I was in the market for a truck and since I live very close to the dealership, I thought I would check their inventory. \r
The quality and selection on their lot was very good. However, I was looking for a crew-cab and there wasn't one available. So I went home and went on Craigslist.\r
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I have purchased from Craigslist before and have been satisfied with the experience. This day, I went online and found one that I really liked for $12,500. I didn’t call on it yet though. The following evening me and my girlfriend drove back by the dealership. In the back of the building we saw a couple of new trucks. I went to take a closer look at them and sure enough, one of them was a crew-cab—and it was looking very familiar to me. I knew that I had seen this truck before and sure enough after we came home I went on craigslist and found what I suspected was the same truck. \r
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The seller still had the posting up so I was very interested to see if his truck was still available. I called the owner and his first words were, “Are you calling from the dealership?” I said no but I asked if the truck is still available. Soon I found that the truck was sold to a Ford Dealership for $12,500. The next day the dealership called me first thing in the morning telling me they had a truck come on the lot and that I should go and take loot at it. After a short test drive I found paper work in the glove box showing that the previous owner was from the same city as the one online, the miles were exactly the same, and everything on it was the same including the VIN. This was the same truck.\r
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I wanted to hear what the salesman had to say. First I asked him how they acquired the truck and he told me it was a fresh trade-in for a car. When I asked the used car manager inside he told me that they went and picked it up. Right away there were two different stories, though one was honest. The average consumer, however, could easily be misled, as I am sure many are. \r
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The best price they were able to offer me was $17,500. Although they didn’t SAY that’s what it would cost. They never really gave a price for any vehicle I inquired about. What they said was, “We will take so much down, so much in financing, etc.” Then we had to add up numbers to try to get a simple price. \r
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We told them that we knew they just got the truck the night before for $12,500 and that we would pay a little more for it going through the Ford inspection and whatnot, but no deal. They wanted the $5,000 profit overnight. \r
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That being said, they probably have good cars on the lot, but if you can save $5000 on a car, I can assure you that that money will be enough to fix.\r
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Well that was my experience with this dealership and if they want to make $5000 over night I can just imagine what else they do. \r
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I hope that would give you some power in the negotiation process if you decide to buy a car from there. Good luck and I hope you get a “deal”\r
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