I encourage everyone that reads this to boycott Sterling McCall Toyota. We recently shopped for a Camry hybrid and went to Sterling McCall toyota first. The sales person was very nice and friendly, took his time to show us the car, very personable and knowledgeable. When it came time to negotiate, the new car sales manager came over to chat. I was ready to negotiate and purchase a car. i said, well, let's see if we can reach an agreement on how much profit (dollars over their cost) the dealership should make on this. I said, politely, that I certainly understand they need to make some profit, but I wanted them to be competitive with their offer. the new car sales manager was a complete A-hole. "hybrids are selling like hotcakes . . . at these gas prices, we're selling at sticker, sometimes over sticker. . . " Beyond the fact that this is patently false, he was a complete ass about it, preaching at me and talking down to me and the wife. I told him that if this is truly their position, he should tell his sales folks to tell customers at the outset, so that they can all save their time. We walked out. What I thought about saying, but declined to do so was that he is an idiot, must think we are all idiots, that we're talking about a freaking camry here (an AI moment for me), not a new model Bimmer/mercedes/Lexus for which there is more demand than supply, that i could pay cash for his car but am not willing to deal with a-holes. what gets me is that if he were telling the truth, he should have simply said that he respected our approach but cannot justify selling the car to me at a value lower than what he can regularly get from othe rcustomers. Instead, he preached, tried to act superior, seemed like he felt he could bully someone into a sale, and was a dick. I've since discovered many folks at work and friends of friends have had lousy experiences with Sterling McCall Toyota, both in sales and service. I encourage all that read this to avoid dealing with them. ======== In stark contract, the folks at Joe Meyers Toyota were very profesional and tried hard to earn my business. I walked out with a very good deal and am pleased to refer folks to them to purchase a new car. Frankly, I think I might have squeezed anohter hundred or two off the price but was so pleased with their approach.
i've heard that hybrids usually go for msrp price as well ( particularly priuses ), how much under the list did u get?
Most dealers will do that. I had a spreadsheet and a laptop with me one day and had all of their costs and offered a 3-5% profit for them. They wouldn't budge enough I bought my car at SM Toyota and they gave me the best deal
do you recall who was the sales manager. I think the ass that I dealt with was named Yancy. I'll have to dig up the business card he gave me. Nothing like trashing/calling out an a-hole directly and specifically.
most of the dealer cost data is available on edmunds. it will tell you dealer cost on the car, plus the options available.
No. don't remember his name. it was about a year ago. I'm telling you, most of those guys are going to try to screw you. I don't even let them mention MSRP, b/c it is a made up, random number. To the other poster, go to carbuyingtips.com and spend about 3 or 4 days looking at the website before purchasing a car (if you don't have a lot of experience)
http://www.kbb.com/KBB/NewCars/Pric...leClass=NewCar&ModelId=286&YearId=2008#survey From KBB.com - Camery HYBRID selling at or near invoice.... that is of course you trust Kelley Blue Book.
I enjoy the service I get at Sterling McCall Lexus. I guess I wouldn't know much about their Toyota division.
I was able to buy the car for 3K less than invoice. I'm thinking the market is somewhat efficient, so if i can do that, then folks around the houston area shouldn't be paying invoice. but even if it were true, the guy was a complete assh-le. If he had been polite about it, I might have bought from him. Instead, he took a I'm smarter than you, you're a moron, I don't need you attitute, and we left.
The guys over at SM toyota Ft Bend are assholes too, i was shopping for a used car one day at the dealership and decided to take a picture of the vin number so i could check out a car fax. a fat **** salesman (claimed he was a manager) proceeded to snatch the camera phone out of my hands and go through the files and attempt to delete the picture. Soon the real manger came outside to see what was up and told him he had no right to do that. I was still fuming at the fat **** when he told me infront of his manger to get out of his dealership and he that didn't want to sell me that car for what ever price. that will be the last time i ever go to a sterling mccall dealership.
as do I. I got a gs350 from their lexus division last year, and they were very good to deal with in sales, and the service since.
Yeah, the guy was a jerk, but coming in trying to negotiate based on how much profit somebody else is going to make isn't going to win you a lot of friends. You're inviting a confrontation with that approach.
Oh, and I think I recall the sales manager at Sterling McCall Toyota. Yancy Valenzuela. what a complete dick.
Hispan.... Forget it. Seriously, that kind of seems like an odd way to negotiate when you start talking about how much profit the dealership is going to make. I wouldn't think they like people telling them their business. I bought from John Eagle Honda via their 'online' sales guy. We negotiated via email and he matched a deal from another dealership. He told me to print the email and come in to pick up my car. That's what I did.
I'm always exceedingly polite and have bought 4 cars with that approach over the years. I don't think thats inviting someone to be a dick. People can and do negotiate and conduct business firmly, but politely and professionally. He could have and should have reacted/presented himself more professionally. i think he made a judgment call and decided he would stand a better chance if he went the hard sell/bully/dick route. That's his choice, which leads to me bashing him publicly in a forum with many potental buyers.
I'm a little leery of opinions on an internet message board about the relative quality of different dealerships. Obviously, the dealers stand to profit by putting out good reviews of their business while pretending to be customers in an anonymous forum. Of course, I'm not saying anyone here is, but you know. Anecdotal evidence just isn't very reliable here. That said, Tomball Ford really does clobber big-city prices.
