Today is apparently the first ever National Automotive Dealer Day. Love ’em or hate ’em, dealerships are a part of life. We suspect that most people don’t like spending a lot of time in them, but if you love cars sooner or later you’ll have to step foot in one. Even those who wrench their own rides and never buy new will have to visit the parts counter. There’s really no escaping them.
What’s your best/worst dealership story?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s the craziest odometer reading you’ve ever seen?“.
When we asked the question we expected most answers to be about extremely high or extremely low odometer readings. Little did we know that several readers would find very specific number sequences in them, like Joe Musashi and StreetSpirit‘s funny examples or Fred Langille‘s ominous one.
On the low end was Greyfox‘s own Nissan NX with 25,125 km when purchased in 2018.
We got high scores from Kyuusha Corner, whose 400,000-plus mile achievement was on a car with a 5-digit odometer and thus unknowable to anyone else. Alan has 1,000,000 miles split among three Toyotas. Then there was BlitzPig‘s tale of 450,000 miles with nothing but routine maintenance occurring on — what else — a 1988 Toyota Camry. And according to Negishi no Keibajo hotel shuttles often hit the 400,000 mark, although not on their original (or second) engines.
daniel‘s story about hitting 410,000 km in an Isuzu pickup at the same time as a fellow traveler almost won. However, this week’s winner was Thez Hunter, whose story of a 541,000-mile car was not a Toyota or Honda, but a Nissan Z31.
Back in 2021: I saw 540,999 miles on a running-driving-stopping-steering 1984 Nissan 300ZX 2+2 that was listed on Copart. The CarFax was a MILE long. Spent its entire life near Sacramento CA. It was twice designated a GROSS POLLUTER. Both times, the owner repaired it an kept it on the road. I should have bought it.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Dealers! oh boy, in my business you come across quite a few…
my absolute Favorite is the Honda Dealership my wife got her Civic.
originally started by two brothers named Bert & Ernie (naturally they had almost as much sesame street memorabillia as Honda stuff)
currently ran by the sons of one of the brothers, the coffee was terrible but i used to always hang around for a cup anyways. Such passionate friendly Honda heads they had half their showroom space littered with nostalgic Hondas and would become real quiet the moment you made a serious inquiry about buying one from their hoard…
the absolute low in terms of dealer experiences was waiting 2,5 hours at a BMW dealer when I was interested in a used 840CI while personell kept strategically dogeing me while giving their attention to others that came in after me.
I typically avoid dealerships… but once, while I was still in my early twenties, a local Toyota dealer had listed a 2001 Integra GSR for sale at a low price but just at the top of my spending limit.
I arrived with my wife to test drive the car during some nasty PNW weather. Red, lowered, leather seats and manual. Everything I was looking for… the salesman handed me the keys and we took off on a sprint down a few miles of local highway. traffic was kind of heavy, and the rain and hail were pounding the windshield. But that didn’t stop me from giving her the beans! She drove and sounded perfect…and about the time I decided to take it easy I glanced over to the salesman in the passenger seat who was white-knuckle gripping the handle on the door. I somewhat apologized and asked if he didn’t mind me driving so hard in such nasty weather. His response was not expected and has my wife and I still telling this story years later as she was in the back seat the whole time:
“it’s OK. I do C*caine sometimes.”
The drive back to the dealership was silent.
We laughed as soon as we were back in our own car and headed home. Needless to say, we did not end up with the GSR. I spent the next decade driving Mitsubishi. But that will stick with me for years.
(Sidenote, I ended up working at that dealership for a time years later and I told this story to sales reps who could tell me exactly who that was..)
Mine is actually a two for one story of when I took my 2010 RX-8 in for the fuel pump gasket recall. The first dealer I called told me they needed to keep the car for three days. The repair takes an hour. When I pressed them on it, they said they would not order the parts until they had inspected the car to get the right parts (there was only one part, and it was a kit). I told them no thanks. Then I called another dealer, and they said sure and scheduled me three weeks out so they would have the kit in stock. So, the day I dropped the car off I explicitly told the service manager I would not be leaving the car overnight as I have had bad luck doing this in the past with other “mechanics like to drive it” cars I have owned. The day progresses and at 2:00 I call the dealer to get a status, the service person tells me the car is not ready as they do not have the parts and will need to keep it overnight. I informed them that they assured me the parts were in stock when I called the day before, and I asked to talk to the service manager. After explaining the details, the manager assured me the car would be ready at five-thirty for me to pick up. I arrive at five-thirty and the service department is already closed for the day. I sign all the paperwork with the night clerk and start my drive home. I’m barely a half mile down the road when the gas gage starts to act erratically and then falls to zero. The dealer had asked that I run the tank to under a quarter before dropping it off so I think I must be running out of gas. I stop and fill the tank which turned out to be about a ¼ full. I get in and the gage is still not working. After some back and forth with the dealer the next day they implied it must be a bad fuel pump and that I would need to bring the car back in. I told them I would notify the regional Mazda representatives of the issue and fix it myself. A few days later I took the fuel pump out you could see the fuel level sensor connector sitting on the bottom of the tank. The service technician did not fully connect it, and the bumps of the road caused it to fall off completely, which explains the erratic gage behavior as it was coming loose. This was just another nail in the coffin of why I hate taking cars to a dealer for repairs of any kind.
Last year I had considered replacing my wife’s cube (110kmiles with CVT) with a Prius V, and there was a used one locally at a Lexus dealership where we could just mess around and familiarize. We took the kids along because we had other errands we were running.
