Dennis Dillion Dodge

[minnow]

Just as a heads up for those that may be looking at buying here. Picked up our truck recently and they have a $299 document fee that I was told about but they also added a $299.50 theft protection fee which is nothing more than VIN etching. I was not aware of that until I saw the paperwork to be signed. There was also a snafu on the out of state sales tax they tried to collect which was several thousand more than what my state requires. They tried to tell me that the state will reimburse me(yeah right). I made them change it to the correct amount. We did save several thousands more than any other quote I had gotten, and am happy about that, but you do need to read all the papers they quickly slide in front of you and not just blindly sign them.
Also there were a few things that the accessories manager wanted to sell me and a few of these things I might of been interested in purchasing there but I told him that since they pulled a fast one with the VIN etching fee that I would not be buying anything extra.

[4bearhug]

goducks10 wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Yep going to an out of town/state dealer and then finding out they were trying to pull a fast one, would make me find a good local dealer. Then what if you need to take it in for warranty work. Are they going to give you a car to drive or make you wait for the work while their loyal customers take priority? That deal may not turn out to be such a great deal after all.

Buy local and support the people that support your home town.

Don

That's easy to say. Try living in a town that's a one horse town. The dealers here think all their trailers have a pot of gold in them.
I've tried to deal with two of them and they think they have the last unit on earth. There's only 3 RV dealers where I live. One is rather small, the other two are midsize. Not the best of selections for brands.
I bought my last 5th wheel 300 miles away. I've only had one minor warranty repair needed. Of course some may of taken it in for some of the little things that needed worked on. That's fine. But the MFG found an independent shop in my town to fix the water leak.

Just me, but the last thing I'll do is drop $1000s on the table just so I can support the local dealer. They all seem to be doing fine as they've been gouging people for years.

As it stands right now the units that we're considering aren't in the town where I live.

Sometimes you have to get outside the box.

I'm with you. Local dealers need to be competitive to earn our business. Also looking for a 3500 SRW on the lot is difficult because of lack of availability. The closest dealer that had one on the lots was about 400 miles away. Local dealers weren't even competitive on locating one and ordering one from the factory was $7-8k more than buying one off the lot.

I just resigned myself to look all over the country for the right truck and factor in a flight to go pick it up. Ended up finding a $60k 3500 SRW D/A for just under $46k about 1000 mi. away. Dealer was great to work with and no surprises whatsoever.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

We'll See wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
My dealer makes no money off the vehicles I buy but this is offset by providing him with F&F numbers so he can sell more vehicles.

Don

I guarantee your dealer still makes money when you buy vehicles from them. If not, they would already be out of business. Don't kid yourself. However, you are probably getting a better deal than many schmucks that walk into a dealer and don't negotiate well.

Nope I can guarantee my dealer is only making the $800 FCA pays them to push the paper work. I work for FCA and we buy under the dealer invoice by 5-6%. The pricing is posted on the bottom of the "Dealers Invoice" along with the Friends & Family (1-1.5% under invoice pricing). This way a dealer can not pull a fast one.

Don

[mtofell1]

Similar but with an RV vs. a truck I recently paid about $2000 more than I could have had the same unit for with a 500 mile drive. My company pays for my gas and I was actually up for the road trip but I opted for the dealer. Mostly for warranty coverage but also due to the fear of what kind of BS would be pulled once I arrived from out of state.

And I also try to support local businesses whenever possible, especially in smaller towns. I travel around a lot for work and always try to gas up and buy things in the small town as opposed to the big city.

[FishOnOne]

minnow wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Yep going to an out of town/state dealer and then finding out they were trying to pull a fast one, would make me find a good local dealer. Then what if you need to take it in for warranty work. Are they going to give you a car to drive or make you wait for the work while their loyal customers take priority? That deal may not turn out to be such a great deal after all.

Buy local and support the people that support your home town.

Don

Well said....

Shopped 7 local Ram dealers and all were $4-7 thousand higher than what I was quoted. None of the locals dealers would even get within 3 grand of the Dillion price. I can rent a lot of cars for a lot of days while waiting for my truck to be serviced for 3 thousand. Loyalty is a two way street by the way.

Loyalty sure is a two way street especially when your truck goes in for repair. The dealer can make or break a warranty repair vs. customer pay. It can be a slippery slope.

[We_ll_See]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
My dealer makes no money off the vehicles I buy but this is offset by providing him with F&F numbers so he can sell more vehicles.

Don

I guarantee your dealer still makes money when you buy vehicles from them. If not, they would already be out of business. Don't kid yourself. However, you are probably getting a better deal than many schmucks that walk into a dealer and don't negotiate well.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

Minnow not sure why a dealer would not want to at least come within a grand of what another dealer is selling for. Even an on-line dealer, they all buy at the same price. Selling more vehicles only increases you order allotment.

