Had family in the tote the note business back in the 80-90s. You could always tell what he paid for those old cars cause that was the down payment written in shoe polish on the windshield.

It was a lot easier to make money in BHPH when the down payment could cover your cost in the car. It almost never happens now which is why we have GPS trackers, starter interrupt devices and geo fencing.

Yep

I had a friend that managed a tote-the-note lot. He refused to sell me a truck... his reason? He told me he's sold and repoed the truck 3 or 4 times. He knew I'd pay for it. It was a cash cow for the lot.

Crazy stories!
Now tell us how to get around paying over sticker price due to the BS many dealers add.

Example…. I have 830+ credit score. Found a good deal on auto trader after looking for weeks.
Drive all the way to weatherford and we sat down, what was listed as $32,000 became $38,000.
I said how in the hell is this possible? TTL should only make this $34000 if I pay asking price!

Well we sell all these cars with hydrogen sulfate in the tires, extended warranty on the paint job, windshield repair insurance, and specialized washer fluid that will clean a blood soaked crime scene

I said I don’t give a sh1t if there are Roman candles shooting out of the fn tailpipe I don’t need all that BS.

No deal sir. Some fool will come along later today and pay all this. See ya.

I recently helped daughter buy a car. When I told the guy we weren't paying 2500 for the tint they installed and the clear stickers around the door handles he was shocked. It took a bit and a walk around the parking lot with sales manager but we got that removed. But this dealership doesn't charge over sticker lol. Dealerships make the buying experience what it is, a total pita. You either have to be a total a wipe with them or you end up being a mark.

It’s gotten totally ridiculous for sure.

I worked at a dealership 1978 thru 1981 while in High School. During one stretch I worked in the Body Shop. There were a couple of real characters working in there. They hated the Porter who worked in Service. He was annoying as hell. He would come over in the heat of summer, with in the car, lock the doors and blow the horn until someone came out. There had been several “discussions” to him to cut BS. The last time he did it our Porter let the air out of one of the tires. When he came out several guys grabbed him, dragged him to the ground, ripped his uniform off leaving him in his underwear. The most crazy guy, Charlie Pritchard, jumped on him like he was dry humping him. The rest were yelling F him Charlie numerous time.

At that moment the owner of the dealership came out the door. Mind you he maybe came into the body shop once every couple of months. Everyone scattered into the wood work. The owner went back into the door and into the Body Shop Manager, Eddies, office. We all worked for him. While that was going on everyone got together in another area of the shop. We were all certain that we all were fired. The owner was in the managers office for close to hour then left back across the street to the Main Showroom, where his office was located.

Eddie got on the intercom, which was part of the phone system, “All Body Shop Employees to the office”. We thought that was probably the end at least for most. Eddie said, “Jeff’s got to go to Service to pick up and drop off any car coming from Service.” Nothing more about it. We all sat in there about 45 minutes telling which I assume was to have enough time passed so the owner knew we had all received a azz chewing.

No one ever asked what the conversation was between the owner and the Manager. We all figured there wasn’t anything to be gained there. Eddie somehow had our back.

Charlie was fired about a couple of months later when he yelled a pretty bad remark at two hotties walking down the road. One was the owners niece going to make ready to pick up her new Mustang before she went back to college at Texas where she was a cheerleader.

Lots of great stories. One Porter thought he could drink with the old Pros on a weekend project putting up a fence. He ended up on Harry Heinze Blvd in Dallas with the tranny out of his truck and zero idea how he got there. It was 4 days before he showed back up . No one including his family knew where he was. Later he became super religious and hasn’t drank alcohol in years.

I walked away and they didn’t chase after me so they must have realized I wasn’t worth their time.
It’s such a pita as you mentioned that it make me sick to my stomach worrying about it and dealing with it. And I have money. So f it. I’ll wait till something changes and it gets back to normal

This is the BS I HATE. Just about every stealership near me does this kind of crapola, it gets OLD.




Maybe we should post a sticky with all the dealerships that don't do this?

Every dealer here does that- it’s literally impossible to buy a car for advertised price

The problem is they make all the money off people with bad credit or no financial brains. I don’t see it ever ending.
As soon as I walk off, someone with bad credit or no $$ is going to walk in and accept everything they are adding or selling just to be able to drive off with a vehicle

The service department’s are just as bad as the salesmen. Liers and skunks.

I’ll add a few funny stories. I spent around 20 years in the car business before getting out and started trucking. I’ve done everything from make ready to porter to sales to finance.

I worked at a large Ford dealership back in the 90’s in Hurst. We would have spiffs for various acts just liven things up. The funniest I recall winning was $50 to the first person to get someone to jump up and down in the bed of an F150. We would bring vehicles right up to the sales office to do walk around and presentation. So I back this new F150 up to the area and start my walk around. When I get to the back I start talking about the shocks and how incredible they are at dampening the ride. So I open the tailgate and climb up in the bed. I tell the husband I’m not heavy enough to simulate a load, extend my hand and pull him up in the bed. After a few coordinated jumps I tell his young wife she needs to join us. I ended up with the couple plus their two young sons all counting and jumping up and down in unison. I had to focus on them and not look into the sales office as I could see both sales managers laughing their butts off inside.

I won a similar bet later when a family came in with grandma to look at sedans. I was explaining how the cable to open the trunk from inside has a glow in the dark handle. I convinced granny to climb in the trunk and slammed it shut. Of course she had it open with seconds but that one won me $100 spiff

And I recall a man buying a Mustang GT who couldn’t decide between red or black. He swore he was 50/50 and just couldn’t decide. He wanted to wait a few days and sleep on it. I asked if he was really 50/50 on the color and got him to agree to buy based on a coin flip. I don’t recall if it was heads or tails but he drove home in the red one

I’m enjoying these stories guys, thanks-