Car buying sucks

[jimothy]

Like several of us here, I bought my truck from Mark Dodge (thank you to 5GR for telling me about them). It was a painless process, I got a great deal, and it made me forget how much of a pain in the booty car buying can be.

Until now. My wife and I are shopping for a small SUV for her. She's got her eyes on a Hybrid Hyundai Tucson, and similar vehicles.

I know this is crazy talk, but shouldn't we be able to get a minor detail like the price of a vehicle without driving to a dealer and spending hours there? Or do they think that after we waste time there that we'll agree to anything? "Oh, that's so generous of you to put air in the tires, and for the low, low price of $199? I'll take it! And yes, I would love to pay you $299 for some plastic film you lovingly applied to the door sills. I was going to balk at a $2,700 markup, but now that you call it a Value Package, I'm all in! $700 for documentation fees would have been too much, but $699 is a bargain. Do I take my pants off and bend over for you now, or do I save that for the finance office?"

Then you've got web sites that purport to give you an "instant price" after you enter your email and phone number...well, I'm still waiting on a price.

We'll wait things out a bit. She doesn't need a new car immediately, and I think the market is about to turn and that these "Value Packages" that add no value except to the dealer's vacation fund are about to go away. My crystal ball has always been hazy, but I believe that anyone paying inflated prices today will regret it in the next three months.

And within that time frame, if she decides to give the Dodge Hornet a look instead, and we buy again from Mark Dodge, I'm more than okay with that.

 

[Richard320]

It's the whole process that bugs me. Getting a new car should be a happy occasion but instead it is something most people dread.

 

[BackCountryinNJ]

If you can.....definitely wait it out a little bit. I was just at my local Ram dealer for a warranty repair last week (Cherry Hill Ram in south Jersey). While they were working on my truck, I walked around their lot to see the pricing. Every single new car, truck, Jeep on their lot had a 2nd sticker next to the window sticker. Each one said 10K Market Adjustment. At first I thought, is this only on some super high end models? But, nope it was in every single new car there. Beats me how they're selling anything!

 

[TheWaterman83]

I know you are buying but if you are considering leasing, go through a leasing broker. Called the guy, told him what we wanted, sent over the docusign packet, and overnighted a check. 3 days later they came, picked up my wife's old lease (which they gave us a good chunk of equity in) and dropped off the new 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee L with a full tank, washed, and keys in hand.

I agree with your OP though. Every experience I've had with a dealer has been hours, over the course of 2-3 days, just to drive away in the vehicle.

 

[jimothy]

I know you are buying but if you are considering leasing, go through a leasing broker. Called the guy, told him what we wanted, sent over the docusign packet, and overnighted a check. 3 days later they came, picked up my wife's old lease (which they gave us a good chunk of equity in) and dropped off the new 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee L with a full tank, washed, and keys in hand.

I agree with your OP though. Every experience I've had with a dealer has been hours, over the course of 2-3 days, just to drive away in the vehicle.

Interesting, I hadn't heard of a leasing broker until now. My wife is the type to drive a vehicle for years (she's got around 190,000 miles on her 2014 Honda Civic), so I don't think she's interested in leasing. But I may have to look into that, if for no other reason than to learn something new.

If you can.....definitely wait it out a little bit. I was just at my local Ram dealer for a warranty repair last week (Cherry Hill Ram in south Jersey). While they were working on my truck, I walked around their lot to see the pricing. Every single new car, truck, Jeep on their lot had a 2nd sticker next to the window sticker. Each one said 10K Market Adjustment. At first I thought, is this only on some super high end models? But, nope it was in every single new car there. Beats me how they're selling anything!

Fortunately, we can wait it out a bit. I'm also expanding my search radius to neighboring states. That might turn out to be easier: The answer to their scripted "So, when would you like to come in?" is simple: once we have a deal and it's time to pick up the vehicle.

Car buying shouldn't be this way, and it's flat out broken. Yes, now we have lingering supply chain issues and inflation, but it's been broken and stupid for longer than I've been driving. Give me the damn selling price, and let's not take all day.

 

[jl13]

I hear you, but I think its only gonna get worse overall unfortunately, the market is still hot on most hybrids and small compacts.
Last week I was helping an older coworker searching for his new car. His current car is done for and what bad timing.
None of the dealers websites we were looking at had any pricing posted and inventory was limited so dealers are trying to get as much as possible out of what they have on the lots
I think those value packages are here to stay - I can only speak to last year but all jeep and ram on the lots had them - And I know of other brands that also had them
I got my truck before joining the forum otherwise I would probably had gone thru MD
Still manage to not pay any mark up, improve trade in value but unfortunately pay only half of their value package, that was after both me and the sales rep walk out on the deal a couple of times but I have also seen enough people just nod along and not fight back on mark ups and addons

 

[wegasque]

I agree with you. I ordered prior to joining the forum or I would've gone to MD also. As it is, my local dealer treated me pretty well. I ended up paying a few hundred below invoice, which was less than what I agreed to when I placed the order (with no deposit). I consider myself lucky.

This dealer told me what their carrot was for placing orders. He said that for every order that is placed where the delivery goes to the person who ordered it, the dealership has their allocation increased. He said they got an extra vehicle added to their allocation for each successful order. I have no idea if it's true or not.

 

[jl13]

I agree with you. I ordered prior to joining the forum or I would've gone to MD also. As it is, my local dealer treated me pretty well. I ended up paying a few hundred below invoice, which was less than what I agreed to when I placed the order (with no deposit). I consider myself lucky.

This dealer told me what their carrot was for placing orders. He said that for every order that is placed where the delivery goes to the person who ordered it, the dealership has their allocation increased. He said they got an extra vehicle added to their allocation for each successful order. I have no idea if it's true or not.

what made me ultimately pull the trigger was the 5k incentives combine with 0% 72 months, cause I really wanted to pay 0 for that unwanted value package
So considering the market I think I did good, but it sure was a hassle, way more than usual

 

[jimothy]

Friday, we found a place selling without markups or mandatory add-ons, so my wife is now the happy owner of a Hyundai Tucson Limited Hybrid. We paid $899 in doc fees and $199 in electronic filing fees, which seems a bit high, but in the current environment, I can’t complain too much.

The only BS we had to deal with at this particular dealer (other than their reluctance to quote an out-the-door-price over the phone, though we did get that eventually) was financing. To avoid markups, they required you to finance with their lenders. After an hour of haggling, we got the rate down from their initial 8% to 5%, which was half a percent higher than the outside financing we were approved for. Good enough.

I expected them to hard sell the extended warranty, but they did not push it after we declined.

This wasn’t hassle free like my Ram order from MD, but in comparison to the other dealers I worked with this round, the Hyundai dealer we ultimately bought from was pretty good. If you need a recommendation in the Atlanta area, feel free to message me.