However the big dealers can get away with selling at the Friends and Family pricing without needing an employee to get them a number. This only moves vehicles as the dealer only makes around $800.00 on the sale. The F&F and the E.P. pricing is under the dealer invoice so FCA pays them to push paper work.

They make their money (the on-line stores) by selling the customer extended warranties, Vin itching (cost is less than $20.00) and parts and accessories at inflated prices. Than there are those fees that may or may not be legit.

Bottom line if you are not being treated fairly at a dealership than find one that will treat you fairly. My dealer makes no money off the vehicles I buy but this is offset by providing him with F&F numbers so he can sell more vehicles.

Don

[covetsthesun]

It's not just out of state dealers... the locals hide a few things too. I recently looked at a car on the local lot. They'd just got it in on trade and were just as proud as they could be. They should have taken a closer look because that thing had been in a ditch!

The driver's side door didn't quite line up with the front panel and the hood didn't quite close straight.. the rocker panel had gravel and mud packed in where the owner hadn't cleaned it all out. Just for sheer orneryness I took it for a test drive and pointed out everything that was wrong with that vehicle to the salesman. He said he'd "bring it up" to the intake people.

They sent the car to a local autobody company that straightened the frame a little bit and pushed the rocker panel back into place and fixed a few things cosmetically... but a sharp eye would still see that this was a really bad deal. The put it back on the lot as a "great luxury car deal". They sold it to someone... but it told me loud and clear that any vehicle on their lot was to be examined by a mechanic somewhere else. Zero trust. I looked at some of their paperwork... and there were some fees there that were just ridiculous.
cts

[minnow]

FishOnOne wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Yep going to an out of town/state dealer and then finding out they were trying to pull a fast one, would make me find a good local dealer. Then what if you need to take it in for warranty work. Are they going to give you a car to drive or make you wait for the work while their loyal customers take priority? That deal may not turn out to be such a great deal after all.

Buy local and support the people that support your home town.

Don

Well said....

Shopped 7 local Ram dealers and all were $4-7 thousand higher than what I was quoted. None of the locals dealers would even get within 3 grand of the Dillion price. I can rent a lot of cars for a lot of days while waiting for my truck to be serviced for 3 thousand. Loyalty is a two way street by the way.

[FireGuard]

minnow wrote:

FireGuard wrote:
...
I'm surprised about the tax. Pretty easy to figure your tax rate and simple multiplication to get the amount.
Sounds like a South African E Bay deal where they refund the excess tax.

They said they go by a sales tax web site and that told them to collect 7%. My state sales tax is 5% or $300 which ever is lower. So in my case it was $300. They had no problem refiguring it once I brought it to their attention. But with all the out of state deals they do there, I would of thought they would have had the correct information. They may of been correct about the state issuing a refund but I'm not convinced any gov't entity willingly and quickly refunds overpayments.

Boy, I would LOVE to pay $300 in tax. Even 5%.
I paid over $4500 just for sales tax on my truck.
Although, we have a multi billion dollar Bullet Train to places no one wants to go, to pay for.

[FishOnOne]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Yep going to an out of town/state dealer and then finding out they were trying to pull a fast one, would make me find a good local dealer. Then what if you need to take it in for warranty work. Are they going to give you a car to drive or make you wait for the work while their loyal customers take priority? That deal may not turn out to be such a great deal after all.

Buy local and support the people that support your home town.

Don

Well said....

[Y-Guy]

Good article from US News about the various "fees" - click here

Some info about dealer doc fees by state, click here

Some states have rules on dealer doc fees, some don't. Some will limit them too. When I make a deal I shake hands and that price is the out the door price, few have tried to say that was only the vehicle. I have no problems walking out. It's all a profit margin you either choose to play the game or not.

[goducks10]

IdaD wrote:
I don't think I've ever bought from a dealership without having to deal with some of this kind of stuff - security etching, free key replacement program, upholstery protection/repair program, gap insurance, etc. They all do it.

Just a heads up, if you're ever in the market for a Northwood product try Thunder RV in La Grande Or. About as straight shooter as the come. I bought my current 5th wheel from them and the whole deal was over the phone with no deposit. No pressure what so ever.
Besides all the above, he also never even mentioned anything about an extended warranty.
There are some good ones scattered about.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

Goducks good point, guess I've been spoiled having about thirty dealers within 30 miles of us. A few have closed, but for the most part there are at least there dealers of every manufacture here in the metro Toledo area.

As for my dealer I stop in order what I want and when it comes in sign the papers and go. No BS no do you want this or that, heck this last truck I ended up ordering two trucks. When they came in, I picked the one I wanted and he put the other on the lot. He even gave a 3 year old Liberty off the used car lot to drive for 3 months since my 2004 sold so quick no charge.

Don

[45Ricochet]

IdaD wrote:
I don't think I've ever bought from a dealership without having to deal with some of this kind of stuff - security etching, free key replacement program, upholstery protection/repair program, gap insurance, etc. They all do it.

They only mentioned one item when we got the Canyon at Dave Smith, that was the GM extended warranty.