SirWompus

I ordered flint mica stripped down Tc a month ago. Shortly learned afterwards that flint mica is so rare that I should forget about that color. I took a second best choice of silver and have waited patiently since. Today I get a call that the car is going to be here this week but that it has 18" wheels, fog lights, shifter, petals and pedistal spoiler. WTF!??!!? I don't want that crap, I want a striped down car. Oh man I think its time to go back to subaru or volkswagen, Scion seems like they just can't get it right. I know this should have gone in the support group thread but I had to my message out there that its IMPOSIBLE for me to get the right TC /w the right options.

PS. there are plenty of striped down automatic tranny versions in town.... I don't want AT though.

JDMxB

Think about what you said--is it a problem with Scion, or is a problem with your local dealer.

I know that you are probably angry--but at least blame the right people that have told you this and that, instead of putting it on the shoulders of the company...Farley didn't promise you the car, did he?

sciontc_mich

you need to find another dealer... they are trying to screw you on the price because they make most of their profit on all those accessories! I mean simple thought.. did you put an order in for all that crap? no! Why are you going to blame Scion corporate for what a dumb dealership did?! Take your business elsewhere! And don't think for one moment that some crooked salesperson wouldn't screw you over at a subaru or vw dealer! so go find another dealer and put in your order for the exact car you want.. no reason to put up with a dealership like you have..

Tenaj

Like they said, they make all their profit on options at the dealer. Now im not sure so plz dont flame me if im wrong, but the only options that come with it on the boat from japan, are side airbags, all others are done AT the dealership. If you ordered one, not just asked when the next FM 5 speed was coming, actually ordered, and they are trying to throw in all this extra crap, just say no. You ordered it bone stock, you want it bone stock.
If you get really lucky you could have the salesperson contact you as soon as that truck pulls up with your car on it, then drive down there and finish paying for it before they can put options on it. They might even tell you they are 'required' to put at least one, but they arent.
Bottom line is, they should have to work for your money, dont buy something you dont want.

therotman

Go to a new dealer- mine was very helpful-

florencescion

Not quite. Most additional options can be installed at port as well as the dealership. If they are installed at port then there is no removing them (especially the spoiler). I agree... find a new dealership that isn't trying to screw you.

Janizary

I shopped several Vegas Scion dealers and in the process found one that seemed to always try the 'install and push' philosophy from above. The others were more than happy to order and deliver a bone stock car...just had to wait for it.

Remember also that a tC with all those extras on them may also have been a customer order that backed out. The tC 5 speed I test drove had extras on it and was a cutomer back out.

SirWompus

Options were installed at port, I'm in CA so when the car got off the boat these so called options [junk] got installed in the LA area. For those who said if I ordered it that I would be getting what I wanted, well.... I did... order... it. Only thing is I just didn't put any money down but I ordered it, saw my name next to the car on the sales manager's list and everything. Ug I'm just so tired of this, I am restoring a 280Z and almost think it'll be done before I can get the TC.

BadKarma

Two Scion dealerships tried to screw me out of my 2000 Jetta GLS VR6....edmunds.com rated it at $8800, the first dealerhip offered $7700 and the second offered $6500.

Did I do business at either one? No....of course not, I kept walkin' until I found a dealership that offered $8600. Shop around until you're happy. Do business where you want. Ditch that dealer, quit complaining, find a reputable dealer, and drive home happily in a Scion.

Lynch_Scion_CT

AHH... a problem i deal with constantly!!!!
the one thing i always tell my customers is that although it is a good idea to look online and do research (it makes my job easier) Kbb and Edmunds are only giving you an idea of what to look for. After all, how can they appraise a car that they've never seen?
Also, for all they care, KBB can tell me that my 2000 Celica is worth $32,465 because they don't have to cut me the check for it!!!
From what i've seen, go with the dealership that offered you the most, but don't really expect to get what edmunds gives you....
and sometimes, its worth it to get a little less for your trade or a little more for you car to work with someone you like.
I've had a couple customers spend over a thousand dollars more on my car (not a scion, a toyota) just so they wouldn't have to work with the jackass down the road... and believe me, i didn't do that great of a job selling the car. I was just nicer. and got them free stuff... which helped...
anyway, sounds like you got a deal anyway... so good job

torie

SWF_05_tC

After reading ^^^^^, I had to comment.

