Are We Senior Villagers A Targeted Group?
 

This happened six months ago but I'm still outraged over it. Took my 2016 Honda CRV to Jenkins in Leesburg for servicing. After about 45 minutes waiting a young man said he wanted to talk about my vehicle. First, let me say it was a beautiful vehicle and we loved it! He said our CRV was 4 years old and had been in an accident. Which I knew as I had been sideswiped and the CRV repaired by my insurance co. He said the value had dropped greatly. Wanted me to buy a new CRV. I didn't want to. He then brought another man over, now 2 hours, then brought a third man over, 3 hrs, then a fourth salesman over, now nearly 5 PM. I am 90 years old and was very confused on what to do, as was my wife. I finally gave up, too mentally drained, to learn I could not have a candy-apple red one, they only had 2020's left, and would have to take a silver one. I wanted to have my brand new Michelin tires put on it; told I could not as different size. I wanted heated seats, not available. Did it have my old reliable GPS...no, had to use a cell phone but I only have a flip-phone. Totally unhappy with the pressure to take the car I now have. I'm too old and tired to deal with all that. Yesterday even with my wife's cell phone I couldn't get the navigation to work. Why do we have to be targeted by dealers like that? Jenkin's is great for service but low bar for harassment of seniors!

Wait til they suggest the air in your tires needs to be changed because it goes bad.

Answer - YES. In every way imaginable and some that you have never thought of. Seniors are one of the most targeted groups for spam, con's, and more. Always be cynical and question ANY cold contacts. Here in The Villages never do business with a door knocker. On and on and on... It seems instead of honoring our elders, we are now a nation that exploits our seniors. #SAD

Yes!

Just say NO!

A few years ago we were in the market for a more comfortable SUV. We wanted to check out the Toyota Highlander at Jenkins Toyota. The young man who snagged us would not show us the Highlander. Wanted us to pick out our options.

We weren't ready to pick out options. We needed to pick out a base model. He wouldn't budge. Policy, have to pick out options, then pick vehicle. Nope. We left, a bit noisily.

I think the game is once you pick out options, in some minds, the car becomes more 'theirs' and they are more likely to purchase something.

We won't be back; we don't spend money where we are treated like stubborn children.

Not just seniors. Young, inexperienced car buyers are also targeted by dealers. I think that car manufacturers should require their dealers to advertise and sell cars like most other retailers. Set a price for everyone to pay and that would make it fair to all customers. But, I would pay a lot more for cars. Because, when I buy a car, I tell the dealer how much I will pay, and if they don't accept it, I'm gone. They don't intimidate me at all.

I think you might mean Phillips Toyota Jenkins does not sell new Toyota’s. Both are bad to do business with.
Get out of the BUBBLE when shopping for a new vehicle.

its why I wouldn't go to a dealer for service unless I had to. the sales harassment. but yes, very old people are probably seen as an easy mark

Old or young we are gonna get the pitch from slick Eddie. Get outa there. Don't eat that Elmer, it's bovine excrement. Don't buy from door knockers. Don't let salesmen/women twist your arm.

Yes. Lots of people think old people are stupid. Prove them wrong.

Uh-oh, you may be right. *wipes egg off face*

We did get out of the bubble.

Never let a salesman take control of a situation, will never end well for you.

Hum at 90. I've not made that yet but, perhaps I would tell him, I just lost my job shoveling manure and for only a few bucks, cash of course, I will give him lessons.

Perhaps, the reason why when they call they ask for my wife.

Close friend had an identical situation a couple of years ago. Fairly new Cadillac got sideswiped in parking lot accident. $5,000 damage. While at the dealership sales manager approached and had the same song and dance. Tremendous loss in value due to damage. Even alleged it would show up on a Carfax report, despite the fact they don't release customer information to Carfax.

Fortunately she blew him off and got the car fixed and kept it.

So I don't really doubt the basic premise of the story or the possibility of some gullible senior falling for it.

Jenkins , Leesburg. As soon as I read that, I already knew the rest. Bad place and just stay away. Been there (once) done that.

Not only seniors, we live among many who are more than willing to separate us from our money.

