I go to my dealer beginning of July to purchase a black tC. Put down $500 deposit and fill out a purchase order. "Most likely within 10 days", my saleman says the black one will be in. He runs my credit, 820+ FICO and 6% is best they can give me. I tell him my bank has 3.5%. I ask him is it possible to beat that, he said he doesn't know but will let me know later. I leave and the salesman then tells me he will call me later next week to let me know exactly when my tC will be in.

3 weeks past and he finally calls back and tells me the car will be coming in sometime in the beginning of August. Almost a month later, not within 10 days like he promised. Again I ask him, were you able to find out if you could beat my banks 3.5% APR. He replies, "I don't know I'm going to call you back and see what I can do". He never calls back.

About a week later, this past Friday (almost a month in total later!), he calls me and tells me that the car is there. Again, I ask him what APR can you give me? He says it's not possible to give me anything lower than 4.5% even if he wanted to. So I tell him I will get it through my bank then for 3.5%. I proceed to tell him that the bank is closed by the time I get out of work, and it's closed during the weekend so I will have to get the car loan sometime next week, hopefully Monday. I told him, however if you match the APR I will drive there after work sign the papers and leave with the car the same day.

Later, the same day (Friday) another salesman (same dealership ) that I was dealing with, tells me he can give 4%, but I have to come sign the contract and pick the car up by today because people are "looking" at the car. I told him thanks, but no thank you; I will wait until the bank reopens so I can get the 3.5%, UNLESS you can match that APR, he says no.

Saturday, he calls again and says he can't beat the APR and I need to sign the contract and pick up the car today. People are still "looking at the car". I tell him I will wait until the bank opens get the loan and come in to get the car this week (Monday), he says ok I have a week.

Sunday (today), he calls again and threatens me, by saying someone wants to buy my car and I need to come in and sign the contract (without the bank loan check) and take the car out or he will sell my car to him if I don't. I tell him I can't come in today, and that I will get the loan from the bank monday and go to the dealer monday and get the car. So he says sorry he will have to sell this car to someone else and I will have to wait another 2 weeks for the next allocation to get my black tC. WTF?!?!?!?!

I waited a month to get this car even though he told me I would get it under 10 days. I can't come in to sign the contract today? and the first person that comes in to buy a tC and they sell it to them?!?!?! Seems like they just wanted the tC out the lot. I was sooo ____ed, but I don't know what to do now? I can't wait another 2 weeks, I need a car yesterday and I won't get the same APR anymore or free mats or the $400 college rebate.

 

Sorry sounds like dealer BS...and people wonder why salespeople and dealerships are said to be Scum....

 

That car was specifically allocated for you and you have a downpayment on it, they can NOT sell the car. If they do, talk to the GM of the dealership. And call Scion HQ also.

 

I will have to agree with SWF 05 tC. They took a deposit on that car from you. You should call Scion HQ. Where are you located at?

 

Florida. SET for you. Talk to the GM or Scion HQ? and then what? He's probably not even there right now and what is he going to do, he won't care they are selling the car already and Scion HQ is closed for the weekend? It's 5:45pm and supposedly they are going to sell the car to this guy by the end of the day. What can I do??? I have no clue.

 

they cant sell the car unless you have your money back in your hand. Like I said, IF they sell it, deal directly with the GM and Scion HQ, I can gaurantee you won't see that salesman working there anymore and you'll have a car hella fast. And they CAN go 3.5% now.

 

I would call and talk to the General Manager. Tell him how you are being treated by this salesman.
If you put your $500 down on the car, and is was allocated for you they can't sell it, the salesperson can get into some deep ____ over this from what I have been told.
Just call and talk to the GM and explain what has been going on.

 

Well it's a deposit, not a down payment. I don't know if there is a difference? How do I find out who the GM is and how would I get in touch with him? Anyone know the # to Scion HQ?

I have a feeling I am going to lose this rebate, mats, APR. the longer this process takes. And to be honest the salesman told me there is really nothing that could be done, but if I wanted to go talk to the manager I could. It really didn't seem like he cared.

