Interesting several of us are having car buying issues. My SO is looking for a new vehicle and is having the same bad experience. He too has made arrangements and confirmed things, only to show up and be told that exact vehicle isn't here on the lot. Seems a bad way to run a business but what do I know.

He is looking for something specific and apparently dealerships don't even want to do custom orders right now. 🤷‍♀️

Fortunately we are in a major metro area so the choices are many. He may have finally found what he wants, a few hours away in New Jersey. If that vehicle is there, of course.

Interesting! I never gave it any thought that others might be having similar experiences. My choices are limited for the makes I want. There are dealers in Tacoma, about 40 min to 4 hours away (dependihg oh traffic, lol. But their stock is limited for all 3 makes I'm considering. So I widened my search to Seattle and a suburb of Seattle, both having dealers. I've even been looking in Portland, which is 2 hours away. I bought a car there one before my current one, because I couldn't find what I wanted in WA.

@Ally De - Custom order might vary by type of vehicle. I’ve custom ordered my trucks, and when I went to local dealership the other day the salesman said he’d be happy to write an order. And it would be included in the current incentive, where I hope to spend about $7K below MSRP. On the other hand I’ve been without a pickup for about two weeks and it’s already been annoying a few times, so I’d prefer not to wait. Unfortunately the trim I’m after is less common. We’ll see.

I am in NJ, just across the Delaware from Philly and there are loads of dealerships.The only time we've had trouble locating a specific vehicle was when DD bought a Toyota Rav 4. The two closest dealerships told her they had one on the lot but it was a tease, they wanted her there and hoped to sell something they had sitting there. She ended up driving about about 40 minutes but got what she wanted.

For some reason it seems as if the sales crew at my dealership isn't all that interested in doing any work to actually sell a car. Granted their brand is niche - there are only 6 models but 90 different configurations based on trim and options. And the model I want has the next to lowest base price which isn't cheap by any consideration. I don't want or need any spectacular engine capabilities or custom paint jobs. I can only assume they'd put in a little more effort if they were selling one of the more expensive cars in the line-up. But this is my third purchase at that dealership and if you include all the dealerships owned by the same family it's our 10th vehicle. I did order one and it's sitting at the port now waiting to be loaded on a transport ship so hopefully it arrives in a month or so.

Their service department has been very accommodating and will pick up my car at home and leave a loaner. But the only service it gets is the annual - other than they've been problem free.

DS experienced wonderful customer service at Hamilton Jewelers in Princeton. He had ordered a new leather strap for his watch but the wrong one was delivered to his home. When he called they apologized, immediately re-ordered the correct one and told him to to keep the black lizard band. And he isn't even a regular customers.

MC

I'm sure it varies by a lot of things. All I know is we're both in our 5th decade on this earth, so not new to the vehicle-buying game - and this has been the most twisted process either of us has ever seen.

It's interesting that even on our small forum here, a few of us seem to be in the same boat at the same time.

None of the last four cars we’ve purchased were off the lot. We visited dealerships to compare models, colors, features, etc., then ordered the car we wanted. The longest wait was one month but we got what we wanted. And, sometimes with extra trim features that we didn’t pay for.

I wish TJ's sold cars, lol.

I am sooooooooooooooo relating to these stories.

DH's gorgeous white pickup out of nowhere lunched cylinder 8, 2 months before the warranty was up. FREE repair, super nice people, quick turn around. Now he didn't trust the truck wasn't going to do it again. He looked online, found the EXACT white truck with more extras, in stock nearby, $6k off the sticker, ONLY one in stock, in our state. Looked at it Sunday when they were closed, went in Monday to buy it.

1) Salesman said it was parked 6 deep couldn't get it out so we could inspect it. The running board needed to be attached, we could pick it up Thursday. OK.

2) Salesman told me he wasn't putting MY name on the title. I could do it later if I wanted to. I blew up! Why would "I" buy a truck without MY name on the title?

3) Came in Thursday to pick up truck...they lost one of the keys. Said come back Thursday, key guy would be there to make a new one.

4) Thursday, key guy said he's out of blanks.

5) Next Thursday. Program was down, couldn't make a key.

