Dealer I went to church with called me unchristian because I went to a different dealer to get my new car for $1500 less. I personally brought him the other guys deal and gave him the chance to match it. He said I was lying, and my paperwork was BS. Yes. I drove back and into his lot with the car post purchase and tried to show him the paperwork. He wouldn't talk with me. Made sure I had him do all of the warranty work and none of the regular service intervals.
I do this. One company owns all of the local dealerships in my rural-ish area, and their sales team is nice enough, but they refuse to budge on their pricing even when it is at least a thousand over even the advertised prices from dealerships out of the area. I generally try to give them my business first because I like to support local businesses, and frankly it'd be a hell of a lot more convenient than driving 100 miles away. I've bought 6 new cars in the last 8-10 years and never once have I been successful giving their sales department business. Guess who gets to do alllllll of my scheduled maintenance, and who comments *every* *single* *time* about how I should've bought it from them? haha!
Dishonesty and lack of common sense are the plague of modern times. The worst part about dealerships is the bad ones greatly outweigh the good ones. Hope this saga comes to a positive end soon Casey!
I remember my worst story was when me and my parents were looking for a new car (long story but my dad absolutely had to have it new). I was calling around dealerships getting quotes and understood what the average price of the car I wanted was. Finally I got a confirmation from a dealership that sold the car for the lowest usual sale price (1k under what most dealerships local to me would). But it was still within reasonable price for dealerships to let the car go for. Problem was, that it was 2 hours away. I made it clear to them I was 2 hours out, and if it is the price we wanted it for, then we would take it, and if not, we wouldn't. A couple of days before we go in, my dad catches a cold and is hacking up his lungs. I tell him we don't have to go for this car even though its a good deal, but he tells me we should go anyways. So we make the trip, test drive the car, etc. This entire time, my dad's coughing up the car, but sees it through because of the "deal". Come paperwork time, and they tell me they screwed up the price, and mark up up 3k over every dealership. They give me the bullshit of "oh we're taking a loss selling the car to you at this price, but it is the lowest price anyone can give". I pull up other texts of dealerships offering me the car at a slightly more expensive price and they say that they can't even honor that price. Fine, waste several hours of our time, you ain't getting a sale then. and we leave and take another two hours to get home. I get home, and I get an email from them telling me, "any dealership can spout a price, but that doesn't mean they'll honor it or actually have that car. If I change my mind, please contact them immediately to get the car". I lose my fucking shit after reading that email. They basically did exactly as they spouted in their email. As if I or my parents would ever give them service. Before this whole situation, I never understood why people hated dealerships so much. After this, I can't trust a single dealership for a second, I'm always on edge about being played someway or another.
Yums the public would think that a car company might like to know the crap that the dealership pulls on us but it seems that we are all on our own with no real backup.
@@williamkazak The problem I see is that cars are an investment. If you give the people a hard time through absolute bullshit, you aren't gonna retain that customer for long. The only way they can play these stupid games are if people stay ignorant and just pay mindlessly to get their cars fixed. Just how much ignorant people really are there for this to become a wide spread common occurrence for stealerships? Its frustrating.
It's all dealership though. How can you make good money and be honest when most people are trying to buy cars at cost. Lol it's no possible. But its is a problem when you get in the box and start signing the contract,that's where things go wrong
The problem is people like you and I are a low percentage of the population, they will just beat on someone else and get their money from them. Dealers are a joke.
The problem is exactly that, I made a purchase at a dealership and bought a car for 21k with 115 miles. The cars MSRP is 27,800. I had a good experience with the seller (George) and years later I came back wanting to trade in for a Scatpack. We talk whenever we see eachother at the dealership and I always bother him during oil changes and what not that I want to buy a scatpack. George always throws me to different sales associates or simply says no to my offers on scatpacks because of three things, I want ONE very specific car, I shop and look at the prices of this specific car for years, I know exactly what I want and how much I want to pay. George would not make much money of off me and it's a waste of his time to interact with me, he makes money off of the general population that doesn't really know what they want or how much what they do want costs.
Young mechanics in general are jokes. Some moron in pep boys quoted me for 600$ to change tie rods. I bought the parts myself and changed it in an hour. Saved myself 550$.
This problem applies to like 90% of modern goods. How is it that even with modern manufacturing processes and AI assisted design that most products don't even last half as long as they did a few decades ago? Companies have figured out that they shouldn't be producing the most reliable and highest quality products, they should be just good enough to guarantee repeat business. Then they wrap the whole charade up with sexy marketing and "charming" salespeople so the next time your BMW/Audi/Merc needs $5500 in repairs you just call up friendly Brad and trade your old one in for basically nothing and hand him tens of thousands more of your hard earned dollars.
Arbitrary Alias Yup. Sadly even Honda and Toyota are starting to do this. They know CVTs don’t last as long, yet they’re pushing it. They know car electronics will fail at one point or another, and they still shove tablets in your dash. I am curious to see how long they will update and support their “infotainment” systems.
No need to be sorry Casey, they mispoke and you simply fixed that for them... After all, fixing things for dealerships seems to be the ongoing theme of your experiences with them.
@@CaseyPutsch that's why I'd rather buy a semi decent project car and do it myself! and your right! they run it like military precision ....its all about money and closing the deal! flimflam and buzzwords are their language and there's no room for the soft heart... just the soft hand reaching in your wallet!
dealers prey on the weak. if the people there were any good at sales they'd be working in the corporate world. working for a dealer is like a half step above working at the Sunglass Hut at the mall.
Dealer on my son's recalled airbag lost the paperwork three times over 6 months. Never had a record of my previous calls.. Constant run around with service department. I got a call from OEM trying to improve completion rates on recall. They hooked me up with a different dealer who had the car fixed 3 days later. 20 minutes from call to service being scheduled. On schedule, no BS. Thank you Ford and thank you Four Seasons Ford in Hendersonville NC for great service and a prompt fix.
Absolutely! Many good small shops are honest and do a good work. Probably even a good idea to bring new in-warranty cars to them as well since they will not screw it up.
local small shops dont have the training that a factory trained dealership mechanic should have. Since the dealership mechanic can be no better, we are really screwed. No matter how nice the small shop owner might be, he does not know everything about your model.
@@chuckwin100 depends. I have a family friend that has known my dad for 25 years in the auto business. I took my car for a oil change at his (very local to my house) shop and he charged me for an oil change without changing the oil. Needless to say I don't use his service anymore
@@williamkazak This is why I stick to Toyotas. Yes, they are boring. But they don't break. Which means you don't need a mechanic, except for maybe wear-and-tear items like brakes. Though I am so very tempted to get something fancy, I know I am happiest with Toyota. Because staying away from mechanics makes me happy.
I love the channel Casey, starting watching since I saw you on VinWiki. Sorry to hear about your bad dealership experiences. There truly are lots good dealerships out there. Unfortunately everyone has a dealership horror story. I started out as an auto technician, then was a service advisor and have been a Service Manager for 8 years at a Chev, Cadillac, and Mazda dealership. I have tremendous technicians and advisors, we take pride in doing quality work, always doing the right thing, and charging fair prices. It's difficult to over come that mindset that we are "the bad guys". We are in this business because we love cars and enjoy taking care of people and building long relationships with customers. I hope from these videos a good dealership near you reaches out and you have better luck in the future! Keep up the great videos.
I worked at a car dealership as a salesman in Orland Park Illinois for exactly one month and quit right in the middle of a deal because I couldn't lie to the older lady on a fixed income on a new jeep grand cherokee against her two year old Mercedes. They wanted her to be upside down in the jeep by 10k. I walked out there and told her that she would be better off keeping the Mercedes and told her I was quitting because I didn't want to see her hurt. Best feeling ever.
I worked at a dealer for 7 years as a mechanic. All they cared about is volume not quality unless it's someone the dealer knows. But I learned a lot yes admitted to my mistakes with customers & also fixed my mistakes in front of them apologizing at the same time. I eventually quit due to the internal politics with unions & owner/manager. Broke down mentally because we as techs couldn't get enough volume of cars out at a given book time flat rate system. Now I'm an independent/mobile mechanic I make descent money word of mouth travels fast. Once you take care of a few customers word spread. I've had customers telling me to charge them more due to the quality work I do. The dealers charge & lie a lot because of one thing paying the overhead from the top down. Making that bonus money at the end of the month by any means necessary.
Dealerships are indeed extremely grimy. Which is part of the reason why I am getting more customers slowly but surely. Had a customer with a 2006 BMW 330i that they told her had a bad engine and she just needed to trade in because she replaced the coil packs and the misfires did not go away. Car has 250k on it and, judging from how seized the plugs were, were the original spark plugs. Charged her 90 bucks for a gallon of BMW coolant as it was low, 6 plugs, and an hour labor. The look on her face after driving it and hearing her tell me it drives like a brand new car was priceless. In some ways I am glad dealerships and service shops are becoming so shitty because it makes decent people like me just trying to make an honest dollar look like saints.
Like you, my experiences with car dealership has only been atrocious. So much so that I have taken a habit of taking multiple pictures when dropping it off to them under warranty as I've had multiple experiences of my Mazda dealers (tested 5) who 1) never quite fixed the issue at hand 4 out of 5 times, 2) broke something else, most often because they worked like neanderthals taking apart portions of the car (dash, outside trim, etc.). I avoid them like plague now, and, like you, that got me into fixing most myself. But it's beyond disappointing not trusting you could just leave them your car and get it in tip-top shape after their intervention. So... I hear you.
I remember back in 1998. My new Ram SS/T (which I still own) had a paint bubbling issue on the hood. The first issue was they sent it out to a body shop that I specifically requested they not send it to. Two friends of mine had work done there and it was terrible. I happened to drive by the body shop two days later and there sat my truck. I called the service manager and she assured me that it was a mistake and they would send it somewhere else. I drove by the body shop a couple more times and it was nowhere to be seen. The 2nd issue was the "new" body shop took forever to fix it. I have a work issued vehicle, so I didn't need it to get to work and my parents let me borrow their car when I needed it. I was overly patient with them. Finally, the dealership called me to come pick my truck up. I asked a friend to give me a ride over there. He dropped me off and I went in to get my truck. After about 35 minutes of searching for my truck, they finally found out that it was still at the body shop. I then told them in a nice but firm way that they needed to give me a courtesy vehicle to drive home. They flat out refused. I felt like I was being nice by not requesting one in the first place. After a couple minutes of arguing with the guy, I asked to talk to the service manager. He stated that she was out. I leaned over the counter and saw her sitting in her office. I walked around the counter, with this guy screaming at me that I can't go back there, and went in the service manager's office. I told her what happened and that I would be needing a courtesy car. She refused. So, I sat on the corner of her desk and said that I would be sitting here until she got off work so she could take me home. I had keys to a courtesy car in my hand within a minute. A week later, they called me again to pick up my truck. After them assuring me that it was actually finished, I drove down and picked it up. The invoice for the repair was in the center console. Guess what. The body shop I didn't want performed the work. Unbelievably, they actually did a really good job on my truck.
I work as a sales manager at a dealership, and in spite of this, I still love you Casey. As a dealership employee I'm just as emphatic with my opinion of this industry. It's a tough spot to be in. Balancing ethics with earning a living. The reality is, a lot of people in a lot of businesses don't live by an ethical code. In fact, I've known sales people that work and manipulate the management desk just as hard as they're working their customers. Playing both ends against the middle. It can be a big rotten shit storm all the way around. It comes down to one's own ethical code. Asking yourself if you're treating your customer as well as you'd treat your own mother. I've seen goodness in this business. My gut sense is that you have about 1/3rd manipulators, 1/3 zombies who are just going through the motions in a daze, and about 1/3rd doing things on the up and up. You just have to seek out those golden nuggets.
