Wow, it is amazing that any business can still operate this way, like used car dealers from what one might have hoped were days long gone by.
I walked in just to see what used inventory Cherry Hill Mitsubishi had on hand, explained exactly what type of car I was looking for and the exact price I was looking to spend, to no surprise I was told he had the exact car, a used Suzuki Grand Vitara. After walking me over to see the car, which was the price I was able to pay and had the right amount of mileage, Morris told me he couldn't sell it to me - something vague about tags and title not being in yet.
But after talking to the manager (theres always a manager who knows everything, somehow the salespeople never know anything!), Morris told me he had three Outlanders that were in my price range. He showed me the 3 cars, a and two 2006 models. I was put in the manual 2006 for a test drive.
As I was on my way to run other errands and hadn't planned on spending so much time there (already waiting around for about an hour), the manager John (my new best friend in the whole world!) told me he was gonna hook me up, put dealer plates on the 2003 and let me take it to do my errands for a couple of hours.
The car was fine, not exactly what I was looking for, but since they kept telling me it was definitely in the $9K price range I figured what the hell.
Clearly both Morris and John were very upset that I was not going to buy the car right there and then, but being a grown-up I explained to them that I would come back that Monday evening, at which time, if it was really the price they told me it was (none of the cars actually had prices on them), I would be prepared to purchase the car.
Monday evening I returned, oddly enough to wait around until Morris could be found and move the 2003 Outlander to the on deck space - as if my brain would be confused by the mere fact that the car was there. So close. So tempting. Give me a break!
That day I did a little research on the car, having not previously known much about it, and found that Cherry Hill Mitsubishi had the same car I was looking at listed for $12,600, more than $3K more than what I was quoted.
Once the parade of staff had sufficiently filed by where I was sitting, apparently to overhear what my buddy and I were seeing - or possibly to try to smell blood in the water, another manager, this time the used car manager returned with a listing of their offer - which started with the car at $15,995, now $6K more than what I was offered! This, by the way, for a car that sold as new in 2003 for about $19K!
I let him blather on for a bit before asking why he had the same car listed as $12.6K on their website, which was of course followed by looks of confusion, and a quick trip to verify this information... Upon his return his answer was 'well, what do you think I'm gonna list it as on the website? I'm trying to attract customers, not chase them away.' NICE! Lie much?
The game continued until enough of my time was wasted, clearly the car was never intended to be sold for anywhere within thousands of dollars of what I was told, I am fascinated but apparently this old-school mindscrew must still work with some people... Please don't be one of them.
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