6) DH called management, complained...she said THIS must be YOUR key sitting on my desk. It was turned in 3 weeks ago!

7) 6 weeks later. Got a call from the dealer. Said we didn't finish filling out the paper work...they couldn't get us the title. REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then...took it out on it's maiden voyage. Tiny rock hit the window....cracked the WHOLE windshield. (Free glass on our insurance policy)Too new. Had to wait 3 months for dealer to get a windshield in stock. Got it installed by a private party dealer had us take it to. Took to dealer to recalibrate. Got it back and the tail light lens is broken. There's a half inch piece missing all the way around it. No one will admit to breaking it. $800 for a new lens.....DH waited. Another dent showed up after parking under pine trees in a wind storm. $3100 worth of damage in a comp claim with zero deductible. Whew! Only owned it 8 months!

Any of you ever tried buying a car through Costco Auto Buying Program? We have - twice. Great experience both times. For our current vehicle we did trade in our older same brand vehicle. The color I wanted for new one wasn’t available on the lot so they got it for us from another dealer a few hours away. We loved the process both times. No fuss, no hassle, no haggling. Got the color, model & features we wanted. These sales were handled by the lease person not a floor sales person. As for trade in vs selling on our own, the $ amount for trade & then the credit for excise tax etc on the trade was so close to what we’d have gotten on personal sale that we went with it. Our trade car was sold the next day by dealer - it was in great condition. We were cash buyers but that’s not a requirement for Costco program. It’s something worth checking out if you haven’t done it before.

Thanks for that reminder! I guess if TJ's isn't selling cars Costco is the next best!

They don’t seem to offer the make I’m looking for here, but thanks!

@Nicole, I "liked" your post only because there wasn't a "so sorry" option.

FWIW - our experience selling a car on Carvana went so smoothly I don't think we'll ever trade in again.

It's been a while since we bought a new car, in fact I think it was 2018 buying a 2019 model. We did go through the Costco deal and it was fine. The dealer is very close to our house which is really nice. It seems though that Costco changes the dealerships every year so more recently this dealer is not in their program. I'm driving a 2017 purchased in 2016 and it's doing well so hopefully I won't be looking for a new car anytime soon.

I think the market has absolutely changed.

“It seems though that Costco changes the dealerships every year so more recently this dealer is not in their program.”

They probably find themselves in the same cycles we do, trying to find good dealerships then realizing they all suck.

For me it’s not sales, even an annoying experience is pretty much a one shot deal. It’s the service.

We went to look at a car, a lease return, at a dealership. The pictures and description were great, and we were prepared to buy if all went well. We called to make an appointment to test drive it. Showed up, walked around the nice clean car, and noticed that the front and top of the hood had little pits in the paint, as though it had been driven behind a gravel truck. It wasn’t just dirt, the paint had been well-chipped. We were so disappointed and said we weren’t going to test drive it. The salesperson was rather mad, said that the dealership owner had had the car for the weekend, drove it back early (apparently with some inconvenience) and had it all cleaned up ”just for us”. We replied that the ad was not entirely truthful about the condition, and left.

On the good side, we ended up at another dealership for pretty much what we were looking for in a lease-return, style, mileage, and price. When DH got in a tiff with the ”manager” in the ”let’s chat with our manager” portion (there was a lot going on there) and walked out, with the salesman and I looking at each other in dismay, the next day the salesman called me, said ”I don’t know what happened, would you like to buy it according to our original deal?” It was a good deal, I called DH to confirm, and we drove it for another 13 years. When it came time to replace it, we callled the same salesman for another lease-return. No shenanigans ensued.

Sorry for all your car buying frustrations! I am getting close to buying something new and often look at a site called Carshop. I think thats right. Nyway they have several locations and even if you zre looking at cars online at a specific location, the car is actually located elsewher.

Speaking of bad customer aervice, the other day I was so pi$$ ed at my local grocery store that I sent an email to the headquarters. I brought my reusable bags and started packing the groceries but the checker was moving things along quickly. Then he just stood there looking at his phone and let me pack the rest on my own, plus load them in the cart. So humph!

I dread the thought of car shopping especially with the upcoming price increase but lets not go there.

