I got a quote online for my trade in and felt it was low. I was told to come in and talk with the online manager to get an increased quote. I brought it in (which was hard in and of itself considering I had to find a babysitter for my oldest two and had to bring my youngest special needs child with me)and after waiting forever and being shuffled off to some salesman I was given a new quote that was $400 LESS than what I had originally gotten online. The salesman acted as if he had no idea that it was lower even though I had explained the whole situation to him before he went out to look at the car. After he tried to badger me into taking his new LOWER price I explained that the online quote was guaranteed and he couldn’t offer me less than what was offered online. (Dealership) is a certified autotrader dealership and the employees should know the ins and outs of online trade in price quoting. They should not have to be schooled by the customer. I explained AGAIN that I wanted more than the autotrader quote and would definately not take less. Then he went to “talk to the manager” and stayed gone forever. When he came back he was so proud to tell me that he would in fact honor the online quote although assured me that my car was not worth that and he was doing me a favor. I shouldn’t have to explain all the reasons that that treatment is unacceptable. You HAVE to honor the quote anyway. My car is worth more than that quote and I have the quotes from other dealerships to prove it. I didn’t lie or omit things from the online questionnaire that was would void that quote (as he more than suggested that I had done). At this point my youngest was crying and I was insulted and it was then that he brought out a form already filled out that he began to explain to me. He had a van on there and it’s price minus my trade in (etc etc). I had never picked out a van and I told him that. I had never even looked at the cars on the lot at all. I asked him what van he was tlaking about. He said the van I wanted. I told him I had not picked one out. But he continued going over the form anyway. (This is ridiculous, by the way, to expect that I would buy a car I had not picked out.) He then said that the price of the van had INCREASED $4000 (which COINCIDENTALLY, I am sure, is the amount of my trade in offer) over the price that is on the car. He apologized for the price increase. (I’m laughing at this point, because…really?) So, essentially he was asking my to buy a van I had never seen and pay more than it was advertised for while basically making my trade in worthless. By this time I had told him twice that I was not interested. I got up and tried to leave, but he kept trying. I told him again that I was not interested and told him why. He asked what it would take to get my business and I said that I came in only to see if the online quote for my trade would be increased. I had not looked at cars and was not going to buy a car today no matter what. He said he thought that he had my business when he got the manager to allow the quote increase on my trade in $400. He said, “I know your husband and I know he would not lose a deal over $400. Now, obviously he doesn’t know my husband or he would know that my husband would lose a deal over $40. But that’s neither here nor there. Basically, he saw a woman with a child come in and thought he could snowball me into selling my car for more than it was worth and then buying a car I’d never seen for more than it was listed for. How dumb did he think I was? I was so offended at how I was treated by (Dealership) that I wouldn’t come back if you were giving cars away. You shouldn’t assume that women don’t know what they are doing when they come in. I know how to haggle and I have bought cars before. My gender does not impede my ability to negotiate. I have spread the word at how I was treated and everyone has gotten a good laugh at how audacious (Dealership) salesman were to treat someone like they were absolute idiots.
