What is the worst dealer behavior that you've observed?

[Jim M]

First you have to understand that I'm OCD about my vehicles. That includes no eating in the Jeep. Many owners do it; I don't. So my brand new Jeep GC was in for service of some kind. With less than 1,000 miles it still smelled/felt showroom fresh. When I got the GC home I noticed two white footprints in the back seat floor mats. My eyes then shifted to the half-eaten bean burrito sitting on the rear seat and leaking through the perforated leather. An employee had used my Jeep for his/her lunch break. BTW, the dealer was in Denver Metro and is now out of business.

Sponsored

 

[Jim M]

First you have to understand that I'm OCD about my vehicles. That includes no eating in the Jeep. Many owners do it; I don't. So my brand new Jeep GC was in for service of some kind. With less than 1,000 miles it still smelled/felt showroom fresh. When I got the GC home I noticed two white footprints in the back seat floor mats. My eyes then shifted to the half-eaten bean burrito sitting on the rear seat and leaking through the perforated leather. An employee had used my Jeep for his/her lunch break. BTW, the dealer was in Denver Metro and is now out of business.
[/QUOTE

 

[Jim M]

My Jeep is a 2020 model,V6 stick shift with 3000 miles on the clock. I noticed the door chime volume was so low I was unable to hear it unless things were very quiet, I stopped by the dealership and asked the shop manager if there was some way to adjust the volume.He said no a part had to be replaced. I told him I would bring it in when it was time for an oil change. In the meantime FCA sent out two recall notices ,one on front control bar and one on the clutch. I called for an appointment. I was told that they needed at least a week lead time to order in the required parts. On the appointed day I. Took the vehicle in. That afternoon I received a call from dealer, I was told they needed more time, on the third day they called again this time they said they were waiting to hear from FCA on the front end recall . They now tell me they have to send in pictures of my Jeep and corporate will make the decision if I need repairs or not.. oh by the way they told me the door chime was working just fine I just needed to listen closely because the volume was very low. I picked up my Jeep sense they said they didn’t know when FCA would make a decision on the front end recall. It’s now a month later still no word.

 

[cbrenthus]

These stories are why I resist taking my vehicles in for service for anything. Most routine maintenance is very easy like oil changes and such. Here are some stories I have:

My boss back around '06 had an Avalanche that he took to the local dealer for routing maintenance. He lived very close to the office, and went home for lunch almost every day, and this day his wife picked him up. When they left their house, and were on their way back to the office, he saw his truck in the driveway of another house - the tech had taken it home for lunch! I told him he should have taken his spare key and driven it away

My step mom had am audi, and the dealership gave free oil changes, so my dad would take it in and give them a case of Mobil 1 to put in. He always checked the oil after and sure enough, one time they gave it back to him without changing it, so not only did they not change the oil but he was out a case of Mobil 1.

I've heard numerous wrong information from salesman, including being told a '11 Camaro had the RS package when it did not, the tow hook cover for a S2000 was the radar for the cruise control, and 10K over msrp is a really good deal for a focus RS.

When it comes to negotiating, I have many more stories. A well known chevy dealer in my area lured me in awith a good deal on a silverado, then proceeded to tell me that half the discounts they had on the web don't apply to me. Then they tried to give me half of what my trade was worth. I ended up buying a better truck for thousands less at a dealer an hour away.

Heck, when I bought my JLUR I was about to buy a Base JLU Sport S from a dealership that was giving me a bunch of BS over the phone. I had test driven several vehicles there, but went somewhere else and bought a JLUR for about the same money as I would have had to spend on their JLU Sport S. I was happy enough with my JLUR purchase that I bought a Pcaifica 6 months later.

And I leave with the fact that I have seen tons of bad buff jobs on brand new cars

 

[DavidRam]

I had a Ram truck I took to a Chrysler dealer for a small leak. It was supposed to be a simple $175 repair that would involve dropping the drive shaft...

I got the truck back the next day and drove it to a meeting 20 miles away, where I decided to fill up the gas tank before my meeting started. I swiped my card and locked trigger on the gas nozzle as usual. When the tank was almost full, I noticed a puddle of gas forming under the truck and when I looked under neath it I saw gas pouring out like a faucet!

