Treatment at car dealerships

[Mr. Mysterious]

Hey everyone this isn't gun related, but was wondering if this had happened to anyone else.

Bio info on me:
24 (25 in Aug)
Drive a '95 Mitsu Eclipse
In the Army
Have Veteran plates on my car
clean cut

I want a new car since my ride is paid off in September, and was looking at a couple cars...narrowed it down to roughly a Chevy Equinox, Kia Sorento, Mazda 3, and a Dodge SRT-4.

I have checked out all but the Dodge. Just so you know the SRT-4 is a 230hp turbocharged Neon that does 0-60 in 5.2sec. Pretty sporty for a 4 door car in the $21,000 range.

So I contact the local Dodge dealer via the Dodge website to request a test drive. I get this response back

Jason:

Thanks again for you interest in 2004 DODGE SRT-4, we here at XXXXX Dodge Inc are interested in servicing you vehicle purchasing needs. I will be here Monday, feel free to stop by anytime. If you have any questions or need for additional information please e-mail me or give me a call at 846-XXXX.

So, I go there the next day to test drive. I love the car, it looks good, has great seats, and is pretty good bang for the buck. Talk to a salesman and then ask for a test drive. He proceeds to tell me that I need to go inside and do a credit check, go over numbers, and pretty much be committed to buy BEFORE I even get to test drive the darn car! I say thanks but no thanks and leave.

Later that day I was going through a town about 60 miles aways and stopped to look, I got the same hassel. After the second one I was pissed and told the sales manager what he could do with his car because no way in heck am I going through all that crap to test drive a $20,000 Neon for 5 miles around the town with a salesman riding shotgun, and that I could understand it on a Viper but not on a car that is at that price range. He said it doesn't matter if you are 20 or 80 they do it on the SRT-4, Viper, and the new magnum.

I then check my voicemail at home and have a message from the salesmanager at the first place, and he is like "Hi Jason, its Dave from XXXXXX just wondering if you'll be coming in to check out the SRT-4 from us, we have two in stock you can reach me at XXX-XXXX."

I ignore it plotting my next move.

I asked my litte brother who sales Chevy cars if its common and he said only on Vette's, or with 16 year old kids.

I wake up this morning and have this in my inbox.

Jason It has been a few days since I heard from you about 2004 DODGE SRT-4. Do you have any additional question or need more information? At XXXXX Dodge Inc we are interested in servicing your vehicle needs, and if there is anything we can do to help please let us know. Call me at xxx-xxxx. We will do whatever it takes to help you get the vehicle you want.

I shoot this e-mail back

Dave- I was in on Tuesday afternoon around 1:15 or so, right about the time that you called and left a message here. I like the SRT-4, on looks and fit and finish on the inside as much or more than the other cars that it is competing with, that being the Kia Sorrento, Chevy Equinox, Pontiac Vibe, and Mazda 3. The one thing that will turn me away from the SRT-4, and at the least XXXX Dodge, is that I'm not going to go through hoops in order to test drive it. There are roughly 34 Dodge dealerships within an hour drive of where I'm at, and one of them is going to want me to test drive, and eventually buy.

So, I leave in two weeks for a month of active duty army work, and then I'll be back in July ready to find a new car. I just don't know if XXXX Dodge will be on the short list. Jason

I get this back

Jason, Please ask for me when you come back in July. We do not like to make people jump through hoops in order to test drive. We are are a little stricter on the SRT-4 because it is a limited production high performance model, and we do not want people just coming in to joyride them. I hope you can appreciate that, if it was your car I am sure you would be the same way. Anyway, I apologize if you felt that way. Like I said, please come back and ask for me in July when you are ready to buy and I will make sure you test drive one. Thanks, Dave

Anyone else had this happen? How common is this? It really ticked me off and left a really bad taste in my mouth. Later today I'm e-mailing corporate Dodge and ask why the heck they have a schedule a test drive on their webpage if you can't even test drive without a hassle.

 

[sturmruger]

I worked at a dealership for 2 years. If it was a limited production car then I would not be suprised that they would want to see a little commitment before tossing you the keys. If you take into consideration that fact that this is till only a neon that it sounds like they are being a little over protective. Making you fill out all of the paperwork before you test drive is more of a sales technique then really worrying that much about the car.

If I ever get crap from a salesman at a dealer I would ask for the manager right away. If they are a half way decent dealership they should have turned you over to the manager before you left to make sure there wasn't anything else he could do to get you into the car. Please keep in mind the dealers have to deal with all sorts of low lifes that come in to test drive cars just because they are bored. It sounds like they were tyring to man handle you some, but it could have been fixed if you had talked to the manager. Good Luck

 

[Correia]

Sorry, but this is off topic.