@mjt9598 wrote:

One big problem with dealership shops is that so many of them are part of huge companies, so they share a computer system with their other locations and will have shoppers marked in the computer system at multiple dealerships.

That must have been what happened to me while on a Kia shop. They had all of my contact information in their computer. Imagine my surprise when the salesman never asked for any of my contact info (he obviously had my email addy from my inquiry), yet the quote had everything on it, except that my address was an old one. This dealership is owned by a company that owns several other brand dealerships in the area. I'd contacted them years ago about a car I'd seen on their website--at a different dealership--so they must keep this information on file forever. Fortunately, none of the Kia dealerships in my area seem to be affiliated with this company. Even if they were, I have a good reason to visit another one, in case someone should see that I'm in the system as having visited another Kia dealer recently.

I did another Kia shop, highly bonused, today. The salesperson was superb. However, after sitting in the car and telling me about every feature and button, she told me that she was going to let me take the test drive myself. I have personally never been allowed to go on a test drive by myself, and I have been buying cars since 1976. I can recall some dealers who knew my father very well permitting that in the early 1960s.

@BirdyC wrote:

Back to the Kia shop, do these go up to $135 very often, in your experiences? I'm waiting for one that's at $125 now to go to $135, but it's not budging! I might just take it at $125 and see if I can find at least one other job in the area. By the time I factor in the cost of gas to shop that location, that $125 decreases pretty rapidly!

There is currently one in Nebraska for $175 and one in Kansas for the same fee. Fees for any shop has to do with coverage. If y’all keep picking shops off the board for shillings, they never have a chance to raise them for much higher fees.

@myst4au wrote:

I did another Kia shop, highly bonused, today. The salesperson was superb. However, after sitting in the car and telling me about every feature and button, she told me that she was going to let me take the test drive myself. I have personally never been allowed to go on a test drive by myself, and I have been buying cars since 1976. I can recall some dealers who knew my father very well permitting that in the early 1960s.

So I am currently looking for a car. I went with the dealership sales person on the test drive. He told me to pull in somewhere and the low profile of the car scratched the curb. When we got back they tried to charge me for it. I was horrified. Never had that happen before and it turned into a pretty ugly situation with a credit card company and the dealership because they were literally holding me hostage. I wasn't doing anything reckless I went where he told me to go and he had me going into a parking lot that had a huge dip coming in. This was not for a mystery shop! But I am now very very cautious about test driving anything especially since insurance follows the car and the dealership should have insurance for stuff like this. Just my cautionary tale...

I ended up doing my last one for $125 because it didn't look like they were going to up it again, plus the new ones at $80 were starting to go fast. It seemed weird that a leftover one at $125 wasn't being taken when ones at $80 were, even though some of the dealerships weren't that far away from each other. Oh, well....

I have to say, though, that this was the first car shop that I lever eft feeling kind of rotten about never intending to buy. The salesperson was so enthusiastic, although she didn't show me as many features as I'd have liked to see, and her manager upped my trade-in by almost $3,000 over the first quote. It was kind of hard to keep saying I wasn't ready to buy yet with that kind of incentive. Everybody at the dealership was friendly, chatting with me, offering me coffee, etc. I would absolutely go back there if I were really in the market for a Kia. I'd want the turbo version, though, and they didn't have one on the lot. I tried one on the last shop I did, and I was quite impressed.

I've had several of these in my area that are $125 and over and wondered why. Just based on comments here, I am guessing this shop is more than just looking at a new car like the old dealership shops were (before COVID). These require the screen shots (many?), a visit, test drive (sometimes alone), and we give them our vehicle to appraise for a trade in. And we have to get all this in writing. Oh, and we get a written offer on the new vehicle. Anything else? Two weeks ago there were 4-5 of these within 30 miles of me - 3 were less than 20 minutes. I think we have all been burned a few times by the emails saying "this is an easy shop", and it turns out being so much more. BTW, did any of you that did a test drive get asked for your drivers license and insurance info? The last car shop I did they scanned my drivers license, which put it into their system. Even though I have asked them to remove me for every mailing list (new sales people, new sales managers, etc), I still get the occasional email - that's been 5-6 years ago.

I did a bunch of these and it's been a week and a half and I have not heard back from the MSC. There was no requirement for a trade in appraisal on the ones I did.

You had to give your license, real name, number, email, address, everything.

