Im shopping around for a preowned car and recently located one at a dealership in the neighboring state. I call on a Saturday morning and work on the price, my trade and making an offer. Towards the end of the day I don't hear back, but I tell the sales person I want to make an offer. Odd that you have dealt with a potential buyer, got a trade in price of the car, and they make an offer and you never call back? My initial offer is about $1500 off the asking price, perhaps low, but I expected a counter. I call back but the dealership stopped taking calls after 5. I left the sales person an email telling her that I would like to know if the car is available and I would like to leave a deposit. I assume the car sold at the end of the day and they just didn't feel the need to call me. I did some searches with the vin # and one lead directly it being listed as sold.
Get in to work on Monday and wanted to reconfirm that it is sold. I called but could not reach the salesperson (and I don't want to sound sexist, but this "salesperson" seemed like it was her first week working). No calls back, no follow up, everything needed to go past her manager, etc. Get an email at 11:00 am that the car is available and they are knocking 200 off the price if I still want it. I said yes and wanted to leave a deposit. I then get an email that it just sold. Furious, I call the sales manager because I am tired of dealing with this newbie and he tells me that someone strolled in Monday morning at 9:00 am, totaled their car, and just picked up this one unannounced.
Both days, Saturday and Monday, they tell me that they have a similar car for sale, but not as optioned or priced as attractively. Where is this going? It has been over 2 weeks and they are still showing this car as available on both autotrader and their website, despite me asking if it still is available. When I ask the salesperson why, they give me some runaround about website upkeep or other BS. This is 2013 and large upscale car markets have their on IT personnel, so this is BS.
My thought is that this car has been sold even before I talked to them on Saturday. They are just using it as a move to get shoppers to their dealership to push other cars on them. Common move for dealers? I thought I might run it past those here before I leave a review for this dealership for wasting my time.
This is the car still being listed as available:
http://www.davewalterbmw.com/VehicleDetails/certified-2012-BMW-535i_xDrive-Sedan-Akron-OH/1946108463
I was told it sold on 3/4/13