Summary: This dealer messaged me on facebook about a car I had for sale, made me an offer, had me drive 45 minutes each way to their dealership, and then tried to negotiate an entirely new deal at an insultingly lower price based off of information they already had prior to me arriving. Hours of my day was wasted and I can genuinely say I have never felt more disrespected, lied to, and attempted to be hustled by a dealership than I have here. If they offer to buy your car, they will throw out prices they know you want you to hear to get you in the door, after which point they have no intention of honoring.
This is what happened to me, just the facts:
I listed a car for sale on Facebook. Marneasa messaged me, we talked price, and settled on a number. She told me the car would be purchased for $31,000 (see picture below). I flat-out told her I did not want to drive out to their dealership unless we had a deal as I'm very busy mid-move with young kids at home, and she told me we had a deal.
I arrived and met Sydney. She immediately gives me a paper asking what my asking price and what the lowest number I will accept is (Red Flag #1, we already had an agreed price). I tell her this and she laughs and says "Oh I have no idea what you and Marneasa talked about, that's all on Facebook!" (Red flag #2). I should have left after this point. Of course you know what we talked about.
She then comes back a few minutes later with a KBB printout showing my car is supposedly worth 22k and asks what I think about this (Red Flag #3). Again, I should have left. I told her I would not sell for a penny less than our agreed price. Also, I had done KBB pricing on my car and KBB put my car at ~27,000-34,000 depending on condition/who bought it. Nowhere did it list it at $22,000.
They inspect the car, test drive it, etc. They spend 20 minutes "figuring out the numbers". Numbers we had already made a deal on, mind you. Sydney comes back later and tells me the car has too many owners (I'm the 3rd owner) and that they are no longer interested at 31k, but they'll try and get close. I had given them the VIN two days prior and the number of owners was nothing new to them. I took my keys and left after 3 hours of my day was wasted.
The best part of this entire ordeal is that they have a plaque on their wall stating their guiding principles are "honesty", "integrity", "the golden rule", etc. I guess everyone at this dealership really enjoys being lied to, misled, and having hours of their day wasted. That or no one has ever explained to them what the words on that plaque actually mean.
Also, fun fact about their $22,000 KBB offer - I sold the car to another dealership (Texas Auto Value) the next day for $30,000. No games, they looked at the car and cut me a check within 20 minutes of sitting down. read more