Dealership warning.. rope a dope..

[Rogueman_1]

Just a friendly heads up for my Jeep brethren than may be shopping for a new vehicle anytime soon.

Rydell Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in San Fernando pulled a fast one that cost me almost 4 hours of wasted time. In a nutshell...

I had been shopping online with several dealerships local to me (Torrance, Huntington Beach, and San Fernando). I had bought my previous 2015 JKUR brand new at the Torrance dealer (Scott Robinson) and they had a vehicle that I really liked (the one I ended up with) however doing my due diligence, I decided to shop around. Huntington Beach Jeep had interesting vehicles in stock and a large stock at that, however their prices are just outlandishly high and they weren't really too concerned about budging on price despite Covid era sales plummeting. Oh well... there are other dealerships right? So then I see a vehicle that I was ready to pull the trigger on at Rydell... or so I thought...

I found a stock 2020 Diesel Rubicon fully loaded with Sky One-Touch at Rydell $1,700 below invoice. I called as soon as the sales staff opened up at 10:00 am (they are only doing visits by appointments at the dealership). I just wanted to verify that the vehicle was in fact there and was in fact available. The dealership is about an hour away from me. I got the operator and left my info as she stated they were on a skeleton crew and would have a sales associate call me back. 3 hours later... nothing. So I called back and got the same thing. 2 hours later... nada. So then I go online to their website and get on the live chat feature figuring I might get an answer there. Bear in mind, I am ready to buy NOW! And I let the operator know this twice on the phone. After a brief chat session online I get a call from some associate working from home but who has access to the inventory etc. April is her name. April assures me that the vehicle is in stock and is available as it was special ordered but the buyer couldn't get financing. Great I thought! I made the appointment to high tail it out there first thing in the morning with my checkbook in hand ready to roll. She said she would get ahold of her manager and tell them to prep the vehicle for delivery (pick up) before I got there. She knew how far away I lived.

I rolled in at 10:30 excited. The apprehensive feeling came on pretty quickly when I didn't see the vehicle up front and spit-shined ready to roll. It was there but across the street. Oh well I thought, they are probably doing prep on it and will bring it over. I was told by April to ask specifically for a Sales Manager so that we don't waste any time. That didn't happen and I was passed off to a sales rep who had me sit at his desk while he asked me "So what vehicle are you interested in...?". Really? Now I'm getting nervous. I explain to him that I spent half an hour not he phone yesterday with April and laid this all out. I told him the red Rubicon diesel. Imagine my surprise when he looked at me and said, "They did tell you that particular vehicle is sold right?" Nobody called me the day before telling me this......

I got a ride out there from a friend who had other things to do so he just dropped me off assuming I would have a ride home. You can imagine the conversation I had with the sales manager(s) at this point. I'll spare you the foul language but it wasn't pretty. Now they are trying to pass off other Jeeps at me while profusely apologizing.

Like I would ever give that place any business. I waited another hour for my wife to come pick me up. Then an hour back home to the dealership that I should have just started with and stuck with to begin with (Scott Robinson) where I purchased my current Jeep on the spot.

Shame on you Rydell for the bait and attempted switch. Shame on you and your dirty tactics. I took my $62k elsewhere that day. Your loss.

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[moodywizard]

So where did you end up going? 62K? Seems quite high must have had every single option and not much of a discount.

 

[Rogueman_1]

So where did you end up going? 62K? Seems quite high must have had every single option and not much of a discount.

It wasn't a stock vehicle. The cash price came to $61307. They gave me nearly $2k under invoice and I paid face value for the dealer add ons.
I ended up at Scott Robinson where everything was a complete breeze.