It took me hours to do each one. The initial part took over an hour each with the contact needed and all of the screen shots and keeping track. I needed to drive an hour to a few of them. So, three hours with getting there and time at the dealership. Then, writing it up and waiting for the response.

You need screen shots of all text messages, PDFs of all emails, call logs, everything.

I have done shops for Cadillac, Tesla, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Honda, VW, Toyota, Hyundai, Audi...I'm sure there are more, I have done a good hundred. And, these Kia were the most time consuming. And, I don't even know if I will get paid for all of this work. It's been silence from the MSC.

I wasted four of my five day vacation running around doing these. You can likely sense the frustration.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2023 12:52AM by Niner.

They did not ask for my driver's license when we went on a test drive. Only when I requested a best price quote then he took my driver's license to the back to apparently confirm my address. Second guessing this, I probably should've written down the information or already had it on a piece of paper and told him to "use this."

The dealership I went to is selling above the total MSRP. I can't imagine that the manufacturer is pleased with this since they aren't getting any of that.

I think the shop is time consuming. Seems like you could spend 2 hours or more on a Saturday at the dealership and less on a weekday to get that portion of the shop done. There are a lot of file uploads involved.

Every Kia dealership I visited (6 of them in 3 different states) was quoting prices about 10% over MSRP. They generally had very few cars. Maybe 1 or 2 Sorento models. A few Forte, etc.

@heywave wrote:

The dealership I went to is selling above the total MSRP. I can't imagine that the manufacturer is pleased with this since they aren't getting any of that.]

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

@Niner wrote:

I did a bunch of these and it's been a week and a half and I have not heard back from the MSC.

These seem to be taking longer to get approved than what this MSC usually takes. The first two I did, both getting approved, took about a week or maybe a little longer. The last one I did is still not approved, and it's been well over a week. Don't get discouraged thinking they won't be approved.

There's no requirement to have a trade-in factored into your best-price quote. I think if they do it's probably based off of your initial inquiry stating whether or not you had a trade-in.

The last one I did was almost an hour from me, and I couldn't find any other shops nearby to defer the cost of travel. But the fee was enough so that I, assuming it gets approve (and it may not, but after doing the first two, I felt pretty confident in this last one), I'm still making out well.

At the three I've done, they've all quoted MSRP but all have said that until recently they were able to sell these above that. The only wiggle room I got was in how much they valued my trade at. I was given more than the initial value all three times before I got their "best" price.

I like these; once I knew exactly what PDFs and screenshots are needed, they got easier. These took me less time than the online-only, multi-part shops for $40+ offered by another MSC. There are only two more locations within a reasonable distance from me left, but I'm only seeing $80 and less. Not driving an hour or more r/t for that, plus doing the actual shop.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2023 03:55PM by BirdyC.

I did them at the start of April and I am still waiting. How much were you able to do these for? There are more at $75 and $80 that are local enough that I could do them, but not until I know they take the others. They do get easier once you figure out what is needed.

I did the first one at $65, which was the then-base rate, since it was 10 minutes from me; $100 for the second; and $125 for the last one.

They seem to be doing so many of these shops that it looks like editing is really backed up.

ETA: First shop was at $60, not $65. Probably stupid of me to take it at that, but at that point these were fairly new, and I wasn't sure if/how much the fee would go up. Still not a bad shop for that amount.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2023 02:34PM by BirdyC.

There is one about 90 miles east of me that is currently listed for $200 and I’m still nervous about accepting it. I don’t do well with associate interaction… I’ma chatty Cathy when I’m nervous and that just means I’d have a lot of explaining to do if I’m at the dealership for more than an hour. I’m also not good at writing long narratives.
I might offer them $225 and see if they accept.

The narratives don't have to be long, but it's really dependent on what happens during the interaction with the associate. It's pretty hard to not ask questions about the vehicle, because I feel like what serious buyer wouldn't? You just have to hope they show or talk about enough features (it doesn't have to be a ton). I've been just about at or under an hour at all three, and the last one was an hour only because the manager wouldn't let me leave! LOL. He really wanted the sale, and he really wanted my trade in. Not sure I'd take it for $200, either, being that far away.

Is there another one closer for less $$ that you could schedule before the other one and use it to get your feet wet?

Thank you for the heads up on the narrative.

