A few days ago, I had a very disappointing car-buying - Hi
A few days ago, I had a very disappointing car-buying experience at Docksteader Subaru.
We completed a test drive at the dealership and confirmed that we wanted to purchase the vehicle. We then agreed on the price with the sales manager, and both we and the sales representative signed the offer. The entire process went smoothly. However, just as we were about to pay the deposit at the cashier, the sales manager suddenly stopped the transaction and said that “an outside buyer had transferred a deposit through another salesperson two minutes earlier to purchase the vehicle.” What was even more difficult to understand was that the sales manager stated they were not aware of this beforehand. As a result, they said they now had to sell the vehicle to the customer who paid the deposit first, and could no longer sell it to us.
What was unacceptable is that at no point during the process was it clearly explained that “the first person to pay the deposit has priority.” There was also no reasonable protection or priority given to customers who were already physically at the dealership, had completed negotiations, and had signed the offer. We spent a significant amount of time communicating, test driving, negotiating the price, and making our decision. We had even discussed a pickup date with the salesperson. The atmosphere throughout was positive, and the salesperson clearly believed the deal had been completed. Yet at the very last step, we were told the vehicle had been sold to someone else. It was a very poor experience and felt disrespectful to customers who were seriously purchasing a vehicle in person.
After this, we visited two other Subaru dealerships and purchased a vehicle there. When we asked about “purchase priority,” both dealerships gave the same answer: in-store customers are given priority.
So I would like to ask:
Does Docksteader Subaru not have a “priority for in-person customers” policy?
When multiple buyers are interested in the same vehicle, is it really necessary to rush to the cashier and pay first in order to secure the purchase? This is very difficult to understand.
In the end, we purchased the same vehicle we had originally looked at from another dealership, and everything was handled properly and transparently.
For anyone planning to buy a vehicle here, I strongly recommend confirming the following before spending hours test driving and negotiating:
• Whether in-store customers have purchase priority
• Whether a vehicle can still be sold to others after an offer is signed
• How priority is determined when multiple buyers are present in the dealership
• Whether remote buyers are allowed to secure the vehicle during the in-store buying process
Otherwise, you may end up like we did—spending several hours only to have your time completely wasted.
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