Car Purchasing Experience

Weather Man

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I felt compelled to rant a little about my very recent experience in buying a muscle car. I have already let the cat out of the bag that I ordered a 2021 Challenger Hellcat Widebody Redeye yesterday.


I actually started out looking to buy a 2021 GT500 when 13COBRA posted up that he had some available for $3,500 over MSRP. I decided to do my due diligence and see if I could find a car closer, as Nick is down by Kansas City and I am in Central MN. Holy cow, what a shit show. From dealers flat out refusing to sell to someone not from their state (dealer in SD) to irritation at being bothered about "the" GT500 again to sales managers yelling at their sales person loud enough for me to hear on the other side of the store.


I actually lay the blame for most, not all, of the dealer behavior on Ford. They put their dealers in the position of scarcity selling. Nick, in the end, had the best deal and the best sales experience hands down and it wasn't close. My wife and I decided that with everything we have going on this spring that we just couldn't give the time needed to drive down and then drive back to take advantage of his deal, if I had decided to go with a GT500.


So after dealing with the yelling sales manager, I was pretty irritated and then I saw yet another ad on TV with a Dodge doing a burnout, LOL. I thought to myself, self, theirs a company asking for your business and proud of their hotrod. So I hopped online and low and behold, a local dealer had a fully loaded Hellcat to look at. Went up and sat in it to scope out the vision sightlines and general feel for the car.


I then asked if it was possible to order a car to spec and the salesman said sure! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy! I said what! I don’t have to stick my hand in a tank boiling with piranha’s to pick up a magic key! Sales guy said nope! With a twinkle in his eye.


I was shocked! I thought for sure it had to be some kinda scam! Sit down and order a desirable 800 HP muscle car and not get clapped! It’s a trap! OH MY GOD, I get a $6,000 rebate! And I get a dealer $2,110 discount! Run away! If the rebates get better before my car arrives, I GET THEM! Augh!


So, I spent a couple of days of friendly dickering and made a deal.


Latest numbers I could find on Hellcat production was 2019. They made around 6,900 of them. Ford is gonna make around 5,000 GT500. Granted, Challenger been around a long time, so not exactly apples to apples.


All I can say is that Dodge figured out a way to make ordering a high performance muscle car easy and Ford figured out a way to piss off many many customers. I shouldn’t have to drive 700 miles for a good dealer experience. Ford needs to improve their game, A LOT.
 

CompOrange04GT

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Even though they aren’t new....

Before I bought my Shelby.. I was at a Ford dealership looking at a Boss 302. My god the Ford dealership was a ****ing pain to work with.. we literally tried to work something out for 3 DAYS. The salesman wouldn’t do shit to go out of his way to help.. so I found the Shelby online. At a GM dealership.. I walked in.. 2 hours later had the car.

I don’t know wtf it is... maybe it was just a bad day.


Edit.. I was actually looking to get rid of the Shelby 2 weeks ago to get a raptor and reached out to another Ford dealership.. talked to a salesman. Sent him pics of the car to try to get a trade in quote .. he responded “ wow cobra “ and never said another word....
 

Weather Man

Persistance Is A Bitch
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Even though they aren’t new....

Before I bought my Shelby.. I was at a Ford dealership looking at a Boss 302. My god the Ford dealership was a ****ing pain to work with.... so I found the Shelby online. At a GM dealership.. I walked in.. 2 hours later had the car.

I don’t know wtf it is... maybe it was just a bad day.

The only thing I can figure is that the powers that are in control at Ford are embarrassed about selling muscle cars.
 

13COBRA

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Unfortunately there are good and bad dealers under any manufacturer...just like there are good and bad franchises in other industries.

Sorry I wasn't able to assist in your search! Would've been more than happy to handle shipping for you ;)
 

Weather Man

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Unfortunately there are good and bad dealers under any manufacturer...just like there are good and bad franchises in other industries.

Sorry I wasn't able to assist in your search! Would've been more than happy to handle shipping for you ;)

I thought about that deeply, because I considered your deal fair and you're easy to work with. In the end, it was the experience of doing my due diligence that caused me to examine the Hellcat option. When I walked in, I caught an old hand and Dodge gave him a full house and Ford gave its dealers a pair of two's. The fact that Dodge actually embraces its product was a consideration in the complete scope of deciding which way to go. The yelling sales manager, I will admit, ticked me off plenty.
 

13COBRA

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I thought about that deeply, because I considered your deal fair and you're easy to work with. In the end, it was the experience of doing my due diligence that caused me to examine the Hellcat option. When I walked in, I caught an old hand and Dodge gave him a full house and Ford gave its dealers a pair of two's. The fact that Dodge actually embraces its product was a consideration in the complete scope of deciding which way to go. The yelling sales manager, I will admit, ticked me off plenty.