Costco isn't as good as it used to be. True Car can be helpful but not always.

I've purchased cars using each service over the years. I've also had, with each, this same conversation with sales people - either they could beat the Costco or True Car price by not putting it through them, or that they couldn't. I can't speak to the veracity or reality of those comments; I'm just sharing my experiences.

We tend to hold onto our cars for long term. The only reason we got a new car in ’17 was to get upgraded safety features. The car we traded in then was a high demand used car & in great shape & @ 5 years old. We bought same make but different model. Both of those Costco buying experiences were great & were through two different Costco stores & different dealers in two different cities. My guess is the specific dealers in the Costco program vary & Costco must aim to have the major dealers in their program but maybe not the exotics or very high end dealers. As for the quality of service rendered at point of sale, I think that depends on the dealer. I would think too that any dealer in the Costco program delivering shoddy or problematic service would be pushed out of the program if customers voiced their issues directly to Costco. I wouldn’t hesitate to use the program again & I would always compare the price I was given to a price that I’d get outside the program when making the buy decision. I wouldn’t tolerate poor service either. I’m happy to say the dealer we bought our car through also has great car maintenance service.

I've heard Carvana and the like are painless for selling one's trade-in. That may be a great option is one is in a low tax state. We ran the numbers here in the tax-loving northeast, and having to pay sales tax on the full cost of a new vehicle ended up as a net loss, rather than accepting a slightly lower trade in value from the dealership.

I'm sure this is another one of those "it really varies" situations. Carvana's offer was initially attractive but it would have hurt us more on the back end.

Ally De, when you trade in a car when buying another, the trade-in is treated as a payment, not as a reduction of the selling price. Retail price is retail price, no matter how the buyer covers it, unless your state has some odd rule for that, different from how it is most everywhere else. .

I sold a relatively expensive late model car to Carvana (a BMW) and got something like 20% over Kelly Blue Book retail value. I'd checked in with them when I was thinking of getting another car and couldn't believe their offer. I didn't know whether it was a mistake or a glich or what but no matter, I responded immediately with an acceptance of their offer - a flatbed truck arrived at my house two days later with a check made out to me. They handle all the paper work, I just had to sign a Power of Atty.

What a deal!

“I lamented to the clerk and she grabbed one of their really nice cooler bags and told me it was their gift to me!”

I saw that same thing happen recently with a customer and checker at TJ’s. They’re the BEST!👍🏻

Seems like the car buying issue is more about availability, rather than customer service. Since when has buying a car not been some sort of ordeal?

Anybody else paying attention to what's going on with trade, manufacturing and imports lately? Car dealers reportedly had enough stock for a couple months back when Liberation day commenced. Stocks are low now for many manufacturers, I believe. And I thought that shipping has also slowed down quite a bit now because of tariffs?

I'm really glad I traded in my old car for a new one a month or so back.

I had two car buying experiences about a year ago.

For one, it was a very popular model of a very popular brand and there was no inventory of what we wanted at any of the many dealerships in either of the two populated areas where we "live". Zero. Each dealer would get 1-3 new ones delivered at a time. What showed up and how equipped depended on what came off the boat. The ones we spoke to wouldn't take deposits or use a wait list approach because - each said - it wasn't worth the trouble for them. They'd tell you when a shipment was expected, you could call to get the status, and after that, it was first-come, first-served. They accepted customer orders when a sellable car came off a truck, before they'd been prepared for customer delivery by the service department. The cars were sold at sticker price, period.

The other was a bit less "hot" on the market. There were a few models here and there. Unlike what used to happen, dealers I spoke to would not "swap" inventory with another dealer to get a car with a color or specific equipment a customer wanted. They used to do that. So it was "here's what we have. If you want something else, we can try to order it and you may wait 3-4 months or more. If you find a different one at another dealership you prefer, you need to buy it from them."

