@#*!% Car Dealers

So this post has been a long time coming.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned having purchased a shiny new automobile. For The Wifey, we have acquired one of these:



We don't have any pictures of ours yet, but they're coming.

We love this thing. It's a 2009 Dodge Journey. It's what's known as a 'crossover vehicle' - i.e. part SUV, part minivan - and it's the first 100% new car we've ever bought. Everything else has been a program or a demo or just flat used.

We looked at a few different cars before getting this one. Wifey wanted to drive a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (4-door Wrangler), a Jeep Liberty, and a Journey. I wanted to look at a Toyota FJ Cruiser as well (can you say "Daddy's Next Truck?").

The FJ Cruiser is made of win and painted with awesome, but was set aside. The Wrangler Unlimited is worthless unless you get a 4x4 and actually use it. The Liberty was very cool. The one we wanted to drive had a fully retractable roof - think 1/2 convertible and 1/2 sunroof - but the damn thing sat too long on the lot and we couldn't get it started. It was then that it happened: another sales guy brought around a Journey to take us back to the building. That turned into a test drive.

The Journey is absolutely a pleasure to drive. It is large enough for our needs, is very comfortable, and has plenty of power as long as you get an SXT or an RT (both feature a big V6, where the base model is a four-banger). We found our next car.

So to home and teh internets we went. We looked at every Dodge dealer in South Texas (literally), and checked every SXT we saw. Finally, we agreed on a black one with just the right features, including a bitchin touchpanel radio headunit that doubles as a monitor for a backup camera.

So, off to the dealer we went. It's about a 45-minute one-way drive to the dealer, but it didn't take long once we got there, however, to realize that the car we were test-driving was the car that we were going to bring home (eventually...).

The deal wasn't too tough. Once we got down to being ready to walk out if they didn't come down to at least near the payment we wanted, they finally wised up and signed on. We also told them that our tax return was due to arrive any day now, but we wouldn't have the down payment until the tax return showed up. They said to leave a check that they'd hold and call them when we got our money.

However.

We were told by our (douchebag) salesman that since we were buying on President's Day that the make-ready department was closed, so we'd have to bring it back later where they would give the car a full clay treatment and really detail it. Fair enough. I drive out there one sunny Saturday morning with a check for the down payment, and I get told that the car would have to be detailed during the week since make-ready was closed on Saturdays (WTF??). I smelled something fishy, but I left.

Then I took a Friday off early to go get the car detailed. I asked how long, and Douchebag Salesman said 30-45 minutes - not enough time to detail a car in my experience, but okay - so I asked for a demo or something so I could get out of there and get lunch. They declined my request for a dealer demo since they don't offer demos anymore, so we had a seat in the waiting room where they at least had the decency to run Fox News instead of CNN. In about 45 minutes, my car was "ready."

Out the door we went to see our Journey which, at a glance, glistened flawlessly in the February sun. I gave it a quick once-over and assumed all was well, and we got in the car. As I put the car in reverse, The Wifey asks a question that would pull the wool back away from my eyes: "Did they clay the car?" I stopped the car and said, "Well I don't know!" I kinda wanted to just leave, but she suggested that I check the car more closely. So I did. And when I did I discovered what resembled little leftover pieces of Scotch tape thoroughly baked on to the surface of the car in several places, mostly on the hood and roof. There was also some sort of junk built up in the crevice between the back hatch and the roof.

Suffice to say that the car was not, in fact, detailed. Further inspection revealed that the interior had also received next to no attention, having only the floorboards vacuumed, and my daughter's footprints still on the back of the driver's seat. There were still leaves in the area behind the back seats.

So back into the dealer I went to find Douchbag Salesman, who gave me a puzzled look when I asked him what exactly the make-ready guys do to a car when they work on it. It is at this point that the true colors are revealed. He says they just kinda give it a quick cleaning and stuff. "That's not detailing. Did they clay the car?" I asked. "Well, they don't do that to every car," he replied. Getting frustrated, I said, "You told me they would clay mine. Did they?" In true sales-guy fashion, he diverts with, "Let's take a look at the car."

So out to the Journey we go, and I show him what's wrong with it. Looking at the Big Giant Fail that he got stuck with by his make-ready guys, he sinks a little and tells me they are going to have to clay the car.

No shit, Sherlock. Only one problem. It's damn-near closing time. I ask how long THAT is going to take, and the response is a couple hours and that I'd have to bring it back tomorrow, but that he'd have a rental or something for me.

Wait.

It's Friday, remember? Didn't he say earlier that they don't detail cars on Saturdays? Maybe he's pulling strings since they screwed up. Fair enough, there's an outlet mall north of town that I like to buy jeans/pants at, so I take him up on the offer and leave him with one suggestion: do NOT put me in some tiny little econobox for a rental. It had better be at least close to what I bought.


TO BE CONTINUED...



tweaker