Dealer refusing to sell used vehicle for cash if buyer doesn't live in area - only will finance it to you
hey guys,
This is a story I wanted to share of my car buying experience in buying (or trying to) a vehicle I saw at a dealership where they had this policy of: "We won't sell to you unless you live within 8km of our dealership." Now everything I'm sharing is as close to the facts as possible, there is some anecdotes in here but for the most part it's odd a silly thing that a dealership does.
Dealership: North York Chrysler, (Yonge & Steeles area in Toronto area)
Basically I was browsing Auto Trader, trying to find a family vehicle whether it's a large SUV or a van, etc. I came across a 2012 Town and Country limited, basically the best and most loaded van Chrysler made that year and it was on their site and available and it was aggressively priced, so having never considered this, brand, type of vehicle, I thought it was worth a look and their dealership was on the way home from work one day. I hadn't considered a van, especially a domestic van, but thought what the heck, let's support the guys down in Windsor eh?
I arrive, take a look, I mean it wasn't really for me immediately but I mean it could've worked and grown on me and the price was really low so it might've been worth a conversation. The sales person however informed me that they won't take any cash offers on the vehicle and only can take a finance offer.
...what?
A car dealership, a domestic car dealership that has a supply of used vehicles, doesn't want to take business from a potential customer who has the funds to pay for said product? Didn't make sense to me, put it aside as I didn't even want to get into the the whole "discriminating against customers" type of thing, I just pretended it was a tactic on their end to keep the prices of their domestic vehicles higher I guess?
Anyways, I walked out as it really wasn't for me to negotiate and talk if they didn't want to. The Used Car Manager called me later on and basically said the following:
"I understand you were interested in one of our cars" (yes)
"We work a little differently, we are a volume dealer we sell upwards of a 800 - 1000 cars a month with 30+ sales people" (okay sure, ya good for you guys! It's great you're that popular!)
"We price our cars really low because we don't negotiate, we post a price, add $400 admin fee and taxes and that's it. It's about moving volume" (Yes I guess that makes sense, no nonsense drive volume, etc. Although anything is negotiable so I don't buy that for a second).
This last part I thought was hilarious:
"Our marketing department has come up with some strategies to sell more locally, we find our success is from people who live around here and service their vehicle here, and we want to give those people better access" (uhh....)
"Therefore, we won't take an offer from you unless you finance. We want our vehicles to age first before we open up who we sell to"
After that he started going about trying to be my financial manager telling me the benefits of financing through them at 5% or more and that I can just pay off the loan immediately. Look they're entitled to try whatever strategy works for them to build their business, crazier things have happened. However, the logic and serving the customer piece seems out of line and I as a customer don't want to try to limit the way I buy because it fits their objectives? My interest is to find a car for as little as I can pay with the features that I want. They didn't seem to want to sell to actual paying customers in their goal of moving inventory.
I thought that was funny, and it was silly story to share. Actually on their auto trader listings they say they won't sell to anyone outside of 8km of their dealership.
Basically I think this CHRYSLER dealership (you know...the one that was bailed out, where there is tons of inventory of and perception isn't as good as it's import competitors) is out of touch with reality and you may enjoy a chuckle especially if you're trying to buy something from this dealer. My opinion, take your business elsewhere. Literally anywhere that takes Canadian dollars in exchange for a car without having you provide it through a bank in monthly installments with interest.
Too long, didn't read?: A Chrysler dealer won't sell it's used inventory to customers who don't live nearby if you're paying cash. They only want you to finance. They are trying to (and terribly) tell you that the justification for listing vehicles at such low prices are that they expect return business for service and parts, and thus a local customer has a higher chance of doing that. Rather than argue, you should probably take your business elsewhere if you're at all considering anything this dealership may sell.
This is a story I wanted to share of my car buying experience in buying (or trying to) a vehicle I saw at a dealership where they had this policy of: "We won't sell to you unless you live within 8km of our dealership." Now everything I'm sharing is as close to the facts as possible, there is some anecdotes in here but for the most part it's odd a silly thing that a dealership does.
Dealership: North York Chrysler, (Yonge & Steeles area in Toronto area)
Basically I was browsing Auto Trader, trying to find a family vehicle whether it's a large SUV or a van, etc. I came across a 2012 Town and Country limited, basically the best and most loaded van Chrysler made that year and it was on their site and available and it was aggressively priced, so having never considered this, brand, type of vehicle, I thought it was worth a look and their dealership was on the way home from work one day. I hadn't considered a van, especially a domestic van, but thought what the heck, let's support the guys down in Windsor eh?
I arrive, take a look, I mean it wasn't really for me immediately but I mean it could've worked and grown on me and the price was really low so it might've been worth a conversation. The sales person however informed me that they won't take any cash offers on the vehicle and only can take a finance offer.
...what?
A car dealership, a domestic car dealership that has a supply of used vehicles, doesn't want to take business from a potential customer who has the funds to pay for said product? Didn't make sense to me, put it aside as I didn't even want to get into the the whole "discriminating against customers" type of thing, I just pretended it was a tactic on their end to keep the prices of their domestic vehicles higher I guess?
Anyways, I walked out as it really wasn't for me to negotiate and talk if they didn't want to. The Used Car Manager called me later on and basically said the following:
"I understand you were interested in one of our cars" (yes)
"We work a little differently, we are a volume dealer we sell upwards of a 800 - 1000 cars a month with 30+ sales people" (okay sure, ya good for you guys! It's great you're that popular!)
"We price our cars really low because we don't negotiate, we post a price, add $400 admin fee and taxes and that's it. It's about moving volume" (Yes I guess that makes sense, no nonsense drive volume, etc. Although anything is negotiable so I don't buy that for a second).
This last part I thought was hilarious:
"Our marketing department has come up with some strategies to sell more locally, we find our success is from people who live around here and service their vehicle here, and we want to give those people better access" (uhh....)
"Therefore, we won't take an offer from you unless you finance. We want our vehicles to age first before we open up who we sell to"
After that he started going about trying to be my financial manager telling me the benefits of financing through them at 5% or more and that I can just pay off the loan immediately. Look they're entitled to try whatever strategy works for them to build their business, crazier things have happened. However, the logic and serving the customer piece seems out of line and I as a customer don't want to try to limit the way I buy because it fits their objectives? My interest is to find a car for as little as I can pay with the features that I want. They didn't seem to want to sell to actual paying customers in their goal of moving inventory.
I thought that was funny, and it was silly story to share. Actually on their auto trader listings they say they won't sell to anyone outside of 8km of their dealership.
Basically I think this CHRYSLER dealership (you know...the one that was bailed out, where there is tons of inventory of and perception isn't as good as it's import competitors) is out of touch with reality and you may enjoy a chuckle especially if you're trying to buy something from this dealer. My opinion, take your business elsewhere. Literally anywhere that takes Canadian dollars in exchange for a car without having you provide it through a bank in monthly installments with interest.
Too long, didn't read?: A Chrysler dealer won't sell it's used inventory to customers who don't live nearby if you're paying cash. They only want you to finance. They are trying to (and terribly) tell you that the justification for listing vehicles at such low prices are that they expect return business for service and parts, and thus a local customer has a higher chance of doing that. Rather than argue, you should probably take your business elsewhere if you're at all considering anything this dealership may sell.
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I like detailing cars!
I like detailing cars!