Apparently Serra Hyundai in Birmingham does not want to sell me a Genesis

[sawagw]

I saw an ad this weekend in the paper that this dealer had 2010 Genesis with V8 and tech package for $37,981. I have been planning to buy a Genesis for a while but have been wanting to wait until the end of the year. I almost bought a 2009 last year but I liked the ride of the 2010 better so I am waiting. When I saw this price which is lower than anywhere else I decided to call them to see if it was time to up my time frame to purchase a Genesis. When I talked to the sales person she was one of the rudest people I have ever talked to in my life. She said they had a few in stock but would not give me a price until I came in and test drove one and negotiated. I tried to remind her that they advertised the price in the paper and I was just trying to find out if that included destination and other various charges dealers try to hide. She flat out refused to discuss the car or price with me over the phone. I just told her if she would not give me a price then there was no way I could buy a car and she just basically hung up on me. I then tried their web site assuming someone in their Internet department would want to sell a car. After two days no one has responded to my email. I guess I will continue to wait to buy a new Genesis and when I am ready I will make I will not include this dealer on my list of places to shop.

 

[wallymn]

sounds like a standard bait and switch.

when will dealers learn......

 

[Dimitry]

what a bad bad dealership

 

[PINGGOLF]

Hey bud.

I was a resident of Jefferson County...specifically, Homewood for a period of 3 years.

My advice...LOOK ELSEWHERE!

Birmingham...well, I will be nice. Sales Personnel in that area are a different breed of individuals than you would find in Huntsville or Decatur. They could care less if they sell you a car or not...

If you get the opportunity, call Bently Hyundai in Huntsville or Hyundai of Decatur (newly-RE-opened).

Good luck!

 

[sawagw]

I have talked to a few dealers in Atlanta and I will give those two dealers a call when I get closer to a purchase. I checked out their websites and did not see any specials so I will keep waiting.

 

[FrankRizzo]

A couple of notes about the OTHER dealers in the Birmingham area. Tameron $399 DOC Fee, wanted MSRP for the coupe, and when I asked why that way, the salesman told me that they had to pay to PDI the car, and that that money would cover the cost of getting me a loan. YES, they wanted me to PAY for them to get me a loan! This was once I had told them that their $595 package of paint protection (which the salesman admitted to me was nothing more than "Mop N Glow"), fabric protection, and under carriage spray. When he started listing those off, I asked about VIN Etch, or any of the other pure profit items, and told him he was missing out on those. What's really unfortunate, is that they have the Coupe that I want. 3.8L Track in Interlagos Yellow, with Nav., and manual transmission, and refuse to dealer trade it to Bentley. Today, I started getting calls from the sales manager where they said they'd match the $500 over invoice that I had been offered at Bentley. The only problem? They're 1.5 hours away, and will try to gouge me for something stupid, and I know it. So, I'll find my car somewhere else.

That brings us to Jim Burke. They had a special (click current Ads on their site), that says $4500 off any in stock Genesis sedan or coupe. So, I called, and asked about it. They have a $695 delivery package, and a $499 DOC fee. And they refuse to budge on either, or even admit that they're sheisters of the highest order. They wanted me to pay for them to dealer trade me a car from another dealer, with them moving VERY LITTLE off of MSRP.

Which brings us to Bentley. GOOD GUYS. Straight up. $188 DOC fee, and $500 over invoice.

 

[sawagw]

I talked to a manager at Bentley once and he started at invoice so I would think you could do better. I have not checked to see which dealers will honor the Costco price but since that is 3% of MSRP less than invoice that should definitely push some of these dealers to start changing their price. I do not mind traveling to Huntsville or Atlanta to pick up a car. I bought my wife's car from a dealer in Albertville. They drove it down here to drop it off and sign the papers. I never set foot on their lot.

 

[ImInPA]

I did not buy a Genesis for only one reason. The dealer. Period. The pre-sales treatment was so bad, I decided I did not want to take a chance on a "first year car" (this was 2009) and a dealer that I had no confidence or trust in, all at the same time. Since then, The dealer has actually gone out of business (probably one the very few Hyundai locations that did not increase market share.)

 

[waveman]

Hey bud.

I was a resident of Jefferson County...specifically, Homewood for a period of 3 years.

My advice...LOOK ELSEWHERE!

Birmingham...well, I will be nice. Sales Personnel in that area are a different breed of individuals than you would find in Huntsville or Decatur. They could care less if they sell you a car or not...

If you get the opportunity, call Bently Hyundai in Huntsville or Hyundai of Decatur (newly-RE-opened).

Good luck!

I did a double take when I read the title of this thread - it sounded like the experience a friend had at Serra when they tried to sell him a bunch of unnecessary add-ons.

Anyone from the Alabama area have any experience with Tuscaloosa Hyundai?

 

[msitter]

Hyundai should require their dealers to read all these blogs. It would be an easy place to gather the insight to reform their practices. Most of the gripes here are legitimate and at least are worth discussing with the employees of the dealer. Even if some of these problems are embellished it would be a good place to find out what not to do when trying to sell a car to someone.

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[mikec]

Hyundai should require their dealers to read all these blogs. It would be an easy place to gather the insight to reform their practices. Most of the gripes here are legitimate and at least are worth discussing with the employees of the dealer. Even if some of these problems are embellished it would be a good place to find out what not to do when trying to sell a car to someone.

Oh, I'm sure they know they loose a few sales but figure there are way more non-Internet saavy folks out there to make it worthwhile. "There's a sucker born every minute" is still the mantra in many businesses.

Look at this way: how many Genesis cars have been sold now? Compare that to the number of registered - let alone active - members on this site or similar sites. The percentage is quite small. I'll bet including the folks that view this site as Guests doesn't raise the percentage to significant levels.

Hyundai corporate should be the ones paying the most attention to enthusiast web sites:
1: find out what folks really want in their cars --> way better than focus groups.
2: get first-hand info on what folks most dislike.
3: find out what dealerships are hurting Hyundai's corporate image. Hyundai is still battling their historic image of "cheap tin cans" with many potential buyers... and dealers with stone-age sales tactics just make those buyers think "same old Hyundai. Dressed up nice and fancy now, but still crap under the skin." Word-of-mouth advertising, especially for the higher-end Genesis and Equus lines, costs Hyundai nothing but leads to car sales: how many of you have had friends/family consider Hyundai after they saw your Genesis? Lousy dealers kill those potential sales.

mike c.

 

[ctrcbob]

"There's a sucker born every minute"
mike c.

I had a friend in the car business years ago, and he would say;

"There is an Ass for every seat".

 

[STREETS]

Unless car salespeople stopped being paid on commission, one would think they DO want to sell you a car!

 

[waveman]

Unless car salespeople stopped being paid on commission, one would think they DO want to sell you a car!

There is one regional Hyundai dealer that claims that their salespeople aren't paid on commission. Of course, they're still probably incentivized to sell more/expensive cars.