Real Gasholes*

Sunday afternoon at Koon’s Ford

I have decided that it was time to replace my current car. I had narrowed my choices to a few one being the Ford Escape. I knew that my company participated in X-Plan pricing and created a PIN. The next morning, Sunday the 27th I was called by Joe Bond at Koon’s Ford in Falls Church VA.

I felt this dealership defines the classic image of car dealers being shady.

I was called originally by Joe Bond, a manager, who sounded very upbeat and said he had the exact car I was looking for and that he would email me the info on this car, and then I could set up an appointment. Before the email arrived I had received an additional call from the dealership. When the email finally arrived it contained two cars that were not at all what I was looking for. No mention of the car I was told about. I responded back via email to correct the assistant of what exactly I was looking for. Soon after another email arrived. This time one of the two cars was close enough. I decided to see the dealer and test drive that car.

I arrived at the dealer the same day, and upon entering proceed to wait for someone to help me. No one approached me, no one acknowledge me at all. After approximately 10 minutes I went up to the sales manager that was sitting in his traditional sales perch, and at this point he called Joe over the intercom. Joe came out from his office directly in front of where I had been standing. Joe greeted me enthusiastically, and then passed me off to his sales man Rezaul. I don’t know if it was my shorts, having two kids with me, or what, but he had zero enthusiasm.

We quickly talked about what I was looking for, took my car keys for his re-sale manager to price my trade, and he went to check inventory. Next we went to find the car. After 10 minutes of looking I decided that I better just drive something. A bit odd that we chatted back and forth earlier about a specific car and then its gone. We go for a test drive and he was fine in the car. Rezaul spoke very very softly, and I had to ask him to repeat himself several times.

We then sat down so we could talk numbers. We talked about the car specifics, and then he worked to price my trade which was based on Autotrader. I had already received an offer from CarMax so I knew my car was worth $6,500, right at the KBB fair condition price.

Now according to the Koon’s ad and website they pay 125% of Kelly Blue Book’s fair value, view banner on Koon’s own site. Also my company is eligible for the X-Plan so I thought this would be easy. Rezaul went off to get the price. X-Pan so it should be quick, 20 minutes later he returned with a VERY high price in a box on a sheet that was listed as X-Plan price. Now according to Ford Partner Program website, https://www.fordpartner.com/partnerweb/jsp/howitworks/fordpartner_rules.htm, I should have received a true copy of the invoice.

“The dealer is required to provide you with a true copy of the factory invoice showing the Partner Recognition price on the line labeled X-Plan. You should also receive a complete and signed AXZD-Plan Pricing Agreement showing each item and its price.”

I did NOT receive any copy. I was simply flashed a price. This was higher than I was thinking the car would be based on my previous Internet research on sites like TrueCar.com and fordpartner.com. When asking about the rebates being offered he said I wasn’t eligible,but because of the special pricing we could probably get a better deal not going the X-Plan route, ok I thought let’s discuss it.

NOT 100% TRUE according to the Ford Partner Program Website: According to Ford Partner Program website:

“for most. Partner Recognition participants are eligible for most public incentives. There are some offers that are not compatible with this offer. Your dealer can best determine which incentives you are eligible for.”

When I told Rezaul the price was more than what I wanted to spend he started with the typical “What will it take to get you to buy the car today?” To which I truthfully replied I had to let my first see and drive the car. He said no problem I could always put a deposit down on the car, and come back, to which I said NO WAY. I am not paying for something I am necessarily buying. We talked some more about the price of my trade, how moving out of the X-Plan could actually make it cheaper. I explain to him that I didn’t want him to go through the effort because we were so far off. He wanted to try to get a better price, so he disappeared again for 15 minutes. Mind you I don’t have my keys so I can’t leave if I wanted to. Typical car dealer tactic. We went back and forth offering me more for my trade, up from the $4,800 initial offer (Carmax had offered me $6,500 the day before and this was surely not 125% of the KBB $6,600), and brought the car down a little more, but never really got close to what I could buy the SAME car at another dealership for $27,684. The best pricing they could come up with was high $28k, but I wouldn’t be able to get financing through them. I have never heard of a dealer not wanting the financing. I frequently told Rezaul and his manager that I didn’t want them to keep looking at this because I wouldn’t buy the car today, and thought certainly NEVER from them.

Questionable things:

1. Did they misrepresent their inventory to get me through the door?
2. Did I really see the X-Plan pricing?
3. Was I really not eligible for any promotions, special offers and/or financing
4. What was the real price they would sell me the car I wanted and not the demo that I agreed to drive just so I could take a test drive?
5. They used too many of the stereotypical car salesman techniques: “What will it take to get you to buy,” making it hard for me to leave by holding my keys until I demand them back even though the appraisal had been complete for at least 45 minutes, taking 15 minutes plus to ask a pricing questions to wear me down even though I could retrieve the answer on my smartphone in under a minute.

Of course this is my side of the story, but I left there really feeling like someone was trying to take advantage of me.

*Gashole is a term my seven year old coined for where you fill the gas tank but I thought it was a great term to describe bad car salesmen.