Read a book written by a car salesman in which he sold his MOTHER a car and stated: "she thought she got a good deal and I made a little money on her and so we were both happy!" That pretty much sums up the typical car salesman!
Thanks for the positive twist on the aggravation of dealerships!! I’ve had the same experiences and today’s rant made me laugh, I’m sure your message helped a lot of people too! It’s really difficult to find good people to work on cars!!!
Agreed! Not entertained, but educated wich is more important to me. Thank you so much for this video. Looking forward, to your great content and core values.
There is a very good reason people call it the stealership. Anyone in the know knows you are speaking the truth my friend. But nothing will change because most people are not car people and don’t care. 😃
A year or so ago I walked into a Ford dealership to look at a mustang GT with 4000 miles. I specifically wanted that year range and loved the car but knew exactly what I was willing to pay for it. After over an hour of going back and forth (literally to the “manager’s” office and back) I had the salesman within $500 of my price and telling me he thinks my price is fair (which showing some true humility) but that his boss just wasn’t going to go for it. So I walked and although I would’ve loved to have that car, it taught me a great lesson and further bolstered my confidence. Basically, do some research, go in with a number you aren’t willing to pay more than..and DO NOT budge. Even if you lose the deal, you’ll be proud of yourself in the end. Just remember that money talks and modern vehicles aren’t even close to being worth what these dealerships want for them.
Yeah dealerships are the worst. When i bought my first car, a bmw of craigslist, i just decide to learn how to fix everything myself. Granted everything was hard at first and I made mistakes along the way. But ever since I have finally found my passion in mechanics, engineering and fabrication. Not certified but at least I know where to go and what to do with the rest of my life.
I worked in car dealership for a few years and have seen alot but not on the front end , most people will get the SHAFT on the back end with add-on warranty, resistall paint protection (added to price ) which was 120$ cost but sold for 899(salesman made no commision) , key replacement "warranty" and any other type of add on. Never go to a dealership with a blank check , dealership hate when you come in with power checks(checks from bank for a set amount) this stops the dealership from getting over on you most of the time and are called "cash deals" and no much money in it. Also always check online price because on lot pricing is 1-3k higher then online, and there are no such thing as a SALE on a new car (mostly). There on average is not much room to make money on used cars in alot of instances but most people think dealerships get cars for next to free which is false. Another thing is that people think the Salesman can lower the car price 😂 which is funny to think about. The man you want to talk to is the sales manager, not a finance manager or salesman. Also if you want a good deal 99% of the time is to go in either at the END OF THE MONTH or go in amd take a look at that board on the wall or glass and see if they have sold anything that day (go at mid day or later) if there are no deals then your starting off good. That means there's no cars sold that day which is a huge problem , so they will be willing to do alot to get you a car that day. So dont blame the salesman. Blame the manager and finance team. , they can change rates and pricing up to a certain point and get paid off increasing the financing rates and upsell all add-ons. Last but not least is a car dealer ship NEVER LOSES MONEY IN ON LOT DEALS! If you buy a Car the dealership made money. Plan and simple.they say they lose money when they dont make positive revenue AFTER they add all the fees to the price up to and including PACK, DELAER FEES , MANDATORY ADD ONS and so on.
A few years ago when I bought my 14 Charger SRT from the dealership, I paid for an extended warranty with a $200 deductible when serviced. However the computer system wasn't allowing things to be finalized. They sent me on my way with the car and said they would look into it. They called me the next day to come back in to finish signing the documents because the issue was figured out. Turns out the warranty I paid for wasn't offered with the SRT I bought, however they ended up giving me a better warranty (8 year/ 100k mile $100 deductible) for the money I already paid them. I'd call that a win.
I would agree but they had to follow up to finalize all the paperwork. At the time the person I was dealing with thought the system was down and since things like that can happen I didn't think to question it. But since I had already paid them for a warranty, they had to give me the more expensive lower deductible one for the price I paid.
i've got a lot of experience with dealership and other mechanic shop. i've got the chance to work for probably the best dealership's owner ever, giving his personal phone number to client and telling them to call him directly if anything go wrong! he really care for his business, his clients, and i must say he have done more for me than my own father. if he wasn't selling the dealership for his retirement i will be still working for this men! after that... i've bounced from one dealer to another, hurting me each time i see the lack of honesty from them, to a point i just quit the industry with no intention to make a comeback... i'm done with this shit, happier to be a millwright now for a great company, surrounded with a great boss and nice coworker who are happy to work at this place, some of them are working here for over 40 years!!!
I worked at an independent shop that also sold used cars. We would fix them up to a state where anyone working there would be willing to buy them, the owner did the math and tacked on some margin and that was the price. If someone wanted, they could buy an extended warranty, but nobody involved on our end would benefit if you bought one. We actually had a mother start crying in the front one day because her and her daughter had some used car dealer try to take them through the wringer. Dealers only exist to separate you from your money. Everyone relies on commission and there's no tangible benefit on their end for giving you good customer service.
Four years ago I bought an absolutely cherry 2005 Mini Cooper S. After I got it home I noticed a very tiny amount of corrosion above the trim over the license plate. The car was still under the corrosion guarantee, so I scheduled an appointment at a local Pittsburgh Mini dealership who will remain nameless (Other than to tell you it begins with P and ends in W). About 3 hours later I get a call telling me I need to come down so they can "talk". I get down there and for some reason my care is not in the body shop, but rather it's in the regular service bay up on a rack with the hood up. I am wondering WTF is going on here? They tell me they just "happened" to notice my head gasket was blown and that they could prove it not because there was coolant in my oil, instead there was oil in my coolant! AND, get this, at the same time there was coolant in my exhaust. These two things make no sense since first of all a head gasket will not put oil into coolant and it oil actually is migrating to the coolant how in the hell is is getting into the exhaust, which is a combustion product? To top it all off they hand me an estimate for $10,000! Then they tell me not to worry because they'll make me a REAL GOOD DEAL on a new Mini. I drove away. Turns out the oil is routed through a little heat exchanger attacked to the oil filter cartridge housing. The exchanger is made from aluminum and had developed a little pinhole in it. Since oil is under much higher pressure then coolant, it was passing over. The part cost me $100.
When I got my used 03 Marauder in 07 from an Audi dealer they promised to fix a few censer probs. The dealer sent it to a Ford dealer to replace the parts but all they did was clear the codes & not fix the prob.Was fun to see one dealer screw another & mess with an Audi dealership reputation. I still have the Marauder & the best way to fix a specialty type car is what Leno had said ,Find a good car club & share info with other owners who know more thin I do.Which led to a shop in Dallas GA that specializes in Marauders.
I posted a dealership horror story on your last Mercedes video but here I'll tell you about a great dealership that I have dealt with a few times. Sarat Ford in Agawam Ma. I have gotten 4 vehicles from them and they were always great to deal with. 2 used and 2 new, 1 of the new was a lease. First truck I got from them was basically a brand new 2 year old truck and I had no issues with it. Then we leased a Fusion and we loved it. We traded in an older Explorer when we got the fusion and we did the deal and then the service manager noticed he gave us a trade value for an Explorer that was a year newer. The salesman checked his notes and he wrote down the correct year so they honored what they had told us. After the Fusion my wife decided she wanted to go back to an SUV so when we turned in the lease we saw a used Explorer with low miles in decent shape so we decided to buy it. We looked it over and found a few scratches on the fender that looked like someone repaired it and did a bad job painting it and there was a crack in the grill. I also mentioned there was some scalloping on one of the front tires. Now we have already made a deal on it and these were things we pointed out before we took it off the lot. The sales guy also said he would replace the steering wheel because it was worn. At this point I was happy. They gave us a loaner and said it would be a few days. 2 weeks later my wife was kinda tired of driving the F250 they gave us as a loaner and we called to get an update and come to find out it's been in the body shop and it turned out someone had replaced the fender with a repro so they replaced the fender and painted it along with blending onto the door and hood and were just waiting for tires which were at a tire place local to where we lived and they told us we could pick it up and get all 4 tires done ourselves on them. Great experience. Went back again for my current truck that I bought new and my only complaint is I would lave liked to get a little more on my trade but it is what it is. I will continue to do business there cause I have never had an issue.
Problem is there are too many scammers in the auto industry, my uncle and I were talking about this on Thanksgiving, as him and I chatted I reminded him of the story of one of his best customers over the years. The guy came in for a mustang left in a used van because my uncle knew that he needed it for the family and to build his credit. Guy came back 2 weeks later thanked him for his honesty... come to find out hes over the years bought and recommended customers who became repeat customers. Not only that but also has a business getting all of his fleet vehicles from mh uncle. So yea quick buck vs life long customer..... my uncle chose wisely.
Years ago I bought a used Pontiac G6 from a small used car lot, not a dealership. After months and many miles of of ownership it started to develop a current draw that would drain the battery overnight. Before I began troubleshooting the problem I decided to call the dealership just to have the VIN checked for any possible recalls. Sure enough, there were a couple recalls, one for the electronic power steering, and another for the Body control module. I booked an appointment to have the recall work done, later that day they called me and told me my car is ready for pick-up. when I got there, they brought my car to me and the steering wheel was UPSIDE DOWN! I asked the service manager what had happened, he told me it was like that when they received the car from me (IT MOST CERTAINLY WAS NOT!) He then went on to shame me for driving a car that was in such a dangerous condition. At this point I'm pissed off, I brought my car in for safety recalls, they broke my car making it less safe than it was when I dropped it off, and they're telling me it was like that when I dropped it off. They refused to fix it unless I paid them $2400 for a new steering rack and intermediate steering shaft to be installed. After about 30 minutes of argument, they admitted that MAYBE it wasn't like that when I dropped the car off to them, BUT it was on the verge of breaking, and it's just lucky that it broke in their shop and not out on the road. Ok, Fair enough.. I can't deny that the steering rack may have been worn, at this point I think the car was 9 years old with a lot of miles on it, however, they absolutely will not concede one penny on the cost to repair it. Soon they are telling me to leave... They are telling me to get in my unsafe car and leave... so I do, the service manager follows me to my car to make sure I leave the property, I roll down my window and tell him "you realize you are forcing me to drive away in a car that is un-fit to be on the road.. so, If i get into an accident on my way to where I'm going, this is on you" He immediately got on his cell phone and I believe he was calling the owner of the dealership, I believe this because as soon as I got 1 block away, I pulled over and I also called the dealership owner on my cell phone, and he was 100% familiar with my situation. I explained my story to him, and also the fact that now the horn and steering wheel controls are not working on my car because the clock spring in the column has now been torn apart from me driving it the way it was given to me (This is also proof that the car was not in this condition when I dropped it off to them) He decided to meet me half way on the cost of repairing the car. And this is the story of how a GM Safety recall cost me $1200, but luckily it didn't cost anybody's life.
Great video Casey. I have just one such private auto mechanic here in mid-Michigan that is the only place that I will take my cars. He is honest with me my wife and my sons and that is truly a hard find nowadays if you know what I mean.
1998, 28 years old, middle of the .COM boom. Had cash to buy a brand new Corvette. On a whim decided to stop by a dealer while running errands. Was driving my S-10 pickup (almost new), but was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Was walking around looking at Vettes for about 30 minutes, no sales people stop by. As I get in my car the manager comes running up after me and ask if I needed help. "Nope, none of your sales guys wanted to sell a Corvette so I called the Pontiac dealer across the street and bought a Trans Am instead"
I've been lied to and conned a few times from dealerships over the years. Thinking about it still makes me SO ANGRY! I'm a bit smarter now but I agree this is a big problem with the industry.
I bought me 2011 Challenger with no warranty, just because I know I am more capable of working on the car than a dealership. It made it cheap has hell too.
You have to find a "Guy" for every area, I have a great doctor, 2 awesome contractors, a HAVC guy I trust, 3 mechanics and I'm related to 2 of them. Find people you trust and don't be afraid to pay them.
