Worst. Experience. Ever!
It seems as though you can’t talk to anybody about buying a car without hearing a horror story of some sort. In fact, it’s a large part of the reason I created Ash Habib Automotive Consulting, to help make the experience a positive one.
I’m going to share one of the most frustrating experiences I had, and I want you guys to share your worst car buying experience too! What better way to spread the word than a contest?
Here are the rules:
You must like Ash Habib Auto Consulting on Facebook
You must reply to this post with your car buying experience story
You must share our Facebook post of this article
That’s It!
Once we reach 1000 likes on Facebook, I’ll go through all of the entries personally. The Top 5 will all receive a $50 Gift Card to Ash Habib Automotive Consulting, and the Winner will also receive a Gold Wash Gift Certificate from the Chamois Car Wash to pamper their ride!
On to the story:
In August 2009, I purchased my current vehicle, a 2010 Genesis Coupe Turbo. I had a friend who was also looking for a car at that time, and wanted something a bit higher performance than what I had, and he had the budget to accommodate. His top pick at the time was a Subaru WRX STi, a great car. I wanted him to at least look at other vehicles to drive and compare, if nothing else, he’d be more assured that he was picking the correct car for him.
At this point in time, I had my car for 11 days, it had about 1000 kms on it, it was brand new off the lot. I convinced him to test drive a brand new, top trim version of my car, a 2010 Genesis Coupe V6 Track Edition in Lime Green. It had been up front on the dealers’ lot for a few months as not everyone was in the market for a $40 000 Hyundai sports car, especially 9 years ago.
So, we pulled into the lot and went to speak with one of the salespeople. And that’s when it began. For context, I was 22 years old at the time, and my friend was 18-19. That being said, we pulled up in my brand new car, which was the same model as we were looking for him to test drive. The salesperson said he had to ask his sales manager. I’m sitting there thinking “For a test drive? Really? OK”, so we waited a few minutes while he went into the sales managers’ office. About 5 minutes later, they emerged together, and the sales manager told us the only way we could test drive the car was if we sat down and wrote down an offer, and go through the process of buying the car, but with a note the sale was contingent on the test drive.
It was at this point I reminded them that this was a $40 000 car, not a $400 000 Ferrari. I even offered for them to hold the keys to my brand new car, once again the same model as we were looking to drive, just a different engine/trim. No dice.
So, we left the dealer, after that my friend refused to even consider the vehicle, and several months later, he purchased a Subaru WRX STi. It’s funny, because the car they refused to let us test drive sat up front for over a year as Winnipeg went through winter, and all through the next summer before it sold.
One of the ideals that we stand for at Ash Habib Automotive Consulting is that everyone should be treated with Kindness, Dignity, and Respect. Sadly, there’s a lot of entities out there that can’t seem to face facts that they work for their customers, not the other way around.
So, if you find yourself looking for a vehicle in the near future, please consider Ash Habib Auto Consulting to help save you time, money, and stress!
Now I want to hear your car purchasing horror stories!!