Had a verbal deal at MSRP, but dealer reneged and wants $5k over MSRP

[spacemancraig]

Name and shame!

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[Fred]

Went to see and test drive the the maverick and the salesperson told me he knows Toyota is charging 5k over MSRP, but his dealership isn’t yet. I sat down with him and he wrote up two quotes. One with 5k markup and one without. I said can you do the one without and he said yes, you live locally and I can get it done for you. I told him I would buy it at full MSRP. He proceeded to go through all of the rebates to see if any applied and then discussed financing and gave me the monthly payment. I said ok, I will buy it at those terms. He then went into the office for a few minutes and when he came out he said I have to charge you 5k over MSRP. I was stunned, I didn’t know what to say and my son was sitting with me and so excited about buying the truck for him. So I said we had a deal at MSRP, I’m not paying 5k over and walked out.

I feel we were severely misled and bait and switch occurred. Is this common practice? Is this unethical sales practices? Do I have any recourse?

Please let me know your thoughts and any suggestions you may have.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/25-sneaky-car-dealership-tricks-231625503.html

 

[clippedwings]

"Walking allows the dealer to screw over the next guy for 5K"

Yes it does. And it makes my point. The only way to protect yourself from this crap is to be informed and to know what you want from the moment you enter the scene. Otherwise you are handing all the power over to them. They have a right to be jerks. We have the right to call them on it publicly, and we SHOULD spread the word.

 

[Txjay]

Went to see and test drive the the maverick and the salesperson told me he knows Toyota is charging 5k over MSRP, but his dealership isn’t yet. I sat down with him and he wrote up two quotes. One with 5k markup and one without. I said can you do the one without and he said yes, you live locally and I can get it done for you. I told him I would buy it at full MSRP. He proceeded to go through all of the rebates to see if any applied and then discussed financing and gave me the monthly payment. I said ok, I will buy it at those terms. He then went into the office for a few minutes and when he came out he said I have to charge you 5k over MSRP. I was stunned, I didn’t know what to say and my son was sitting with me and so excited about buying the truck for him. So I said we had a deal at MSRP, I’m not paying 5k over and walked out.

I feel we were severely misled and bait and switch occurred. Is this common practice? Is this unethical sales practices? Do I have any recourse?

Please let me know your thoughts and any suggestions you may have.

I was trying to buy a Honda Ridgeline in August of this year and a dealership in San Antonio TX did the exact same thing to me so I started looking into the new Mav.. I now have one on order from my local dealer in the small town of Aransas Pass TX where I am confident they will treat me right but I am pretty sure it will be at MSRP minus any discounts offered by Ford. Farm Bureau...

 

[Fred]

I was trying to buy a Honda Ridgeline in August of this year and a dealership in San Antonio TX did the exact same thing to me so I started looking into the new Mav.. I now have one on order from my local dealer in the small town of Aransas Pass TX where I am confident they will treat me right but I am pretty sure it will be at MSRP minus any discounts offered by Ford. Farm Bureau...

You are “confident?” Trust buy verify... can’t you get that in writing from them?

 

[2022EOW]

There's a difference?

I assume part of Elon's move to Texas is a back door political agreement to legalize Tesla direct sales in Texas. If so, that and the cyber truck roll out here in Texas will be a HUGE wake up call to Ford and its truck sales to solve this needless middleman interference between the customer and the manufacturer.

Tesla has a long way to go before waking up Ford. They need to build a truck for starters, and prove its reliability over decades. Tesla doesn’t have all that learning it takes years to amass building trucks.

 

[Wire4money]

If Ford watches with their heads in the sand, their idea of orders only getting full msrp no incentives etc goes in the dumpster. Plus if enough greedy dealers pull this Mavericks will start stacking up like cord wood. If this is the plan I'll keep driving my Escape with 48k on it until they're begging me to buy at 20% off. The Harley business plan of the 90s will not fly on a Maverick. Santa Cruz will be everywhere.

I think you are wrong. I am happy to pay MSRP on something I think has value. Just because you used to get money off, or incentives, does not mean that’s the way it is. I feel the maverick is a great deal for the money compared to everything else out there. You have 2 choices, order at msrp (or maybe less?) or buy a stock unit for what the market is willing to bear. If you were selling your house, you would sell it for market value, not less.

 

[Wire4money]

"Walking allows the dealer to screw over the next guy for 5K"

Yes it does. And it makes my point. The only way to protect yourself from this crap is to be informed and to know what you want from the moment you enter the scene. Otherwise you are handing all the power over to them. They have a right to be jerks. We have the right to call them on it publicly, and we SHOULD spread the word.