Yes, I should have gotten to this sooner. My car is a 2016, very nice shape but approaching 95k miles. I'm to the age that I can imagine not being able to drive for another 10 years, so I want to get one last car that I love. I wasn't in a rush until discussions started about what my grandson will drive when he turns 16. He's a little spoiled but a very nice kid with an appreciation for the finer things in life, lol. Anyway, when I looked at the potential trade in I'd get for my car and the budget we'd (his parents and I) set for his first car, it made sense to offer it to him. He would have had to buy a used one and you never know what you'll get. It's not his ultimate dream car, but he likes it a lot, so he said he'd like to have it. I decided I should get a new one asap so he can spend the summer driving it with his permit before he's turned loose solo in November. We're going car shopping again tomorrow; his last day of school and out at noon, so we have a few hours to look in Tacoma, about 45 min away.

I will double check the sales paperwork, but I am fairly certain sales tax here was applied on the net of trade in value deducted from retail price. My last new car purchase was only a few hundred in sales tax bc my trade in was valued so high.

"when you trade in a car when buying another, the trade-in is treated as a payment, not as a reduction of the selling price"

^^^ what she said :-)

In my state the trade-in value is treated as a reduction in the selling price for determining sales tax due to the state and county on the new vehicle.

ETA: Even if you sell the old vehicle outright to another person, that sale price can be used to reduce the sales tax on another vehicle if purchased within 6 months.

Learning something new contributes to having a good day. I checked around and indeed, i was wrong. In at least several states, a trade-in does reduce the sales taxable value when purchasing a car. Alas, such is not the case in California, where it is as I described - a trade in is considered a partial payment for the purchase (as per normal) but is not a reduction of the transaction amount subject to sales tax.

I've purchased several cars in other states (for my kids during college years) but all were cash purchases not involving a trade-in, so indeed such could have been the case in those other states and I wouldn't have known it.

I think I'm just going to go to Trader Joe's every day and get free stuff! Today, I stopped for a few things and there was just one package left of the kind of organic cherry tomatoes I wanted. They were in one of those cardboard boxes with a cellophane window. I placed them in my new free cooler bag along with a couple of other things. When the clerk was ringing them up, the side of the box collapsed a little bit and some tomatoes spilled into the cooler bag. She was going to send someone to get a different box but I told her it was the last one and I really want this kind, so it's fine. She asked me if it was ok if she picked them up with her gloved hands and I said, of course, I'll wash them anyway. Then she said she wasn't going to charge me for them, I protested because the box was full, no tomatoes were damaged, but she insisted. So I left the store with my free tomatoes in my free cooler bag. I love them!

Isn't it amazing how little things can make one's day so much brighter?! The happiness can be out of proportion to the event itself. I love it when that happens.

So TJ is 2 for 2 on your recent trips? Yay Olychick!😊

Yes, I think so much going on in the world weighs on me (as on others, I'm sure) so a little unexpected brightness just renews my hope and belief that we are not all that is happening around us. It isn't about the $ but just the gesture from a company I love supporting. Just imagine if all businesses treated their customers so well! I'll let you know what I get for free tomorrow, lol!

Not a car but a freezer.

Last year, when our old fridge/freezer pair were on their last legs, we purchased a new pair. Of the options available in the size we wanted, we chose a German made pair as we felt that even though they were nearly double the price of a Chinese made pair, they would be more reliable and last longer.

Well, they arrived at the beginning of last June and worked well. Until March this year. The freezer's temperature started fluctuating wildly, going up and down. We contacted the dealer several times (won't be buying from them again)- it took three weeks before the manufacturer's representative called to say that they didn't have a repairer near us (we live in a rural town) but they were sending a repairer from the city.

So the repairer arrived and had a look. She said she had a fair idea of what the problem was but because her workshop was an hour away, it would be more sensible for her to take the freezer back to her workshop to work on it rather that go back and forth when parts arrived etc. In the meantime, she arranged to have her assistants bring a loaner freezer for us to use, which came promptly. So far, so good.

Then three weeks went by. I texted the repairer and she told me the parts had just arrived and she was testing the freezer over the weekend to ensure it was working properly. On the Monday we heard that the newly repaired part turned out not to be the only thing wrong with the freezer so now we had to wait for the next lot of parts to arrive. After another three weeks went by, an enquiry led to the reply that the parts were being held up on the other side of the country so still no dice.