I quickly hung up the pump and got the hell out of there, having no idea why gas would be pouring from the truck. So I parked the truck on the street and went in for my meeting. When I came out after my meeting, the fire department and a small group of people were gathered around my truck. It had dumped the entire tank of gas into the gutter and there was a small stream running down the street. The fire department used some white powder and some blankets to contain and absorb all the gas (estimated 15+ gallons).

I had the truck towed back to the dealer on a flatbed. When we got it up on a lift I immediately saw a huge gouge in the plastic gas tank, that look like the end of crowbar. Of course the manager tried to say that I must have run over something that gouged the tank... I told him to give me a crowbar and I demonstrated what I believed had happened - the tech who did the repair used a crowbar to lift the drive shaft back into place and used the bottom/side of the gas tank for leverage. It was quite the mic drop moment when the crowbar's tip fit perfectly into the gouge in the tank AND lined up with scratches on the drive shaft!!

 

[DrPerez007]

Having bought over 50 vehicles in my lifetime, and many of them new and many factory-ordered, I have far too many dealer stories that are not pretty. Interesting enough, although I have never owned a foreign vehicle (defined as a vehicle not made by the “Detroit Three”), my wife has. Primarily thru her business, either as a lease or purchase. I mostly did the negotiating and I have to say, foreign car salespersons were (haven’t been in a such a dealership in over 10 years) considerably (like a lot!) more knowledgeable about their products than their American car counterparts. In fact, I am always amazed at how little most “Detroit Three” car salespersons know about their vehicle products. Probably because they jump from dealership to dealership for work as often as they change underwear.

Most of us on this Forum are probably a little “over studied” on Jeeps, nevertheless, I expect the salespersons to know at least the basics. Most often, they barely do. What should be a simple, straightforward negotiation and purchase transaction can take hours as they try to get answers and run back and forth to supervisors, team leaders, managers, and the finance office (I’ve been paying cash for cars the last 20 years and I still spend an inordinate amount of time in the finance office; although if they are offering cash incentives to finance, I will borrow as little as required and then pay it off in 90 days and keep their cash).

However, I have to say, my recent purchase of a ‘19 MOAB was fairly easy. Knew the product, had few questions, and the price was already 20% off MSRP after FCA dropped its pants at the beginning of the virus lockdown (aided by a sizable dealer discount and a Jeep $500 “Bonus Coupon”). With the vehicle in California and me here in Wisconsin, transaction was done by one 10 minute phone call, a few texts, and signatures via email. Mailed off bank check, ordered a transport, and less than 10 days later it was sitting in my garage. No complaints!

Service stories are another matter entirely.

 

[JEEPIDON]

Same thing happened to me at my dealer. 34 months on new battery and 84 month warranty. They said because I did not the battery and the previous owners did, the warranty was not transferable to me.

WT actual F...

By the way - anyone notice how bad spell check is for this forum app and how bad typing seems to be. I usually don’t have issues when texting or emailing, only seems to be an issue on this freaking forum. I just misspelled purchase and it auto corrected to Richard...

When I grew up I became responsible for my spelling, didn’t rely on some program to keep an eye on me. I also didn’t blame someone when it was my fault. Just different standards I guess.

 

[JEEPIDON]

Recently my wife brought our new car to the dealership for it's first free oil change. A couple days later, the morning before her 1000 mile trip, I decided to check the level. It was overfilled!

So there I was 6am in the morning, before my work conference call, and my wife wanting to leave, carefully draining oil into an empty spaghetti jar. The dealership overfilled by half a quart or more.

OR, maybe they just topped off or did nothing and it was already overfilled. Because the oil seemed too dark to have just a few days earlier been changed. I'm puzzled by the situation and not happy, and will be doing my own oil changes on that car.

My grandpa who was a mechanic, later in life always made a mark on the oil filter, before bringing for a change. That way he would know for sure if the filter (and most likely oil) was changed. One time he caught someone who did not change the filter. I'm doing that if there is a next time.