Or maybe the next person in line thinks it’s a fair deal compared to what else is out there. Shop around. If I totaled my current truck, I would end up paying ADM on something, or a ridiculously priced used vehicle.

 

[FloodingdowninTX]

I'm not paying markups. Neither should any of us, just put em on a diet and buy from a competitor. If the small trucklets start piling up on the lot, you should be able to reverse the obscene car/truck price trend. Overhead, inventory and January taxes will wear them down.

 

[atomguy245]

Where are you getting this information? You might want to research that a little more. Car sales compensation model has been changing for years. Many moved to a salary + commission, some are straight salary. In my experience Non-sales positions are usually salaried since back when I worked as a "lot boy" in 1976.

Recent personal experience, I bought a Ford truck at our only dealer in our small town back in 2018 and have visited often since then and even more frequently last ~12 months digging for any Maverick info since before Ford even admitted Maverick existed. Even during pandemic and supply chain shortages when there were almost no cars on the lot the same sales people have been present in their showroom all along since 2018. If they were on 100% commission they would have starved and moved on. That indicates they are on salary or a salary + program.

Yes, most car dealerships have a base pay + commission model. But you could never live on the base pay, and you'd get fired if you didn't sell any cars. I sold cars for 8 years, and everyone in the place is on the base pay + commission model: sales, sales manager, finance, service writers, service manager, part manager, technicians, the internet reps. The only people not on commission are the paperwork ladies in the back office.

Currently I have a friend selling Nissans. He is on a $750/week draw (meaning that he owes that back out of his commissions), and the dealership settles up once a month and he gets a check for whatever above the $750/week he is owed. So he is needs to sell several cars a week to stay ahead of that $750/week.

 

[D K]

This is why you get everything in writing.
I would have held the salesperson (or whoever gave the promise) accountable.
By you walking, some other poor souls is gonna pay that price anyway.

 

[V2WIN]

I think you are wrong. I am happy to pay MSRP on something I think has value. Just because you used to get money off, or incentives, does not mean that’s the way it is. I feel the maverick is a great deal for the money compared to everything else out there. You have 2 choices, order at msrp (or maybe less?) or buy a stock unit for what the market is willing to bear. If you were selling your house, you would sell it for market value, not less.

I will pay msrp if mine is ever built. I feel they priced it fairly & my trade is worth more ,at least now. That extra trade value is about the same as money off msrp. But if word hits of dealers trying that crap on orders, who will trust the ordering g process?

 

[atomguy245]

I think you are wrong. I am happy to pay MSRP on something I think has value. Just because you used to get money off, or incentives, does not mean that’s the way it is. I feel the maverick is a great deal for the money compared to everything else out there. You have 2 choices, order at msrp (or maybe less?) or buy a stock unit for what the market is willing to bear. If you were selling your house, you would sell it for market value, not less.

I feel the same way about the Maverick. It's a great value at msrp, even more so when you compare it against the much more expensive Santa Cruz or the midsize trucks. Against comparable crossovers it is just way more functional. Still, if there is a markup above msrp, I won't be doing that.

 

[Hack]

Went to see and test drive the the maverick and the salesperson told me he knows Toyota is charging 5k over MSRP, but his dealership isn’t yet. I sat down with him and he wrote up two quotes. One with 5k markup and one without. I said can you do the one without and he said yes, you live locally and I can get it done for you. I told him I would buy it at full MSRP. He proceeded to go through all of the rebates to see if any applied and then discussed financing and gave me the monthly payment. I said ok, I will buy it at those terms. He then went into the office for a few minutes and when he came out he said I have to charge you 5k over MSRP. I was stunned, I didn’t know what to say and my son was sitting with me and so excited about buying the truck for him. So I said we had a deal at MSRP, I’m not paying 5k over and walked out.

I feel we were severely misled and bait and switch occurred. Is this common practice? Is this unethical sales practices? Do I have any recourse?

Please let me know your thoughts and any suggestions you may have.

I never believe anything a car salesman says - anything. If it isn't in writing, it means nothing.

 

[DryHeat]

I'm surprised to see so many people saying (or at least implying) that they have a deal, but that they don't have it in writing signed by both parties.

The reality is that if you don't have a deal (including the price) in writing, you don't have a deal. You may eventually get that deal, but it's entirely up to the dealership.

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