Unbelievable. In a good way! That’s the word that best describes the sales management team at Progressive Chevrolet. Last night I saw a commercial from them advertising $5000 for any trade on any certified used vehicle. I went to the website and checked inventory to see if they had anything of interest and found a 2019 GMC Acadia. Low mileage, low price, good shape, so I signed up. Next morning started with a text message from a sales rep and after a couple preliminary questions, I decided I would take a drive, one and a half hours away, to buy a car. I also needed a couple additional hours to clear out the work van that I was trading, so I decided to forfeit a day’s pay from work. I asked pointed questions and was reassured by text message that the car was still available and that I would be getting $5000 for my trade which was worth about 1/10th of that, scrap metal and a new set of tires. Upon arriving there were a number of things that raised flags, starting with that the person who came to help me was different from who I had been communicating with. He then proceeded to go through the checklist for trading in a vehicle, and in the back of my mind I was wondering why he was going through all that when he was going to give me $5000 and scrap the van anyway. Flag #2. He went out to bring up the Acadia and I caught him as he parked it outside the showroom, and asked straight up if I was getting the $5K for the van. His response was that that program was only on ‘certified’ vehicles and the Acadia was not one of them. I said it was last night and then showed him the text from his associate that confirmed it. Flag #3. A short debate and he went to get his manager. A longer debate intertwined with his possibly convincing argument and I decided this was all the old bait and switch game and a waste of time, time that I really could not afford to waste. The manager realizing my frustration, offered to fill up my gas tank and instructed the salesman to accompany me to do so, and afterwards headed out. I got about halfway home, maybe 45 minutes out, with thoughts of false advertising, my lawyer daughter, and the state attorney general rumbling through the front of my head, while the financial loss for the day lingered in the back, I get a call from the head manager of the sales department, who said they had looked further into the problem and discovered that it was a typing error by a third party unassociated with the dealership that produced the “Certified” heading. I thought he was simply calling to provide additional explanation and leave it at that. I answered that I lost a days’ work, did all my due diligence so I wouldn’t get into this situation and here we were. Surprisingly, he asked me what I would like to see, to have this resolved. My response was that I came down there completely prepared to buy a car, at the advertised price and get $5K for my trade. He responded by offering $3500. That got my interest and after a little back and forth, agreed on a slightly higher number, compensating me for the new tires that I wanted to replace with junk before I turned the van over, and that barring anything detrimental on the Acadia, we had a deal. I continued home thinking I would go back Monday to close the deal because we had dinner plans with another couple that evening. As we were walking into the restaurant, my phone rings. I answer It and to my surprise, it’s the general manager again. My first thought was that they were backing out of the agreement. He started, “We have been talking about this situation with the owners, trying to sort out what happened as far as the misrepresentation in the advertising and they decided to offer the entire $5000 as advertised.” Wait; What??? Say that again! So he did. I couldn’t believe it. I stammered my way, dumbfounded, through the rest of the conversation and assured him that I would be back the next day, which I did, completed the deal, picked up my Acadia, and as an unexpected bonus, got several free oil changes and warranty stuff unexpectedly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use the oil changes because it doesn’t make sense to drive three hours for that.
So for anybody that might be thinking that all car dealers are the same and routinely practice bait and switch tactics, I can unequivocally state that PROGRESSIVE CHEVY is not one of those. Also, a little preemptive preparation doesn’t hurt.
