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Dealerships Suck

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101
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54
Location
Cherry Hill, NJ
#41
I work for Autonation Corporate, we cut that dealer and the Delray location because they were terrible. I also worked at in that particular store under Grieco before the new Service Manager fired me. They did a terrible job transitioning and blamed AutoNation, when in reality it was their own fault.

Yes they were Focus ST2 seats, they are still in the car, whoever bought the car has them now.
Wow I thought I was the only one with yellow seats.



Some really good advice here that I wish I knew long long time ago, but I didn’t too bad on mine. I did my negotiations all online and through the phone. Although I did it year ago while there was still an abundance of cars to choose from. I ended up emailing every single dealer within a 100 mile radius and worked them all against each other. 2 dealers ended up playing ball and I was able to pick one up at $6.5k under MSRP and was the best buying experience I’ve ever had. I literally picked up the car signed some papers and walked out in 45 minutes.


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MagnetiseST

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Dania Beach
#42
Wow I thought I was the only one with yellow seats.



Some really good advice here that I wish I knew long long time ago, but I didn’t too bad on mine. I did my negotiations all online and through the phone. Although I did it year ago while there was still an abundance of cars to choose from. I ended up emailing every single dealer within a 100 mile radius and worked them all against each other. 2 dealers ended up playing ball and I was able to pick one up at $6.5k under MSRP and was the best buying experience I’ve ever had. I literally picked up the car signed some papers and walked out in 45 minutes.


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Yellow in a magnetic no less! Nice!
 


Messages
26
Likes
20
Location
Riverside, CA, USA
#43
Stealerships they call them.

I was 'on the back foot' from the word go. They knew I came hundreds of miles away to get my car. Got mine used, but at a proper Ford dealer. I guess the previous owner traded it on a Mustang, like every other former FiST owner. That said, my sales woman knew FUCK ALL about this car. She underlined one of the features that I think was Electric Power-Assist Speed-Sensing Steering and said it was a good thing. That's it. That's all. Just that. The test drive was 2 straight lines that amounted to 2 miles. The deal was already screaming, as the price had been dropped $1,000 a week before, so I was great with it, and I already knew what one drove like. We then sat around and talked about her son for 30 minutes while the finances person was busy.

I mean...Jesus. If they told me they had just picked her off of the street yesterday I would have just nodded, and said I believed them.

(The blonde early 20s finance girl was a babe of the first order. I think she probably makes some nice money just so people can be in the same room as her and her smiling and laughing with them the whole time.)

Probably not far from the truth. Markup on new cars is so small add to that sites like truecar and dealers have figured out how to screw salespeople further with pay plans that anyone good won't stay turn over so high it's like a revolving door of bodies being warm is the only requirement. Most dealers do minimal to zero training as well. In their defense though most of the people shopping for cars are not enthusiasts and dont care about the details of the car except maybe does it have bluetooth?

Thats why it always cracks me up when people have these elaborate game plans to go into a dealer. Chances are its lost on your salesperson they just want their $100 mini and to move on.
 


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MagnetiseST

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Dania Beach
#45
Grieco Ford is a truly terrible dealership. Here's a mystery shop of that dealership from last year. It really highlights how bad they are at pretty much everything:


View: https://youtu.be/8eJOpEY-UDg
Sounds about right... Was the same when I worked there. Service wasn't much better. When they messed up my car the SM, who fired me, tried to get me to bring the car back and let them fix it. I said absolutely not, and I billed him for all of the parts. But I remember the sales guys, they were all just as shady, it was awful.
 


Messages
6
Likes
7
Location
Kingston, NY, USA
#47
I just bought a 2019 fully loaded SE and to find one that was the color I wanted (magnetic) and 5speed my dealer had to go 350 miles away just to get it. I built the car online, and showed the dealer exactly what I wanted. They then sourced one and picked it up and brought it back to me for FREE. The sticker price was $20,XXX and I paid a little over $17k for it. I fell like I got a good deal for getting it delivered from three states away and getting $3k knocked off the price. I also know I coulda gotten a used ST for that price, but I’m 20 and insurance is high in New York. I had a 2015 up until a month ago when some kid hit me, totaling the car. I knew I needed another fiesta.
 


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Hypergram

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Location
Orlando, FL, USA
Thread Starter #48
I just bought a 2019 fully loaded SE and to find one that was the color I wanted (magnetic) and 5speed my dealer had to go 350 miles away just to get it. I built the car online, and showed the dealer exactly what I wanted. They then sourced one and picked it up and brought it back to me for FREE. The sticker price was $20,XXX and I paid a little over $17k for it. I fell like I got a good deal for getting it delivered from three states away and getting $3k knocked off the price. I also know I coulda gotten a used ST for that price, but I’m 20 and insurance is high in New York. I had a 2015 up until a month ago when some kid hit me, totaling the car. I knew I needed another fiesta.
For a base Fiesta that looks pretty good! Great work, and glad you had a good dealer experience, they're hard to come by.
 


