I had a very unfortunate experience at this dealership last week. I was in the market for a Mazda 6, initially my preferred dealer (El Dorado) didn't have the trim and color I wanted, but TN did so I started talking to them. Using info on the invoice, holdbacks and rebates I came up a price that I was comfortable with, allowed them a profit and me a good deal. I did my price negotiation over email and once the particulars on that were set, I came into the dealership for the trade assessment. I had previously talked to the Internet sales manager about my trade and he had asked about buying my trade in truck from me (not through dealer) and asked what I wanted. Probably a ploy to get an idea where I was, but I relented and quoted him the middle of the blue book value and he nodded his head, but then saw that I didn't have the engine He wanted. But he did know what I wanted trade value wise and even said "you've obviously done your research and know the market".
On deal day I came in and they looked at my trade. My sales guy then presented me with my offer sheet. They were offering a full $9000 below the middle of the blue book value on a truck in great condition, loaded with options and would last about 2 days on the used lot if they priced it fairly. Would be an easy $2,000-$3000 profit if they make a fair assessment on the trade in. Well, they thought I was stupid and went for the con. I immediately got up to leave and they rushed the sales manager over who tried to tell me I didn't understand the used car market. Here's where it get really shady. He shows me his phone with prices at auction attached to VIN numbers from an auction website they use. A few words of warning that apply to any dealer.
1) Auctions are typically for cars a dealer doesn't want or has a glut of already. Older cars, cars in bad shape and lemons also go to auction. Do your homework. If you are trading in a vehicle that that the market is flooded with, the dealer may want to auction it and you may really get less than you expected. And that's fair. Research cars like yours on Autotrader and local dealer sites to see what your car is selling for and how many are out there. You won't get that much in a trade but it gives you a ballpark.
2) just because a dealer says that they are going to auction your car, doesn't mean they will. Auctioned cars go for much less than a sale on a lot would otherwise go for (due to factors I listed) but a dealer could very well say they are auctioning your car to get you to agree to a low trade value, then turn around and sell on the lot for much more.
3) stick to your guns, even if it appears they are being reasonable, they can still be playing games. Case in point, the manager wasn't exactly opening the vehicles on his phone to show me the specs on the trucks at auction. It was numbers attached to VINs. He wanted me to believe the trucks were good matches. But I had to take his word (they could have been civics for all I knew!), I had auto trader ads with near exact matches to back my numbers. He couldn't be as transparent.
Back to the event. After showing him my assessment of the market and explaining my reasoning ("trucks like mine are listing for $33-34,000. So you will list for that, hope for $32,000 -$32,500. So I'm asking for $30,000 ish. You'll drop a new battery, maybe flush the radiator (if) and detail it. Easy $2000 for you") He doubled down that "your truck needs a lot of work. It needs new tires, they have less than half the tread left."
That was an LOL moment for me as I'm holding my receipt for tires that shows $1200 of tires installed 6 months and 9,000 miles ago. But I decided I had enough of their games and I wasn't wasting any more of my time. I did the most powerful thing you can do. I walked out.
I wish I could tell you I made the next part up. I had not even buckled my seatbelt when the sales guy is knocking on my window. The offer jumped $8,000. Not $800. $8000.
A 38% increase in the offer in less than a minute.
I went to lunch. As I'm eating they start texting. And the offer went up another $500 per text for the next hour until they were a full $10,000 over where they were originally, right where I had asked them to be originally.
Of course I'm already sitting at El Dorado Mazda using their email and texts messages to negotiate an even better deal.
The sad part is that Town North was presented with a chance to sell a nice car at a fair price that I'm certain they still would have made a tidy profit on, and in return get an in-demand trade that they could make another nice profit on. I wasn't trying to get a car for less than cost or make them eat a bad trade. I'm all for the dealer making money. It's good for everyone, but don't treat me like I'm an idiot.
They failed miserably.
I'm sure there are great people that do honest work there. I actually got an apology text from the GM later on who acknowledged they screwed up. But if you shop here, beware read more