You should've yelled back. lol
 

03cobra#2

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It's always a mixed bad of tricks when walking into / dealing with a car dealership online. I would say 50% of customers want trade in values, and the deal worked out before they come in. Most sales people are not motivated and or equipped for this type of transaction....they are best with face to face transaction and information gathering to structure your car deal. I'll go as far to say it's frustrating for both the consumer and sales person trying to do everything over email. The sales person wants the consumer in the showroom to work with them and the consumer wants do work their deal remotely. Some dealers are better than others at this.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

13COBRA

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It's always a mixed bad of tricks when walking into / dealing with a car dealership online. I would say 50% of customers want trade in values, and the deal worked out before they come in. Most sales people are not motivated and or equipped for this type of transaction....they are best with face to face transaction and information gathering to structure your car deal. I'll go as far to say it's frustrating for both the consumer and sales person trying to do everything over email. The sales person wants the consumer in the showroom to work with them and the consumer wants do work their deal remotely. Some dealers are better than others at this.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I agree with this. Great point.

The dealerships that embrace online selling, are the ones excelling and growing, while the alternative is to lose business.

I prefer to work with everyone online. Not to say that I don't enjoy talking to people in person...but I'm able to deal with a dozen customers at once via email, rather than one at a time if I'm having to sit down with them.

He did not like his sales guy talking about ADM.

Sounds like the sales manager is super old school.
 

TerminatoRS

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Congrats on the purchase! What color did you order?

With the type of climate we live in, I think you made a wise decision. Nothing against the 500, but the Challenger is a lot more versatile. You can throw 4 butts in it and comfortably go to a nice dinner in March or November if you want to so you're able to expand your "fun car" season a couple months. I don't even like driving the Cobra if it's too cold to roll the windows down. lol
 

Weather Man

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Congrats on the purchase! What color did you order?

With the type of climate we live in, I think you made a wise decision. Nothing against the 500, but the Challenger is a lot more versatile. You can throw 4 butts in it and comfortably go to a nice dinner in March or November if you want to so you're able to expand your "fun car" season a couple months. I don't even like driving the Cobra if it's too cold to roll the windows down. lol

Frostbite Blue.
 

BOOGIE MAN

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Frostbite Blue.
67512652_2357204171207027_6050892321950531584_n-jpg.jpg


This?

Looks purty

"Nothing makes me question ALL of my life decisions like SVTP."

Posts and likes are not mine.
 

venmos1

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Covid has been going on how long and impacting business practices? There are advertisements across the board for purchasing from your home and getting it delivered. Seems rather odd for a salesman or dealer to not be using these work practices. I've had plenty experiences with salesmen who seem to prefer wasting time. Not just car dealers either. Had it happen when I bought my tractor. Local john deere dealer stopped replying to emails. Purchased it via email with another dealer.
 

5.0 Hatch

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My dealer experience is always the same... Ask for a price from the sales guy who has to go ask the sales manager only to come back with a price higher than the "internet price" on their own website. After telling them no thanks, sales manager walks up to see what we can do to make it work. I'm not sure why I don't get the sales manager in the first place.

However, we have a local Ford dealer where the sales guys do everything from start to finish. It's great.
 

13COBRA

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Covid has been going on how long and impacting business practices? There are advertisements across the board for purchasing from your home and getting it delivered. Seems rather odd for a salesman or dealer to not be using these work practices. I've had plenty experiences with salesmen who seem to prefer wasting time. Not just car dealers either. Had it happen when I bought my tractor. Local john deere dealer stopped replying to emails. Purchased it via email with another dealer.

There were some dealers that had their business off by 75% last year, and others were up 30%.

My dealer experience is always the same... Ask for a price from the sales guy who has to go ask the sales manager only to come back with a price higher than the "internet price" on their own website. After telling them no thanks, sales manager walks up to see what we can do to make it work. I'm not sure why I don't get the sales manager in the first place.

However, we have a local Ford dealer where the sales guys do everything from start to finish. It's great.

How is your dealer experience always the same, if your local Ford dealer doesn't do it that way? I'm confused by those statements together.
 

HuntFishCobra

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I drove past nearly every other Ford dealer in town to buy my current truck through Nick. We did most of the dirty work via email beforehand, he was straight up with us and we were in after work and out before dinner time. I will do this as long as he’s running that dealership.
 

CompOrange04GT

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My dealer experience is always the same... Ask for a price from the sales guy who has to go ask the sales manager only to come back with a price higher than the "internet price" on their own website. After telling them no thanks, sales manager walks up to see what we can do to make it work. I'm not sure why I don't get the sales manager in the first place.

However, we have a local Ford dealer where the sales guys do everything from start to finish. It's great.

with the boss 302 I was looking at.. I asked him for a price .. he goes “ what price were you given “

I go .. no. Tell me a price.... he couldn’t come up with one. So I go online and get their internet price. Tell him that price.. and it’s all “ whoa where did you get that number from “

Mind you this is after 6 hours. like come the **** on.. after 6 hours you couldn’t get a price ?
 

13COBRA

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with the boss 302 I was looking at.. I asked him for a price .. he goes “ what price were you given “

I go .. no. Tell me a price.... he couldn’t come up with one. So I go online and get their internet price. Tell him that price.. and it’s all “ whoa where did you get that number from “

Mind you this is after 6 hours. like come the **** on.. after 6 hours you couldn’t get a price ?

You're kidding. LOL
 

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