My Dallas Area Dealers - Southern Charm?

[Aldoron]

After reading so many horror stories of Dallas dealers I felt compelled to throw in my tale of woe.
The last time I bought a car was around 1997 and expected a similar experience to that one.
My general expectations based on several past car purchases.
Step 1: go to lot(s) look at prices on cars
Step 2: test drive cars
Step 3: if you want to buy one you talk to the sales person
Step 4: When ready begin negotiating.
Step 5: The salesperson lowers the price
Step 6: If satisfied with the negotiated price you buy it. If not satisfied you repeat step 4 until you are happy.
Step 7: Leave in your newly purchased car.

This is what I got
Step 1: Went to car dealerships to look at prices. This was made extremely difficult due the the absence of any price listed on the vast majority of the cars. We had to ask a sales person to look up the price of every car. And apparently I wasn't clear enough all I would get is the monthly cost. NOT the price.
Step 2: Told sales person our price range was caped at $14,000 MAX.
Step 3: Sales person asks what we are looking for in a car. We told him.
Step 4: He leaves and comes back with the keys to a Corolla.
Step 5: I ask "how much"?
Step 6: He told us whatever the MONTHLY payment was and was pushing us to test drive it. He said that he didn't want to sell us a car that we didnt like so it is better to start by test driving the cat BEFORE the issue of price is discussed.
Step 7: Several times my wife calls the sales people liars and walks away when they refuse to give us a price. One one occasion I came very close to losing my head when the salesman brought us a car to test drive knowing it more than twice what we are willing to spend. He said as I walked off and I quote" Fine go ahead and leave. I'll just sell it to someone else."
Step 8: We leave angry and have all day with absolutely nothing to show for it.

Not expecting anything we always asked if they had any use Prius.
And the one showed up.

We got a 2005 Prius and am so far very pleased.
That being said, the whole shopping experience has been a complete nightmare.
The 2007's they did have were between $2000 and $3000 ABOVE MSRP
We wold have bought a newer model had they lowered the cost to MSRP.
They refused to budge on the price. Even going so far as saying that they are doing us a favor by not taking advantage of us.
The front tires are going to need to be replaced within two months of heavy use. They refused to replace the or even rotate them.
There is only a single Master smart key.
The (I swear to God this is what they said) "2 gay guys" who traded it in only provided a single master smart key. I told them that I wanted the second smart key and did not want to spend the $300+ for it. A salesperson said a call would be made to "the gay guys" to see if they know where the other key is. I told the salesman that it is very reasonable to expect two keys for a newly bought car from a dealership. I was told not to worry because "one of 'the gays' Dads is as minister and very honest." I rolled my eyes and said that he "forgot to mention the old woman who only drove the car on Sundays." I told him that I needed one key for me and one for my wife. Or one to her and I to share and one backup in case the other is lost/broken we will still have a usable car. He and another salesman assured me that even if I lose the only available smart key the car is fully functional with the just the mechanical key.
I ask you, is this a common thing to do?! NOT lose the mechanical key but lose the smart key to which it is attached?
I told them that if the missing key cant be found that the dealership can just provide a replacement. Of course this was met with the dilemma that they would have to replace AND reprogram not only the lone master smart key but also the cars ENTIRE computer and operating system in order for the two components to be compatible! I said that was fine and to go ahead and do that. And of coarse that is something that only be done at the factory.
I told them that either wanted a second key or the cost of the key deducted form the price of the car. Guess what they said... "We can't just give you a key for free. They are really expensive."

At this point I was done. I gave up. Desperate I asked of they would at least put the eighth of a tank of gas to fill it up. "Sorry we only do that for new cars."
for them to fill the tank
Fortunately my wife was in higher spirits and was able to not only get a better warranty, but also postpone finalizing the sale until we are satisfied. We can still back out of this ant any time within 21 days if we are not happy. So essentially we are taking it for an extensive test drive.
I am so proud of her and feel defeated at the same time.

Like i said, it has been a while since I have been car shopping and this is the first time doing it in the south. I am from Detroit and NYC is this just a southern behavior or is this how people buy cars now?
The sad news is that this was the best Dallas had in used a Prius.

Sorry for such a long rant.

[patrickindallas]

Jeez.

Sorry to hear about your experience.

I personally feel as if you and your wife exhibited
the patience of Job.

I wouldn't have been able to do it. Luckily, I didn't
have to. My dealership experience wasn't near this
bad.

Good luck on getting your key from the '2 gay guys'.

Was this a Toyota dealership? If so, you might want to
tell this story to someone higher up the food chain. It
couldn't hurt.

