If I could give them zero stars I…
If I could give them zero stars I would.
I went through the TrueCar site to get a quote on a new Honda HR-V Sport AWD. It kicked back a great deal from Fox Honda in Auburn, NY. They weren't that far from my location, so I accepted the deal and waited for a callback. The first time they call back fairly quickly and I was told that other than the pricing for the current leased trade (based on inspection) which could change, the rest of the quote was locked in. I was told I would be put on a list that I would be called first should one become available, yet she did not take the $500 reservation fee (first red flag). She said I could do that later if the other person chose not to take it because it was coming in a few weeks. In the meantime, I found out that the numbers on my quote were not correct. Sure enough, the Honda.com website and other dealerships I was comparing deals with confirmed it. I emailed back, no response in nearly two days ( second red flag). I called on a Saturday and was lied to and advised that "none" of the internet sales team was there that day (third red flag) which I don't believe because one of them responded to an unrelated question earlier that same Saturday morning. I decided to generate a new quote, so the information at least matched the Honda.com site, and didn't get a callback or the acknowledgment that states someone will reach out to me like I did the first time. I reached out again and waited several hours. The person who called back claimed to be a manager and didn't even want to pull up the new quote code I received from the TrueCar site. I read it out to him, but from his responses, it was clear he never pulled it up. He gave me a very listless, "what do you want to talk about?" I told him I was told he would go over the quote with me. He then just said, "It's 200 off." With no context to what he was talking about, I asked him what he meant. He repeated the same statement, again with no context. I was getting annoyed and flat out said, "You keep saying that with no context to what you are saying is $200 off, can you at least tell me what you are talking about?" He said they are only giving $200 off the selling price, which was stated in the quote as being $29,150 (the price minus taxes and fees). Then he said, we are also adding $2,000 (making it $31,130 including the $200 off) because you aren't from this area. This was almost one of the worst excuses I have had to endure from these awful dealerships this past month. I have never heard of charging people thousands over the MSRP because they don't live in the area. I know the taxes and related fees are charged based on where the buyer lives, but not charging thousands over MSRP for not living in the same area as the dealership. Then he proceeded to tell me that the car I wanted, in the color I wanted, was impossible to get and he had no way of getting one ( I was never told this previously with the first quote I got) I told him, "well thank you for being honest about that part at least and not lying about what you have in inventory, but it's very unfortunate you don't actually stand by your quotes, have a nice day. His tone and manner made it clear, he did not care if I wanted to buy from them or not. Which no customer should ever feel during an interaction with a business. I ended the call. This seems to be getting worse with every quote I try to get from a dealership. I know legally dealers can mark up the MSRP as high as the Manufacturer allows with little pushback from them, often at the expense of damaging their brand, and they can sell at any price they want basically, but I just wanted to share how outright dishonest and misleading they are being to advertise that they stand by their quotes via TrueCar. IT ISN'T TRUE!! In my case, they went from hot to cold in how they interacted with me, and from starting at MSRP to $2000 over MSRP (complete with a poor excuse) What awful bait-and-switch tactics. The only honest part was that they didn't pretend to have the vehicle I wanted just to get me to put down a deposit. I will NEVER use TrueCar (now I have to assume all the other dealers on TrueCar are the same) or Fox Honda again. It's a shame too, I was genuinely ready to do business with them, but they didn't care. I didn't even care if I had to get a different color than what I originally wanted. The search continues, I may just keep my leased car and skip as much of the drama as possible.