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Review 10/29/2011
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Back in 2009, I decided to make use of the Cash-for-Clunkers program to buy a Yaris. A new car, even with the program, was a stretch for me. I had just graduated from grad school, so I planned to use Toyota's recent graduate rebate.
As it turned out, the Cash-for-Clunkers program made it pretty hard to buy sub-compact Japanese cars for a while because everyone was buying them up. So when Marina Del Rey Toyota refused to budge from the MSRP on the Yaris they had in stock, I was disappointed but not terribly surprised. I ended up buying the car anyway, and was treated with the attitude of an average convenience store checkout person. Not badly, per se, but with no care at all.
A week or two after I purchased the car (and presumably had allowed my old truck to be turned to scrap metal), the dealership calls me to tell me that Toyota is not honoring the Recent Graduate rebate because of the particular school I attended. They told me I needed to come in and renegotiate! This, after they gave me absolutely $0 off MSRP, remember. I told them that I'd be happy to take my old truck back if they preferred, but I wasn't going to renegotiate on a car I was overcharged for in the first place. They said they'd call me back, and never did.
Until a few weeks ago, that is. I got a call from a salesperson telling me that they were interested in buying my car back from me. I was not particularly responsive to the first couple of calls, as I'm a very busy person. But the salesperson was very insistent, calling me many times. He told me they really needed my specific car for a good repeat client, and I'd be doing him a favor to come in and get an appraisal.
I decided to think about it, but when I ran the numbers on what it would cost me to get into a new car to replace my Yaris, I realized it wasn't going to be worth it, especially after taxes and fees. So, the next time the salesperson called, I told him this. I also told him I lived in Long Beach and that it was a big time commitment to stop in to get the car appraised. He then told me all about the specific people who wanted the car and how important it was that he get this car for the family's daughter. So much so that he promised me a quote for my 2009 Yaris that was "significantly over market value" and that they would take a loss on this car just to keep this top-tier client. And, of course, he promised an unbeatable deal on a new replacement car, insisting that he felt I would be happy to make the deal to sell back the car and buy a new one.
Today, I went back to Marina Del Rey Toyota for the first time since I purchased my Yaris. (I wasn't about to have my car serviced there after the buying experience I had had.) I gave them my car to appraise, and chose the car I would replace it with (another Yaris).
Based on my research, "market value" of my 2009 vehicle is about $12,500. Of course, this is very subjective when speaking about a used car. When the salesperson came back with the "deal sheet" that included the cost of the new car minus the trade-in, the trade in appraisal given to me was $8000! Not only is this clearly not "significantly above market value" for the car, it's well below any estimate I could find online for the car, including for dealer trade-ins.
Guess what the "unbeatable deal" for the replacement vehicle was? You guessed it, MSRP!
So, of course, I was out of my seat to walk out the door when the salesperson asked me to wait to see the Sales Manger. I did, and when he came, he basically scolded me for expecting any deal that even vaguely resembled the one I had discussed over the phone with the salesperson who had called me. When I mentioned I was told that they were ready to take a loss on my car to keep a good long-term client, he just stared at me blankly.
I couldn't get out of there fast enough, having spent many hours of research and financial calculations, in addition to an entire morning of my life driving 80 miles round trip to the dealership, all in response to what was basically a sneaky sales pitch. So, I have had two pretty terrible experiences with this dealership in the course of buying just the one car. I will not be going back.
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