A friend wanted my help getting his fiance a new car, just an inexpensive compact sedan, so we zeroed in on Jettas and Elantras, both being sub-$15k. I've bought a handful of cars from dealers, have sales experience, have finance knowledge, and have no problem calling someone out on their BS, so it usually makes for an interesting time. While I am prepared for their BS, I always give them a chance to be well-intentioned and fair.
I'll try to be brief, but wanted to share in case anyone else in the CLT-metro area is in the market. We first shopped online, and Keffer VW Huntersville seemed to have the best prices for Jettas while Modern Hyundai in Concord had the best deals on Elantras.
Keffer VW Huntersville
Our first stop, offered $50 Amazon gift card for doing a test drive
Advertised 2017 Jetta S (base) for $13,535
Sales guy was new to the area, seemed a bit uncomfortable, but was decently nice
Test drove car, he was willing to let us drive however long we wanted, almost where ever. Better product specialist than sales person
Low balled us on the trade. $2500 Kbb private party, 1300-1500 via Keffer's trade in tool online, $800 kbb trade in value (worst condition), they offered $300
We didn't NEED to trade it so decided we'd sell it on CL for like $2k
We began talking numbers back in his borrowed office and they start off at $16,330
They added $100 to the online sale price, plus $1,000 for recent graduate discount we didn't qualify for, plus$1,695 for the "Keffer Advantage"
The "Keffer Advantage" is where things began to get good... It includes basic maintenance, oil change, extra 2yr warranty, window tint, edge guard film, state inspections IIRC
After breaking things down, clearly showing/telling them that this package is only advantageous to Keffer, and telling them we don't see the value in this package and therefore will not pay for it, they offered $482 for tint and edgeguard which was already applied to all vehicles and was "their cost".
I insisted that if $482 is their cost that they need to find a new tint guy because they're getting ripped off. I've had 2 sedans tinted for $200 and I'm just a 'joe blow' with a single vehicle, surely a dealer can get huge volume discounts.
It took me a while but I finally discovered that the recent graduate discount is only $500 not $1k, so they were padding in an extra $500
When we hinted at getting our own financing, they said they would add another $750 to the price because of another incentive from VW financial
They wouldn't give us an itemized list of incentives and wanted to keep playing games
Their bottom line was online price + $1k grad incentive + $482 tint = $15,017, we didn't bother moving forward with financing, and I could only imagine the games they'd try there
We left and from that point they had maybe a 25% chance of regaining our business but it would have cost them dearly.
Fast forward 3 days later, they called my friend saying they can't honor the $50 Amazon gc deal!
Modern Hyandai Concord
Stopped in Black Friday
2018 Elentra SEL $15,559, +$900 more than SE (base) model for touchscreen, backup cam, blind spot monitoring
Salesman was very nice, clearly enjoyed his job
Test drive was uneventful, got the exact car we were looking at
When we began talking numbers, price was about 2k higher than online price but immediately corrected without hassle
We decided to simply sell her old car on CL and not even try to trade it in.
The Modern xyz package, similar to "Keffer's Dis-advantage" was $1,100 but the dealer discounted the car $1470 on top of all of the mfg rebates. They were unwilling to budge more than $200. No surprises with incentives.
So only a few hundred more for the Elantra with more features and nearly double the warranty, albeit a marginally smaller car.
Salesman was pretty slow to return every time he ran off to get the test drive car, get numbers from finance mgr, get car detailed before delivery, etc but that was our biggest complaint.
Financing process was smooth and easy, rate was slightly better than expected, again no surprises
Certainly not the quickest buying experience but one of the most pain free.
Bottom Line:
Modern was so easy to deal with that my friends didn't really need me there and it kind of took the fun out of navigating the typical dealership games. The overall ease of purchase rivals Carmax, whose financing policy frankly blows if you have great credit. I wouldn't even consider Keffer in the future due to an apparent lack of integrity.
I'll try to be brief, but wanted to share in case anyone else in the CLT-metro area is in the market. We first shopped online, and Keffer VW Huntersville seemed to have the best prices for Jettas while Modern Hyundai in Concord had the best deals on Elantras.
Keffer VW Huntersville
Our first stop, offered $50 Amazon gift card for doing a test drive
Advertised 2017 Jetta S (base) for $13,535
Sales guy was new to the area, seemed a bit uncomfortable, but was decently nice
Test drove car, he was willing to let us drive however long we wanted, almost where ever. Better product specialist than sales person
Low balled us on the trade. $2500 Kbb private party, 1300-1500 via Keffer's trade in tool online, $800 kbb trade in value (worst condition), they offered $300
We didn't NEED to trade it so decided we'd sell it on CL for like $2k
We began talking numbers back in his borrowed office and they start off at $16,330
They added $100 to the online sale price, plus $1,000 for recent graduate discount we didn't qualify for, plus$1,695 for the "Keffer Advantage"
The "Keffer Advantage" is where things began to get good... It includes basic maintenance, oil change, extra 2yr warranty, window tint, edge guard film, state inspections IIRC
After breaking things down, clearly showing/telling them that this package is only advantageous to Keffer, and telling them we don't see the value in this package and therefore will not pay for it, they offered $482 for tint and edgeguard which was already applied to all vehicles and was "their cost".
I insisted that if $482 is their cost that they need to find a new tint guy because they're getting ripped off. I've had 2 sedans tinted for $200 and I'm just a 'joe blow' with a single vehicle, surely a dealer can get huge volume discounts.
It took me a while but I finally discovered that the recent graduate discount is only $500 not $1k, so they were padding in an extra $500
When we hinted at getting our own financing, they said they would add another $750 to the price because of another incentive from VW financial
They wouldn't give us an itemized list of incentives and wanted to keep playing games
Their bottom line was online price + $1k grad incentive + $482 tint = $15,017, we didn't bother moving forward with financing, and I could only imagine the games they'd try there
We left and from that point they had maybe a 25% chance of regaining our business but it would have cost them dearly.
Fast forward 3 days later, they called my friend saying they can't honor the $50 Amazon gc deal!
Modern Hyandai Concord
Stopped in Black Friday
2018 Elentra SEL $15,559, +$900 more than SE (base) model for touchscreen, backup cam, blind spot monitoring
Salesman was very nice, clearly enjoyed his job
Test drive was uneventful, got the exact car we were looking at
When we began talking numbers, price was about 2k higher than online price but immediately corrected without hassle
We decided to simply sell her old car on CL and not even try to trade it in.
The Modern xyz package, similar to "Keffer's Dis-advantage" was $1,100 but the dealer discounted the car $1470 on top of all of the mfg rebates. They were unwilling to budge more than $200. No surprises with incentives.
So only a few hundred more for the Elantra with more features and nearly double the warranty, albeit a marginally smaller car.
Salesman was pretty slow to return every time he ran off to get the test drive car, get numbers from finance mgr, get car detailed before delivery, etc but that was our biggest complaint.
Financing process was smooth and easy, rate was slightly better than expected, again no surprises
Certainly not the quickest buying experience but one of the most pain free.
Bottom Line:
Modern was so easy to deal with that my friends didn't really need me there and it kind of took the fun out of navigating the typical dealership games. The overall ease of purchase rivals Carmax, whose financing policy frankly blows if you have great credit. I wouldn't even consider Keffer in the future due to an apparent lack of integrity.