My Sebling 2004

[Amanda]

For the past 50 years, I've mainly driven Chrysler cars, mainly because I am used to them and know what to expect. I put up with years of carburator problems, but today's cars seem to have conquered the carburator problem. I had my share of problems with other cars such as a Toyota I drove in the Tropics that had air-conditioning problems, and I have not seen Chrystler cars burst into flames.

I have never cared for car sales Managers. Perhaps every car dealer is the same, but I find their sales tactics confusing to say the least. This time a friend who had just bought a Toyota convinced me to get away from Chrysler. and stirred me to our local Kia dealership.
I wanted to make sure that nothing could beat the Kia car I liked, so I went to Chrysler. There, I was shown a small new car (sorry, I forgot the name of the model) and they promised a deal I could not refuse. I had cash for the car, so hopefully I could get a good deal. Then I was shown what they called a "demo", and it looked better than the small car. Here, I got utterly lost, because nothing was written (other than the contract), I was so tired that I bought the car. I was there about 4 hrs, and left not knowing what the car had or not had, even after innumerable requests. The car was delivered in a few days. I tried to back off the deal, but it was not possible because they sold me a few extras, which they claimed, were already applied. I called the paint protector company and was told that it had not been applied yet. Then I found out that the so called "Demo car", had been in fact a rental or leased car. At this stage, I wanted to back off. The sales man response was: "you may as well enjoy it because you bought it". BBB here in Canada did not take sides.

All this was 2 years ago, but I'll never forget this experience. I wrote to Chrysler main dealership as well. The car is OK, so far, it works. but the experience was not one of the best.

CK
:?

[woohoo!]

Hmm... my advice is: never buy a car the same day you test drive it. Sleep on it, and think about it.

Take a day off, and go out and test drive every car you're interested in, back to back. If possible, avoid going during the evening after work... you'll be tired and won't get a good taste of the car before buying it.

[Lesley]

Today's cars don't have a carburetor.

[Crash]

Hi Amanda,

Just to let you know where I'm coming from, I spent many years (25) in the automotive industry before turning to writing. This included having my own dealers licence for over 10 yrs without ever having a complaint lodged against me (I'm quite proud of that!).

First off, I should say that the advice which you're getting on here is great (as always). After your house, your car is likely to be the next largest purchase in your life. Would you run down the road and buy a house at the drop of a hat??? Nobody should ever feel presured into buying a vehicle "on the spot". Take some time and think before you sign...It's a good rule to follow!

The trouble is today "you don't know who to trust". In years gone by, local dealerships were often Ma & Pa outfits. These people were respected in their area as they often lived locally. If they cheated anyone local, someone would be knocking on their front door at home.

The trouble is...many Ma & Pa outfits couldn't make as much money as Mr Cheat with the fancy place down the road because "bright lights dazzle". So they sold up then retired, and Mr Cheat brought them out with all the profits he was making from robbing people blind.

Today we have a horrible situation out there, because "some" of the good looking dealerships are owned by family relatives of Ma & Pa and still treat people with respect. Others are part of a large chain now owned by Mr Crook and his "greedy investors". To confuse the issue even more, some of the big chains have got there by being so good that their customer base is huge.

The maufacturers don't want to get involved because they just want to sell product, you can't really blame them for that.

Then on top of this, some sales staff "shouldn't be allowed to sell toy cars let alone real ones". Some decent owners truly don't know that a problem exists until it all turns nasty on them.

My only advice is, A: get a recomendation from one or two buyers who have purchased a vehicle from the dealership in question. If you don't know anyone, ask someone who owns the same type of vehicle who's in a local donut shop or gas station.
B: If you have any problems with a dealership, ask to talk to the owner, explain your case clearly (without losing your temper). Often, when the problem is pointed out to them, they deal with it promptly to protect their reputation. At least, if they care about it they do!

There are bodies who oversee dealerships, both new and used. In Ontario, we have OMVIC who look after the dealer licences and complaints, there is also the APA.

Some dealers get upset when guys like me talk about this kind of stuff, but if the truth is known, most repectable dealers want to straighten up the image of the industry and make it more trustworthy to the public.

I personally would like to see a rating system for dealerships where dealers are judged upon the amount of "valid" complaints. I think that if these results should be required to be prominately posted in the dealerships like their dealer licence and tax certificates are, then we would all know who to trust and the bad guys would be out of business!

[apl16]

well said, Crash...............i'd like to add that gov't should heavily fine/jail these 'crooks' that take advantage of so many.............and have a gov't website giving us these facts as well as pulling business licenses............my local dodge, nissan, and mazda dealers are all horrible and i'd love to see them taken down..................just ain't gonna happen

[Amapola]

Useful replies, thank you.

But I have not learnt. I helped a family member to buy a new KIA, and the charges are different because my vehicles have always been 1 year old and hers is brand new.
Here is my naive try to buy with the eyes open:
I read about Kia's offers and told this family member to find out more. We were interested in the Spectra automatic. No other extras. I thought I had learnt, with previous car-buying experience and the card appeared OK for under $18,000. I asked if this was the absolute total, and they said yes, yes yes. But I had forgotten about delivery charges, the Government levies, and so on. Then they added twice some kind of interest charges, one if for the finance contract. I expected that, but the other finance charge, I have no idea. The family member went to the dealership and signed every paper that she was requested to sign. No questions, nothing.
She was told that she could pay off the loan if she wanted, but we were not given information on who to contact. And for the cost of the automatic option, we did not see a list with the price of the options.
To the advertised price, they added over $1,700 for the automatic option, and together with the mysterious financial charges, the total cost is $19710, then after that, purchase tax and interest as expected.
Am I too naive to expect a car dealer to tell me, here is the basic cost and this is what will be added to it and why? When I started to ask questions about their charges, the manager started to speak fast, and it was difficult to catch what he was saying. What is this extra mysterious tax charges?
Also, I gave for granted that nowadays, one could take the car to a reputable garage for maintenance servicing and that their recommended synthetic oil could be used. They say that this would break the warranty. Is this possible?

Sorry for the user name change, I had to register again and forgot what it was the user name.