This bad dealership culture is a much deeper problem than what it seems. I've been on the service side , and I couldn't agree with you more on most aspects of customers being lined up to be shafted. However, it's also a human problem on both sides. This same problem is sometimes worse with independent shops as they are a standalone entity that operate free of a bigger entity keeping them on check... And also on the flip side you do have many customers that are just as bad and ate worse cons than the same dealership..... It's a really complicated human problem that can't be solved by just solving one end of the equation. All that said ... I'm glad that I'm relatively independent of dealerships or independent shops. My advice is learn to the best of your ability how to repair your own car. As Casey stated before, you would be surprised how good of a job you would do compared to the "professionals". And the biggest benefit these days is the unlimited amount of resources and information that is out there for free, to assist you in learning the trade.
@pslgreg Indeed, the ridiculous surveys where after getting crummy service they will TELL you (not ask) for all tens! hahaa. Indeed the entire automotive sales and repair industry is completely corrupt and crooked.
Bought my car right around when everyone was shutting down and quarantining. Because of that I didn't even up buying the car I wanted, but I ended up finding a good car at a good price. Turns out it was a salesman who knew my parents and who's son I went to school with. Everything went smooth, he didn't bs me and I bought the car. Since it had a month bumper to bumper, and there were a few minor annoyances that the car had, I brought it in to get them looked at and fixed. One of them was a rattle when going over bumps that you could hear at low speeds. My thought was that the engine mounts were starting to wear or were pretty worn. Not only did they not check the engine mounts like I asked, most likely because that would be an expensive fix, when I asked about it when I went to get my car, the guy gave me a line about how we talked about the reason I brought it in was for peace of mind to make sure I could drive the car for a long time. He completely tried to gloss over it and me being a young guy and not wanting any conflict just looked at him like he was an idiot and left.
After I bought my first car (2010 Skoda Sedan) 2 years ago, I gave it to a shop that a friend recommended. Told them I just bought it used, I was going to replace the worn tires and to give it a general checkup and see what's wrong with it. They call me back a few hours later saying there's sawtooth pattern on the rear tires and that's likely a bad suspension and it'd be a thousand bucks to replace them and all the brake disks and pads because they were also bad. So I got the car to an independant shop that only checks cars but doesn't repair them and they told me my suspension was fine, only the rear break pads needed replacing and that was it. I have since then never visited that original shop again.
In my unending hunt for a 996 911 Ive had my fair share of shady dealer encounters. Best one has to be a used car dealer who I did some digging on, turns out he also owned a body shop that does accident repair without any sort of credentials. Shame because the car I was looking at seemed half decent too, but I wasnt willing to take chances on the thing being patched together.
This is especially true with used car/motorcycle shops esp when they are selling sportcars/bikes. I was at State 8 mc dealership looking at sportbikes. They has some pretty nice pics on their site, but in person it was a different scenario. As I was inspecting some of the bikes, which they wanted top dollar for, I noticed that very few didn't have some sort of damage from being laid down or crashed and had been repaired. When i pointed out damage to them (cracked fairings, missing detail panels, or bar/footpeg/case and sometimes even shock abrasions), they denied that the bike had been crashed and basically wouldn't deal with me at all. I'm sure they found people willing to buy them, but it would have to be someone that didn't know what they were looking for/at would certainly get taken by those scammers. Cars can be easier to hide minor damage on, though car fax reports will usually catch them, unlike bikes, which usually are single vehicle accidents and not reported.
15:55 Psycho Car Dealer employees. A really good description. Car salesmen love to give you the "You said you were buying today if we agreed on a price. You are a liar if you don't buy." What he actually asked was "If I can get you the price you want, will you buy today." Not the same at all. Salesmen are psychos with all their rehearsed gotcha lines. Gee, I'm paying my taxes this year. I'm NOT paying what I want to pay. Two different things. I do need a car or I will have to walk to work. I once had a car service advisor refuse to fix something under warranty because I brought the car in 50 miles late for a service. He explained to me like I was an idiot that if there was a ton of dirt in the engine 50 miles of driving could destroy the engine. I asked for the written mechanics inspection that this had actually happened. Never got that, and I had to pay for the work, no warranty. Someday I'm going to start and independent warranty/insurance arbiter business where we, an independent third party, decide whether or not a warranty or insurance claim should be paid. RIght now it's like the judge and the defendant are the same person. The policy holder (plaintiff) asks that a claim be approved. The defendant has officially decided that the defendant pays nothing. Always. Welcome to our existing system.
I took a 1990 Corvette ZR1 to Chevy dealership for an oil change because it was right next to my work. I had just drove the car from Dallas to OKC with zero issues. Drove to the dealership the following day with no issues. When I went to pick it up that evening it would not stay running, knocking and shaking. They argued with me that it was that way when I brought it in. The manager offered to diagnose the car for $200. So I end up having it towed to another shop that specializes in sports cars. He discovered that half of the spark plugs where only finger tight. Not sure why anyone would remove the spark plugs to do an oil change but I never went there again.
As an ex-service manager and advisor I do admit the dealerships do train and push us to be like that. I was honest with my customers and treated them as if they were my grandmother. The enthusiasts also loved me even though we were pricey which I wouldn't argue. I hate when all dealers get a bad wrap for this stuff but at the same time most of the ones I have dealt with personally have been like that. However instead of being negative, I would like to tell a story of an issue I faced with one. I purchased a 2012 Cayman S from a Porsche dealer that they CPOed. It was perfect except some weird things like paint film being old, and wheels being a little scuffed. They gave me a 30 day any issue guarantee and I bought it after negotiating if they replaced 2 of the wheels. They ordered them and came in quick. I got a 981 loaner so they count mount and align the car for me free of charge as well. When I came to pickup the car I noticed the left and right wheels didn't match each other finish wise. I was going through sales but I mentioned it to a service advisor who walked around it and said "I didn't know we had Stevie Wonder working back there" and they ordered two other wheels while I stayed in the loaner. They did let me keep the 4 old wheels and I used them as track wheels. Didn't have any other issues with the car but that was customer service.
I have a 2010 Accord that I had the oil changed at the local Ford dealership. Everything was fine until one oil change, the nimrod forgot to tighten the plug. A few days later my wife comes home and says the oil light is on and dumping oil all over the garage. After calling them up and "explaining" situation to them, they had the car towed in, came out and cleaned my garage, replaced plug and oil and gave me a free oil change. I was actually impressed with their response, so gave them benefit of doubt and figure it's a one time mistake. Then they were too busy one day to do my oil change so I went to the Honda dealer - minutes after they took the car in they came to us and said "your oil plug is all stripped out and needs to be replaced and the pan rethreaded"! Needless to say, no more Ford dealership for me, my F150 now goes to Honda as well... I really need to find a trusted local mechanic and run away from these stealerships! I feel your pain Casey!
Very helpful info in this video! Most car sales people are slimy and the dealerships are too. Hey Casey can you make a video with your view on the new Mustang Mach E and the Tesla Cyberpunk truck? I’d like to get your opinion on both of these platforms.
Man they scammed my parents pretty bad with the VW Tiguan they got “certified preowned”. They said it had not accidents and was a clean car and that nothing was wrong. It was also dirty on the paint so it was hard to see anything like imperfections. Turns out there is clean damage repairs on the rear quarter panel because the paint doesn’t match when paying a lot of attention to it and the fender trim was broken off on both sides and you saw a lot of chips in the paint after washing it. It also had a recall that was never done and so we had to try and get them to do that. They also asked way too much money for it. My mom did talk them down quite a bit but I feel we should have passed on it either way. We still have the car after 6 years now but I’m always on edge about the something going wrong again because for instance these are known to have a timing chain tensioner failure but there is no recall for it so I guess I’m going to have to replace that myself. We also had a waterpump fail and those are pretty expensive. It was going to be thousands to get it fixed. There was only one independent mechanic that would work on these cars even and it was still expensive. I decided to do it myself and it cost 1/4th of the estimate that they wanted for repairs. And we paid extra for overnight shipping so only about 3/4ths of that was actually parts. 🤦🏻♂️ smh I don’t trust anyone near me anymore to work on my families cars because a dealer for instance wanted 3500$ to fix the suspension on our Cadillac and said it had ball joints and everything that had failed while I checked it and it all seemed fine except the shocks, rear wheel bearing and sway bar bushings. We take it to an old guy that has a suspension and alignment shop and he says the same thing as me. And quoted a lot less for the repairs. So I guess I did find one guy to trust for suspension and alignment work but unfortunately no one for engine work so I have to do that myself. I’ve had shops not know what to do for several repairs on my volvo and I end up finding the fix myself and it’s not even that expensive while they just want to throw parts at it. I just can’t believe it’s gotten to this point. I have friends that come to me first before a dealer or ask me because of how untrustworthy automotive services have become.
When you came to the ducati stator story that sounded very familiar. I had an old Honda 250 v twin bike as my first bike and after frying the battery, i took it to a dealer workshop. They sold me a sealed battery, which exploded because the regulator overcharged it. They wouldn't refund me the battery, so I had to buy ANOTHER one, and they told me they couldn't fix the regulator issue because the wiring was burnt and the bike too old. And they wanted to charge me $400 or something stupid for the regulator. I had to take it to another independent bike mechanic, to replace and re-wire it with an ebay regulator. EDIT: The terrible colour code story OH MY GOD! ive been there too many times already. Once I got parts of my white car resprayed and they came out tinged BLUE.
We have to take our leased Chrysler van to a certain place that covers dodge, jeep and Chrysler in our area. The place is a complete nightmare. Just minor issues thankfully but I just about have to mother@#$% everyone each time I go because of how incompetent and lousy the service is. When this lease is up I won't get one of those brands just because of this place. Loved the video thanks.
So my dad bought me a Smart Electric 2014 model year used from a Mercedes dealership. A few months later, it’s brakes broke, they just stopped braking, so he took it to their service, where he was offered another car for the inconvenience. He declined it, as it wasn’t that necessary and just extra trouble for us to park it. When our car was fixed he was charged $800, for a car which had full bumper to bumper warranty, and told to contact the insurance company to take care of it. Well, after a year of back and forth he was finally given back the money. Nevertheless, the car broke again shortly after (short circuit in an electric car is never good) and he took it back to the service. That time, he explicitly asked for a car while ours was being serviced. At the end, he was charged $1500, and they tried to pull off the same thing as last time telling us to contact the insurance. He said “No, you keep my car in the service parking, and I’ll give back the car you gave me once it’s all paid, and I’m not dealing with the insurance, you do that” and just left. This “problem” was resolved within a few days.
It’s challenging dealing with dealerships even for intelligent people. You come in to their turf and they have the advantage because they do this all day everyday. As opposed to the buyer who only buys a car maybe once every few years. They also team up against you during the buying process. They know we dread being there and just feel compelled to get the car we want and get out.
My dad bought a brand new GMC at the dealership paid $60,000 cash and the only stipulation was HE DOES NOT WANT THE CAR IN THE SHOWROOM - because it had a big dent and the seats were scratched up, they said SURE, went back the next day and what do you think was waiting for us in the parking lot YUP and dented GMC with scratched up seats.
3 bad dealership experiences here. 1.) I found a car online, pictures looked super clean. Checked the business hours and decided to take a trip on Saturday. 2 1/2 hours later we pull up to see the car beat to shit, looking like a 5 year old had their way on it with a touch up pen. Salesman walks out and I start pointing out flaws and say the price is way too high for it, he informs me they are about to close for the weekend. 2.) Found an 09 wrx at a dealer, moderately priced. Went and test drove it and it didn't want to shift into 2nd gear. I told them this and tried to lowball them (thinking I would have to replace the trans) and they wouldn't even work with me at all. Come to find out they eventually took it to auction as nobody wanted it. 3.)bought my current car new (big mistake, I wanted the warranty and reliability, I owe more than it's worth). The owner of the dealerships son worked with me. We talked him into $30 oil changes (about what I pay now to do it myself). I bring the car back first month for the breakin oil change and they tried to charge me like $60 until I flipped out on the guy at the counter. Next time I had an issue I called the guy directly and he had daddy call me back and ask that we go our seperste ways.
