Originally Posted by cj21tol
So I have decided to vent a little bit about what I have gone through to try and purchase a new Camaro. Perhaps some of you guys can shed some insight as to where I went wrong. I apologize for the length as my story takes several twists and turns.
My experience really all started about three months ago at Glendora Chevrolet here in Southern California. I will avoid using names so that I don't further embarass the people who are involved. I went over there one night to test drive a new Camaro. I had been given the green light by my wife to start shopping for one. I told the sales guy exactly what I wanted and my goal was to get my monthly payment for around the same price as my 2008 Tahoe which is around 520. I have pretty good equity in my Tahoe. The sales guy said that he thought we could get something done, and that he needed to find the car that I was looking for. He promised to call me the next day. The next day I do not receive a call. Nor the day after that. Two weeks go by without a call. Perhaps I put too much stock into Glendora Chevrolet, but I was disappointed. I decided that perhaps this was a sign that it wasnt the right time. So I move on to other things.
Three weeks ago I stumbled upon Camaro5.com. I begin reading. And reading. Then I read some more. I had the itch again. It was time. I have decided on a SS2 with the RS package. In Black. Or maybe White. With a six speed. The wife was luke warm this time around, supportive, but gives me that look that we are all familiar with. Then one that says I am going to pay for this decision. I decide to go ahead with it anyways. I read up on Camaro5 about the dealers that are treating their customers fairly. I am looking for a deal that works for me. It doesnt have to be the best deal in the world, but it has to work for me. I contact Camino Real Chevrolet. I am pleased with their responses. I make an appointment to go over there and test drive a Camaro. I also contact Glendora Chevrolet again, along with Rotolo Chevrolet, Sierra Chevrolet, and a couple of others that I have already forgotten about. Only Glendora Chevrolet responds. I tell Glendora what I am looking for and they say they have it in stock. Great I say, I will come by tomorrow.
The next day, my day off from work, I am ready to start out on my journey of purchasing a Camaro. I stop by Glendora Chevrolet. The original guy I contacted over there was busy doing something else, so they bounce me over to a new guy. It was the same guy from three months ago! He doesnt remember me. I remember him. They evaluate my Tahoe and tell me they will give me 29K for it. Sounds good I said. But they didnt really have the car in stock. But they promise they can get it. I decide to head out to Camino Real because I want to drive the 6 speed and see if thats what I want. I had a good experience at Camino Real, but they only offered me 28K for my Tahoe in trade. The prices on the car was identical to the one at Glendora. Both were offering me invoice. The gal I was working with at Camino Real tells me she will talk to her used car manager and see if they can do better on my trade. I tell them that if they can, I will be purchasing tonight. She promises to call me in a couple of hours. I never hear from her again.
On my way home, I decide to stop by Glendora once more to see if they have located the car. They say they have. I also asked if they could go up on my trade a little bit. They said no problem. We shake hands on the deal. I thought it was done. They had my car. I had the number I wanted for my trade. Life was good. Or so I thought.
That night, my wife and I went to go look at a house as we are thinking about picking up a rental. We head out to Fontana, a city that is about thirty miles away. Funny thing, Rotolo, one of the first dealerships that I called a couple days before, calls me back. He says that he is sorry for the delay in getting back to me, but he lost my number, and while cleaning out his desk he found it. I tell him, thanks for the call, but I have a deal with Glendora Chevrolet in place. He asks me what the deal was. I give him all the numbers. He puts me on hold, comes back and says he can beat it. I tell him that he would need to beat it by a lot in order to earn my business, because they guy at Glendora Chevrolet and I shook on it. I am a loyal guy. He promises to "knock my socks off". Rotolo, ironically, happens to be located in the city we are going to look at the house in. So I decide to stop by.
We sit down with the sales guy and he shows us numbers. They offer me $27k for my trade (2700 less than Glendora) and $500 over invoice (Glendora was at invoice). I politely decline. He does the let me talk to my sales manager thing and disappears for 15 minutes. He comes back out and presents the exact same deal. I decline again, and stand up to leave. He gives me the if it doesnt work out speech to call him. Yeah, okay. Ten minutes after I leave Rotolo, Glendora calls me. They inform me that they were going to get the car I wanted from Rotolo, and now, because I went over there, Rotolo wasnt going to give the car up to them any more. Great, I just hosed myself. Now Glendora says they cant find the car. I had the car I wanted inches from my grasp and it has been pulled away from me! It was like someone had it on the end of a fishing pole and as soon as I got close to grabbing it they would reel it away from me.
This wasnt going to happen. Not that day. Not to me. I call Rotolo back. I get the GM on the phone. I explain the situation. About how his salesmen fed me a bunch of BS to get me in the dealership and then not be anywhere close to the numbers I had. And to top it off, now they will no longer trade the car. The GM says he will look into it and call me back. He calls me back, makes one final offer to earn my business, but it still wasnt close. He agrees to give the car up to Glendora. Finally! It is done. By now it is late and I am worn out. I decide to call Glendora the next day and find out when I can come down and sign papers.
I call the next day and of course my salesman is not available. Neither is my original guy. So I talk to the sales manager. He knows what is going on and we talk about what happened at Rotolo. I apologize to him for going over there. He says no problem, everything is fine. They will call me when they get the car. They expected to have it in a day or two.
8 days later Glendora still hasnt called me, nor have they returned my calls. Rotolo calls me. They say they still have the car and ask if I am still in the market. The sales guy tells me that they have called Glendora three times to give them the car to help me finish up the deal. Glendora hasnt called them back. Glendora has made no effort to keep the promises that they made to me. At this point I am done with Glendora. I agree to meet with Rotolo again. They ask me to fill out a credit app. We discuss rates briefly, and they say that if I am over a 740 I can get 4.99 for 72 months. I submit a credit app with my wife and I. Rotolo calls me back. My wife is like 759 and I am just under 700 (damn those credit cards from my single days!). 4.99% here I come! They tell me the best they can do is 7.49. Wtf? I tell them thats not good enough. They say hang on, we will call you back. They call back. Now it is 6.49. Still not good enough. They cant explain why even though my wife is over the 740 threshhold I cant get he good interest rate. I tell them I will get back to them.
That was four days ago. Rotolo has made a couple of futile attempts to call me. Glendora Chevrolet hasnt called me back in twelve days after our hand shake deal. Camino Real left me hanging. I also talked to a guy at Harbor Chevrolet. He said he was running to the back to see if the car was in stock. Never heard back from him. I wont even mention the four or five other dealerships that I originally contacted when I started my quest that never bothered calling me back.
So after all this, i still dont have my 2SS Black Camaro with the RS package and a 6 speed. I have resigned to the fact that I probably wont be getting one as it seems like the dealerships that represent government motors have better things to do than sell me a car. I was a buyer. I had 8k positive equity in my trade and cash to put down if needed. I cant even get a call back. Perhaps the dealers didnt want to mess with me because I had a plan. I did my homework here on Camaro5. I knew the prices. Knew the interest rates. Knew my trade value. I wasnt going to be a lay down sale for them. Or perhaps they are just too busy. The mustang is looking better and better.
Any advice or ideas would be great. Again I apologize for the length.
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