Dealers try to pull the "wholesale" pitch on you almost EVERY time when trading a vehicle in. "that's what they're selling for at auction value" is what they'll tell you. Why do they tell you that? Because those are the only values their computer systems see. One of the dealers I went to wanted to offer me $18,000 for a 2003 Ford Mustang Cobra, still under factory warranty, in excellent condition, with no modifications. They said, "that's just market value for them". No excuse me... but you're going to try and tell me that 18k is fair market value for a limited edition vehicle that had a sticker price of around $35,000 the previous year? BS. I told them "ok, then I want to pay wholesale on THAT car, so we're playing on a level field."

KBB values explicitly say what the details of that value are, mechanically as well as cosmetically, according to ZIP code and mileage. That IS the fair market value on the vehicle. You might not get that much dead on, but if the car matches the criteria stated, a dealer who can only do a few thousand dollars less than that is just trying to lowball you.

Market value is market value. Try getting them to sell you a car at "wholesale" or "auction value".. they wont, they cant.. you shouldnt have to either.

Reno

so what you are saying is that you wanted to get retail for your Mustang. If you want to get retail for your trade, sell it on your own. that is the easiest way to get what you want for your car. dealerships give wholesale numbers on cars because they are in business to make money. if they give you retail for your car and try to sell it on the lot, who the hell is going to pay that much to get a used car?

SWF_05_tC

Nope, you missed the point. Retail is not market value. Retail is almost always higher than market value. End of story. I didn't say I wanted what they would sell it for, I said I wanted fair value for it. If they lowball me, or lowball you, lowball them right back. It's business plain and simple, the less they can get away with paying for a vehicle, the more money they make on the deal, and then they make even more when they sell your used car at twice the normal profit because you got hosed into accepting "wholesale value" for your car.

And before you go on making claims on "who is going to pay that much for a used car"... take a look at used 2004 xb's on autotrader.. quite a few (hundred) of them selling for well over $17,000... bone stock...on dealer lots (some of them even SCION dealers).. what gives?

Dealers are there to make money, duh, who isn't. Doesn't mean you have to play Stealership and rip people off.

I would have been dumber than a box of rocks to accept 18k for an 03 cobra... MSRP is 34,000 and change, at the time they were selling at DEALERS for around 26-30k. It doesn't take 8k to recondition a brand new used car, they were just tryin to lowball me, plain and simple. And there's also NO way in hell they were going to sell it at auction. Cars like that bring in money, plain and simple. How stupid would that sound to you? "uhh, yeah.. we're gonna sell this high performance limited edition car that's in like new condition with a factory warranty at the local salvage auction.. get as little as we possibly can for it."

BTW, I never said ALL dealers were like this. But it is common practice at MOST of them, you can't deny that.

MzScion

So maybe I missed this info but how much did you get for Mustang???

SWF_05_tC

Ended up with $23,900 from a different dealer.

George

The other thing that the dealers don't tell you is that the only cars that go to the auction are the ones that the dealers don't turn around and resell on their own lots. They've already skimmed the cream, so the vehicles available at the auctions usually have some major deficiency that drops their value. The usual buyers at the auction are the stand-alone used car lots that are willing to either correct or disguise the defects in the vehicles they buy, and they aren't willing to pay that much.

SWF_05_tC

Bingo. Couldn't have said it better myself.

lakeshorescion

That's not entirely true. Sometimes you get cars that you just can't sell, even if there isn't anything wrong with them. Those are the ones that also go to auction after a certain period of time. For example, that Mustang would probably be a hard sell on a Toyota dealer's lot, especially up north in the winter.

We also buy cars at auction, to fill needs that aren't filled by trade-ins. This happens a lot with Toyotas (and probably Scions in the future) because many people who buy Toyotas just don't ever trade them in.