Tried to buy a new Caravan

[patsal]

and it was the worse experience of my life!
I went in to just test drive after a few friends from work said they had purchased new cars and traded in the old ones while keeping the payment at or near what the old one was. My thought was help the economy, help an American car dealer--although nearly everything on it was foreign--the Japanese tires really ticked me off! Any way they took my car to check for trade in value, told me to take the other home for the night, etc (this is pretty standard for me when I am looking so now alarms went off for me). When I returned they were really pushing the paperwork at me, I told them to put on the brakes, I was looking for a clean clear cost figure and I would accept or decline in good faith.
Well, I was there for almost four hours and when I finally got in the costs they originally quoted me were so far off--get this $400 for 84 months--dude it is a Dodge Caravan--it will be a tiny piece of rust by month 72! This was not a high end model, it was pretty much basic and very stripped down. I asked for my car keys and wanted to leave. No lie it took them an hour to get me my keys! In this hour I asked about every five minutes and nearly had a full blown fit--this dealership is int he school district I work in so I had to keep saying to myself rememebr it will be in the headlines of the little local paper if you flip!
As I am getting in my car the sales guy is standing there and saying no we got it all set now, come back in you cn have ti for $400 for 60 months interest free. I jsut drove off. He says as I am am leaving , go home and cool off then we'll talk about it tomorrow! *** not talking to him ever, plus I was way nice and never even yelled once. I wasn't angry that the deal wouldn't work, I was ticked they wasted my time and it was almost 8pm and I really needed to get home by 5! Never again!

 

[gracie1]

Gotta love car shopping I always refuse to leave my car at the dealers and use the car I am thinking of purchasing. Only because they can take parts from your car and replace with older ones. I know it sounds crazy but it does happen! They are crazy to think $400 a month for 84 months. Especially with them going bankrupt! But I do love my chrysler and dodge. They definately last a lifetime

 

[squirrlygirl]

We went through 5 dealerships before we got our last vehicle. You would THINK that they would be nicer and more straight-forward with what's going on, but it seems to have gone the other way (except the last place, where the guy was thrilled to work with us and make us happy )

 

[jakenjess]

That reminds me of how much I HATE car shopping!! Sorry you had to go through that. We're driving the cars we have now into the ground. Just the thought of shopping for a new one, and another car payment, is enough for me to be more than satisfied with what we have! We have a 2000 Grand Caravan, with 96,000 miles on it, and I just keep repairing it. I can't imagine having payments on a Caravan for 72 months, but 84? They're out of their minds!! And I thought there were supposed to be some great deals on American cars right now??!

 

[Niagara2]

We have brought many cars over the years, and it was only at the local Chysler dealer that they took our keys and we waited an hour to get them back! We even knew the salesman. The dealership changed hands a few years ago and went down from there.
It turned me off on the Chrylser brand if that is their sales techniques.
We need another car this summer and hate the thought of looking for cars.
Hoping that we can get a great deal but will go in with my homework done. The first salesperson who tries to talk around the issues will be surprised when I walk out. Come on salespeople - offer the best deal and we will probably sign. Try to add on odd charges, or change the story and you lose the sale.

 

[rbork]

I'm pretty blunt when it come to car shopping. And don't EVEN try to treat me different than my DH. I just look them in the eye and say, "Sorry, you just lost your sale" and walk away. 4 hrs...can't imagine being around that long. I don't even like the final meeting where you go to sign papers and actually buy the vehicle because of all the crap they try and sell prior...
My poor DH sits there through it all and I tell him to just call me when it's time to sign. I love him for that.
btw- our Ford just turned 200k miles!

