Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I've actually been dealing with car dealerships for months now. We bought a traverse in July. These guys had their flaws and it was b/c of the manager. The guy was just NOT NICE. I ended up buying the car b/c I loved it and it was a decent deal. Today we go to Atlantic VW and all was well with the world and the car until the shyster salesperson totally confused us with an offer and we ended up having to renegotiate. We were all frustrated...after hours we were at step 1 again. DH and I had to leave...the manager abruptly took some of my paperwork out of the salesperson's hand...gave it to me and said (angrily) here ya go bye bye have a good day. It may sound dumb..but I was floored...and he was a jerk. I hate car shopping. THanks for reading

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I am not surprised. DH's car was stolen from Atlantic Honda while it was in for service. After swearing up and down that they would cover any repairs it needed (it was recovered) the manager turned around and somehow convinced our car insurance to pick up the cost. The whole process was a nightmare dealing with them, they are total schiesters.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

We dealt with Atlantic Nissan and Hyundai and walked out of there. They refused to price match a quote we had with Habberstad Nissan, they actually tried to "match" our quote by using a lower model thinking we wouldn't notice. They wouldn't give us the VIN, wouldn't let us test drive or even see the actual car. Totally shady, rude, condescending. The manager screamed at us that Habberstad was going to add fees to our price and that we wouldn't get it for that price etc. The price we had was what we would have paid habberstad out the door. Habberstad was great to deal with, we used Zag.com, got a quote, they matched it no problem. They wrote the VIN on the quote everything was simple, honest and above board. We ended up getting a Kia but our situation was a bit unique because we participated in cash for clunkers.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I bought once from Atlantic Nissan and I would NEVER go back there again. Horrible car, horrible service.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

Message edited 9/30/2011 8:08:21 AM.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I've ony had 2 good car buying experiences.

Baron Honda (the guy I dealt with retired )

And Competition Subaru.

Everywhere else I've ever gone has been a game. I hate it.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

The Atlantic and Millennium brands are all jerks. (I use to work for them).

You are better off going with the smaller locations.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

All of those Atlantic dealerships over there in West Islip are terrible.

We've gone to two of them and walked out .

The first time we went, DS was a newborn, WITH US.

We just wanted to walk into the place "and look".

Somehow the saleman ended up with our keys for well over an hour to "get a quote on our car for a trade-in".

DH had to threaten him to get them back.

DS was crying.

They then tried to play more games.

We originally wanted to see what the Hyundai SUVs looked like and they wanted to try to force us to buy the little tiny commuter cars.


I believe the second time we went to look at Nissan Pathfinders and they had absolutely nothing in stock to test drive.

Told us we had to order a catalog on line because they were a "green dealership".

Never heard of such a thing.

After reading such rave reviews on here about the Mazda CX9, we went to Wantagh Mazda and ended up having the most hassle free experience ever.

HIGHLY recommend them.

They let you come in, look, test drive ALONE, etc and then if YOU are interested, they sit down with you to talk.

Message edited 9/30/2011 8:20:51 AM.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

In short, no. Not all car dealerships are like them. Actually, I would venture to say most are not like them. They are notoriously scummy and the only time I ever dealt with them, it convinced me to never, ever, ever deal with them again. They did a whole bait and switch thinking we wouldn't know. Everywhere else we've been has been so much better.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

i cant believe so many people have had bad expriences with Atlantic Nissan. DH bought a brand new car there in March and he didnt have any issues. I dont think he try to negotiate any prices though. He was just happy that they said they would give him everything that he owed on his truck he was trading in since according to KBB we would have not gotten nearly what he owed.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I think because of the economy and the fact that people are not buying cars like they used to, salespeople are resorting to some shady tactics to make their sales. Its horrible.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

Atlantic Chevy is terrible too. I had a Trailblazer from them & we went to look into trading it in for a Traverse. The sales guy kept us there for over an hour & a half dealing with us & then at one point must have decided that we weren't worth it. So he told us he'd be right back & that he was going to try & negotiate a better price w/his boss. 15 min later we saw him helping someone else. We walked right out.

That being said, I've had very good experiences in the past with Sunrise Toyota, Atlantic Honda (shocker, I know!) and most recently with King O'Rourke GMC in Smithtown. O'Rourke was FABULOUS!

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I have NEVER had a good experience with an Atlantic car dealership. They are shady shady shady, and have been for a loooong time.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

Odd man out but I had a great experience with Atlantic Hyundai...so did my parents and my sister.

I also had a great experience with Sayville Ford a few years back.

Worst experience was with Bay Ridge Nissan...

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I have had good experiences with Donaldson's in Sayville. Ive bought from them twice, and used them for service. I did not like Legend though, the girl I met with was not at all knowledgeable. Good luck with the rest of your car shopping.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I have to say that I think "most", not all of course car salesman will tell you ANYTHING to get a sale.
How do I know? Well I was told this EXACT phrase by a car salesman-lol!!
AND...this one works at a luxury car dealership.
I have heard from others (who have the same occupation) not at work...you can get that car...you can double your payments.
I always come back with....I guess if you want me living with you or if I want to live IN the car.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

OMG! I can't believe how many people had trouble with them. We had a bad experience in Atlantic Chevy. the poor guy at Arnold took the brunt from me, since I was on the defensive with him...LOL

We had a pleasant experience at Arnold...awful at Atlantic.


I bought my VW from Donaldson - 13 years ago - but it was great

Island Saab (which isn't Saab anymore) was also great.

Bayside Saab was not.

Westbury Jeep was OK as well.

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

I think the best way to deal with car dealers is online!

I researched prices on edmunds.com, then call up the dealer with the best price. We did all the paperwork via phone/email and they delivered the car to us the next day, 2 guys drove down from Tarrytown to Hoboken!

Best experience ever!

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

Re: Are all car dealerships this bad? Atlantic VW rant

i've purchased from both westbury jeep and smithhaven jeep and both experiences were pleasant!