You are missing the entire point of the posting. Davey49 summed it up nicely.

The Volvo dealer also had the nerve to tell me if I wanted a C70 in a stick I would have to give them a $3,000 non-refundable deposit. A C70 people!!!

My dad’s looking for a car too. The local Ford dealer is marking up 2008 Mustang GT500s by $10,000. My father bought a 2008 Corvette Z06 for $11,000 off sticker with 0% apr instead.

All car dealers have to do this. The Dodge dealer refusing to let Mike test drive the Challenger was pure pointless snobbery. The end product is they lost a customer for ALL of their products.
How about;
Mike tests Challenger- loves it, buys Challenger
Challenger is great and Mike also buys a 2009 Ram
Ram is great, tells neighbor, neighbor buys Ram and so on. (ignore your actual opinion of Chrysler products in this example)

This is exactly the same thing that happened to the comic book industry, albeit with much more money being thrown around. Some old specimens sold for a lot of money, people pick up on the nostalgia factor, the industry sees dollar signs, and suddenly you’ve got manufactured collectibles. These generate a big buzz, and so everyone raises the prices and makes more, to grab some quick money. Then, the demographic that loved the original product is alienated.

Say what you want about riceburners, they’re much closer to the original idea of a muscle car (if not the original implementation) than these things are.

I’m getting a Challenger R/T 6-speed manual in a couple of weeks.

By the way, my site has given less-than-glowing reviews to some Chrysler vehicles that we’ve reviewed (Liberty, Wrangler, Journey, Avenger) so it’s not like Chrysler is trying to punish people who gave their cars poor reviews. Has TTAC previously had access to Chrysler’s press fleet?

I drove up and of course the lot was empty and I mean EMPTY. The only people coming or going were salesmen going on breaks I guess. I walk in and immediately spotted a black Challenger SRT-8 with a “Do Not Touch” sign on the roof.

Really?

Gotta say though, the car does look great in person but then I look at the sticker and see $38000 MSRP (rough figure from what I remember) and then another sticker beside it with a $25,000 adjusted mark up. *GASP*

I ask the salesman if they have any SE or R/T models and he says no, but they should be getting a shipment in a few weeks.

So ok…on to the next phase.

Driving up I saw a black Caliber SRT-4 sitting outside. Looked at the sticker and saw a $28000 MSRP and next to it a $2500 markup!

Salesman: “This is the only one we have. They’re very rare cars but the price is always negotiable.”
Me: “Interesting” *looks at all the trucks with all manner of sales tags*
Salesman: *spots me looking in a Ram’s direction* “You know, we are offering a $10000 instant rebate on those trucks.”
Me: “No thanks, I think I’ve seen enough.”

I still couldn’t believe it….+$30k for what is basically a Caliber with a turbo engine.

Jeez….no wonder they’re doing so poorly.

I’ve been to Mazda dealers within the last 3 months legitimately looking at new vehicles. One local Chicago dealership treated me like junk (the typical…so how can we get you into this car today?), and “we don’t allow test drives on the sports cars (in my case Miata and Mazdaspeed3) unless we know you’re very serious. These are limited edition cars and we can’t put miles on them.” Meanwhile Mazda had special financing on both cars at this time, I currently OWN a Miata, so he knows I like Mazda sporty cars, and the lot had at least a dozen of each model. Make 1 a demo car!!

Anyway, you can drive to the next Mazda dealership and they’ll give you a no questions asked drive.

I’ve had it with Civic Si’s. I’ve had it Fords (the Mustang). And each time these cars have been out for at least 6 months or longer, with plenty of vehicles on the lot. Heck even until maybe the last year or two, MINIs were very similar.

So let them do what they want. They’ll lose customers left-and-right (I still never set foot at those dealers that treat me that way), while the guys who sell for MSRP or are willing to wiggle a bit will be the ones selling all the cars while the others have a lot full of cars with $5,000 markups on them.

And it is amazing how much goodwill it creates to go to that one dealership who is honest, no pressure, straight up, and has no problems test giving test drives. Price matters most, but it isn’t worth the extra couple hundred bucks to go through the hassle at a bad dealer. The nice ones make more money and have more satisfied customers. Unfortuately this seems to be the exception for some reason. Maybe its by being awful you can con people to get in, get out fast (to avoid having to deal with the experience), and allow themselves to have their $$ taken. I guess in some ways we (collectively the car buying public) have ourselves to blame for this. If the tactics didn’t work, dealerships wouldn’t use them…

You’re acting like a jilted lover; but only not a lover at all. You had one date, fell in love, and now you’re crying into your drink over what never happened. You’re married to your next love without even having seen him/her.

That you so-readily hopped onto the Camaro bandwagon– deposit and all– because of this experience, shows that you had no true interest in this automobile.