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

and it was the worse experience of my life!
I went in to just test drive after a few friends from work said they had purchased new cars and traded in the old ones while keeping the payment at or near what the old one was. My thought was help the economy, help an American car dealer--although nearly everything on it was foreign--the Japanese tires really ticked me off! Any way they took my car to check for trade in value, told me to take the other home for the night, etc (this is pretty standard for me when I am looking so now alarms went off for me). When I returned they were really pushing the paperwork at me, I told them to put on the brakes, I was looking for a clean clear cost figure and I would accept or decline in good faith.
Well, I was there for almost four hours and when I finally got in the costs they originally quoted me were so far off--get this $400 for 84 months--dude it is a Dodge Caravan--it will be a tiny piece of rust by month 72! This was not a high end model, it was pretty much basic and very stripped down. I asked for my car keys and wanted to leave. No lie it took them an hour to get me my keys! In this hour I asked about every five minutes and nearly had a full blown fit--this dealership is int he school district I work in so I had to keep saying to myself rememebr it will be in the headlines of the little local paper if you flip!
As I am getting in my car the sales guy is standing there and saying no we got it all set now, come back in you cn have ti for $400 for 60 months interest free. I jsut drove off. He says as I am am leaving , go home and cool off then we'll talk about it tomorrow! *** not talking to him ever, plus I was way nice and never even yelled once. I wasn't angry that the deal wouldn't work, I was ticked they wasted my time and it was almost 8pm and I really needed to get home by 5! Never again!

That's God telling you not to buy a Caravan.

Some very wise person once said that God throws pebbles at you to get you to pay attention, then he starts throwing bricks.

Think of that as a pebble incident, then go buy a car that isn't a piece of crap the minute you drive it off the lot (I owned a Lemon Caravan).

 

[okeydokey]

This may be a blessing in disguise. The last Caravan we bought will be the LAST Caravan we ever buy and the last Dodge too. It was a problem ridden nightmare.

 

[squirrlygirl]

Or it may just be a sign that maybe there is a reason to cut your dealer network and hold the remaining ones to higher standards

 

[Green Tea]

Same here as above. Be glad you didn't get the caravan.

 

[goofy5]

WOW! what a bad experience. we normally go in tell them what we wanna pay and what we want for trade if they try and whodoo us we walk out

 

[robinb]

Before you go car shopping again, you need to know the dealer invoice price (including ALL incentives to both the dealer and buyer) and the fair market trade-in value for your car. NEVER negotiate from a monthly payment standpoint. That is simply playing into their hands. Have your own financing set up ahead of time through your bank or local credit union, negotiate the price, negotiate the trade-in (it can be done) and then negotiate the payments. Payments always come LAST not first. Of course, you do have to know how much of a car you can afford before you shop but most banks have rates online along with loan calculators.

You can get new car pricing from places like Edmund's Car Guide (www.edmunds.com) and trade-in information from Kelly Blue Book (www.kbb.com).

 

[EthansMom]

When I went to purchase my last car, we weren't trading in a car (so no keys to take and "lose"). The guy wanted a credit card to take in with my offer "to show I was serious". I said, "Listen, I have my checkbook right here and can write a check for this vehicle right now. You don't need my credit card."

They only take your keys or credit card or the like to keep you there negotiating.

As a PP said, NEVER negotiate based on the payments. Arrange financing ahead of time with your local credit union or bank and then negotiate the PRICE of the car (only after you've done some research on Kellybluebook.com).

I have a 2007 Sienna and LOVE it! I got it last Sept. as a year-end closeout... paid about $23k (baseline model). Many of the Toyotas and Hondas are more "made in America" than Chryslers, Fords, etc...

 

[hentob]

No lie it took them an hour to get me my keys!

After 15 minutes, I would have informed them that I was calling the local police and reporting my keys stolen. One hour

 

[uk_wildcat]

We had a good experience at our Chrysler/Dodge dealer, but my parents recently purchased a Pontiac and went through several dealers before finding one that they liked. They had the same exact thing happen to them with the keys and the length of time it took to get them back and get the heck out of the dealership. The salesman was trying to sell them a brand new car that had something wrong with it when they test drove it. He was pushing it on them and telling them they could just get it fixed before it was purchased! He was not offering anything off either. They were so mad and just ready to get of there and felt like they were being held hostage.
I think some of these dealers are so desperate that they are not providing good customer service and are just trying to push cars on people. I would definitely shop around, even at another Dodge dealer.