Jenkins Hyundai in Leesburg plays all the tricks that new car sales has in their bag. Once you wade through that and then survive the post sale add-ons presentation you can count on an excellent service department.
Buying a new car is not for the faint of heart.

For the non- believers!
 

I’ve bought many new cars over my lifetime and 98% of the times I experienced the dealership hard sell, but it wasn’t until lately down here that while I was having some warranty service done on my car that a salesman sat down next to me in the waiting area, and proceeded to tried to sell me a new car.
In my opinion which is based on mucho experience you must do your homework and be on your guard when entering a car dealership wether for service or to buy!

There are some Seniors who can’t say no and get confused and “rattled” by sales pressure. I can only wonder how some salespersons can sleep at night. Unfortunately, OP is right that sometimes older people are targets.

My husband does the same thing:
1. This is what I am going to pay for this specific car;
2. Yes, I know it will need to be ordered;
3. Do you want the sale or not?;
4. If not, another dealer will help me out.

Phillips Toyota is outside the bubble. Purchased a car there almost 6 years ago, go there for service and have NEVER been approached by a salesperson, in the store or on the phone. Now Phillips Buick GMC was a different story when we were looking to trade in the Lexus.....high pressure, didn't listen, wanted to escalate to bring a manager in.....we left. The sales guy at phillips Toyota was low key, easy to talk to, responsive....even the finance guy was great even though we weren't using them....part of the process. Sales guy was old school, he retired two years ago. Approaching 100K miles, assuming we are about half way to trade in time.

We had an experience like that at Jenkins Honda when we were there to buy a new Honda. I finally stood up and said you have my offer, call me if you want it. They accepted it on the spot. The best dealer I have dealt with down here is Phillips Buick, salesman's name is Scott Hall. No pressure, no tricks, great discounts.

Yeah I get my Scion serviced at Phillips. I'm positive that it costs more than taking it to Jimbob's Auto Repair in some other area. But I'm also positive that I've never met Jimbob, I don't know if he's reliable, or if he'll swap out my bad oil for worse oil, put sugar in my gas tank, and tell me that "fixing" my car just exposed all the previous damage that'll cost only $2000 to fix.

I know Phillips won't do that, and to me. I'll pay $100 for a danged oil change, but at least I'll know that's all it'll be.

When it comes time to buying a car, I'm pretty cut-throat. Jaguars are really the only cars that I can actually fall in love with. If it's not a Jag, it's just a form of transportation. They won't impress me with pretty, shiny, color, cupholders, 20-way electronic massage-chair reclining seating, blah blah blah. I'm someone who lived in my VW Bus and did my own (crappy but functional) bodywork on it. I don't need fancy. I need reliable and affordable.

And they never expect a woman to care about that stuff, so it usually puts them off script. Which is fine, and my intention.

If you are a member of Costco, use their car buying service, they send you to a dealer that is in the program , and the price is set, no games.

Sorry this happened to you, same thing a neighbor experienced.

Ever see a Vroom commercial?

commercials where guys are torchured by car dealer - Bing video

Recently purchased a Camry from Courtesy Toyota supposedly the largest Toyota dealership in the State.

Agreed on a price and suddenly a finance person popped up to talk to me. All he cared about is he wanted to help me safeguard my new investment by offering me about 10 different warranties that would have added quite a few thousand dollars to purchase price.

Asked him about Toyota quality and he said it is excellent but computers he said can go bad in Florida heat.

So asked him why doesnt Toyota improve its quality than. Had no answer for that.

Finally when I told him please stop not interested in all the upsells he turns me over to his boss. Took a few minutes to get rid of him.

Sure makes car buying a miserable experience especially when they try to take advantage of older folks.

If you use any buying service, make sure that the actual car you are buying is on the dealer's lot. Get the VIN number, stock number, a copy of the window sticker, a photo of the vehicle, and the out-the-door price. All of these things can be sent to you in an email before you go to the dealership. If you don't, there may very well be games played by the dealer.

Greetings - Not only are seniors at risk of high pressured sales tricks by unscrupulous car salesman, but so is everyone else.
If I may provide a piece of advise on your next new car purchase. You first need to do your research ""before"" ever stepping foot into the car dealership.