As usual, the Lexus dealership has their usual beverages and lounge, as well as other luxury trade-in cars. Our kids didn’t really care to check out the Prius, so they just hung out in the lounge while my wife and i test drove the Prius. The Prius V ended up being more lethargic than I thought, and I was rather unimpressed.
We return to the showroom to get the kids, and I see my daughter completely sunken in one of those massage chairs on “full body massage” and a mocha and doom scrolling. I’m then looking for my son, and I finally find him completely lounged out in the back seat of a trade-in Benz S550 that’s connected to facility power, messing with all the electronic features the car has. Sound system kicked up a few notches with bass on full power. He, too, has a drink with him.
I’m like, “Dude, let’s get outta here!!! My son tries to upright the seat along with pressing multiple buttons to “shut it down,” but it’s not responding, and I’m just motioning to him, “just get…the…hell…out..of…the car!” My daughter is still melted in the massage chair, and is telling me to wait another five minutes for her session to wrap up. My wife and I are just standing there, literally not sure if we should just go to our our and hide until the kids come out.
I don’t know if my experience was particularly good or bad, but was “memorable”. In the mid 1980s I spotted a 1964 Toyota Tiara sedan (Corona T30) at a local “Last Chance Motors” used car lot. Black with a red interior, a car I have never seen before had me intrigued. I was looking for an easy practical project car that easy on the wallet. The car had a few missing parts but, I was assured, everything I needed would be available at a wrecking in Fresno California. Hmmmm. The salesman was very enthusiastic and convinced me to take it for a spin. Fine. The car started easily and ran like a Toyota sewing machine with a three speed manual transmission on the column, very cool. About three miles into the drive, something in the transmission linkage “popped” rendering the transmission stuck in neutral. Stopped in traffic, the salesman and I pushed the Tiara into the Safeway parking lot. The salesman never lost his enthusiasm and assured me that their mechanic would have the car up running in no time. We walked back the six blocks to the car lot and met with the mechanic. The salesman tells the mechanic that the transmission is stuck again. The mechanic rolls his eyes and states “AGAIN”! The coolness of the old Toyota was rapidly wearing off and I left. Never saw the Tiara again or any other Tiara for that matter. Kind of felt sorry for the salesman but he never lost his cool. Good for him!
When the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 was new, my local Orlando Mitsubishi dealer had a red one on display. My brother and i pulled up in his brand new Mercedes Benz CLK55, which was worth more than the Evo. Many dealerships at the time were hesitant to let people test drive the new Evo so we got a hard no on the test drive. I thought that was a ridiculous policy. If you don’t want people beating on the cars, just send the sales guy along for the test drive. We turned about and went home. I couldn’t stop thinking about the car that night so the next day my bro and I decided to buy it on impulse with cash.
It had a 5 day return policy, which we took advantage of, returning it on the fifth day. My bro probably lost some money on the deal but at least we got to enjoy an Evo for a few days. .
Best story was killing some time in the city waiting for my wife to finish with an appointment in the city, so the kids and I headed over to the Porsche dealer. Started talking to a salesman, who at one point asked the kids which one they liked the best. Both boys liked a white on white Boxster, figured it would be perfect for my wife’s daily driver. After they had tooled around in it a bit, the salesman said he had something special they could check out. He took us to a back room which contained a black/orange 911 GT3 RS. Both kids immediately told the salesman “THAT should be Mom’s car!”. He let them sit in it, I got the requisite pictures, thanked the salesman profusely, and left. Apparently Mom gets the cool cars, Dad’s stuck with minivans.
Worst story was something akin to StreetSpirit; waited around a Dodge lot for over an hour trying to purchase a 2500 RAM diesel for work. Got ignored, and when finally someone did talk to me passed me on to an individual who made it abundantly clear they had better things to do than sell me a truck. I eventually left and went with a Super Duty instead. It’s not like they were at all busy, and in retrospect what the hell was I doing trying to buy a Mopar?
Best experience? When I bought my used Isuzu from a small dealership, I got there after an ad with two photos at night that were barely visible. They were friendly, let me inspect, test drive, and ask questions. I didn’t argue about the price. I had a few days left to receive all the money. The sale was confirmed. I went to pay them. To their surprise, I didn’t take it right away. I needed to complete the necessary paperwork to get it insured. The response? “Don’t worry, the previous owner not only sent you two spare tires but also a box of spare parts that I changed during this time. I also paid the insurance next month and the license plate.”
It couldn’t be a better experience for my first pickup.
Worst experience? Trying to buy a Nissan March (Micra in the United States) with my sister and taking it home right away, with cash. All I can say is that we heard excuses, went for used cars, and were willing (because what they had didn’t convince us) to take a new one.
Dealership stories? I don’t have many myself, just regular stuff like parts shopping and test-driving stuff I’m never going to buy. But! I have a cool one my father told me when he got his truck though.
Some years ago, I mean back in the Bush administration, he bought a cool little blue Ranger (I know, I know, it’s not a JNC (technically)), but it was a Honda dealership. That dealer had messed up the price and priced the truck way below market on those listing on the magazine you see at the supermarket. Well, my dad took the magazine, drove to the place across town, demanded to see the truck, they had it in the back and was hidden. Like away from people. Aa, sou!
Saw the truck, and stood his ground, like my god, it was intense. The people there were making all kinds of excuses, they did not want to let it go. They were really asking, I believe twice or three times as much as the advert wanted. The manager was there sweating, mom’s spaghetti, complete insanity.
Dude whips out an envelope full of $100’s, pays for the truck almost entirely in cash. Someone had to come in and drive it away before the papers were actually signed, they really wanted to back out at that moment.
No spare key, no gas, no car wash, no warranty, no nothing. Not sure how I should end the story. So that’s the story.