 

[xiola]

The hang onto their keys for 2 hours thing is the oldest trick in the book. They'll make it even worse if you bring a kid with you. The idea is that you'll be so flustered by the end that you'll just sign the papers to get out of there. It sounds ridiculous, but it really is a sales trick.

The closest big dealership to me lost my business for life because of stuff like this.

 

[patsal]

Thanks for making me feel like I did the right thing. Really, I don't even need a new car. I finally said to DH last night it is like the I want a HE Front loading washer and when the old regular washer breaks down beyond repair then I'll go look for one. It isn't broke and I dont' need one, so I guess I'll stop looking for one.
Funny thing though was the painless experience I had when purchasing the Saturn my DH now drives. I did the research, I figured out the base price and the incentives within a few dollars and procurred the financing from my credit union. It was an easy purchase, walked in, told them what we wanted, they sat down with what they had in stock and the prices, we took the model we wanted on a test drive and we picked it up about 48 hours later with very minimal paperwork. When I am ready to buy because of need then I will do that again, and I am pretty sure with the same slaes team since I know she can sell me any brand since the owner of the Saturn dealership also owns every other kind of dealership around here!
Funny you mention the toyota being more American than the Dodge--my sister said the same thing when I talked to her and she was metnioning the price on the Toyota mini van as less expensive than my Caravan and in need of far less maintainence. She also asked what dealership I went to and when I told her she was like OMG and told me about when she was in college and went to get her car fixed there they strong armed her into buying a new one and wouldn't give her back her old car something like beyond repair so you should just get a new one! She was 19 and by herself but said she never went there again and was sorry that she didn't share that experieince with me prior.

 

[hercamore]

OMG. What an experience.

We bought my minivan new and it is now 18 years old (GMC). That is the only new car I've ever had, and it still runs great. However, . We are going to be new car shopping later this year, and I am dreading it.

so much $$, so much hassle, I'm not sure it's worth it.


herc.

 

[tar heel]

Since we drive cars until it's more expensive to repair them than replace them -- and that takes a long time --we don't car shop much. Last time we did I went to our local Chrysler/Dodge dealer and found exactly what I wanted - a loaded Grand Caravan that was two years old with low mileage. It had no price listed on it. I asked the salesperson for a starting price and he started his bs of what was I willing to pay, how much of a payment, etc. I told him I wasn't playing that game and needed a price on the van. He declined to give one and I left. The next morning the very van we wanted (all of the above plus an entertanment system) was listed in the morning paper at a price about $1,500 less than our top price range. We went down there, negotiated it down another $1,000 and came home with a new van.

We were not trading in a car that time, but one thing we do when we're considering it is to always go to the dealership in our OTHER CAR. That ensures that trade in doesn't become an issue until we want it to.

 

[robinb]

Funny thing though was the painless experience I had when purchasing the Saturn my DH now drives. I did the research, I figured out the base price and the incentives within a few dollars and procurred the financing from my credit union. It was an easy purchase, walked in, told them what we wanted, they sat down with what they had in stock and the prices, we took the model we wanted on a test drive and we picked it up about 48 hours later with very minimal paperwork. When I am ready to buy because of need then I will do that again, and I am pretty sure with the same slaes team since I know she can sell me any brand since the owner of the Saturn dealership also owns every other kind of dealership around here!

I would not expect the same painless buying experience from another company as you had with Saturn. Saturn was really known for their no-haggle easy buying policy. They asked a certain price for a car and virtually everyone paid the same price. Every other dealership works from a negotiation standpoint. They negotiate down from the MSRP and you negotiate up from the dealer's cost.