@BirdyC wrote:

Is there another one closer for less $$ that you could schedule before the other one and use it to get your feet wet?

That’s the closest one to me. The next closest is 241 miles to the south in Kansas. Definitely not worth only $200.

The way I look at it, 241 miles
es is $157.86 at the IRS mileage rate or $315.71 round trip. Plus I expect some nominal hourly rate for the four (my guestimate) it takes to drive there, and 4 hours to drive back. Plus tolls. So, if I was submitting PAD, I am probably at $500 plus tolls. This is an all-day job. I could be doing something else. Time is money.

@misspocos75 wrote:

Thank you for the heads up on the narrative.

@BirdyC wrote:

Is there another one closer for less $$ that you could schedule before the other one and use it to get your feet wet?

That’s the closest one to me. The next closest is 241 miles to the south in Kansas. Definitely not worth only $200.

@misspocos75 wrote:

I’ma chatty Cathy when I’m nervous and that just means I’d have a lot of explaining to do if I’m at the dealership for more than an hour.

One weird trick I use on my video shops is to have a cough drop or Jolly Rancher, etc. in my mouth. I have to keep my mouth shut to keep it in place, so I talk MUCH less. Sounds bizarre, but it really made a difference in my “Chatty Cathy” nervous babble.

@ColoKate63 wrote:

Sounds bizarre, but it really made a difference in my “Chatty Cathy” nervous babble.

It doesn't sound bizarre, really. I think it's a great idea and will have to use it. On new-to-me shops, I sometimes run on at the mouth.

@ColoKate63 wrote:

One weird trick I use on my video shops is to have a cough drop or Jolly Rancher, etc. in my mouth. I have to keep my mouth shut to keep it in place, so I talk MUCH less. Sounds bizarre, but it really made a difference in my “Chatty Cathy” nervous babble.

That’s a great idea! Especially if it’s something hot, since I don’t do well with spicy things. It’ll make me want to leave asap to get that outta my mouth! LOL

Entranced more info please

The roatations must have been waived for me....I have done the same KIA dealerships every two or three months now!

@salisburync wrote:

The roatations must have been waived for me....I have done the same KIA dealerships every two or three months now!

Have you ever ended up with the same salesperson? *That* would be awkward.... I'm not sure there is a rotation, is there?

@mjt9598 wrote:

One big problem with dealership shops is that so many of them are part of huge companies, so they share a computer system with their other locations and will have shoppers marked in the computer system at multiple dealerships.

Excellent point. If you do more than one of these, be sure to use a name variation and a different phone number and email each time so you don't get flagged.

@veebeeshops wrote:

@mjt9598 wrote:

One big problem with dealership shops is that so many of them are part of huge companies, so they share a computer system with their other locations and will have shoppers marked in the computer system at multiple dealerships.

Excellent point. If you do more than one of these, be sure to use a name variation and a different phone number and email each time so you don't get flagged.

That's kind of hard to do when they require a copy of your driver's license to take the test drive. That's a whole different can of worms that has already been discussed on the forum.

They are not doing research on your identification. Most are looking at the official seal on your license and that it is a license, not just a state i.d., so you can take the test drive. Of all the places, including these types of shops, where I have been asked for my license and I already gave a variation of my name, no one ever said a word to me.

When I did mine, rather than responding to the email I used for the inquiry they responded to an email address that I had used for a shop there years ago, which was stored in their computer system under my name and phone number.

@misspocos75 wrote:

There is one about 90 miles east of me that is currently listed for $200 and I’m still nervous about accepting it. I don’t do well with associate interaction… I’ma chatty Cathy when I’m nervous . . .

I did one of these and it was primarily asking a few questions and letting the salesperson do most of the talking.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2023 03:46PM by shopnyc.

I did one earlier this month for $125. The car dealer didn't even have the car anymore when I got there (made the appt on Friday, visited on Monday), nor did they have any of that model left, so no test drive and no car demonstration. They never even followed up with me.

That said, I'd do another for $100+.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2023 03:34PM by MisterBill.

The one I visited did not have ANY of the models listed on the shop. They had just one expensive new car. They were selling before they even came in, and they couldn't get more than a few at a time. They said that they had eight dealerships, so the cars shown on the website could be located at other locations.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2023 12:25AM by mjt9598.

I really should have held off. I am seeing emails for the dealerships around me going for $115 and I did it for way less.