OT: car buying weirdness and question

My son is the E-commerce manager at another brand auto dealer in the Greater Cincinnati Area and they regularly trade all over the country to get what the customer wants, it may incur a small additional cost but they get what the customer wants. As for the guards, he says they would never have installed them without your approval. Sorry, I forgot to ask about the deposit.

My husband is in the industry and it is ILLEGAL for them to do ANY work without giving you a written estimate, which you are required to sign and date. If they do work and you have NOT authorized it, then you are not liable for the costs.

Secondly, let me advise you to never put down a deposit for a car without an agreed upon contract price--ever. No regular production car is that rare. I drive Jaguars and even with my custom build orders, they don't take a deposit. In my opinion, requiring a deposit is a practice by shady dealerships who then seek to use it as leverage, such as you are experiencing here. No dealership my husband has worked for will take a deposit until the signed contract is in place, either.

Third, any new car dealer in the country can get a car from any other new car dealer (of the same brand of course) in the country and you can work with them directly. The fact that they did not just offer to find and obtain the red that you wanted from a dealership close enough tells me the dealership you think you of as good might be evil, too. ;)

Fourth, I would show up and tell them you want to see the car NOW. TODAY! I would not give them even 15 minutes once you make the request to produce the vehicle. If those door guards are not on, I would take my money and walk and I would send a very pointed letter to the owner and GM of the dealership as well as the better business bureau and I might even send one to Honda of America as well. That is just inexcusable. Now if they ARE on the car, then I would let the manager--NOT the salesperson--know that you are surprised that they would do that given that you were interested and did not authorize or request any work and now you are questioning if you want the car (you can appear disinterested in the guards) and I'd be tough as nails on this one. I'd be baked Alaska, sweet enough on the outside, but hard and cold on the inside and ready to push back on ANYTHING!

Finally, many dealerships will always boo hoo that they are only making 250 a car of whatever and that is just such utter bullcrap, it makes me want to vomit. Dealerships are extremely lucrative. They get all manner of incentives from the maker based on sales volumes, model volumes, time to sale, etc. Because those are not 'consumer incentives' they are not anything you would directly get, and on papers you get, it appears they are barely making anything. Heck, sometimes they will say that they are losing money on your deal. Again, second hand cow food steaming in the grass!

Go and stand up for yourself and tell them to work with you honestly or you will take further action. You don't need to say what that further action is, simply that you you will take 'further action'.

Sorry they are ruining what should be a fun and exciting time!

Thanks for the info!  I have never been asked for a deposit before when buying a new car except way back in 1984 when I bought my first Honda and the majority of the cars were sold before they ever reached the lot. So you and to put a deposit on it to be sure you could get the color and configuration you wanted.  Since then, I have always been able to get the one I wanted off the lot or in a day or two via a trade with another dealership, so I signed the contract right then and gave them my down payment.

It seemed kind of weird to be asked for the deposit  but since there was only one on the lot, I figured that it sort of made sense if I didn't want them to sell it to someone else before I could get the Civic in for appraisal.  If I had known how few people want them in a manual transmission, I wouldn't have given it to him (knowing that the chances of him selling it in just a few days were slim).

He didn't mention the black car, and they had already printed a list of 5 dealers outside our area who have a red manual they might be ale to trade for, so I let it drop other than to reiterate that I wanted ONLY a red manual V6.  Hopefully, they will get one of the 5.  If not, I will buy the one the other dealer here has,

Lora

I agree that he should not have added the door guards.  Even if you decided to buy the black car, what if you decided you didn't want the guards?  Can they be removed?  If not, what would he do if you decided you didn't want them?  He'd have to sell you a different black car, I guess, and sell the one with the guards to someone else.  If putting the guards on the car would make it harder to sell the car, he should have known that and not put them on yet.

I'm a bit surprised they can't get a red car from someone else if that's the color you want.  But if they can't, I'd buy a red one elsewhere so you get what you really want.  And I definitely would not be pressured to buy a car that you don't want.

Yeah, those were my thoughts.  He knew that I wanted to see what the guards looked like on an actual vehicle first.  He didn't mention the black car at all today, so i let it drop especially since he confirmed that I would get my deposit back if they couldnt get me  a 2013 red manual vehicle.  They  have 5 possible vehicles they can trade for (only 1 is in Ohio other than the one at the evil dealership).  Would LOVE to be able to drive a new red one up to your place on Saturday!!L

Lora

If you stress the fact that you'd really like to have the car by the end of the week, perhaps they can make that happen.  I think sometimes they just don't want to do any extra work if they can avoid it.  If they have the black car on the lot, of course they'd rather you take that.

I would go demand my money back NOW, and go to the other dealership and but the car I wanted.  I am not a huge scene maker until something like this happens.  Seriously start by asking for the manager, explain sweetly and if you don't get your cash cause a scene, tears work wonders.  Seriously.  Never fails.  Ever with any man I have ever dealt with.  Then go buy your car you really want.  I won't even begin to try to understand the manual thing, I didn't even know they still made them.

Cars should be fun, go get the one you love and **** those dealers they are being scumbags for pulling this.

LOL.  Yes, they still make manuals for those of us who are "old school".  I think that lots of people would really prefer a manual if they could drive one, but most people these days never learn.  You have so much more control over the car (both acceleration (makes winding country road much more fun) and deceleration (e.g., in bad weather)).

Lora

Yeah I am in that never learned catagory.  I had to drive a car once that could be driven as a manual or automatic and had no idea what to do, how stupid I felt calling my bf asking how to drive his Aunts car, I didn't know how to get it in gear and we had just met her on the road to the hospital after they airlifted her son after a major motorcycle accident.  I volunteered to take her car so she could drive up with the family.  Yeah that experience was less then fun.

So they are getting the red car for you!   Yeah the red looks hot!!!!!!!!  Can't wait until you get it.

Yeah, I can't wait to get it now, too!  The anticipation of getting the red one is even making selling my Prelude easier.  (The fact that one of my co-workers, whom I have a really good relationship with, is buying it helps.  He knows how much I love that car and what good care I took of it, and he will take great care of it, too.)

I got an email this morning from my ex-SO (I sent him an email about the car; he once bought me a t-shirt that said "REAL women can drive a stick") and he said that I am still "confusing": on one hand a Mensa member and  a soon-to-be-PhD, who likes Broadway shows and the Philharmonic, and can read Latin; on the other hand, a football and baseball fan who can explain blitz formations and the infield fly rule, who likes sporty cars and knows the importance of engine torque in conjunction with horsepower, and watches "Dance Moms" and "Shipping Wars"!  I think that makes me "well rounded" instead of "confusing".  Just one of the many reasons he is an "ex-SO"...

Lora