I have a friend who owns a dodge dealership and he works the sales floor every day to make sure that the customers properly taken care of. He believes 100% in repeat business and will not allow bs in his company. Rare breed.
Trying to get my car ETACS recall sorted for the last 8 months, good luck getting any dealer to not blame it on you! I had the corperate office tell me that my "dashcam that is wired into the car" caused the ETACS to fry... It's plugged into the cigarette lighter, and also still works, not to mention that the ETACS is recalled because it was manufactured wrong and shorts out at certain points on the circuit board. ughh actually bought the dealer tool to be able to point out all their lies!
A good private mechanic is worth it's weight in gold. I've had one for a few years now and it's saved me so much money and time simply diagnosing things for me.
Definitely got had by a dealership. I was in a tight spot, under major pressure from my in laws, and thought I found a good car. Two head gasket replacements later, and the car is a lawn ornament. The dealership offered me an engine swap at "their cost", which meant they'd source a comparable engine that *I* would pay for, that *I* would pay them to replace it... got fucked hard. I'd have spent less money getting my old car back on the road, and I would have had a reliable vehicle then. It sucks when you get beat down from every direction, but I definitely learned my lessons from that experience.
I'm surprised it took you that long to realize what I concluded as a kid. But you got there and it's great how you're bringing it to light. If it helps those who need it, but it might just be reinforcement for those who already know.
Dealership are for buying brand new cars (until something else FINALLY comes along) and new car dealership service departments (in my world) are only there to make repairs under warrantee. That’s it. Avoid them whenever possible, otherwise! I do not “make relationships” with the dealerships or salesmen (in today’s world, neither will be there for very long anyway). I have absolutely no allegiance to any of them. I’d rather buy a used car from a private seller who really wants or needs to sell their used car ... honestly. As far as repairs, finding an excellent repair shops is a secondary choice (to me) than just repairing the car myself. Finding individuals to provide specialized services (body work/paint, machine shops, exhaust shops, etc.) is HORRIBLE in today’s world. My expectations are high and rarely ever met (especially for what they charge). If I honestly could afford to just buy and store all of the specialized equipment required, I would buy it and learn to do the tasks myself. Sadly, that isn’t always realistic. My secret desire, though, is to own my own tire mounting machine and spin balancer, so I will never waste another second of my time in a tire store’s waiting room ever again!
I also have a dealer story. So me, my Dad, and my older brother went to go to look at a used BMW. (I forgot the model) and so we arrive, and from a first glance it looked nice, but I want that interested in it, and we go to test drive it, but it was terrible! It had breaking issues, and transmission issues etc. So we tried negotiating the price, and he wanted the car for like 12k, but it was a 7,000 dollar car. So we tried negotiating but he want budging. So we showed him the Kelly Blue Book price, and he said " Kelly Blue Book doesn't own the car I do". at this point we knew to leave, and he was all like "it will be gone by tomorrow" like yeah right buddy if that were true you wouldn't have had it for like 3 months.
A long time ago wanted to get a 300zx turbo. I went to a dealer gave them my info, what I was going to trade in etc. Never heard from the guy, but I have an old friend that is an auto-broker. He got what I wanted in hours, I was impressed. But I ended up getting the car serviced at the dealership I tried to buy a car from. But that turned out to be a good thing, I had a service adviser that took really good care of my car. When I mean good, I mean freebies. I was really sad when she retired, nobody else was as good. But that was about the time I stopped driving that old Z car. But there was one little thing I enjoyed doing, after every service I would get the survey call. They would ask all the usual questions, the last question. "Based on this would buy a car from us?". "No, I already tried to buy a car from you guys, you didn't want my business".
I had a similar experience at a Ford Dealership with a leaking fuel pump on a Escape. The Service Advisor told me they had to check the pump with a mirror and that it would be north of 1000 dollars and take weeks to fix. I drove out of there so upset ordered a new pump on eBay and watched a couple YT videos and replaced the pump and repaired the vehicle. The funny thing was the leak was going up from an access panel inside the car so not sure why a mirror would have been needed.
I have a positive story: I bought my 2013 Ford Taurus as a preowned car at Lewis Ford in Fayetteville AR. The salesman was reasonable. I did have to negotiate some and even had to threaten to leave empty-handed but at the end of a 4-hour transaction, I drove away in the car for an amicable price. As for the service department: They have been more than reasonable, Haven't ever tried to sell me a bullshit service and have been honest with all of their findings.
I've had good experiences with my local Volvo/Mazda dealership (i live in Portugal). My moms Volvo had a problem where the clutch would go hard after a couple hours on the highway without pressing it. I only found this out on a long roadtrip because it took very specific conditions for the problem to appear, and after a couple pumps on the clutch it would be fine for another couple of hours. So after that roadtrip my mom asked me to take her car to the dealer to get it checked out. I talked to service manager (who was actually working on the cars, not seatting in an office) and even though i could not show him problem for obvious reasons, he said that there was no problem, that he was going to order a new clutch and flywheel and get them replaced because the car was almost out of warranty so that way i wouldn't have to pay for anything. He also told me that as soon as he got the parts he would call me so that i could drop the car off early in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon.
I am a big fan of yours and I happen to sell cars; I have encountered individuals who exhibit the traits that you've described but I have also migrated to a small private exotics dealership which exhibits none of those traits. I would love to chat with you and if you're ever in Houston please reach out and lets grab lunch!
Sadly it seems everyone has stories about dealership. They sold my best friend a car from "first owner" , woman of course who took care of it, excellent condition. My friend really needed it fast due to responsibilites and took it, it was a big dealership, their posters everywhere. What could go wrong. Two days later it starts losing power and smoking. Took it to my mechanic who tells my friend immediately that the engines has "cream" all around and its been cooked it seems a few times,false miles, already its been crashed here and there and everywhere... But the thing that still gets me today is how I remember the guy and woman selling him (I was there),how nice they were but were really lying through their teeth. Are they born without conscience? I get (kinda) screwing rich people,but working,broke,young students? Or the time another dealership wanted to sell me like half a car for one little bump on the bumper. How I need to change the whole thing, and the sensors in the bumper etc... Went to local guy, just put the sensor back in its place, and resprayed the panel. So many bad experiences. Tho gotta say,another friend has been taking his car to one lately and had only good exp. Im guessing they lost so many customers they had no choice but to start being fair. However he knows someone there,might be a factor.
My dad had told me a story about a travailing salesman, Yes... Travailing Salesman. This salesmen only purchased Cadillac's. When his existing Cady got to sixty thousand miles he would give it to his wife and swap hers for the oldest Cady his children had. He would research the cost of a new Cadillac (inc. options) and the value of the car he was driving (sons car). In between sales he would visit nearby Cadillac dealerships to find the Cady optioned as he wanted. If he found one he would bypass the salesman that greeted him (got his card) and went into the Sales Managers office. The Cady owner would show the manager a check with a dollar amount he was "going" to pay for the new car and a piece of paper with how much he wanted for his trade-in. The salesman informed the manager that he was more then willing and had in the past found a Cadillac dealership that would agree to his conditions, adding. Something to the effect of, "Do you want to sell me that car today?". Eventually the salesman got his new Cadillac (and have the manager give the sales commission to the salesman who greeted him).
I would only go to a dealership for a warranty repair. For everything else, I patronize a local repair shop that I trust. But when I was younger, sure I went there and the "service advisor" would come up with all kinds of things I "needed". Yeah right, I was too naive back then to know that he was just a con artist salesman running up the bill to pad his own pocket for commissions. OMG, we all know that's where the money is in a dealership, servicing (and I use that word loosely) your vehicle.
I took my Chevy impala to the chevy dealership for a coolant flush, an alternator change, and a couple lights on the dash I didn't want to mess with in 3 degree weather. I could have done all of these things myself but was cold and I have more money than motivation when its cold. So I take it in and sit in the lounge for 10 hours because the loaner car I reserved was imaginary. They tell me my car is done and At the desk the guy says one sensor was unplugged so we plugged it in ($175). One $30 sensor was burned out ($280). The alternator tested good (changed it myself three days later). The total bill was $1200 bucks.....30% what I paid for the car. So I get it home and on the way I hear this gurgling noise. I am quite experienced and I know damn well what a water pump churning air sounds like. I open the water cap, bone dry....I called the dealer up and let him have it. Then I filled it up myself. Now I figure since I'm out in this frozen hell fixing my car I'll go ahead and refill the windshield washer tank with deicer. I left it empty because I knew the weather was going to turn. I open this cap and to my amazement the dealership filled it up.......with engine coolant. The CHEVY mechanic at the CHEVY dealership didn't know which tank the coolant in my CHEVY went. I do all my own repairs now. minus tires because its a hassle to get rid of the old ones. In he end I had a $1200 story that never gets old to tell.
I took my car into the Pontiac dealership in 1995 for beltwork. Upon my return the rear of my car was smashed, trunk curled up both brake lights broken out. I asked what happened and they said I brought it in that way. But if I took it off the lot and returned it a day later they would start a work/repair order on it. >>>>NOPE
You'd think a business that's sells something that costs a significant amount of your salary would actually give a damn. Crazy how the stereotype of carsalesmen being cons has existed for DECADES, almost even a century. I'd rather buy directly from the company, because if they dont care about their products then they get the backlash instead of cons that get replaced by other cons.
I worked at a car dealership...
For like 2 months. It’s a soul sucking affair and I felt uncomfortable around every salesperson.
I work at a dealership collision shop it sucks
Dealer I went to church with called me unchristian because I went to a different dealer to get my new car for $1500 less. I personally brought him the other guys deal and gave him the chance to match it. He said I was lying, and my paperwork was BS. Yes. I drove back and into his lot with the car post purchase and tried to show him the paperwork. He wouldn't talk with me. Made sure I had him do all of the warranty work and none of the regular service intervals.
I do this. One company owns all of the local dealerships in my rural-ish area, and their sales team is nice enough, but they refuse to budge on their pricing even when it is at least a thousand over even the advertised prices from dealerships out of the area. I generally try to give them my business first because I like to support local businesses, and frankly it'd be a hell of a lot more convenient than driving 100 miles away. I've bought 6 new cars in the last 8-10 years and never once have I been successful giving their sales department business. Guess who gets to do alllllll of my scheduled maintenance, and who comments *every* *single* *time* about how I should've bought it from them? haha!
How unchristian of HIM. lol
Dealerships love to do warranty work, they get paid well from the manufacturer.
lol guy is delusional. Christian? hahaha
Asshole, yes you. What’s the name of this “church” you go to so I know to never let my shadow darken the door of it!
Dishonesty and lack of common sense are the plague of modern times. The worst part about dealerships is the bad ones greatly outweigh the good ones. Hope this saga comes to a positive end soon Casey!
I remember my worst story was when me and my parents were looking for a new car (long story but my dad absolutely had to have it new). I was calling around dealerships getting quotes and understood what the average price of the car I wanted was. Finally I got a confirmation from a dealership that sold the car for the lowest usual sale price (1k under what most dealerships local to me would). But it was still within reasonable price for dealerships to let the car go for. Problem was, that it was 2 hours away. I made it clear to them I was 2 hours out, and if it is the price we wanted it for, then we would take it, and if not, we wouldn't. A couple of days before we go in, my dad catches a cold and is hacking up his lungs. I tell him we don't have to go for this car even though its a good deal, but he tells me we should go anyways. So we make the trip, test drive the car, etc. This entire time, my dad's coughing up the car, but sees it through because of the "deal". Come paperwork time, and they tell me they screwed up the price, and mark up up 3k over every dealership. They give me the bullshit of "oh we're taking a loss selling the car to you at this price, but it is the lowest price anyone can give". I pull up other texts of dealerships offering me the car at a slightly more expensive price and they say that they can't even honor that price. Fine, waste several hours of our time, you ain't getting a sale then. and we leave and take another two hours to get home. I get home, and I get an email from them telling me, "any dealership can spout a price, but that doesn't mean they'll honor it or actually have that car. If I change my mind, please contact them immediately to get the car". I lose my fucking shit after reading that email. They basically did exactly as they spouted in their email. As if I or my parents would ever give them service. Before this whole situation, I never understood why people hated dealerships so much. After this, I can't trust a single dealership for a second, I'm always on edge about being played someway or another.