My Jeep is a 2020 model,V6 stick shift with 3000 miles on the clock. I noticed the door chime volume was so low I was unable to hear it unless things were very quiet, I stopped by the dealership and asked the shop manager if there was some way to adjust the volume.He said no a part had to be replaced. I told him I would bring it in when it was time for an oil change. In the meantime FCA sent out two recall notices ,one on front control bar and one on the clutch. I called for an appointment. I was told that they needed at least a week lead time to order in the required parts. On the appointed day I. Took the vehicle in. That afternoon I received a call from dealer, I was told they needed more time, on the third day they called again this time they said they were waiting to hear from FCA on the front end recall . They now tell me they have to send in pictures of my Jeep and corporate will make the decision if I need repairs or not.. oh by the way they told me the door chime was working just fine I just needed to listen closely because the volume was very low. I picked up my Jeep sense they said they didn’t know when FCA would make a decision on the front end recall. It’s now a month later still no word.

my chime is only audible if the radio is turned way down.

 

[rickinAZ]

When I grew up I became responsible for my spelling, didn’t rely on some program to keep an eye on me. I also didn’t blame someone when it was my fault. Just different standards I guess.

I'm a senior as well, but I've fully embraced technology. Not quite sure what I did before the internet. Plus...I can use all of the help I can get.

 

[Equitasforall]

Took my 2005 Pontiac GTO into the local dealership for a state inspection only. Usually had good luck with them in the past and had a decent relationship with the owner of the dealership and his family over the years.

Generally wouldn’t have used them for an inspection but was the last day of the month and they said the could get it right in. i checked the car in and was walking over to their other building to visit a friend who worked there while the inspection was being done. Walked around the corner just in time to see the tech do a burnout in my car. I don’t mean “wasn’t used to the clutch and caught a wheel” either. I mean “just won the Daytona 500 and was celebrating at the finish line” kind of burn out.

I walked back inside and asked for me keys back. Service manager asked what happened and I told him. He said he didn’t believe me as he’d known the tech a long time and “he’d never do something like that.” To which I again asked for my keys. When the tech brought them back up I confronted him about what he’d done. I skillfully obtained the admission and then promptly left. Owner called me later and apologized, put new skins on it for me, and fired the kid that did it.

 

[rickinAZ]

Took my 2005 Pontiac GTO into the local dealership for a state inspection only. Usually had good luck with them in the past and had a decent relationship with the owner of the dealership and his family over the years.

Generally wouldn’t have used them for an inspection but was the last day of the month and they said the could get it right in. i checked the car in and was walking over to their other building to visit a friend who worked there while the inspection was being done. Walked around the corner just in time to see the tech do a burnout in my car. I don’t mean “wasn’t used to the clutch and caught a wheel” either. I mean “just won the Daytona 500 and was celebrating at the finish line” kind of burn out.

I walked back inside and asked for me keys back. Service manager asked what happened and I told him. He said he didn’t believe me as he’d known the tech a long time and “he’d never do something like that.” To which I again asked for my keys. When the tech brought them back up I confronted him about what he’d done. I skillfully obtained the admission and then promptly left. Owner called me later and apologized, put new skins on it for me, and fired the kid that did it.

Problem with that kind of abuse isn't just wear on the tires, it's molten rubber sticking (stubbornly) to your paint behind the wheels.

 

[omg]

..... Compared to my JL, it had the ride, handling, assembly quality and fit-and-finish of a Soviet-era tractor. With the dealer service to match.

that literally cracked me up.

 

[_olllllllo_]

I have posted this a few times already. My single worst interaction with a Jeep dealer was in March 2019 when I brought my 2018 JKUR Recon in for a squeaky driver seat and loud rattle on the A-pillar. This was the 3rd attempt to get the dealer to take in my Jeep.