Where was your deposit on the Challenger? I’ll bet you’d have had a drive with a deposit.

Are we going to hear(from you) about how Chevrolet welcomed you with a warm embrace, and about how their car is vastly superior to the Chrysler soon?

You’ve dug a deep hole, sir.

Mike Solowiow: “After the treatment of the Dodge Dealers, I now have a deposit on the incoming Camaro, with a written guarantee to purchase it without a markup.”

You (justifiably) diss Dodge dealerships for refusing a test drive, but then turn around and put a deposit down on a similiar car from a different manufacturer that you haven’t driven, either?

This would seem to diminish your argument somewhat. You’d have been better off to say you were going to wait and see how Chevy dealers treated you when you asked for a test drive of one of the new Camaros when they begin arriving.

Naturally, he drives an 87′ Firebird stripped of its catalytic converters (they “rob horsepower”).

Its not that I don’t like muscle cars, they’re great show pieces. Its just that M3s, RS4s, and 350Zs look good too, AND they’re fun to drive.

Its kinda like what Richard Hammond said on Top Gear when he drove an old school Challenger and described it as meeting your idol and finding out he’s a jerk.

How did they know he wasn’t going to buy the car? You accuse him of a lie of omission yet assume the dealer could read his mind?

And what’s wrong with a joyride in any car, regardless of whether you’re going to buy it or not? I do it all the time. I’m a car guy. I like to look at cars. I own 4 and can’t fit any more in the garage, so if I’m bored on a Sunday, I’ll head out and go drive a WRX or something. Most salesguys are happy to oblige. They could care less. They make the same amount of commission whether the car sells new with 1 mile or new with 125 miles.

I use that experience to gauge whether 1) I like the car enough to give it a look down the road and 2) I like the DEALER enough to give them a look down the road.

@ iNeon,

There is a bias on Chrysler's part towards us, as they don't give us press cars when the majority of manufacturers do.

And I wasn't wanting a joyride, I'm in the market for a car. I want a classic muscle car type to take to Europe when I (hopefully) move there this coming summer of '09. Stelvio Pass with an American V8 blasting out the back? I think so!

After the treatment of the Dodge Dealers, I now have a deposit on the incoming Camaro, with a written guarantee to purchase it without a markup.

And here's the main point. I COULD HAVE BEEN a real shopper. As a friend told me( who sells Aston Martins, and used to sell Hondas), you always treat EVERYBODY as if they are ready to purchase a car, because they might come in just for a look, and end up driving away in something new. You never know

Mike tells us he’s walked onto a lot because Chrysler has refused TTAC access to it’s testers, and insinuates there’s a bias present– on the part of Chrysler– but later tells us he walked up like any other gawker that just wants to take a joyride.

Mike– They treated you like riffraff because, well, you were. You weren’t going to buy the car and you were going to run the hell out of it. Would you pay for the fuel and wear for any number of people to drive a $26,000.00 object you were trying to sell?

This isn’t half a bagel bite– there’s a real loss if you use the vehicle and don’t purchase it. It’s not a press car.

I wouldn’t even let Car & Driver drive one, at least not until I’d ensured its content by signing up for the next 6 months worth of ads.

Also, the car is still very new and not very common. The dealer that told you customers don’t want miles on them is correct. If I was in the market I would want zero miles on it.

I purchased my GTO that way fresh off the truck in 2006 (under MSRP as dealers couldn’t move them by then) and again in July with the G8. Scored another the dealer didn’t touch and that wasn’t test driven at all with single digit miles on it.

When Challengers become in stock like the Mustang and readily available all of this will disappear, just as it has everytime before whenenever ANY brand gets something hot on it’s lots.

Its. a. cobalt.

I was in an Audi dealership once. Just looking at the A6, could not even come close to being able to afford it. A salesman asked me if I liked it, asked what I made in a year, said that he was sure they could work out an affordable lease for me and then offered me a test drive to try and convince me that I could afford the car that was 3 times out of my price range.

They didn’t know I was writing for TTAC. I went in as a regular shopper, just like you would. So if they treat prospective shoppers like this, just imagine if I told them who I worked for!

But this is just stupid.

So let me get this, the Domestic claim they are building cars the offer up “excitement” that cant be had in your boring, Plain-Jane, FWD Rice-burner. I guess in their hearts they want to make some conquest sales, you know bring those that have strayed from righteous domestic path back home.

NOW WTF! So am I to believe that when I drive up to the Dodge dealer in my FWD Accord V6 and say “hey let me check out one of those Challangers”, Im going to be told to not even touch the preious peice of metal and no test drive because “it is a collectors car”!
NO DODGE DEALER IT IS A $26,000 sporty coupe, just like the damn accord I dorve up in!

And to think that some of you guys think we should bail these fools out with our tax dollars!