairly attractive saleswoman. It was a slow evening at the dealer and our test drive was over an hour, and we spent some time talking after we got back. I think there might have been some flirting back and forth too. A few days later I got a courtesy letter in the mail with a hand written note on the bottom saying "I would do ANYTHING (in big letters and underlined several times) to sell you a new truck". I always wondered what exactly she meant by that.

"You can't get leather with the SR5, but we can add it aftermarket" (SR5 with factory leather was sitting two 4runners over)

Me "How does the multi-terrain select work? Is it air suspension like my GX470?" Him - "No, it's kinetics dynamics, KDSS..." ends conversation. Me "Ok?" (KDSS was not installed on the TE we were driving)

Sounds like a full service dealer

"I promise, it will only hurt for a second."

"The mat you inquired about has been discontinued, but there are other companies that make them" - about the NEW rear rubber cargo mat Toyota JUST released for the new 10'/11' 4R!

It's funny because I e-mail my dealership (late night), after I saw it on Toyota's accessory page, told them it is for the new 10'/11' 4R, sent them the direct link, asked for pricing and availability. It took them a couple days to respond back to me.

What makes it better is that I had called the morning after I sent th e-mail because I had free time (did not think I would, reason I had send the email the night before). The people were helpful, looked it up, called me back in 5 and said it had not been released yet, but would be soon, according to the main people in Cali.

It goes to show you that you can have 2 very difference experiences at a dealership depending on who you deal with! Seriously though, discontinued for a NEW car, what was that guy thinking. I just laughed and him and asked him why they would discontinue a product they just released and explained my conversations with his co-workers the day before about it. Oh well, what can you do!

"You shouldnt be going offroad" (I drive a TRAIL EDITION)

On a lot with no used 4x4 4Runners ::

"You don't need a 4x4 in this area because it doesn't snow." [A lie; it does snow here, albeit about 3x/year and rarely more than 4 inches.]
"But we plan to drive on the beach [30 minute drive from this dealership] and off-road [trails, fire roads, etc.]."
"Why would you want to mess up your 4Runner?"

Durr, the whole point of buying a 4x4 4Runner is to have a vehicle capable of meeting our off-road travel needs. Needless to say, we found a 4x4 in a used car lot 1.5 hours away for $6k less than the dealership's otherwise-same 2x4.

Actually...

"You don't need 4x4."

'Nuff said.

Me: Do you have the service history for this vehicle? Specifically, the timing belt change at 90k (the vehicle has 98k on it.)

Dealer: We have no knowledge of the timing belt. If there were any timing issues though, it wouldn't have passed inspection. That is one of our checks.

Me: I am concerned with this, because it is an interference engine.

Dealer: there is no interference from the engine. the stereo sounds crisp.

That's why the whole "certified" used program is a joke - not just Toyota - any make. The lack of mechanical knowledge from a salesman doesn't bother me as much - though his response was funny.

We bought our Camry used, when I looked at the service records in the glove box and compared it to the mileage it was within 200 miles of needing an oil change. I asked them to throw it in - they said the cars been inspected and doesn't need an oil change....I asked him to open the hood, pulled the dipstick - sure enough - dirty as dirty can be. The salesman was speechless - granted he probably didn't know - and realized it was wrong.

I bought it anyway because we got a good deal. When I complained about it on the survey afterwards I mentioned it and was contacted by the Customer Relations department. I asked if it was normal for them to certify a vehicle that needed an oil change? After some talking in circles I said the bottom line was someone either pencil whipped the paperwork which brings the integrity of the entire dealership in question, or it was certified and loaned out/used by employees. Either way, it would seem to invalidate the so called certification. I would picture a car to be certified then just sit on the lot except for test drives.

Of course they wouldn't give a straight answer and I never set foot back in there again except for warranty service on the electric door lock, which they couldn't fix after three trips. I'd never deal with them again. (Sierra Toyota, Lancaster, California).

I've found that sales people are trained to ask you stuff to get you to say yes and put things in your head. They just need to get you to practice saying "YES, YES, YES"

"If i gave you the options for free, would you buy it?" (Say "YES". But that doesn't mean they will.)

"This offer is low, but if i can sell it to you at this price, will you buy it today?" (Say YES. There's no way I'm taking this offer but it's nice to hear you say yes.)

I watch this show Mad Men and I heard a great line there: The lead character (Don Draper) was trying to sell an Advertising Campaign to Conrad Hilton (hotels) and Hilton did not like it. Draper was puzzled as to why he didn't like it and Conrad said "What? Am i supposed to just say YES to everything you say?"