The only real complaint that I've got up to this point is the hassle with Texas Toyota. I actually like Texas Toyota very much -- in fact, I've bought a number of vehicles from them. But they can be slick and today they pissed me off.
To give a bit of background to the situation, I'll tell you some about the buying experience with this beautiful truck.
The truck had a marked down price on the window of a few thousand below the sticker. I asked the sales guy about it and he told me that they have a certain number of days to move inventory and that this truck was nearing the maximum number of days that they could keep it on this lot so they marked it down to move it. At this point, I'll say that I probably should've known better but I accepted this explanation, which was complete horse-shit. More on that later.
So, I test drive the truck and it's really great. It's a full sized pickup with a V-8, the Texas Edition features and all that. It looks gorgeous and the dogs will be incredibly pleased to have such a fine truck to visit the lake in. The back seat is HUGE -- seriously, there is more leg room in the back than in the front and it's known to be the roomiest crew cab currently available. This is very good news for my 11-year-old son who is going to be about 12 feet tall. I like it VERY much... plus it appears that it will be relatively easy for me to break out of the lease cycle that I've been stuck in for the past few years. This is a goal that I've been wanting to achieve. Melissa gave me the green-light to check it out and we discussed a price and plan. Happy as a clam, I go forward.
Soon I find out that the mark-down price is not really the price but is a special deal based on a certain finance term at a certain finance rate. Big surprise... NOT. This doesn't appear to work in my favor, so we look at working backwards from the sticker price taking advantage of the dealer and factory rebates (which are a few thousand dollars, all together).
The dealer and I eventually come to a price agreement and the paperwork proceeds. At some point, the finance guy comes out with a couple of waivers for me to sign. He puts one down in front of me and tells me that he just needs me to sign this one that acknowledges that the truck is being sold "as-is" and that I'm aware of the hail damage. HAIL DAMAGE? "What hail damage?" I ask?
The guy looks at me like I have a duck on my head or something. "That's why the price is reduced," he tells me.
I explain to him that I wasn't made aware of any hail damage whatsoever and told him the story that the sales guy told me. He proceeds to effectively tell me that the sales guy gave me a line of crap. Nice. Not cool.
I go outside and look the truck over -- very closely. Ahhhh, yes... I see some pings. Only a couple of minor ones on the hood, though. Heaving myself up into the bed of the truck, I look on the roof of the cab and find the mother load. Okay -- maybe they aren't the worst I've ever seen but there is certainly hail damage.
Climbing back down to the ground, negotiations begin. Both the dealership and I have some investment in this deal by this time and neither one of us really wants to walk away from it.
The finance guy tells me that the estimated cost of repair on damage is "over $2500 on the CrewMax." I tell him I'm not paying that. He tells me that he'll "split the cost" with me and eventually tells me a dollar figure that I find to be acceptable. I tell him that I won't exceed the amount of the monthly payment at an amount that we've previously agreed upon. In hindsight, this is the wrong approach (always focus on the total sales price) and I know better than that.
The numbers get spun. Isn't this about how most car deals start going?
After we appear to have hashed out the deal to have the hail dings repaired, the deal moves on to the final stage of the financing process and purchase. As I'm reviewing the contract to sign it, I notice the dollar figure for the hail damage repair doesn't match the number the finance guy told me. That is really irritating and I call it to the finance officer's attention who calls in the finance guy that made the deal with me. He claims that we just needed to get to the agreed payment amount and that the dollar amount for the repair is nominally different from what he said. It's actually a few hundred dollars more and I feel duped. (I refuse to measure this difference as a percentage in order to preserve my self respect.)
Out of duty, pity or maybe even the kindness of her heart (yeah, sure), the finance officer spins some more numbers, discounts some warranties and offsets the cost. Do I feel better - yeah - enough to go ahead and buy the truck. But I still feel duped and irritated at the sales experience.
At any rate, the deal gets completed, the truck is beautiful, I feel happy and the date is set to bring it back in to have the dings removed. I drive the truck home, impress the wife, impress the dogs and neighbors and everybody on the road and maybe even God with the big silver Tundra. Cool.
A couple of days later, I drop the Tundra off at the dealership to have the work done and spend the next four days driving a tiny, meek, silver Corolla. At least it gets impressive gas mileage.
Today, I go to pick up the truck and it looks magnificent! Sparkling silver in the mid-day sun -- not a ding to be found! Happy, happy, happy!
Off to the house for a quick lunch and to pick up something I need to take back to work. As I approach the truck to leave, a smudge on the grill catches my eye. Wiping it off with my t-shirt, the happy feelings drain right out of my head. What is this? Scratches. Several scratches on the top of my big bright chrome grill!
The fact that there were finger smudges on top of those scratches makes it obvious that somebody knew about them and that person was trying to pull a fast one on me! Guess what -- I'm pissed. I hop in the truck and head over to the dealership. I call my sales guy on the way and let him know what's going on.
When I arrive he comes out and looks it over. Then he gets the service manager who also looks it over. The guy turns to me and says, "I can't feel anything" as he fingers the grill. I say, "I don't fucking care if you can feel anything or not - just look at it! I'm not paying money to have things fixed only to have other things messed up!"
I know -- I shouldn't have cursed. I had been quite polite (but firm) up to that point. But "I can't feel anything"?!?!?! Seriously?
Now they are replacing my grill. And I don't have the truck for 2 or 3 more days. At least they've set me back up with the free loaner Corolla. Oh, Sweet Corolla.
I've always had good experiences with this dealership up to this. Hopefully, it'll all be made right. Well, I'm sure it'll all be made right. And I'll have a shiny new gigantic chrome grill on my shiny new gigantic silver Tundra to make me smile for quite a long time to come.
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