What's the stupidest thing or blatant lie a dealership/service shop told you?

[niteryder]

To start off, it would likely be a good idea to not use specific names of people or places.

When I was shopping for a BWM, two things stick out in my mind as being just stupid. If I remember correctly, it was at the same dealership by the same person.

1. BMW massively under-reports the horsepower to save you money on your insurance.

2. Every BMW that you look at the "other" dealerships are just leftovers from their dealership or auctions that they did not want.


I'm so glad I did not buy my car here, not to mention they offered me $5k less than other places for my trade.

[Gregxi]

Originally Posted by niteryder

To start off, it would likely be a good idea to not use specific names of people or places.

When I was shopping for a BWM, two things stick out in my mind as being just stupid. If I remember correctly, it was at the same dealership by the same person.

1. BMW massively under-reports the horsepower to save you money on your insurance.

2. Every BMW that you look at the "other" dealerships are just leftovers from their dealership or auctions that they did not want.


I'm so glad I did not buy my car here, not to mention they offered me $5k less than other places for my trade.

You just said it

[KingOfJericho]

The #1 Lotus dealer in the world told me "The Exige S will NEVER come to the US. It will not pass emissions." I bought my Exige and a month later the S was out. Fucking scumbag. They were flooded a few months later and went bankrupt.

[Templar]

Originally Posted by niteryder

To start off, it would likely be a good idea to not use specific names of people or places.

When I was shopping for a BWM, two things stick out in my mind as being just stupid. If I remember correctly, it was at the same dealership by the same person.

1. BMW massively under-reports the horsepower to save you money on your insurance.

2. Every BMW that you look at the "other" dealerships are just leftovers from their dealership or auctions that they did not want.


I'm so glad I did not buy my car here, not to mention they offered me $5k less than other places for my trade.

Why not? It'd be nice to avoid stealerships full of assholes like that.

[Seminole]

My GF's brought her car in to a Tire Kingdom to get the brakes/rotors replaced. 2 months later the car was making a horrible squealing noise, so we brought it back. The rotor were worn down and warped. The tech said that it was probably caused by driving through a puddle while the rotors were hot, that the cold water would cause them to warp. I called BS. Then he claimed the rotors got worn out because we lived in a hilly area and the hills caused extra stress. Again called BS. I told him they never replaced the rotors in the first place and he knows it.

I ended up getting the regional manager involved and they replaced the rotors/pads and refunded all my money.

[Time]

A Lexus dealership told me that AWD means only 3 of the wheels spin.

[carve]

Went with my dad to buy a brand new 2000 F-150 V6. The salesman said "this new line of engines is so advanced, they don't even need sparkplugs" (he was referring to gas, not diesel). I told him I'd bet him the value of the truck that they did have spark plugs. Face-saving BS ensued.

It seems that very few salsemen know anything about the cars they're selling. If you read one article on the car, or even the brochure in the showroom, you probably know more about the car than the salesman.

[PINeely]

A tire shop that I went to raped all four of my wheels. Chips the size of quarters and so many scratches. I saw the car and asked what had happend and that they fix it and they told me that someone had tried to remove my center caps with a screwdriver IN THE SHOP LOT WHILE I WAS PAYING. Fortunately they ended up paying for the refinish.

[daixloxbmw]

I was helping my girlfriend shop for a car and she liked the Rav4 because it offers AWD. We schedule an appointment with a salesperson to test drive an AWD Rav4 and we explicitly asked for the AWD version because we were not interested in the FWD version. When we arrive, I took one look at it and knew it was not AWD. The salesperson insisted that it was. We argued about this for a while until I finally told him, "look under the car, see that hole where the rear differential would be if it was AWD?" Not sure if it was an honest mistake or he was trying to pull a fast one on us.

On a separate occasion, when I was ordering my 335i for European Delivery, the salesperson insisted that I had to pay for MACO, training fees, etc but I knew better from doing my research on Bimmerfest and E90Post so I refused.

[texasmojo]

Dealership told my brother he needed extended warranty in order to qualify for loan. Bank would feel safer.

[TMNT]

I was buying a used 04 330ci ZHP and they tired to overcharge me on the vehicle. When I asked why the price was so high, they went over the options list and included leather. When I told them the car didn't have leather he argued with me about it. So I was like we'll lets go look at the car again and I'll prove it to you.

The car had alcantara seats/interior. He proceeded to tell me that this is considered leather...