(1) Know the numbers before you arrive, search online and definitely bring a trustworthy friend / advocate with you and preferably a male and never be ashamed to walk away if the deal is not exactly as you desire.

(2) NEVER EVER purchase a new vehicle from Jenk*ns. There has been many post here on how this dealership will screw anyone, including seniors out of their hard earned money. Even if you have to travel outside the "bubble" area, please explore all dealership options, no matter how much you need to drive.

(3) This is not the time to purchase a new vehicle as many new vehicles are being sold at full MSRP or higher and dealerships are less willing to negotiate a good price. Fix your current vehicle and wait until new car prices stabilize.

Now is a good time to wait to buy a car. EVs are about to explode on the scene and ICE cars will be struggling to sell. I expect sales on ICE equipped cars to start happening next year to empty the supply line.

So, my prediction is we will see a serious drop in new car prices and a serious rise in used ICE cars.

Yeah, the whole thing is disgusting. Wait until the electric grid goes down for over a week after a horrendous storm and see how people will like living with no air conditioning or heat or vehicle to move themselves around. Life is moving to the nightmare stage.

Without the electric grid gas stations can't pump, Tank farms can't load trucks to deliver, pipelines can't deliver, etc, etc, etc. 135,000 of semi's are required to take food and goods into NYNY every day - they all are ICE today. They all stop running if the grid goes down.

If YOU have solar cells on your roof, your EV will continue to run as if nothing is going on, while all the ICE cars are standing in line to fill up at the one station that still has a little gas. Not that we have EVER seen long lines trying to fill their cars with gas before.

Carvana
 

I had a very good experience with Carvana. They do not sell new vehicles, but, there are no games, no salesman. The vehicle you see on the computer is exactly what you get, for exactly the price listed, which, usually is a very fair price.

went for a oil change. at the chev dealer on 44 $ 90 i just left

We deal with Phillips buick in Fruitland park, and always go there for our car to be serviced…there are three cars in our family, and we never have been hassled by the sales folks while getting our oil changed. Its sad that you cant just say no and be done. I would find a new dealership if that happened to me… just sayin. We have been doing business with them for 12 years and had several cars )over 10) and never an issue.

Car dealers
 

I just went through the car buying process. It was worse than a root canal. You need nerves of steel to deal with the sales people and stand your ground for what you want. Soon places like Carvana will put these dealerships on notice and they will be forced to stop their aggressive sales tactics. I definitely recommend going somewhere outside our area for cars.

Agree.

To the OP:
I've never run across this strategy of sales people crossing over into the service area to solicit. I am sorry you had to deal with this, and sorry you have regrets. Don't beat yourself up, you were conned by a pro. It's what they do, and you were caught off guard, just as they planned.
I'm sure the sales team involved felt great about themselves. "Job well done!"
Thank you for sharing this experience. I, for one, will be better prepared should it ever happen to me.

Just say NO. I know the horse is already out of the barn but for God’s sake just say no. In a public place if someone is harassing you like that raise your voice repeatedly and they will stop because they don’t want other customers they are trying to railroad to hear a disturbance. We went there in 2019 to buy a Honda Ridgeline. I gave them thirty minutes after the test drive to give me their best price on it. Thirty minutes later I walked out but gave the salesman my phone number. He didn’t call for a couple days so I called him. Best price was $42k. I bought the same exact truck at Ocala Honda for $34k minus the floor mats. Jenkins salesman said he didn’t understand how they could sell it that cheap but said he wanted to match the price. I told him politely to pack sand

Go to Wildwood Tire. They will do it while you wait and open til noon on Saturday.

F y i most newer cars respect for synthetic oil when she's generally starting at 50 bucks or more oh, if you have a large car or truck it may be $90

scams
 

I got some training at Medicare scams here is the short version - you cannot remember all the cons/scams going now but it doesn't matter. ALL SCAMS and cons RELY ON you getting in a emotional state because you cannot think straight - they pressure you, rush you, scare you...

WHEN you feel that back up and walk away from the deal. Then if you want lookup or contact the situation on your own not with anything they give you