Yums the public would think that a car company might like to know the crap that the dealership pulls on us but it seems that we are all on our own with no real backup.
@@williamkazak The problem I see is that cars are an investment. If you give the people a hard time through absolute bullshit, you aren't gonna retain that customer for long. The only way they can play these stupid games are if people stay ignorant and just pay mindlessly to get their cars fixed. Just how much ignorant people really are there for this to become a wide spread common occurrence for stealerships? Its frustrating.
they are paid liars man
Funnily enough, car dealers, DMV employees, city counsel members and politicians seem to be cut from the same cloth.
You forgot people in Banking and finance!
don't forget 98.4% of lawyers
Like one of my friends say: Hey, some people are garbage.
Casey, another gem. This is video is truly one in a billion.
It's all dealership though. How can you make good money and be honest when most people are trying to buy cars at cost. Lol it's no possible. But its is a problem when you get in the box and start signing the contract,that's where things go wrong
The problem is people like you and I are a low percentage of the population, they will just beat on someone else and get their money from them. Dealers are a joke.
The problem is exactly that, I made a purchase at a dealership and bought a car for 21k with 115 miles. The cars MSRP is 27,800. I had a good experience with the seller (George) and years later I came back wanting to trade in for a Scatpack. We talk whenever we see eachother at the dealership and I always bother him during oil changes and what not that I want to buy a scatpack. George always throws me to different sales associates or simply says no to my offers on scatpacks because of three things, I want ONE very specific car, I shop and look at the prices of this specific car for years, I know exactly what I want and how much I want to pay. George would not make much money of off me and it's a waste of his time to interact with me, he makes money off of the general population that doesn't really know what they want or how much what they do want costs.
Young mechanics in general are jokes. Some moron in pep boys quoted me for 600$ to change tie rods. I bought the parts myself and changed it in an hour. Saved myself 550$.
This problem applies to like 90% of modern goods. How is it that even with modern manufacturing processes and AI assisted design that most products don't even last half as long as they did a few decades ago? Companies have figured out that they shouldn't be producing the most reliable and highest quality products, they should be just good enough to guarantee repeat business. Then they wrap the whole charade up with sexy marketing and "charming" salespeople so the next time your BMW/Audi/Merc needs $5500 in repairs you just call up friendly Brad and trade your old one in for basically nothing and hand him tens of thousands more of your hard earned dollars.
Arbitrary Alias Yup. Sadly even Honda and Toyota are starting to do this. They know CVTs don’t last as long, yet they’re pushing it. They know car electronics will fail at one point or another, and they still shove tablets in your dash. I am curious to see how long they will update and support their “infotainment” systems.
@@angelgjr1999 not very long. once cars become software we get fucked "sorry, that update costs 800 dollars, you can't integrate it with XYZ"
This is funny , he really wants this car to brake on him again so he gets it on camera lol , every video now is in this car lmao , smart man 😂😂😂
If it breaks while talking about the bad service at the Mercedes dealer it’ll be views in the hundreds of thousands
Cars are supposed to brake. It sucks when they break though!
I sure hope it brakes! Would be great for Casey. If it breaks, it may kill him though.
Had he been in Germany or Austria it would've been a more durable car. Better built.
@16:00 - "Well, I thought we were doing you a failure."
Love that slip of the tongue, Casey...
yeah... sorry. Sometimes what's in the head comes out.
Made me laugh too.
No need to be sorry Casey, they mispoke and you simply fixed that for them...
After all, fixing things for dealerships seems to be the ongoing theme of your experiences with them.
I enjoy this form of video.
@@CaseyPutsch that's why I'd rather buy a semi decent project car and do it myself!
and your right!
they run it like military precision ....its all about money and closing the deal!
flimflam and buzzwords are their language and there's no room for the soft heart... just the soft hand reaching in your wallet!
dealers prey on the weak. if the people there were any good at sales they'd be working in the corporate world. working for a dealer is like a half step above working at the Sunglass Hut at the mall.
Dealer on my son's recalled airbag lost the paperwork three times over 6 months. Never had a record of my previous calls.. Constant run around with service department. I got a call from OEM trying to improve completion rates on recall. They hooked me up with a different dealer who had the car fixed 3 days later. 20 minutes from call to service being scheduled. On schedule, no BS. Thank you Ford and thank you Four Seasons Ford in Hendersonville NC for great service and a prompt fix.
Find a local mechanic and make friends with that person. You'll have better luck in the long run.
Absolutely! Many good small shops are honest and do a good work. Probably even a good idea to bring new in-warranty cars to them as well since they will not screw it up.
local small shops dont have the training that a factory trained dealership mechanic should have. Since the dealership mechanic can be no better, we are really screwed. No matter how nice the small shop owner might be, he does not know everything about your model.
@@williamkazak That is true but the small shop owner will not lie and deceive like some dealerships might.
@@chuckwin100 depends. I have a family friend that has known my dad for 25 years in the auto business. I took my car for a oil change at his (very local to my house) shop and he charged me for an oil change without changing the oil. Needless to say I don't use his service anymore
@@williamkazak This is why I stick to Toyotas. Yes, they are boring. But they don't break. Which means you don't need a mechanic, except for maybe wear-and-tear items like brakes. Though I am so very tempted to get something fancy, I know I am happiest with Toyota. Because staying away from mechanics makes me happy.
I love the channel Casey, starting watching since I saw you on VinWiki. Sorry to hear about your bad dealership experiences. There truly are lots good dealerships out there. Unfortunately everyone has a dealership horror story. I started out as an auto technician, then was a service advisor and have been a Service Manager for 8 years at a Chev, Cadillac, and Mazda dealership. I have tremendous technicians and advisors, we take pride in doing quality work, always doing the right thing, and charging fair prices. It's difficult to over come that mindset that we are "the bad guys". We are in this business because we love cars and enjoy taking care of people and building long relationships with customers. I hope from these videos a good dealership near you reaches out and you have better luck in the future! Keep up the great videos.
I worked at a car dealership as a salesman in Orland Park Illinois for exactly one month and quit right in the middle of a deal because I couldn't lie to the older lady on a fixed income on a new jeep grand cherokee against her two year old Mercedes. They wanted her to be upside down in the jeep by 10k. I walked out there and told her that she would be better off keeping the Mercedes and told her I was quitting because I didn't want to see her hurt. Best feeling ever.
I worked at a dealer for 7 years as a mechanic. All they cared about is volume not quality unless it's someone the dealer knows. But I learned a lot yes admitted to my mistakes with customers & also fixed my mistakes in front of them apologizing at the same time. I eventually quit due to the internal politics with unions & owner/manager. Broke down mentally because we as techs couldn't get enough volume of cars out at a given book time flat rate system. Now I'm an independent/mobile mechanic I make descent money word of mouth travels fast. Once you take care of a few customers word spread. I've had customers telling me to charge them more due to the quality work I do. The dealers charge & lie a lot because of one thing paying the overhead from the top down. Making that bonus money at the end of the month by any means necessary.
I can’t believe you went on the highway with that thing.
More run out area on the highway.
It's automatic. He had to make a video or he would fall asleep or be discusted because there's no fricking third pedal as well as no h shifter
My top 3 people I hate the most :
1) Politician
2) Dealership / salesman
3) Bankster
I put the banksters and politicians at #1 & #2, and #3 for me would be attorneys. Salesmen rank in the top 10 here though....
OK to round it out to "Top 5" Does Lawyer or Tow Truck Driver go in the #4 slot....Help me out here 🤣
Casey, you need to do a undercover video of "The Vaudvillian" in his natural habitat.
Keep them coming man, I love this and I'm so sorry you have to go through this for your mentor.
Dealerships are indeed extremely grimy. Which is part of the reason why I am getting more customers slowly but surely. Had a customer with a 2006 BMW 330i that they told her had a bad engine and she just needed to trade in because she replaced the coil packs and the misfires did not go away. Car has 250k on it and, judging from how seized the plugs were, were the original spark plugs. Charged her 90 bucks for a gallon of BMW coolant as it was low, 6 plugs, and an hour labor. The look on her face after driving it and hearing her tell me it drives like a brand new car was priceless. In some ways I am glad dealerships and service shops are becoming so shitty because it makes decent people like me just trying to make an honest dollar look like saints.
All the reson you give for not going to a dealership are the same reasons i don't work at a dealership anymore. Thumbs up stay awesome.
Like you, my experiences with car dealership has only been atrocious. So much so that I have taken a habit of taking multiple pictures when dropping it off to them under warranty as I've had multiple experiences of my Mazda dealers (tested 5) who 1) never quite fixed the issue at hand 4 out of 5 times, 2) broke something else, most often because they worked like neanderthals taking apart portions of the car (dash, outside trim, etc.). I avoid them like plague now, and, like you, that got me into fixing most myself. But it's beyond disappointing not trusting you could just leave them your car and get it in tip-top shape after their intervention. So... I hear you.
they are called stealerships
Best rant I've ever seen. Four stars.
I remember back in 1998. My new Ram SS/T (which I still own) had a paint bubbling issue on the hood. The first issue was they sent it out to a body shop that I specifically requested they not send it to. Two friends of mine had work done there and it was terrible. I happened to drive by the body shop two days later and there sat my truck. I called the service manager and she assured me that it was a mistake and they would send it somewhere else. I drove by the body shop a couple more times and it was nowhere to be seen.
The 2nd issue was the "new" body shop took forever to fix it. I have a work issued vehicle, so I didn't need it to get to work and my parents let me borrow their car when I needed it. I was overly patient with them.
Finally, the dealership called me to come pick my truck up. I asked a friend to give me a ride over there. He dropped me off and I went in to get my truck. After about 35 minutes of searching for my truck, they finally found out that it was still at the body shop. I then told them in a nice but firm way that they needed to give me a courtesy vehicle to drive home. They flat out refused. I felt like I was being nice by not requesting one in the first place. After a couple minutes of arguing with the guy, I asked to talk to the service manager. He stated that she was out. I leaned over the counter and saw her sitting in her office. I walked around the counter, with this guy screaming at me that I can't go back there, and went in the service manager's office. I told her what happened and that I would be needing a courtesy car. She refused. So, I sat on the corner of her desk and said that I would be sitting here until she got off work so she could take me home. I had keys to a courtesy car in my hand within a minute.
A week later, they called me again to pick up my truck. After them assuring me that it was actually finished, I drove down and picked it up. The invoice for the repair was in the center console. Guess what. The body shop I didn't want performed the work. Unbelievably, they actually did a really good job on my truck.
I never go to a dealer for service. That's just asking for trouble.
I work as a sales manager at a dealership, and in spite of this, I still love you Casey. As a dealership employee I'm just as emphatic with my opinion of this industry. It's a tough spot to be in. Balancing ethics with earning a living. The reality is, a lot of people in a lot of businesses don't live by an ethical code. In fact, I've known sales people that work and manipulate the management desk just as hard as they're working their customers. Playing both ends against the middle. It can be a big rotten shit storm all the way around. It comes down to one's own ethical code. Asking yourself if you're treating your customer as well as you'd treat your own mother. I've seen goodness in this business. My gut sense is that you have about 1/3rd manipulators, 1/3 zombies who are just going through the motions in a daze, and about 1/3rd doing things on the up and up. You just have to seek out those golden nuggets.
details78 Balancing ethics with earning a living . That would be a hard subject to write a book on. Bible covers it .