TyphoonFiST

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Rich-fizzield
#51
Allow me to share my experience of taking my previous FiST to them for warranty work, this picture should suffice: View attachment 22513

Long story short: had the engine replaced, they forgot to put my lower ball joint bolts back in, my passenger knuckle separated and ruined almost everything on that side of the car in the wheel well area. I traded it in shortly after this so that I didn't need to deal with any of their other short comings (a coolant line was not clamped and pissed coolant all over the place just after this as well).


Moral: don't go to Grieco Ford Ft. Lauderdale
Yellow Recaros?
 


Messages
134
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67
Location
Levy
#54
I would rather lick a cows ass than buy a new car from a dealer. Despite (I thought) having all the financial details worked out over the phone and by text, I still get the heavy-duty extended warranty pressure when I go to do the paperwork and get the car. The fact that they rolled the "Platinum" warranty into my payment (another story, wanted to pay cash but had to finance to get all the rebates) pissed me off as well. How many suckers do they do that to that don't even know they're getting screwed?
 


OP
Hypergram

Hypergram

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Orlando, FL, USA
Thread Starter #55
I would rather lick a cows ass than buy a new car from a dealer. Despite (I thought) having all the financial details worked out over the phone and by text, I still get the heavy-duty extended warranty pressure when I go to do the paperwork and get the car. The fact that they rolled the "Platinum" warranty into my payment (another story, wanted to pay cash but had to finance to get all the rebates) pissed me off as well. How many suckers do they do that to that don't even know they're getting screwed?
All of them. Every single one of them.
 


jmrtsus

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Ooltewah
#57
There is lots of info on the forum on how not to get screwed, but few ever research a purchase. I am amazed that all these people buy the warranty AND finance it. WHY? Right before your warranty goes out Ford will discount the price and allow you to pay monthly with no finance charges. Don't call the dealer, don't walk in the door, deal with written email with at least 2 dealers, I like 4-5 to start with. Get your own financing and understand the famous "0% financing" costs you $1000, far from 0%. Like 5% of the principle on a $20K car. Ask yourself a question, how far will you drive to get the deal you want and use Build and Price to search inventory in that radius, the last 4 new cars we bought were out of state and saved bunches over the local dealers. Good deals can be had, you just need to know how. The dealer counts on you not knowing how. Do some research and remember a dealer exists to take as much money from you as possible, not make a happy customer. NEVER believe anything not in writing. And last thing, your phone has a calculator, use it to check their creative numbers especially sales tax, never bought a car yet where the tax was correct....alway over charged. They know the odds of you buying another car from them is almost zero.
 


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slopoke

Active member
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643
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Location
Livermore
#58
I'll kick in my 2 cents. All of the cars that I have purchased going back to the mid 80's, I've used the following technique. You have to set a price and stick to it. Be upfront with the salesman. I just say, I'm not here to waste your time, so please don't waste mine. I want to purchase the car today and this is what I'm willing to pay for it. If the salesman says " I have to check with the manager" and walks away. Upon his or her return, if they say, "I can't do that price, but will you be willing to pay $XXXXXX". I just say no and get up and walk away.

Granted this only works on cars that are plentiful and not limited in production like the Honda Type R, etc, or are in especially high demand, like when the Miata first came out.

My dealership experience when looking for the Fiesta was ok. I visited, IIRC 5 total dealerships. The first one, I test drove the car and then sat down and told him my price. He left and came back with a counter offer. I said thank you and left. Did that at 4 dealerships. At the fifth dealership, the total time at the desk was less than 30 minutes. I paid $20K for a base Fiesta ST with the painted calipers and black rims OTD for my 2018 model.

One last thing, if you ever purchase an extended factory warranty, don't buy it from the dealership you purchased the car from. Always purchase it online. You will save a ton of money that way. Also don't waste your money on a third party warranty, always buy a factory warranty. I.E for Ford, Ford Protect, Honda is Honda Care, etc. When I purchase one of my Honda's, I showed the fincance guy a quote for the 7 year warranty, he got really angry and said he can't match that or even come close.
 


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Ford ST

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Pleasant Garden
#59
You did all that work and paid more than me. It's not the salesman that's the issue it's the finance manager. You can get the price online no need to walk in for that.

Instead of buying a extended warranty take that money put it into an online savings account and earn 2% interest.

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slopoke

Active member
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643
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Location
Livermore
#60
You did all that work and paid more than me. It's not the salesman that's the issue it's the finance manager. You can get the price online no need to walk in for that.

Instead of buying a extended warranty take that money put it into an online savings account and earn 2% interest.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

Bottom line is, I'm happy with the price that I paid and don't mind that I had to drive a bit to do it. All of the dealerships were within a 20 min drive from one to the other. Did it in one day, started at 9 A.M and had the car at around 3 P.M. Like I always say " your money, your choice". I'm happy with my choice.
 


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