[Aldoron]

Yes it is a dealership Toyota of Lewisville. At all of the Toyota dealerships we have visited the total lack of assistance when we requested prices seems to be the norm.
At Toyota of Richardson instead of easily recognizable prices they use a color coded system. Each color represents a certain price. We walked up to 3 salesman standing outside and ask them if they have the prices of any of the cars on the lot. We were told about the color codes and I asked if anyone them knew the color codes and one salesman took a drag off his cigarette and said with an annoyed tone "Is anyone helping you?"
I just said "no forget it" and walked off.

What the hell??
It is too bad we need a car as urgently as we do/did.

[Tom_06]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Aldoron @ Sep 21 2007, 06:41 AM) [snapback]515688[/snapback]</div>

Yes it is a dealership Toyota of Lewisville. At all of the Toyota dealerships we have visited the total lack of assistance when we requested prices seems to be the norm.
At Toyota of Richardson instead of easily recognizable prices they use a color coded system. Each color represents a certain price. We walked up to 3 salesman standing outside and ask them if they have the prices of any of the cars on the lot. We were told about the color codes and I asked if anyone them knew the color codes and one salesman took a drag off his cigarette and said with an annoyed tone "Is anyone helping you?"
I just said "no forget it" and walked off.

What the hell??
It is too bad we need a car as urgently as we do/did.
[/b]

A dealership that acted like that (surly sales people and no posted prices) wouldn't last a month in the places I've lived. We had the surly sales types at an Audi dealer here in Wilmington, Delaware and they went out of business within the year. I've had very good experiences at all the other VW, Audi, Ford, Saturn, and Toyota dealerships that I have visited in 35+ years of car buying.

- Tom

[brentmeister]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tom_06 @ Sep 21 2007, 06:04 AM) [snapback]515689[/snapback]</div>

A dealership that acted like that (surly sales people and no posted prices) wouldn't last a month in the places I've lived. We had the surly sales types at an Audi dealer here in Wilmington, Delaware and they went out of business within the year. I've had very good experiences at all the other VW, Audi, Ford, Saturn, and Toyota dealerships that I have visited in 35+ years of car buying.

- Tom
[/b]

I had very similar experiences at several of the Toyota dealerships in Dallas. I spent time with several 'internet managers' that were highly reccommended. In the end I caught each of them in blatant lies.. I took the advice of a few posters on this board and started calling around. I recently worked out a deal (couple hundred miles south of Dallas) with someone that told me the truth up front. The fact of the matter is that you can still get a Prius for $300 over invoice, you can also have them arrange to REFUSE all the port added crap and decline the 'EXTRA MILE $$$$' - I was told that none of this was possible by folks at SPort City and Toyota of Richardson., So a dealership south of here will get my money and I'll be glad to give a full report when the deal is final - in a couple of weeks.

[patsparks]

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience shopping for a Prius.
I had the oposite experience where 3 yards belonging to the same owner (Adtrans Pty Ltd) were competing for my business. I saved a lot off the advertised price and got a great deal for finance too. Unfortunately I also only got 1 key and remote. I also didn't realise this until the deal was done.
Could you challenge the sales person who said the car will function with the key alone that if he can drive it around the block with just the key and no fob you will take the car as agreed but if he can't they throw in a new fob and key programed and ready to go? A fair challenge as he said he could do it.

[tballx]

I really think that the way out of this kind of treatment is to be prepared to travel to get your car. I know it sounds extreme but there are probably enough resources to begin shopping on a national level then go wherever the market is in your favor. In this area, I see quite a few used Priuses now though I've yet to see any at a $14K price point. The alternative seems less and less appealing - try to work with your local dealer and get treated like garbarge.

[MaxLegroom]

Ouch! I'd think that if people complained enough about the dealership you've bought your Prius from, they'd end up a used car lot. I've seen dealers here that have had that happen to them. It can't be sales figures, as there's a Ford dealer in Poquoson that's been in business for a long time, despite the fact that they probably don't sell a lot of cars. I know of a dealer that no longer sells Audis or Porsches over such issues.

I've been treated better than that at a Chevrolet dealership, one that has a rep for being not just a little bit of a pool of sharks. In fact, my last visit there was actually not bad, but my interest in the Silverado I was looking at was purely academic.

Around here, I've had some encounters with Toyota salesmen who positively fail to believe that the Camry is anything less than the second coming of Christ on wheels, and look at you as if you regularly kill puppies if you say otherwise. But that's about the limit. The salesman who sold me my Prius kept things relatively uncomplicated, didn't have to have any closing skills as I had basically made my mind up by the end of the test drive (I'd driven the Prius a few times before). Simply put, the sale was theirs to lose by doing something stupid or greedy. They didn't.

I'm surprised this happened to you, and it is a sad thing to hear about.