 

[landshark99]

Sorry about hearing this, I had a good experience with them last year, but my jeep was bought knowing it was being shipped in. The only mistake with mine was the one they wrote up was the wrong vin, off by one number, which we did not realize until I was about to take delivery, so that took another hour to close out the wrong vin and redo with the right one. Other than that one mistake it all went very smoothly, great price and easy experience

 

[Rogueman_1]

Sorry about hearing this, I had a good experience with them last year, but my jeep was bought knowing it was being shipped in. The only mistake with mine was the one they wrote up was the wrong vin, off by one number, which we did not realize until I was about to take delivery, so that took another hour to close out the wrong vin and redo with the right one. Other than that one mistake it all went very smoothly, great price and easy experience

I'm glad you had a good experience with them. My issue was that regardless of whether it was done knowingly or not, someone should have called me back prior to my traveling out there to let me know the vehicle wasn't available. There was no excuse for that.

 

[landshark99]

Your experience was not good I agree, I just was trying to point out that sometimes it is not an all or nothing deal, it is a people business and there are some good and bad people at a lot of dealers, I happen to luck out this time. 5 years ago when I was buying a BMW M3 from a dealer that was perfect, perfect deal, perfect options, only issue it was not on their lot, it would be there the next day gave them the deposit, supposed to pick it up the next day, got a cal asking me, if I could wait a day, said no problem, five days later, after multiple lies and misinformation, I found out that the car belong to another dealer who was trying to sell it to somebody else and "my dealer" could not buy it from them. They sold me a car they never owned or would own, needless to say recovered my deposit, went to the dealer I should have gone to in the first place and drove home with my new M3.

 

[landshark99]

Also to be honest I did not have the best time with a few Jeep dealers, looking for my jeep, I find a lot them treat you like you do not know what you want so they can sell what they need to, as always buyer beware

 

[Rogueman_1]

Also to be honest I did not have the best time with a few Jeep dealers, looking for my jeep, I find a lot them treat you like you do not know what you want so they can sell what they need to, as always buyer beware

Buyer beware is absolutely the order of the day whenever car shopping. And being a car enthusiast myself having owned 3 M3's, a couple Porsches and a few Maserati's among others, I can tell you firsthand, I ALWAYS know more about the car I'm buying than the sales reps!! That's always kind of bugged me for whatever reason. Here I am, just a Joe Blow buyer who does his research and has firsthand driving, aftermarket and occasional track time (extensive trail time in the case of the Jeep(s)), and I walk into a dealership where the sales rep doesn't know the first thing about the car he's selling! There should be a prerequisite for reps to know their product.

 

[landshark99]

Buyer beware is absolutely the order of the day whenever car shopping. And being a car enthusiast myself having owned 3 M3's, a couple Porsches and a few Maserati's among others, I can tell you firsthand, I ALWAYS know more about the car I'm buying than the sales reps!! That's always kind of bugged me for whatever reason. Here I am, just a Joe Blow buyer who does his research and has firsthand driving, aftermarket and occasional track time (extensive trail time in the case of the Jeep(s)), and I walk into a dealership where the sales rep doesn't know the first thing about the car he's selling! There should be a prerequisite for reps to know their product.

I think there is a reason for that, if they do not know anything about the cars they sell they cannot admit or acknowledge that one car, model, option or brand is a better performing choice or a better value, ignorance is bliss. Over the many cars I have bought over the years, there have only been a very few salesman that were car enthusiasts.

 

[Pig-Pen]

Rydell Jeep is my local dealership. went there for the recall work. i was checking out some Gladiators they had nicely priced. interesting to hear your story. i had the same thing happen to me when i was shopping for my jeep. drove wtf out to BFE in riverside or somewhere to look at a JK. i get there, THEN the sales guy tells me that it has all this crap added on (lift, wheels, tires) and is $50k, not the $30k it was advertised for. the sales guy told me that there was no way id be able to buy a JL for less than MSRP at that time (may 2018). i told him my wifes cousin bought one the week before for a few grand under. i then proceeded to head to HB Jeep and bought one for about $3k below sticker. they had a huge inventory and a big sale and were packed. sales guy was meh but i got what i wanted for a great price.

also got the run around at the jeep dealer in downey with a sales guy who was a friend of a friend. total waste of time. i told him what i wanted and was willing to pay. he said he would call me back. he texted me like four hours later and asked if i was coming in. i said, im on my way to HB Jeep to buy a new wrangler lol. he didnt reply.