Read a book written by a car salesman in which he sold his MOTHER a car and stated: "she thought she got a good deal and I made a little money on her and so we were both happy!" That pretty much sums up the typical car salesman!
Thanks for the positive twist on the aggravation of dealerships!! I’ve had the same experiences and today’s rant made me laugh, I’m sure your message helped a lot of people too! It’s really difficult to find good people to work on cars!!!
Rumor has it he's been living in that car for a week hoping the brakes will fail again
Agreed! Not entertained, but educated wich is more important to me. Thank you so much for this video. Looking forward, to your great content and core values.
There is a very good reason people call it the stealership. Anyone in the know knows you are speaking the truth my friend. But nothing will change because most people are not car people and don’t care. 😃
A year or so ago I walked into a Ford dealership to look at a mustang GT with 4000 miles. I specifically wanted that year range and loved the car but knew exactly what I was willing to pay for it. After over an hour of going back and forth (literally to the “manager’s” office and back) I had the salesman within $500 of my price and telling me he thinks my price is fair (which showing some true humility) but that his boss just wasn’t going to go for it. So I walked and although I would’ve loved to have that car, it taught me a great lesson and further bolstered my confidence. Basically, do some research, go in with a number you aren’t willing to pay more than..and DO NOT budge. Even if you lose the deal, you’ll be proud of yourself in the end. Just remember that money talks and modern vehicles aren’t even close to being worth what these dealerships want for them.
Yeah dealerships are the worst. When i bought my first car, a bmw of craigslist, i just decide to learn how to fix everything myself. Granted everything was hard at first and I made mistakes along the way. But ever since I have finally found my passion in mechanics, engineering and fabrication. Not certified but at least I know where to go and what to do with the rest of my life.
I worked in car dealership for a few years and have seen alot but not on the front end , most people will get the SHAFT on the back end with add-on warranty, resistall paint protection (added to price ) which was 120$ cost but sold for 899(salesman made no commision) , key replacement "warranty" and any other type of add on. Never go to a dealership with a blank check , dealership hate when you come in with power checks(checks from bank for a set amount) this stops the dealership from getting over on you most of the time and are called "cash deals" and no much money in it. Also always check online price because on lot pricing is 1-3k higher then online, and there are no such thing as a SALE on a new car (mostly). There on average is not much room to make money on used cars in alot of instances but most people think dealerships get cars for next to free which is false. Another thing is that people think the Salesman can lower the car price 😂 which is funny to think about. The man you want to talk to is the sales manager, not a finance manager or salesman. Also if you want a good deal 99% of the time is to go in either at the END OF THE MONTH or go in amd take a look at that board on the wall or glass and see if they have sold anything that day (go at mid day or later) if there are no deals then your starting off good. That means there's no cars sold that day which is a huge problem , so they will be willing to do alot to get you a car that day. So dont blame the salesman. Blame the manager and finance team. , they can change rates and pricing up to a certain point and get paid off increasing the financing rates and upsell all add-ons. Last but not least is a car dealer ship NEVER LOSES MONEY IN ON LOT DEALS! If you buy a Car the dealership made money. Plan and simple.they say they lose money when they dont make positive revenue AFTER they add all the fees to the price up to and including PACK, DELAER FEES , MANDATORY ADD ONS and so on.
A few years ago when I bought my 14 Charger SRT from the dealership, I paid for an extended warranty with a $200 deductible when serviced. However the computer system wasn't allowing things to be finalized. They sent me on my way with the car and said they would look into it. They called me the next day to come back in to finish signing the documents because the issue was figured out. Turns out the warranty I paid for wasn't offered with the SRT I bought, however they ended up giving me a better warranty (8 year/ 100k mile $100 deductible) for the money I already paid them. I'd call that a win.
I learned this lesson the hard way, NEVER leave the dealership with getting everything you pay for or are promised. They never follow up.
I would agree but they had to follow up to finalize all the paperwork. At the time the person I was dealing with thought the system was down and since things like that can happen I didn't think to question it. But since I had already paid them for a warranty, they had to give me the more expensive lower deductible one for the price I paid.
i've got a lot of experience with dealership and other mechanic shop. i've got the chance to work for probably the best dealership's owner ever, giving his personal phone number to client and telling them to call him directly if anything go wrong! he really care for his business, his clients, and i must say he have done more for me than my own father. if he wasn't selling the dealership for his retirement i will be still working for this men! after that... i've bounced from one dealer to another, hurting me each time i see the lack of honesty from them, to a point i just quit the industry with no intention to make a comeback... i'm done with this shit, happier to be a millwright now for a great company, surrounded with a great boss and nice coworker who are happy to work at this place, some of them are working here for over 40 years!!!
lately I've been binging your channel and it's seriously becoming one of my favorites. Now I'm dying to get out there and buy an MR2 or something 😂
Yes CAsey this is the intelligent ranting advice i hope to see. Keep it up. I'm new to the car buying (dealership) scene so i enjoyed this.
I worked at an independent shop that also sold used cars. We would fix them up to a state where anyone working there would be willing to buy them, the owner did the math and tacked on some margin and that was the price. If someone wanted, they could buy an extended warranty, but nobody involved on our end would benefit if you bought one. We actually had a mother start crying in the front one day because her and her daughter had some used car dealer try to take them through the wringer.
Dealers only exist to separate you from your money. Everyone relies on commission and there's no tangible benefit on their end for giving you good customer service.
Four years ago I bought an absolutely cherry 2005 Mini Cooper S. After I got it home I noticed a very tiny amount of corrosion above the trim over the license plate. The car was still under the corrosion guarantee, so I scheduled an appointment at a local Pittsburgh Mini dealership who will remain nameless (Other than to tell you it begins with P and ends in W). About 3 hours later I get a call telling me I need to come down so they can "talk". I get down there and for some reason my care is not in the body shop, but rather it's in the regular service bay up on a rack with the hood up. I am wondering WTF is going on here? They tell me they just "happened" to notice my head gasket was blown and that they could prove it not because there was coolant in my oil, instead there was oil in my coolant! AND, get this, at the same time there was coolant in my exhaust. These two things make no sense since first of all a head gasket will not put oil into coolant and it oil actually is migrating to the coolant how in the hell is is getting into the exhaust, which is a combustion product? To top it all off they hand me an estimate for $10,000! Then they tell me not to worry because they'll make me a REAL GOOD DEAL on a new Mini. I drove away. Turns out the oil is routed through a little heat exchanger attacked to the oil filter cartridge housing. The exchanger is made from aluminum and had developed a little pinhole in it. Since oil is under much higher pressure then coolant, it was passing over. The part cost me $100.
@currentsitguy
How much you want to bet the mechanic put that pinhole in it?
@@watershed44 Normally I'd agree, but this part was pretty pitted up.
THIS MAN SPEAKS THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!
When I got my used 03 Marauder in 07 from an Audi dealer they promised to fix a few censer probs. The dealer sent it to a Ford dealer to replace the parts but all they did was clear the codes & not fix the prob.Was fun to see one dealer screw another & mess with an Audi dealership reputation.
I still have the Marauder & the best way to fix a specialty type car is what Leno had said ,Find a good car club & share info with other owners who know more thin I do.Which led to a shop in Dallas GA that specializes in Marauders.
I posted a dealership horror story on your last Mercedes video but here I'll tell you about a great dealership that I have dealt with a few times. Sarat Ford in Agawam Ma. I have gotten 4 vehicles from them and they were always great to deal with. 2 used and 2 new, 1 of the new was a lease. First truck I got from them was basically a brand new 2 year old truck and I had no issues with it. Then we leased a Fusion and we loved it. We traded in an older Explorer when we got the fusion and we did the deal and then the service manager noticed he gave us a trade value for an Explorer that was a year newer. The salesman checked his notes and he wrote down the correct year so they honored what they had told us. After the Fusion my wife decided she wanted to go back to an SUV so when we turned in the lease we saw a used Explorer with low miles in decent shape so we decided to buy it. We looked it over and found a few scratches on the fender that looked like someone repaired it and did a bad job painting it and there was a crack in the grill. I also mentioned there was some scalloping on one of the front tires. Now we have already made a deal on it and these were things we pointed out before we took it off the lot. The sales guy also said he would replace the steering wheel because it was worn. At this point I was happy. They gave us a loaner and said it would be a few days. 2 weeks later my wife was kinda tired of driving the F250 they gave us as a loaner and we called to get an update and come to find out it's been in the body shop and it turned out someone had replaced the fender with a repro so they replaced the fender and painted it along with blending onto the door and hood and were just waiting for tires which were at a tire place local to where we lived and they told us we could pick it up and get all 4 tires done ourselves on them. Great experience. Went back again for my current truck that I bought new and my only complaint is I would lave liked to get a little more on my trade but it is what it is. I will continue to do business there cause I have never had an issue.
Problem is there are too many scammers in the auto industry, my uncle and I were talking about this on Thanksgiving, as him and I chatted I reminded him of the story of one of his best customers over the years. The guy came in for a mustang left in a used van because my uncle knew that he needed it for the family and to build his credit. Guy came back 2 weeks later thanked him for his honesty... come to find out hes over the years bought and recommended customers who became repeat customers. Not only that but also has a business getting all of his fleet vehicles from mh uncle. So yea quick buck vs life long customer..... my uncle chose wisely.
Years ago I bought a used Pontiac G6 from a small used car lot, not a dealership. After months and many miles of of ownership it started to develop a current draw that would drain the battery overnight. Before I began troubleshooting the problem I decided to call the dealership just to have the VIN checked for any possible recalls. Sure enough, there were a couple recalls, one for the electronic power steering, and another for the Body control module. I booked an appointment to have the recall work done, later that day they called me and told me my car is ready for pick-up. when I got there, they brought my car to me and the steering wheel was UPSIDE DOWN! I asked the service manager what had happened, he told me it was like that when they received the car from me (IT MOST CERTAINLY WAS NOT!) He then went on to shame me for driving a car that was in such a dangerous condition. At this point I'm pissed off, I brought my car in for safety recalls, they broke my car making it less safe than it was when I dropped it off, and they're telling me it was like that when I dropped it off. They refused to fix it unless I paid them $2400 for a new steering rack and intermediate steering shaft to be installed. After about 30 minutes of argument, they admitted that MAYBE it wasn't like that when I dropped the car off to them, BUT it was on the verge of breaking, and it's just lucky that it broke in their shop and not out on the road. Ok, Fair enough.. I can't deny that the steering rack may have been worn, at this point I think the car was 9 years old with a lot of miles on it, however, they absolutely will not concede one penny on the cost to repair it. Soon they are telling me to leave... They are telling me to get in my unsafe car and leave... so I do, the service manager follows me to my car to make sure I leave the property, I roll down my window and tell him "you realize you are forcing me to drive away in a car that is un-fit to be on the road.. so, If i get into an accident on my way to where I'm going, this is on you" He immediately got on his cell phone and I believe he was calling the owner of the dealership, I believe this because as soon as I got 1 block away, I pulled over and I also called the dealership owner on my cell phone, and he was 100% familiar with my situation. I explained my story to him, and also the fact that now the horn and steering wheel controls are not working on my car because the clock spring in the column has now been torn apart from me driving it the way it was given to me (This is also proof that the car was not in this condition when I dropped it off to them) He decided to meet me half way on the cost of repairing the car. And this is the story of how a GM Safety recall cost me $1200, but luckily it didn't cost anybody's life.
Great video Casey. I have just one such private auto mechanic here in mid-Michigan that is the only place that I will take my cars. He is honest with me my wife and my sons and that is truly a hard find nowadays if you know what I mean.
