Hey all, let me tell you a short story:

So this past tuesday I test drove an F-Type, negotiated, and agreed on the deal with a JLR dealer in Toronto. I don't want to mention the name yet b/c I'm still working things out, but I want to ask for the experiences people have had with dealers.

I was given an estimated pick up date of today (the 2nd), I wired the entire amount on tuesday afternoon in order to speed that up. I get a call from the salesperson yesterday saying that they can't make the handover today because of a service issue, and that the finance person I had talked to would be in touch. I didn't hear from her despite leaving messages, but talked to her today.

She said that she wasn't really aware of what was happening, and wasn't aware that she was supposed to contact me, that this is something that the salesperson should have been dealing with me, between him and service, to let me know what was preventing the handover. I let her know that I was leaving the country soon and I need a hard date but she said without talking to service she couldn't give me one, but would be talking to them before noon (the call was before 11:30 AM) and get back to me before 2 PM.

So right now, I'm out of a big chunk of money, have no car, and have no date when I can pick it up. Unless there's something I didn't notice in the test drive, the couple things I noted in negotiations were cosmetic.

Does anyone have any insight into if this is normal dealership shenanigans, or is something wrong here? I'm getting quite stressed!

Update
She called back as promised and relayed to me that the main hold up was the steering wheel controls that we had agreed were in poor shape (paint worn off, all white), and the parts taking longer than usual to arrive. Said the service guy told her it should be there wednesday and he felt confident that we could schedule a friday morning pickup. Also said that they found that the front splitter was loose and they had to secure it, but I assume that wasn't contributing to the delay.

So that's where we are now!

 

Sounds like you need to escalate to management. Tell them you paid for the car and you’re getting the run-around.

I disliked the finance person at the dealership where I bought my car. We started with a very pleasant chat, but then he tried hard to sell me all kinds of crap I didn’t want and wanted me to justify not buying it.

 

Well man, the first positive is that you are dealing with a mainline JLR dealership (sounds like it anyway). If that is the case I would rest a bit easier right off the bat. I think I would be more concerned if it was some more hoakey used car dealer somewhere...If something really problematic went down during the transaction you would have a lot more recourse with a real JLR dealer than a used car dealer...I would think anyway...

That said, if I were you I would be seeking absolute transparency concerning what is happening here before you do the final final signing or whatever. I can only speculate, but it sounds like they were prepping the car for delivery and maybe found an issue(s) they were not aware of? I don't know this for sure obviously, but it's only natural to have the brain go there in a situation like this as the purchaser. I would think?

I mean it's a car, problems are normal. I wouldn't freak about it necessarily, but I would be wanting to know what they are doing, or not doing, in that situation. If it were me I would be calling them and politely telling them to convey to the salesman that you won't be closing the deal until they clearly confirm one way or the other whether any last minute work was done on the car. Be nice about it obviously, but get your point across sorta thing...If they have a problem with giving good communication on whatever is going here, THEN I would get worried, and only then. They should have NO problem telling you what is up here.

These are my thoughts only, and what I would do, but you do you man. I would need to feel good about things to proceed myself. That could be cleared with a bit of communication, so I don't think this is likely to be a big deal. You'd rather them notice something and fix it ahead of hand off rather than getting it delivered with problems. That would be worse, to state the obvious ;-) But, I would still want to know the nature and severity of the problem so I could make an informed decision/assessment myself around whether I want to move forward with the purchase...lol...If they're rebuilding the engine or something, yeah, probably not interested...lol

I'm sure it will work out. If they are anywhere near as professional as my JLR dealer you will be fine. Hopin' for you.

Best wishes

Cheers

 

lol, see your update now...I wrote all that for nothing ;-0

Well, whatever, good to hear brother!!

Sounds like a soft landing. Very exciting!

 

There was a one day delay when I went to pickup my new F-Type out of state at a JLR dealer. I drove six hours to get there. The delay was due to the dealer wanting to do software updates to the car and install a new battery. I was fine with that as the car had sat on the lot for a while. I just got a hotel room for the night near the dealer.

Other than that it was an OK experience. They did give me the hard sell on an expensive warranty package for the wheels and tires, which I declined.