keane-hopkins
kr.hopkins
keane-hopkins

I am a jeans and tee shirt guy, never fancy even when shopping for high end cars. If they don’t want my business then fine they can screw. I remember one time at a BMW dealer I was told to leave my details and someone may get back to me as they were very busy. Opened my wallet and they saw my platinum AmEx, other

My story isn’t really similar, but it does involve a venza. My grandparents were lifelong Cadillac people. They bought a Cadillac when they got married, and bought several more throughout cadillac’s shit era (they were oblivious to caddy being shit, but so were most old people). They wanted a crossover, so they went

My dad bought my Cobalt from Grossinger... when he asked the sales guy why there were extra fees on the paperwork over what he was quoted as an out-the-door price the salesman responded with “oh, those are the hidden fees, I can’t waive those”. So my dad got up and left, and this grown man chased him into the parking

Ha! Had the same once. Local dealer started doing the “no haggle pricing”. I was buying a ‘13 Prius C (commute saver!) Local dealer tells me they’ll match anyone, but really it’s no haggle cuz they only make like $50, so no one will beat them. I find a dealer online selling the exact model/options color 3k

I said it was a learning experience hahaha

A bit of background. I am latino, with a unusual last name, and a very subtle accent. I can easily pass for an anglo-american, but I don’t hide who I am.

Wife was looking for a Venza and found an excellent price on one, how she wanted it equipped at a Carmax in DC (They sell new Toyotas too). We went to the local dealer/salesman to give them a shot of matching the price, since we ate up their time test driving and poking around. After arguing for 15 minutes that it was

The first one that comes to mind is my experience as I prepared to buy a Nissan Juke. I liked the specs, the form factor and the price. I had to drive it to see if it was worth it. I went to the nearest Nissan dealer and allowed hilarity to ensue.

Chevy HHR? There’s your first problem...

2013 Focus ST. Had numerous issues with it and wrestled with the dealer and FoA for quite some time. Eventually I got an extended warranty from Ford for my troubles, so I was good until 75k miles.

Went to Honda dealer at a suburb tucked between Atwater and Pasadena, California (name obscured to protect the guilty) and asked if we could look at an all-wheel drive CRV in the LX (cheapest trim level.) The salesman said, they don’t make them, AWD is only on the higher trims. I said, they do make them, and I want

Dealership employee of nearly 10 years here. I spent 6 years on the sales floor and now I work in operations.

This one isn’t too bad, and it has a happy ending, but when the Dodge Caliber first came out my mom was in the market for a car and thought it looked kinda cool, and would be practical. We hadn’t really seen one yet, so her and I head over to the dealer (I was 16 at the time) to take a look.

I’ve had two. They were pretty minor.

Yes, this was a learning experience on multiple levels. With that out of the way:

Mine was the exact opposite! I was looking at a Mustang (V6, I know, I know) and a GTI (yes, totally different, I wanted a lot of different things, don’t judge me).

Related to the BMW/Audi experience, this was in a Tom McParland post from 2 years ago:

Huh, is that how every cars and coffee mustang video starts?

Please don’t go to a Cars and Coffee event.

Before I bought my current Mustang GT, I was cross shopping between the Mustang, the Audi S3, and the BMW M235i. They were all comparably priced (mid-$40K range) and had comparable performance. I’m youngish for that price range (was 33 at the time), and it was a weekend, so I was dressed in relatively ratty jeans and