1998, 28 years old, middle of the .COM boom. Had cash to buy a brand new Corvette. On a whim decided to stop by a dealer while running errands. Was driving my S-10 pickup (almost new), but was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Was walking around looking at Vettes for about 30 minutes, no sales people stop by.
As I get in my car the manager comes running up after me and ask if I needed help.
"Nope, none of your sales guys wanted to sell a Corvette so I called the Pontiac dealer across the street and bought a Trans Am instead"
I've been lied to and conned a few times from dealerships over the years. Thinking about it still makes me SO ANGRY! I'm a bit smarter now but I agree this is a big problem with the industry.
I bought me 2011 Challenger with no warranty, just because I know I am more capable of working on the car than a dealership. It made it cheap has hell too.
EDit Custom that’s the way to do it
You have to find a "Guy" for every area, I have a great doctor, 2 awesome contractors, a HAVC guy I trust, 3 mechanics and I'm related to 2 of them. Find people you trust and don't be afraid to pay them.
This bad dealership culture is a much deeper problem than what it seems. I've been on the service side , and I couldn't agree with you more on most aspects of customers being lined up to be shafted. However, it's also a human problem on both sides. This same problem is sometimes worse with independent shops as they are a standalone entity that operate free of a bigger entity keeping them on check... And also on the flip side you do have many customers that are just as bad and ate worse cons than the same dealership..... It's a really complicated human problem that can't be solved by just solving one end of the equation. All that said ... I'm glad that I'm relatively independent of dealerships or independent shops. My advice is learn to the best of your ability how to repair your own car. As Casey stated before, you would be surprised how good of a job you would do compared to the "professionals". And the biggest benefit these days is the unlimited amount of resources and information that is out there for free, to assist you in learning the trade.
Unfortunately 95% of my personal service and sales dealership experiences are bad. And then they send you a survey.
Reply to the survey, telling them defective people like them should be covered under the heading, justifiable homicide. 🤣
@pslgreg
Indeed, the ridiculous surveys where after getting crummy service they will TELL you (not ask) for all tens! hahaa. Indeed the entire automotive sales and repair industry is completely corrupt and crooked.
I feel your frustration. The larger the business the less they are connected to integrity, just like our government, sad!
Bought my car right around when everyone was shutting down and quarantining. Because of that I didn't even up buying the car I wanted, but I ended up finding a good car at a good price. Turns out it was a salesman who knew my parents and who's son I went to school with. Everything went smooth, he didn't bs me and I bought the car. Since it had a month bumper to bumper, and there were a few minor annoyances that the car had, I brought it in to get them looked at and fixed. One of them was a rattle when going over bumps that you could hear at low speeds. My thought was that the engine mounts were starting to wear or were pretty worn. Not only did they not check the engine mounts like I asked, most likely because that would be an expensive fix, when I asked about it when I went to get my car, the guy gave me a line about how we talked about the reason I brought it in was for peace of mind to make sure I could drive the car for a long time. He completely tried to gloss over it and me being a young guy and not wanting any conflict just looked at him like he was an idiot and left.
After I bought my first car (2010 Skoda Sedan) 2 years ago, I gave it to a shop that a friend recommended. Told them I just bought it used, I was going to replace the worn tires and to give it a general checkup and see what's wrong with it. They call me back a few hours later saying there's sawtooth pattern on the rear tires and that's likely a bad suspension and it'd be a thousand bucks to replace them and all the brake disks and pads because they were also bad. So I got the car to an independant shop that only checks cars but doesn't repair them and they told me my suspension was fine, only the rear break pads needed replacing and that was it.
I have since then never visited that original shop again.
In my unending hunt for a 996 911 Ive had my fair share of shady dealer encounters.
Best one has to be a used car dealer who I did some digging on, turns out he also owned a body shop that does accident repair without any sort of credentials. Shame because the car I was looking at seemed half decent too, but I wasnt willing to take chances on the thing being patched together.
This is especially true with used car/motorcycle shops esp when they are selling sportcars/bikes. I was at State 8 mc dealership looking at sportbikes. They has some pretty nice pics on their site, but in person it was a different scenario. As I was inspecting some of the bikes, which they wanted top dollar for, I noticed that very few didn't have some sort of damage from being laid down or crashed and had been repaired. When i pointed out damage to them (cracked fairings, missing detail panels, or bar/footpeg/case and sometimes even shock abrasions), they denied that the bike had been crashed and basically wouldn't deal with me at all. I'm sure they found people willing to buy them, but it would have to be someone that didn't know what they were looking for/at would certainly get taken by those scammers. Cars can be easier to hide minor damage on, though car fax reports will usually catch them, unlike bikes, which usually are single vehicle accidents and not reported.
15:55 Psycho Car Dealer employees. A really good description. Car salesmen love to give you the "You said you were buying today if we agreed on a price. You are a liar if you don't buy." What he actually asked was "If I can get you the price you want, will you buy today." Not the same at all. Salesmen are psychos with all their rehearsed gotcha lines. Gee, I'm paying my taxes this year. I'm NOT paying what I want to pay. Two different things. I do need a car or I will have to walk to work. I once had a car service advisor refuse to fix something under warranty because I brought the car in 50 miles late for a service. He explained to me like I was an idiot that if there was a ton of dirt in the engine 50 miles of driving could destroy the engine. I asked for the written mechanics inspection that this had actually happened. Never got that, and I had to pay for the work, no warranty. Someday I'm going to start and independent warranty/insurance arbiter business where we, an independent third party, decide whether or not a warranty or insurance claim should be paid. RIght now it's like the judge and the defendant are the same person. The policy holder (plaintiff) asks that a claim be approved. The defendant has officially decided that the defendant pays nothing. Always. Welcome to our existing system.
I took a 1990 Corvette ZR1 to Chevy dealership for an oil change because it was right next to my work. I had just drove the car from Dallas to OKC with zero issues. Drove to the dealership the following day with no issues. When I went to pick it up that evening it would not stay running, knocking and shaking. They argued with me that it was that way when I brought it in. The manager offered to diagnose the car for $200. So I end up having it towed to another shop that specializes in sports cars. He discovered that half of the spark plugs where only finger tight. Not sure why anyone would remove the spark plugs to do an oil change but I never went there again.
As an ex-service manager and advisor I do admit the dealerships do train and push us to be like that. I was honest with my customers and treated them as if they were my grandmother. The enthusiasts also loved me even though we were pricey which I wouldn't argue. I hate when all dealers get a bad wrap for this stuff but at the same time most of the ones I have dealt with personally have been like that.
However instead of being negative, I would like to tell a story of an issue I faced with one.
I purchased a 2012 Cayman S from a Porsche dealer that they CPOed. It was perfect except some weird things like paint film being old, and wheels being a little scuffed. They gave me a 30 day any issue guarantee and I bought it after negotiating if they replaced 2 of the wheels. They ordered them and came in quick. I got a 981 loaner so they count mount and align the car for me free of charge as well. When I came to pickup the car I noticed the left and right wheels didn't match each other finish wise. I was going through sales but I mentioned it to a service advisor who walked around it and said "I didn't know we had Stevie Wonder working back there" and they ordered two other wheels while I stayed in the loaner. They did let me keep the 4 old wheels and I used them as track wheels. Didn't have any other issues with the car but that was customer service.
No views no comments. Feels good to have notifications. Also morning
Yes. I have some advice. Do not ever buy a used Mercedes. Money pits!!!
I have a 2010 Accord that I had the oil changed at the local Ford dealership. Everything was fine until one oil change, the nimrod forgot to tighten the plug. A few days later my wife comes home and says the oil light is on and dumping oil all over the garage. After calling them up and "explaining" situation to them, they had the car towed in, came out and cleaned my garage, replaced plug and oil and gave me a free oil change. I was actually impressed with their response, so gave them benefit of doubt and figure it's a one time mistake. Then they were too busy one day to do my oil change so I went to the Honda dealer - minutes after they took the car in they came to us and said "your oil plug is all stripped out and needs to be replaced and the pan rethreaded"! Needless to say, no more Ford dealership for me, my F150 now goes to Honda as well... I really need to find a trusted local mechanic and run away from these stealerships! I feel your pain Casey!
Love it! Car salesman are about as crooked as the wheel alignment on a 90's Ford... Now thats pretty dam bad
Very helpful info in this video! Most car sales people are slimy and the dealerships are too. Hey Casey can you
make a video with your view on the
new Mustang Mach E and the Tesla Cyberpunk truck? I’d like to get your opinion on both of these platforms.
Man they scammed my parents pretty bad with the VW Tiguan they got “certified preowned”. They said it had not accidents and was a clean car and that nothing was wrong. It was also dirty on the paint so it was hard to see anything like imperfections. Turns out there is clean damage repairs on the rear quarter panel because the paint doesn’t match when paying a lot of attention to it and the fender trim was broken off on both sides and you saw a lot of chips in the paint after washing it. It also had a recall that was never done and so we had to try and get them to do that. They also asked way too much money for it. My mom did talk them down quite a bit but I feel we should have passed on it either way. We still have the car after 6 years now but I’m always on edge about the something going wrong again because for instance these are known to have a timing chain tensioner failure but there is no recall for it so I guess I’m going to have to replace that myself. We also had a waterpump fail and those are pretty expensive. It was going to be thousands to get it fixed. There was only one independent mechanic that would work on these cars even and it was still expensive. I decided to do it myself and it cost 1/4th of the estimate that they wanted for repairs. And we paid extra for overnight shipping so only about 3/4ths of that was actually parts. 🤦🏻♂️ smh I don’t trust anyone near me anymore to work on my families cars because a dealer for instance wanted 3500$ to fix the suspension on our Cadillac and said it had ball joints and everything that had failed while I checked it and it all seemed fine except the shocks, rear wheel bearing and sway bar bushings. We take it to an old guy that has a suspension and alignment shop and he says the same thing as me. And quoted a lot less for the repairs. So I guess I did find one guy to trust for suspension and alignment work but unfortunately no one for engine work so I have to do that myself. I’ve had shops not know what to do for several repairs on my volvo and I end up finding the fix myself and it’s not even that expensive while they just want to throw parts at it. I just can’t believe it’s gotten to this point. I have friends that come to me first before a dealer or ask me because of how untrustworthy automotive services have become.
When you came to the ducati stator story that sounded very familiar.
I had an old Honda 250 v twin bike as my first bike and after frying the battery, i took it to a dealer workshop. They sold me a sealed battery, which exploded because the regulator overcharged it. They wouldn't refund me the battery, so I had to buy ANOTHER one, and they told me they couldn't fix the regulator issue because the wiring was burnt and the bike too old. And they wanted to charge me $400 or something stupid for the regulator.
I had to take it to another independent bike mechanic, to replace and re-wire it with an ebay regulator.
EDIT: The terrible colour code story OH MY GOD! ive been there too many times already. Once I got parts of my white car resprayed and they came out tinged BLUE.
We have to take our leased Chrysler van to a certain place that covers dodge, jeep and Chrysler in our area. The place is a complete nightmare. Just minor issues thankfully but I just about have to mother@#$% everyone each time I go because of how incompetent and lousy the service is. When this lease is up I won't get one of those brands just because of this place. Loved the video thanks.
So my dad bought me a Smart Electric 2014 model year used from a Mercedes dealership. A few months later, it’s brakes broke, they just stopped braking, so he took it to their service, where he was offered another car for the inconvenience. He declined it, as it wasn’t that necessary and just extra trouble for us to park it. When our car was fixed he was charged $800, for a car which had full bumper to bumper warranty, and told to contact the insurance company to take care of it. Well, after a year of back and forth he was finally given back the money. Nevertheless, the car broke again shortly after (short circuit in an electric car is never good) and he took it back to the service. That time, he explicitly asked for a car while ours was being serviced. At the end, he was charged $1500, and they tried to pull off the same thing as last time telling us to contact the insurance. He said “No, you keep my car in the service parking, and I’ll give back the car you gave me once it’s all paid, and I’m not dealing with the insurance, you do that” and just left. This “problem” was resolved within a few days.