The following weekend, the loan freezer started to fail. Calling the repairer had no result. So I called the manufacturer's Australian headquarters and clearly sounded upset enough for the call centre person to expedite my call to an actual employee of the company. I told him that we had been without our extremely expensive, less than a year old freezer for nearly eight weeks and that the loaner freezer was failing, which would lead to the loss of a lot of expensive food. I was not happy and regretting our purchase. He said he'd look into it and call me back directly, which to his credit, he did. His first words were, "It's going to be a month before your freezer is repaired," and I lost it.

"For crying out loud!" I exclaimed. (I was rather amazed I hadn't said something much stronger.) "Wait! "he replied. "We're sending you a new freezer. It will arrive at the repairer's next Monday and then she will deliver it to you." This was on Wednesday so I asked what I was supposed to do with all the food merrily defrosting in the current freezer until then. "We may be able to compensate you for it. I'll email you." He didn't.

Fortunately, I work in a school. I'm in the Science Department now but I used to work in Home Ec and I'm still good friends with them so I arranged to crate up my food and store it in their walk in freezer until the new freezer arrived, which it did the following Tuesday.

So, I had a mixture of excellent and poor service from the same company. The whole situation could have been avoided IMO if the company had had spare parts for the products they sell here in this country OR if they had sent the spare parts by air instead of apparently shipping them from Germany with a guy in a rowboat. In a country with a climate like ours, it's really not good enough- if this had been summer my food would have all been dumpster material.

Wow! I hope the new one outlasts the one it replaced.

@colleenoz - great story Colleen! Well, not for you but it’s great for telling or reading it here. I think you must win the prize for the most complicated repair ever - no matter which country it’s originating from!

Read this earlier today and thought of this discussion...

https://www.motor1.com/news/762879/toyota-salesman-exposes-dealers-keeping-keys/

Toyota Salesman Finds Thousands of Dollars of 'Missing' Keys. Now He's Exposing Dealerships for Failing to Give Buyers the Spare

'So they can charge $600 for a new key.'

"A car salesman is calling out his fellow salespeople for not giving car buyers both sets of keys with their purchase.

As proof, he shows the purported back room of a Toyota dealership. There are dozens of keys on a desk in the room. He claims these are all keys that go to cars that were already sold and says this is a direct result of the dealership dropping the ball on customer service....

...“What happens when the salesperson won’t do their job and check for a spare key for the customer?” he says.

“This is what happens.”

Next, he explains the significance of what the audience is seeing.

“We end up with thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of keys,” the salesman says. “There’s even a key for a 2024 Toyota RAV4 Limited.”

He attributes these “missing keys” to a very specific cause: Lazy or negligent salespeople...."

Are there people so dumb that they don't know every car comes with two keys?

Elmer - I was mulling that question myself. I’ve never left a dealership with a new car & only one key. Always 2 & a spare emergency key if the fob doesn’t work - or maybe it’s a valet key?

I was looking through the virtual records of my present car that are accessible on the dashboard and noticed it said there are 3 keys for my car. I only received two.

Obviously sales tax laws vary from state to state. If I trade in my car on a new one I only pay sales tax on the balance of the sale. If I sell my car to anyone - Carvana or an individual - I am liable for the sales tax on the entire sale price.

When I get a new car I buy a third key and usually manage to get a discount from the dealer on the key and the programming. This time around my SA is checking to see if they can just re-re-program one of my current keys to use on the new car.

"If I sell my car to anyone - Carvana or an individual - I am liable for the sales tax on the entire sale price."

There's perhaps another state by state difference.

First, terminology. Where I am, only registered sellers can collect (or are expected to pay to the state) sales tax. For others, if "sales tax" is due (like buying a car out of state and registering it at your home the next day, or buying expensive jewlery mailorder from out of state), then what applies is "use tax". Same tax, same rate, applied on the buyers when "sales tax" is due but not collected by the seller.

In my state, unregistered sellers (an individual selling a car) cannot collect sales tax due from the buyer. Whether the buyer actually pays the supplemental amount or not in other settings, it's still imposable because of the nature of the transaction and it's imposed on the seller.

So for car transactions between individuals, what applies is use tax, which is paid by the buyer to the state. When the buyer goes to the DMV to change the registration and title, use tax is imposed based upon the bill of sale and the buyer pays it then.

