Help! Need advise! Terrible car buying experience

[ZKindaGuy]

Originally Posted by Captainstevo

I am new to the forum -- I recently posted that I have been looking at a plat graphite touring+sports pkg. The car is on sale for 35K, but i think there is something wrong w/ the tranny, so I am going to pass the deal up.

However, I made an appt with another dealership tonight to test drive a 4oth anniv edition, which they are selling at invoice. After the drive, I offer them the same deal as I could get on the aforementioned car (35K), and they took it. I shook hands on the deal and all. Then, after sitting around for at least an hour while they were doing the paperwork, they come out and inform me that the GM found out the deal that they were giving me, and they couldn't sell the car to me at that price. Holy Shet! It blew my mind. Sooo unprofessional. The GM was actually out of the office today, but I told them to have him contact me asap tomorrow.

What do you guys think? I would think that once they accept an offer and shake they cannot back out. Even if they legally can, it is insane that they would sacrifice their professionalism and reputation. Thanks for letting me vent! Please respond

At all the dealerships that I have dealt with (Ford, Nissan, GM) the General Manager of Finance always is the person who actually has to approve the deal. It is completely apart and separate from what the floor sales folks do. And yes this situation can happen where the floor sales folks think they are within the GM's limits of financial play and they are actually off.

SO in terms of the "handshake" it only means something when the GM is the one shaking your hand. Everyone else doesn't count.