 

[KSwilly]

Sorry that was your experience. I bought from Rydell and it was a smooth experience with no dealer add-ons, and a great price.

In fact, another shadier dealership actually called me back, just before I drove to Rydell, trying to sell me the SAME vehicle which was in stock at Rydell! That blew my mind, but the VINs on the sticker they sent me matched the one I had already picked out at Rydell. They didn't want to discuss pricing over the phone though, so I turned it down. That would've been a similar scene.

 

[Fsttanks]

It’s funny that the higher end JLs in my case JLUR are as expensive as many “high line lux” autos, yet the buying experience is like buying a stripped down p/u from a high volume discount Ford or Chevy dealer.

Heck when we were shopping our experience was horrid with Jeep. We got great CS from the KIA dealership we bought our son’s striped down base model sedan from. Jeep could learn a thing or two from that dealership.

Needless to say the dealership did NOT get high sales marks from us on the survey, regardless that they gave us $4900 off MSRP and acted like the world was ending aka poor us for “losing money on this deal“.

So we feel your pain.

 

[beaups]

It’s funny that the higher end JLs in my case JLUR are as expensive as many “high line lux” autos, yet the buying experience is like buying a stripped down p/u from a high volume discount Ford or Chevy dealer.

Heck when we were shopping our experience was horrid with Jeep. We got great CS from the KIA dealership we bought our son’s striped down base model sedan from. Jeep could learn a thing or two from that dealership.

Needless to say the dealership did NOT get high sales marks from us on the survey, regardless that they gave us $4900 off MSRP and acted like the world was ending aka poor us for “losing money on this deal“.

So we feel your pain.

Just because people are willing to pay ridiculous prices for top of the line wranglers doesn't make them a luxury brand or infer a premium experience. This is a good example of why competition is healthy, Wranglers costing nearly $70K is just plain stupid, and insulting. But people line up to buy them.

 

[Kyanche]

I'm not a huge fan of scott robinson either. When I bought my JK from them, they made a big stink about 1% over invoice being a great deal. The sales manager at the time was actually pretty decent and the transaction was over pretty quick though, so I'll give them that.

When I approached them about buying a JL it was the same song and dance. This time I pulled out the affiliate discount and they wouldn't budge below 1% under invoice. Neither time would they give me a figure in writing until I went in to sign the papers.

I wonder how you guys got them to go under 1% below invoice lol.

As for the service department: Ironically, probably the best Chrysler service department I've ever dealt with lol. Why? They never lie to me. However, every time I go there I hope I never have to go back. They're slow as hell. Twice I can recall having to stand around for over an hour before they even checked me in. And one time they made me wait 2 weeks to get an appointment! Come to think of it, their service prices were fairly reasonable too lol. Again, not the kinda place I ever want to go back to, but it was one of the better ones I've dealt with.

Edit: Finally, this is Chrysler we're talking about. They don't know how to do customer service lol.

 

[Fsttanks]

Just because people are willing to pay ridiculous prices for top of the line wranglers doesn't make them a luxury brand or infer a premium experience. This is a good example of why competition is healthy, Wranglers costing nearly $70K is just plain stupid, and insulting. But people line up to buy them.

We have other current FCA products that we drive. All were nearly as expensive as our JLUR. Funny part was our buying experience was SO MUCH better. It just a JEEP THING and the arrogance that “WE DONT NEED TO DISCOUNT” a Rubicon. Really? After being closed for COVID for months and that we are the only ones on the lot with cash in hand ready and able to buy, this is how you treat us? This was not one dealer but three in two days. The forth got our business and by far was the best of the worst.

This kind of behavior is because they have no competition and I hope if the new Bronco does anything it will cause a change to how dealerships treat Wrangler buyers.

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