@Jupidupi, my state prohibits gift card expirations. Maybe check with your state’s consumer protection agency. And your credit card company, if that’s how you paid, tho perhaps too much time has passed to contest.

I believe federal law prohibits gift cards from expiring for five years, state laws may be longer. Some states, like mine, allow inactivity fees which deplete the value quickly. I’ve had stacks of worthless gift cards, just my part of the estimated tens of billions of dollars gone to waste. If you can’t tell, I think they’re a bad choice unless you soecificalky lnow the recipient will like and USE them.

" @Jupidupi, my state prohibits gift card expirations. "

If the company that sold the gift card goes out of business, that would suggest it's lost its value and, in a sense, has expired.

I don’t know why I should be shocked or surprised, but yesterday I mde appointments at two different dealers to test drive some specific cars today after I pick up my grandson from school at noon. This morning, I get a cancellation notice from one place saying the car is being touched up and so please reschedule. So now I have to make 2 trips to tacoma or cancel the other appointment and take a chance the cars I‘m interested in will sell.. There is a second car at the cancelling dealer’s that I’d like to try, so I emailed the salesman to request a test drive of that one instead. Not a peep out of him. I’m hoping he’s off of work today and I will end up buying it from someone different. We’ll see. I don’t want to give my money to ANY of these guys!

food, interpolating what's behind those words, buy buy baby must have filed for bankrupcy court protection effective March 16 and would be protected for liability claims of creditors that arose before that date. And apparently asked that gift card holders be included in that group.

Bed Bath, if in bankruptcy, apparently chose to exclude gift card holders from the debt enforcement moratorium and agreed to continue to honor such obligations it had.

I would really like a new car to drive, but dislike car shopping. I know what I want and in what color (exterior and interior) - it's just a matter of finding someone who has it available and at a fair price.

I had two bad experiences with a local salesperson, someone DH knew and did fine with. That man raised his voice to me! I walked out - I don't know who he thought he was talking to.

We'd reached a point in our negotiations where he told me the trade in allowance on the vehicle I already owned. I said, I don't think that will please DH (who takes extremely good care of our cars and always has). Salesman turned to me and in a nasty tone of voice YELLED - I'm not quoting you full retail on the new, why do you think I would raise your trade-in allowance. I left.

Another time DH had dropped me off same place to pick up my car from an oil change, service and he happened to be driving a new truck. Salesperson saw him and asked me where he'd bought it. An Olympia dealer 55 miles away and I told him the truth. That day, he turned his back on me and walked, not even alerting customer service I was there for my car 😊

And FYI, the day I left when in disagreement over my trade in, I called a man I'd gone to school with who worked at a Chev dealership. I was only interested in a specific Ford SUV. He found the Ford I wanted at a dealership in Oregon and he drove down with DH to pick it up. Brand new. They brought it back and I registered it for state of Washington and paid the appropriate taxes on it.

I love my local car sales and service complex. Stellar service. Ive had an on-going relationship with a particular salesman, who has done me very well over the years. (I tell him that we are growing old together. He's really cute in a Patrick Mahomes sort of way.) I recently went for my scheduled service, and the guy at the desk said..."You don't owe anything, says here you are service pre-paid." Whoa! I guess I forgot that!!! said I. Went home and looked through my receipts, and found I paid $120.00 that I should not have. The gal at the same desk , which took my money those previous visits, said nothing. They wrote me a check for the $$, which Im grateful for, but I cant help thinking that the gal was using my $$ for donuts at the staff meetings or something. Grrr. (she was far from a new employee.) I forgive them (her) and will continue to go there, but will try to keep better on top of things.

Well, I had two successful visits to 2 different dealers yesterday and two very likeable salesmen. The car I am most interested in is still being detailed so I won’t be able to drive it until tomorrow or Friday. but I suspect it will be ”the one.” I drove a similar model and really liked it but the one I’m waiting on is my preferred color and interior color. I am determined to get a light interior for the first time in my life.

So my horrible beginning to my new car search is fading from view!

I hope it works out. Getting a new car is exciting, and then you can also be glad this saga is behind you. 😊