My Car Shopping Story

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So I had quite an interesting night this weekend going out to buy a new car. We’ve done months homework reading about car features, safety tests, recalls, service bulletins and complaints, and finally settled on a car we wanted.  We negotiated an incredible deal on a new 2016 Sonata with only 15 miles on it and we were going in to seal the deal at the dealership once and for all!

Before I signed on the dotted line, I had two questions for the dealer I wanted answers for.  I wanted to know if our car fell into the recent safety recall for the panoramic moon roof.  To check for myself, I wrote down the vehicles affected and brought it with me.  I needed the manufacture date. And second, I wanted to know why a car would sit on a lot almost a year.  Logic would tell you that they get several shipments in a year and that a vehicle was delivered in December of 2015-it was ignored for a long, long time. Why?

We had read if you get a great year-end-clearance deal to check the battery cables, pumps, paint, tires, and other items to make sure they didn’t show any signs of deterioration.  The car could have been parked outside for the entire time (most likely).

On the phone, I was only told that the invoice date of the car was December 28, 2015.  I asked them when it was manufactured and they said they didn’t know-they were looking.  When I got there, the sales guy still said he didn’t know and wasn’t sure he could find out. That was my first annoyance and a huge red flag.

I knew from previous visits that it was in the driver side car door, but I couldn’t find it at first. The salesmen acted as if he couldn’t either.  That was annoying!  Finally after looking several times, I found it where the door closed.  Low and behold, it was manufactured in October 2015.

Wow. 13 months ago!

I asked our salesman how come the car sat for so long and he said it just got shuffled around a lot.  I said to him that didn’t make sense because it only has 15 miles on it.   He the tried to soothe me with other answers that cars get brought out of storage and put back in, but that made no sense either. You don’t put your oldest car away.  You sell it first.

Next, knowing the manufacture date, we now knew the car was part of the panoramic moon roof recall.  I asked the salesman to check if this car was part of it.

He disappeared and came back saying the car was free–no recalls!

I was perplexed.

From what I read on the Internet, it was part of the recall.  I asked him how it wasn’t part of the recall and he said it just wasn’t–it was VIN specific.  But the news articles I read didn’t say that–so that was another red flag!

I then wondered if the car was manufactured at another plant because the recall only affected the Alabama plant.

I asked him how many plants there were, and he said four.  Just checking online as I write this, I see there is only ONE in the U.S. in Alabama, and four more in other countries! Another lie?

He assured me multiple times this car was not part of that recall.

I let that marinate in my mind because I felt unsettled.

We had the salesman drive the car into the service area under bright lights so we could inspect it thoroughly after our long test drive.  When we were going through everything, I saw on dealer sticker and there it was in big letters:  the car was manufactured in Alabama!  I looked at my husband and said I’m not feeling right about this.

He wasn’t either. We knew we were being lied to.

At this point, the salesman was running around checking on another vehicle for us. When we first walked in, he said they had two vehicles matching what I wanted –so he was looking for it.  In the meantime, I decided to get some facts.

The new 2017 cars were all lined up in the showroom.  There were four of them. I opened each driver side door and looked at the manufacture date of each one. All of the 2017s had manufacture dates of  September and even October 2016 –less than two months old.   So the FIRST LOT of cars being sold for 2017 were only manufactured 1-2 months ago. It was just proof positive again my car sat for a long time.

Now I was really curious why the car I was looking at sat so long! It should have sold long ago.

Wanting to figure things out, I decided to put the manager on the spot.  I walked into the managers office and I got lucky–two other salesman happened to be rummaging through his office for different things.  I said I’m curious if you could answer a few questions for me. Can you tell me why a car would sit on your lot for 13 months and not sell?

They all looked at me and the edgy, middle-aged guy about my age (he reminds me of Ty Pennington) pipes up and says, “Well we don’t even get cars on the lot for 6 months after they are made.  That’s not surprising at all.”

What??!?

I quickly retorted, “Well, that’s untrue.  Every 2017 on your showroom floor is 2 months old or less!!”   I let it be known say through that crap.

You should have seen how shit-faced they looked.  If only I had a camera.

They all looked at each and then the other sales guy said the car just got moved around and we missed it. We don’t track dates of manufacture.

I said, “But it only has 15 miles on it. It wasn’t moved much.”  They looked frustrated.

Then the manager said, you are getting a great deal because if we don’t sell the car, the manufacturer will take it back.

That was all B.S.  and I knew it!  Now I was mad.

Dealers pay a floor plan loan for each car on the lot and the quicker they sell it, the more money they make! They don’t sell it–they pay interest. No one wanted me to know this fact.

They couldn’t give me a legit answer to save their soul. People lie when they have something to hide.

What were they hiding??

I went and chatted with my husband. He felt things were off too.  I said out loud where the “Ty” guy could hear us, it’s clear they are lying to us.  He heard me.

I then said, “I think they know if things go wrong, I’m not the kind of person they want breathing down there back.  You watch, I get this sinking feeling they won’t even sell it to us tonight.  They’ve seen I’m not one to buy into their B.S. antics. I’m asking too many questions. I won’t go away if they screw with us.”

I was very vocal about saying things like, “Don’t tell me a warranty will cover me–I’ve seen how those work at dealers and its a big headache!  I’ve been through that game.  You and I know a lot of B.S. flies in dealerships.  It’s no secret as you know!”

The sales guy I was working with actually bowed his head and replied, “Yes”.  I was surprised he even admitted it (trying to build my trust?).

Anyway, the salesman kept running back and forth, and said he was checking on something else as we had left the car in the service area after our inspection (it passed) to sit down and think.  He runs back and forth several times.

Next thing he comes up to us, and says, “You won’t believe this, but there IS a recall on that car–but its not entered into our system yet. (Mind you, the recall was put into the news 30 days ago!!! So that was likely total B.S., too!)  So I can’t sell you that car.  I’m sorry I can’t. And I don’t know when we will be able to fix it.

Wow.

I knew it!

But I was glad because we changed our mind at this point. We were finished and ready to go.

They saw I was an educated consumer and whatever B.S. they were pulling on me–they didn’t want to deal with me when I figured it out! And I would figure it out eventually why I was getting all these lies.

Were they going to send me out the door without fixing the recall? Was that their game?

Reading further, I think they were trying to stick me with a vehicle that had a safety recall. They were going to denying it existed, and get it off the lot fast!  And that’s illegal. Check it out!

So this dealer lied:

1.  They didn’t know the manufacture date or where to find it
2.  They didn’t know where the car was manufactured
3.  That the car had a safety recall
4.  That cars arrive to the dealership 6 months after manufacture
5. Why the car sat on the lot for 13 months– I still don’t know (the color was silver by the way–not fuscia or anything). It was a Sonata Limited.
(Possibly #6 in telling me there were 4 manufacturing plants–he may have not known or was misleading me)

At that point, I lost all faith in this dealer.

Frankly, every interaction I have had with multiple Hyundai  dealers has been very unprofessional and disappointing, and yet their car is very safe (see Informedforlife.org).

The salesman asked me if I wanted to buy a 2017 and I said I’d think about it. He called today and left a message that he said was good news. I have not called back.

I’m frustrated!!!!  This is ridiculous.