[abbar]

i went to test drive the laguna secs mustang, after i walked out, the sales person told me the car was closer to 500hp, they just don't disclose that info so that customers don't get raped on insurance.....i felt bad because i laughed in his face and walked away.

[MediaArtist]

I was buying a POS for $2,500 from a used dealership back in the 90s. The female owner of the dealership said that the best rate for financing they could give me was 18%. I thought it was a lie, and she responded with "I've been treating this deal like I would treat a deal with my very own son."

[sanf]

Originally Posted by texasmojo

Dealership told my brother he needed extended warranty in order to qualify for loan. Bank would feel safer.

same story to my uncle and my cousin. they believed it but then they are pretty stupid so. i just said gtfo

[sanf]

oh and at the same dealership. they told my uncle, "your brand new car doesnt come with any warranty so you will need to buy one for 3 yr/36k miles. I will give it to you for only $500"

[Q4P]

The stupidest ones don't really end... dealers are there to sell you a car not fill with you knowledge; so they will tell you whatever they can to sell their product. Here are some of my favorites;

1. BMW has lower maintenance costs and upkeep costs in the long term than a Lexus as well as better reliability.
2. The Nissan Altima 3.5 V6 does 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.
3. VW's are very reliable.
4. The Nissan GTR isn't our cup of tea; we sell to a more mature crowd.
5. To buy a 911 Turbo, you need to take driving lessons at the Porsche Performance center otherwise Porsche won't sell you one. That car is an accident waiting to happen.

[eVitO]

Oooh, I've had a couple.

1. Mom's GLK was making a weird whining noise, obviously mechanical. Dealer kept telling me it was "wind noise" because the hood was "too high". They put grease on all of the openings and "tightened" the hood.

A week later, they replaced my entire transmission because I finally convinced them it was mechanical and they found that the transfer case was going to shit.

2. When I was buying my car (G37S), I KNEW from the start I wanted 6mt. I went to a couple dealers, some of which don't have 6mt's, I understood. But they kept convincing me that auto > 6mt and it's so much more advanced and that the S and the regular model are one in the same, the S just has a badge on it.

3. Not a shop, but a tow truck driver I met at a rest stop.
I was making the usual trip from SD to LA, and a warning popped up saying something about tires, don't remember what is said exactly anymore. I pulled over at a rest stop, thinking the tires were rubbing on the fender lining and they were getting hot, shooting the PSI up, as I was overloaded w/ 2 more people in the car and a shit ton of baggage.
I asked the two truck driver for a PSI pen, he gave it to me and kept making a huge deal about it.
And I quote, "Your tires are like this / \, when they should be like this ||. You're going to LA? Yeah, you're not going to make it. I'm going up anyway, and I can tow you guys because you're definitely not going to make it. Oh and these are aftermarket rims? Yeah, your tires are going to pop, you won't make it."
I have stock rims. At the same time, I'm realizing that the warning was just a regular maintenance warning timer telling me to replace my tires soon, blah blah blah. So I'm listening to this guy BS out of his ass, while my two friends get back in the car, and I hear them laughing at me, and him especially.

[grieverr]

Originally Posted by niteryder

2. Every BMW that you look at the "other" dealerships are just leftovers from their dealership or auctions that they did not want.

Haha! That reminds me...

A few years back I was looking at G37s. I printed a few autotrader ads and went to my local dealer. I found a similarly equipped car at the dealer, at around $5k more than the average of the autotrader ads I had. So I speak to a salesman and show him the ads and tell him I'd be interested in buying his car if he matched the average price (because I was too lazy to travel to the further dealers).
When I asked him why his was priced so much higher, he said "well, our Infinitis are made better than the ones at other dealers! You won't find one anywhere else like ours"

As you can see, I am the proud owner of a BMW.

[Nifty]

Female Co-worker of mine (a mechanical engineer) went into to have a brake squeal checked out and was told that she needed new pads. This MIGHT make sense, but in this case the pads had less than 8k miles of wear on them.

She told the tech this and the response was "oh, it's normal to replace pads every 8-10k miles". After looking at the tech in shock for a brief moment she says "Go get your manager, I want him to be here when you tell me that again". The look on his face...priceless.

[pHo_e92]

I was with my sister and my mom at a bmw dealership looking at the 128i verts, the salesman was very nice and we test drove it and everything but when he said " Bmw rates their hp at the wheels not like others who rate at the crank" i just laughed and said ok.

[SONAR]

"can not replicate"

[PINeely]

Also I asked a Ferrari of Atlanta rep what speed the blades on the front of a 458 deform and he told me about 300mph.