 

He'll care when he loses his job. A deposit is the same as a downpayment, that specific car is not to be made available to the public because it was allocated for you, that $500 is the same as a down payment unless you refuse the car. If you don't refuse the car, and are working out your financing, they can not sell it. If the other guy wants one he needs to order one.

"The morning after the allocation, we are sent a fax of the cars we got. We are told the color, equipment and transmission, as well as the day the car is due into the port. From that list, we assign the sold units to the customers from whom we have orders. Those sold units are locked in stone."

I would call the salesman back and tell him that you're calling Scion HQ and you want to speak to the GM of the dealership, NOT the sales manager, right away.

 

From what I understand, when you put a deposit down, the dealership is not signing a contract that states that they will sell the vehicle to you and only you. If someone is at the dealership with the check in their hands and I'm still trying to get the loan through the bank they will sell it to them?

and...

"From that list, we assign the sold units to the customers from whom we have orders. Those sold units are locked in stone".

It says "sold units" I haven't actually bought the car yet I just put a refundable deposit down. I think they screwed me over Any other suggestions?

 

the purpose of the deposit was to hold the car for you ! n u only. .. get your check from your bank n raise all hell with the shady people of toyota. when i bought mine, my salesman didnt tell me how much apr i wud get .. because someone in the dealer called a finance manager handles that .. i dint bother goin to different banks to shop around for a price.. i got 5.25 with a score of 699.. not great.. but not bad so i aint complaining. for the last month ive had drama with my dealer .. don't let them screw you over !!

 

Can any dealer's out there comment on this? Is there a certain time frame from which the car comes in and I must have the loan draft check ready?

 

Dude, the car is YOURS, they are holding the money that allocated that particular car for YOU. If they sell it, there are some pretty negative reprocussions. Not only that, but the "other salesman" is NOT supposed to barge in on the deal when someone else is already working a deal on the car. It is totally out of the question, and if he sells it from under you, then you NEED to talk to his boss(es) AND Scion HQ. They know you're working on getting a loan check, if they sell it, it's their loss, they could have sold 2, now they're only gonna sell one.

 

I had a thought...

Well the dealer is closed now and I started to think that maybe, just maybe the salesman was just saying this so that I would go to the dealership and finance it with their higher southeast toyota rate and drive the car home.

Could he have just been bluffing? Would they really go that low and tell me someone was there that wanted to buy the car just so that I would head over to the dealership today and finance it at their rate?

What do you think?

 

I think if they did, that you should find another dealer and tell them you wanna buy that car from them instead, have them do a dealer transfer. Stick it to 'em.

 

dude,

Never let a salesman push you around in any way.... just flat out tell him this: "i put down the deposit on MY car, if you sell MY car to somebody that is not ME, then i will call scion headquarters" i bet he sings a different tune pretty quickly.

that is bs.... the reason I bought a scion is because my salesman was extrememly nice, and was not pushy in any way whatsoever. (well, that and the car is the man).

 

It wouldn't surprise me if that's what he was doing. It wouldn't surprise me if he was trying to sell it out from under you either. He sounds like a slimeball.

 

how would i get in contact with scion headquarters?

i may be wrong though, there might have been someone else in the list that wanted a black tC. i really doubt the manager cares if the tC was sold to me or not since they may have had another buyer.

 

OK first off dealers arent required to but should... and thats how its done at the dealership I work at people get fired for pulling crap like that. Secondly Calling Scion HQ wont do crap all they will do is tell you to call toyota and then toyota will tell you to call the dealerships district supervisor and so on. First you should contact the Sales Manager and the General manager and tell them what happened and see what they do and then proceed to call there supervisor if they don't help you. In the long run though probably nothing will happen b/c they didnt do anything but bad customer buisness.

 

i had a feeling this was the case. so they are not required to hold the car for me for a specific amount of time? whatsoever? i kind of figured talking to the GM or Scion HQ would't do anything. if anything his manager will probably be happy that they got the tC out of there, since he is the one that was pressuring him to sell the tC already. and the fact that my salesman told me to speak to his sales manager if i had a problem, makes me think he wouldn't give a crap.

so there is nothing i can do huh? that is so messed up. i'm so freaking mad. i wasted a whole month of my time trying to get this car. what happend to the whole scion experience? no hassle buying? all i want is the damn car is that so hard?