gotta vent!!

[korgull]

Hi all,OK.. I get my 2004 Neptune Vibe on Saturday.. Im pumped.. the yellow contract gave me a price of 21494 minus the rebates ( $1000 for the Vibe, $750 for the "loyalty" rebate.. Im going to miss my '90 Regal GS..) should be 19744... well, I am told by the dealer that the remaining price is 20136.. $392 more than I thought!!! Well.. Im told that there was some "advertising" charges as well as some other nickel and dime stuff.. I was VERY close to walking away (still mad).. the dealer said he'd throw in a couple of free oil changes (whoopie...).. anybody else encounter this kind of shock? This car was ordered.. so why should advertising even apply?? Oh.. he did say that Vibes were selling like hotcakes.. yeah.. thats why he had 10 in the lot (Milwaukee, WI).. Ford didnt do this when we bought our '02 Escape....just venting.. Im sure Ill be happy when we pick up the car.. but its not $20 were talking here...

[Triton]

I have heard of another dealer doing this to a coworker of mine. He told them to take it off or he was walking. They didn't believe him until he got up and started walking out. They agreed to drop those extra charges. I don't know if you want to push that hard, but you may want to talk to the sales manager.

[joatmon]

If you have a contract for the vehicle and those charges are not listed, then you shouldn't pay them. Kinda depends on how desperate you are to have the car, but threatening and following through with walking away from the deal may be worth it. Probably can't get them to drop the extra charge and throw in the freebies too as a way to make it up to you for trying to inflate the cost.However, if the costs are listed, or they can adequately justify themselves to you, then there's no argument.Hopefully they are not charging you to put their dealership stickers on your new car, I always felt that dealers should pay the owner for the advertising space.I hope you can get some satisfaction from them so that it doesn't taint your whole "vibe owning experience" Nice color, what else are you getting on it?

[korgull]

well.. unfortunately.. if I did walk, I would have to order a new vehicle somewhere else.. and then I would loose the $1750 in rebates.. (that would be my luck).. I am getting a 2004 Neptune Vibe (two-tone) AWD, Moon and Tunes Package, Power Package, Protection Package, Side Impact Airbags, six-disc changer, 16" Aluminum wheels. I got most of the accessories from http://www.gmpartsdirect.com, as well as ordering a hood deflector from http://www.carbras.com (nice people there..) as the hood deflector from the dealer was $92 and had to be attached via 3M tape.. the one from carbras.com was $75 (price includes shipping).. The salesperson is nice, but I guess I wouldnt have been so mad if either a) I had paid more attention or b) they would have made it more obvious that sometimes fees like that were not included in the price they were quoting me.. I specifically requested that they do NOT put the dealer sticker on.. All in all, if they had communicated this to me more clearly (or I just knew better, I wouldnt be so mad)..maybe I can get a free cargo net instead of the oil changes.. I paid flat invoice for it.. maybe I was ahead of the game already

[Hot Vibe]

It is too late now to get your money back. Your signature locked in the price. When it came time for me to sign, instead of extra BS prices I had them take an extra $300 off if I could find something that the Z9999(delivery/prep charge)labor code is supposed to cover before a customer drives away. Since I had to do it myself and the dealer gets paid for it I was paid for it by the dealer. I am not going to say but it was somthing that pissed me off and should have been done.

[Vibe Rater]

I wouldn't be too happy about this. My dealer at the time of delivery tried a few things like this, and after waiting too long for the car, I was in no mood to take their crap. Don't let the nice salesperson make you feel like they're doing you a favor selling you the car. Even if you are a GM employee and getting the car for invoice, your employer cuts them a sizable check on your behalf. I think the dealers do better on GM emloyee deals than they do on any other deal with a walk-in customer. They don't want you to know that though. They want you to think you're getting the car for dealer cost and they're doing all this work for you for nothing. That's simply not true. As I said, your employer compensates them with about $2000.00 on your behalf. They could easily eat the 'extra' charges they dream up. In fact, they're probably charging you their 'dealer lot fee', which you should NOT be paying if it was a factory order. No need to take a dump on the showroom floor - yet, but I would be very persistent and demand to speak to the manager and be ready with some facts for them.

[korgull]

I am not a GM employee.. I misspoke when I said "flat" invoice.. I just meant to say invoice.. I thought I was a little ahead as the dealer in Rochester, MN wouldnt go much lower than $200 over invoice.. the dealer in Milwaukee, WI (my parents and wifes parents live there), easily gave it for "invoice".. yeah.. I know there are some incentives that they get.. but like I said, that "hidden" stuff should have been spelled out..

[Mathew_M]

This is gonna' hurt a little but: You just gave your salesman a $400 tip.I took my dad along (I'm a young looking 28 year old male) and let him deal with the salesman. Up front my dad told the salesman, a nice enough young fellow, that he had walked out of this said dealership twice in the past because of nickel and dime stuff. He wasn't lying either. He mentioned this several times during the deal to keep the salesman on his toes. In the end we got a pretty good deal. I say the end because even during the financing part, when we decided to go through GMAC they tried to get more money out of us by trying to say that could not put more than $8000 (an amount most people would never dream of putting more down on). When we threatened to take our financing elsewhere the dude makes that "call" to inform us that yes we could put more than $8000 down.Always keep the salesman on his/her toes and never be afraid to walk out.The first dealer I went to didn't even want to sell me the car after I told him what rebates were available. He kept on trying to point out the 'money box': one of those stupid clear, telephone booth looking things that you stand in and try to grab dollar bills blowing around. I'm there to buy a car not play a gameshow. Your best revenge here is to fill out all negatives on the Customer Satisfaction slip.

[jake75]

It is difficult for the veteran car buyers here to help you without all the facts. If you made a deal at "invoice" less the rebates, ask to see the invoice. The invoice generally does include "advertising charges" and depending on the dealer zone $392 is not unusual. I bought from a dealer in the boondocks and it was only $188. The invoice also often includes small fees for gasoline and customer notification (a charge which I assume covers the manufacturer's cost in sending you the dealer survey etc.). One of your posts mentioned a "Protection Package". Is that the grossly overpriced and overrated (IMO) dealer applied paint and fabric protection? Most of us veteran car buyers tell the dealer NO on that one. EDIT: I see that the "protecton Package is the side air bags and alarm etc. from factory - 575.00/511.75.I don't know if the 6 cd changer is aprt of the Moons & Tunes.Assuming it is KKB (www.kbb.com) puts the invoice at 21,386.33; and the adv. charge would be on top of that. It seems you are in the ballpark.I see that the current incentive is set to expire 9/2/03, but no doubt they'll be another on starting 9/3. Reminds me of the guy who stopped at the gas station and asked for $5 worth. Well, said the owner, you'll be the last one gettign the gas at the old price. The guy said, "In that case, fill it up" . AFter the guy left the owner lowered the price by 5 cents a gallon.