My JK had 8,000 miles, a Mopar 2” lift, 35” tires, and a Warn Zeon 10 winch mounted on the factory steel bumpers. But apparently this was too much for them. I pull into the service area; the Service Manager, a technician and the Service Advisor come out and walk around the Jeep, claiming that the lift was not up to spec, the bumpers were aftermarket, etc. We went back-and-forth for several minutes, with me explaining that it was a MOPAR lift, the bumpers were stock, etc. The manager then switches the interrogation onto me: did I buy the Jeep here? Was I born and raised here? How long have I lived in town...?

At this point I find the whole situation both insulting and infuriating. Besides, the entire interrogation has nothing to do with a squeaky driver seat. I ask for my keys back and to open the gate. The manager comes to my window and trying to walk everything back shines me a stupid smile and a “hey, buddy...”.

I drove off, across the street, and dumped that Jeep in trade for a brand new Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road. I left them a few scathing online reviews, and to this day I tell everyone I know to avoid that dealer.

PS - 14 months later, after having shopped for a new JL without even setting foot there, buying a $50,000 Sahara and about $5,000 in accessories elsewhere, I stopped there for my first —free— oil change yesterday. They did their job without any drama. I take it one day at a time.

The culprit

The original sticker was $52,000. In hindsight, I should have never wasted my money on that Jeep. Compared to my JL, it had the ride, handling, assembly quality and fit-and-finish of a Soviet-era tractor. With the dealer service to match.

There are Soviet-era tractor engineers who take issue with your insinuations that their designs should ever be compared to an American vehicle. They are currently working overtime to make their tractors ride, handle, assembly quality and fit and finish even worse. I mean they have standards to meet.

 

[Strommen95]

When I put 33s on my JLU I called my local Jeep dealer to calibrate the tire size. I heard on here it was $125 which I thought was okay compared to $250-300 for a Tazer. I called them, asked if they could fill me in and was told with some attitude that it would cost $270. When I asked why they said because it takes "several hours" to do this. I said it takes at most 30 minutes to which the service guy plainly said "Okay?" and I hung up.

 

[Goosed]

I had a weird and unfortunate timing experience at a Subaru dealer here in Ohio.

I travel for work a lot, had bought a WRX new and reeled in 5k miles in about a month. After all that travel in the WRX I have to admit I didn’t like it. Lots of road noise, never thought it felt fast, and needed some additional space. So right before I took it in for the free oil change and tire rotation, I started dealing with trading it in on a Lexus GX.

They called me and let me know I had a nail in the tire and that they had to order one. I needed to travel so they gave me a loaner and agreed to pick it up when I got back a week later.

While the week went by the Lexus dealer and I agreed on a trade value and sell price. Iset the appointment to being the WRX in when I got back Saturday. So Saturday morning I picked up the WRX at the dealer and immediately went to go trade it in. It was about a 40 minute drive on the toll road.

picked up the WRX, got on the highway. While merging from the entrance ramp onto the highway, I heard a clanking noise in the engine bay, then nothing. Thought I kicked up a rockin the wheel fender or something. Kept driving. Drove all the way down the toll road for that 35 or so miles, no issues.

As I exited the toll road and slowed to pay the toll, I started seeing smoke and smelling oil. So I got off the highway and pulled into a gas station. More smoke. Lots more. Turned the car off, opened the hood - service guy didn’t put the oil cap back on. So here I am, 1 mike from the dealer that’s taking this on trade, basically perfect and clean WRX with oil all over the engine bay, hood liner, leaking through the wheel wells, and all over the ground.

dealer sent someone out to meet me and started spraying down the engine bay in the gas station parking lot, which was not cool. I told the service guy that this was not cool, and that we needed to head to a place where this would be more ideal.

He drive the car across the street to a self serve bay car wash, which again was not a good idea, and washed it all down. Then replaced the cap with another cap that had the wrong oil viscosity on it.

I was up front with the dealer I traded it into and felt really bad. This dealer taking my WRX was cool and took it in stride, but I’ll never go back to that Subi dealer again. That was a mess.

Andto top it all off I asked the service guy who met me if he was going to ask the gas station for oil absorbent to clean up all the oil on their parking lot concrete. He said he wasn’t allowed to, so I ended up doing that for the station while he was at the car wash.

Sponsored