It’s challenging dealing with dealerships even for intelligent people. You come in to their turf and they have the advantage because they do this all day everyday. As opposed to the buyer who only buys a car maybe once every few years. They also team up against you during the buying process. They know we dread being there and just feel compelled to get the car we want and get out.
Casey...your voices are SPECTACULAR!
My dad bought a brand new GMC at the dealership paid $60,000 cash and the only stipulation was HE DOES NOT WANT THE CAR IN THE SHOWROOM - because it had a big dent and the seats were scratched up, they said SURE, went back the next day and what do you think was waiting for us in the parking lot YUP and dented GMC with scratched up seats.
You are the fucking best! Love your passion for cars.
3 bad dealership experiences here.
1.) I found a car online, pictures looked super clean. Checked the business hours and decided to take a trip on Saturday. 2 1/2 hours later we pull up to see the car beat to shit, looking like a 5 year old had their way on it with a touch up pen. Salesman walks out and I start pointing out flaws and say the price is way too high for it, he informs me they are about to close for the weekend.
2.) Found an 09 wrx at a dealer, moderately priced. Went and test drove it and it didn't want to shift into 2nd gear. I told them this and tried to lowball them (thinking I would have to replace the trans) and they wouldn't even work with me at all. Come to find out they eventually took it to auction as nobody wanted it.
3.)bought my current car new (big mistake, I wanted the warranty and reliability, I owe more than it's worth). The owner of the dealerships son worked with me. We talked him into $30 oil changes (about what I pay now to do it myself). I bring the car back first month for the breakin oil change and they tried to charge me like $60 until I flipped out on the guy at the counter. Next time I had an issue I called the guy directly and he had daddy call me back and ask that we go our seperste ways.
I have a friend who owns a dodge dealership and he works the sales floor every day to make sure that the customers properly taken care of. He believes 100% in repeat business and will not allow bs in his company. Rare breed.
Dealerships are behind on customer service. All other businesses are evolving and changing, but dealerships for whatever reason don't change.
Trying to get my car ETACS recall sorted for the last 8 months, good luck getting any dealer to not blame it on you! I had the corperate office tell me that my "dashcam that is wired into the car" caused the ETACS to fry... It's plugged into the cigarette lighter, and also still works, not to mention that the ETACS is recalled because it was manufactured wrong and shorts out at certain points on the circuit board. ughh actually bought the dealer tool to be able to point out all their lies!
My 87 Scirocco 16v did the exact same thing.
A good private mechanic is worth it's weight in gold. I've had one for a few years now and it's saved me so much money and time simply diagnosing things for me.
Yeah that is the ideal situation.
Definitely got had by a dealership.
I was in a tight spot, under major pressure from my in laws, and thought I found a good car. Two head gasket replacements later, and the car is a lawn ornament. The dealership offered me an engine swap at "their cost", which meant they'd source a comparable engine that *I* would pay for, that *I* would pay them to replace it... got fucked hard.
I'd have spent less money getting my old car back on the road, and I would have had a reliable vehicle then. It sucks when you get beat down from every direction, but I definitely learned my lessons from that experience.
I just want to give Casey a really big, sympathetic hug. 😂
I'm surprised it took you that long to realize what I concluded as a kid. But you got there and it's great how you're bringing it to light. If it helps those who need it, but it might just be reinforcement for those who already know.
15:57 - key point. Dealt with one of those recently.
Dealership are for buying brand new cars (until something else FINALLY comes along) and new car dealership service departments (in my world) are only there to make repairs under warrantee. That’s it. Avoid them whenever possible, otherwise! I do not “make relationships” with the dealerships or salesmen (in today’s world, neither will be there for very long anyway). I have absolutely no allegiance to any of them. I’d rather buy a used car from a private seller who really wants or needs to sell their used car ... honestly. As far as repairs, finding an excellent repair shops is a secondary choice (to me) than just repairing the car myself. Finding individuals to provide specialized services (body work/paint, machine shops, exhaust shops, etc.) is HORRIBLE in today’s world. My expectations are high and rarely ever met (especially for what they charge). If I honestly could afford to just buy and store all of the specialized equipment required, I would buy it and learn to do the tasks myself. Sadly, that isn’t always realistic. My secret desire, though, is to own my own tire mounting machine and spin balancer, so I will never waste another second of my time in a tire store’s waiting room ever again!
I also have a dealer story. So me, my Dad, and my older brother went to go to look at a used BMW. (I forgot the model) and so we arrive, and from a first glance it looked nice, but I want that interested in it, and we go to test drive it, but it was terrible! It had breaking issues, and transmission issues etc. So we tried negotiating the price, and he wanted the car for like 12k, but it was a 7,000 dollar car. So we tried negotiating but he want budging. So we showed him the Kelly Blue Book price, and he said " Kelly Blue Book doesn't own the car I do". at this point we knew to leave, and he was all like "it will be gone by tomorrow" like yeah right buddy if that were true you wouldn't have had it for like 3 months.
A long time ago wanted to get a 300zx turbo. I went to a dealer gave them my info, what I was going to trade in etc. Never heard from the guy, but I have an old friend that is an auto-broker. He got what I wanted in hours, I was impressed. But I ended up getting the car serviced at the dealership I tried to buy a car from. But that turned out to be a good thing, I had a service adviser that took really good care of my car. When I mean good, I mean freebies. I was really sad when she retired, nobody else was as good. But that was about the time I stopped driving that old Z car. But there was one little thing I enjoyed doing, after every service I would get the survey call. They would ask all the usual questions, the last question. "Based on this would buy a car from us?". "No, I already tried to buy a car from you guys, you didn't want my business".
I had a similar experience at a Ford Dealership with a leaking fuel pump on a Escape. The Service Advisor told me they had to check the pump with a mirror and that it would be north of 1000 dollars and take weeks to fix. I drove out of there so upset ordered a new pump on eBay and watched a couple YT videos and replaced the pump and repaired the vehicle. The funny thing was the leak was going up from an access panel inside the car so not sure why a mirror would have been needed.
I have a positive story: I bought my 2013 Ford Taurus as a preowned car at Lewis Ford in Fayetteville AR. The salesman was reasonable. I did have to negotiate some and even had to threaten to leave empty-handed but at the end of a 4-hour transaction, I drove away in the car for an amicable price.
As for the service department: They have been more than reasonable, Haven't ever tried to sell me a bullshit service and have been honest with all of their findings.
I've had good experiences with my local Volvo/Mazda dealership (i live in Portugal). My moms Volvo had a problem where the clutch would go hard after a couple hours on the highway without pressing it. I only found this out on a long roadtrip because it took very specific conditions for the problem to appear, and after a couple pumps on the clutch it would be fine for another couple of hours. So after that roadtrip my mom asked me to take her car to the dealer to get it checked out. I talked to service manager (who was actually working on the cars, not seatting in an office) and even though i could not show him problem for obvious reasons, he said that there was no problem, that he was going to order a new clutch and flywheel and get them replaced because the car was almost out of warranty so that way i wouldn't have to pay for anything. He also told me that as soon as he got the parts he would call me so that i could drop the car off early in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon.
for this ‘drive and talk’ bits I would enjoy some dashcam footage to look at the scenery while listening to your story
I'm here for you whenever you want to Vent Plus I love stories especially when they're real thank you very much
I am a big fan of yours and I happen to sell cars; I have encountered individuals who exhibit the traits that you've described but I have also migrated to a small private exotics dealership which exhibits none of those traits. I would love to chat with you and if you're ever in Houston please reach out and lets grab lunch!
Sadly it seems everyone has stories about dealership. They sold my best friend a car from "first owner" , woman of course who took care of it, excellent condition. My friend really needed it fast due to responsibilites and took it, it was a big dealership, their posters everywhere. What could go wrong. Two days later it starts losing power and smoking. Took it to my mechanic who tells my friend immediately that the engines has "cream" all around and its been cooked it seems a few times,false miles, already its been crashed here and there and everywhere... But the thing that still gets me today is how I remember the guy and woman selling him (I was there),how nice they were but were really lying through their teeth. Are they born without conscience? I get (kinda) screwing rich people,but working,broke,young students?
Or the time another dealership wanted to sell me like half a car for one little bump on the bumper. How I need to change the whole thing, and the sensors in the bumper etc... Went to local guy, just put the sensor back in its place, and resprayed the panel. So many bad experiences. Tho gotta say,another friend has been taking his car to one lately and had only good exp. Im guessing they lost so many customers they had no choice but to start being fair. However he knows someone there,might be a factor.
Good job brother, thanks for the reminder
My dad had told me a story about a travailing salesman, Yes... Travailing Salesman.
This salesmen only purchased Cadillac's. When his existing Cady got to sixty thousand miles he would give it to his wife and swap hers for the oldest Cady his children had.
He would research the cost of a new Cadillac (inc. options) and the value of the car he was driving (sons car).
In between sales he would visit nearby Cadillac dealerships to find the Cady optioned as he wanted.
If he found one he would bypass the salesman that greeted him (got his card) and went into the Sales Managers office.
The Cady owner would show the manager a check with a dollar amount he was "going" to pay for the new car and a piece of paper with how much he wanted for his trade-in.
The salesman informed the manager that he was more then willing and had in the past found a Cadillac dealership that would agree to his conditions, adding.
Something to the effect of, "Do you want to sell me that car today?".
Eventually the salesman got his new Cadillac (and have the manager give the sales commission to the salesman who greeted him).
I would only go to a dealership for a warranty repair. For everything else, I patronize a local repair shop that I trust. But when I was younger, sure I went there and the "service advisor" would come up with all kinds of things I "needed". Yeah right, I was too naive back then to know that he was just a con artist salesman running up the bill to pad his own pocket for commissions. OMG, we all know that's where the money is in a dealership, servicing (and I use that word loosely) your vehicle.
I took my Chevy impala to the chevy dealership for a coolant flush, an alternator change, and a couple lights on the dash I didn't want to mess with in 3 degree weather. I could have done all of these things myself but was cold and I have more money than motivation when its cold. So I take it in and sit in the lounge for 10 hours because the loaner car I reserved was imaginary. They tell me my car is done and At the desk the guy says one sensor was unplugged so we plugged it in ($175). One $30 sensor was burned out ($280). The alternator tested good (changed it myself three days later). The total bill was $1200 bucks.....30% what I paid for the car. So I get it home and on the way I hear this gurgling noise. I am quite experienced and I know damn well what a water pump churning air sounds like. I open the water cap, bone dry....I called the dealer up and let him have it. Then I filled it up myself. Now I figure since I'm out in this frozen hell fixing my car I'll go ahead and refill the windshield washer tank with deicer. I left it empty because I knew the weather was going to turn. I open this cap and to my amazement the dealership filled it up.......with engine coolant. The CHEVY mechanic at the CHEVY dealership didn't know which tank the coolant in my CHEVY went. I do all my own repairs now. minus tires because its a hassle to get rid of the old ones. In he end I had a $1200 story that never gets old to tell.
I took my car into the Pontiac dealership in 1995 for beltwork. Upon my return the rear of my car was smashed, trunk curled up both brake lights broken out. I asked what happened and they said I brought it in that way. But if I took it off the lot and returned it a day later they would start a work/repair order on it.
>>>>NOPE
You'd think a business that's sells something that costs a significant amount of your salary would actually give a damn. Crazy how the stereotype of carsalesmen being cons has existed for DECADES, almost even a century.
I'd rather buy directly from the company, because if they dont care about their products then they get the backlash instead of cons that get replaced by other cons.