Complaint Review: Chapman Dodge - Scottsdale Arizona

Unfortunately KBB will not write you a check for your trade in. It also does not reflect true market, or "actual cash value". Most - 99% - of vehicles that are trades are not in "excellent" condition, most are fair, meaning a few dings, paint scratches, bald tires and windshield chips etc. Unless your car has never left your garage it is not "excellent" or even "good". An 88K mile truck is not very retail friendly as most lenders would not finance over 80K miles. KBB also does not consider current rebates, and incentives, so you can get a new one for less money sometimes than a used vehicle, which a dealer takes into consideration, but KBB does not. Also, when a dealer has an ad unit, you should expect less for your trade as its considered wholesale to wholesale. You need to look at the bottom line - the difference between ad price and trade ACV to come up with the correct total. The ad units are losers for a dealer, so there is no money left to give you more for the trade. They get people in the door and there will be a limited number of them, its not a bait and switch at all. Also, if you go to other dealers, you will see and addendum on the window next to the MSRP factory sticker, its called different things at different dealers, ie "Market adjustment", "Desert protection" etc. and is anywhere from 995-1500, but you do not see what you are getting for that. That is PROFIT pure and simple. Chapman Dodge does not do this. They do an addendum of 189 for lifetime warranty window tint and 289 for bedliner, cheaper than you can buy one for. I have worked at many different dealers in AZ and Chapman is the most ethical of any I ever worked at. I am no longer there as I quit the business after a few years, but of all the dealers I have been with, Chapman Dodge is the only one besides a Nissan dealer in Tempe I would send my mother too.

When you say that you got $X dollar figure by going to KBB website... NADA, Edmunds, KBB or your next door neighbor (that used to be in the car biz 5 years ago) can only give you "ballpark" -- a zipcode -- an "idea" of what your vehicle is worth ..... What they can't do is figure in the $1,700 "ding" or the soccer Mom interior or the nearly bald tires or the dark color in a certain area, or the miles that someone might think is average. It's a ballpark figure. Everything depends on the area, time of the year, color, condition, service and the "K" service .... no dealer is going to drop big money into any trade when it has 33k and the 30k service is due and it needs new sneakers, the interior has lost one too many battles at Burger King, sides look like it was a ball target for Tiger Woods .... see, most people get used to their own vehicle and they go blind to certain things. Some dealers will give you an overallowance on your trade, but they'll end up giving you a smaller discount on their new car. Most dealers use the Black book or Galves.com values to price their trade-ins. Both show the avg dealer-only auction prices in your area, and you can expect the dealer to be within a few hundred $$ of the black book or Galves values. If you are in the market to trade-in your vehicle and buy a used one, it's probably worth joining Galves for a month or two. You'll know not only the "real" wholesale value of your trade-in, but you'll also have a very good idea of how much the dealer paid for the used car you are interested in.

David - I obvoiusly struck a cord somewhere... I was up front and honest from the get-go with the salesperson. I let them (the salesperson) I was dealing with know that I was making a 4+ hour commitment of MY TIME to visit the Scottsdale Chapman Dodge dealership expecting to be treated fairly and honestly. I asked numerous questions over the phone before I ever climbed into my truck and drove up to the dealership. An offer of $8000 was low-ball pure and simple (you yourself stated that the figure should have been closer to $9,255 NOT the $8,000 originally presented - and BTW I get $9,780 off the KBB site as a "suggested" trade-in dealer allowance). I'm not illiterate or unintelligent, I run the entire southern Arizona operation for a national corporation (Tucson, Nogales, Sierra Vista, Douglas) as well as own and operate my own online businesses and I will not be taken advantage of nor stand idly by as these kind of unethical practices are going on. My family has purchased five vehicles from a local Dodge dealership over the past several years; however they did not have quite what I was looking for so I shopped elsewhere (including Chapman Dodge). I will purchase the vehicle I am looking for and I may even end up paying more than I would have at Chapman Dodge but when I do so it will be from a dealer that will treat ME with with the dignity and respect that I deserve and who is willing to earn my business.

David - I obvoiusly struck a cord somewhere... I was up front and honest from the get-go with the salesperson. I let them (the salesperson) I was dealing with know that I was making a 4+ hour commitment of MY TIME to visit the Scottsdale Chapman Dodge dealership expecting to be treated fairly and honestly. I asked numerous questions over the phone before I ever climbed into my truck and drove up to the dealership. An offer of $8000 was low-ball pure and simple (you yourself stated that the figure should have been closer to $9,255 NOT the $8,000 originally presented - and BTW I get $9,780 off the KBB site as a "suggested" trade-in dealer allowance). I'm not illiterate or unintelligent, I run the entire southern Arizona operation for a national corporation (Tucson, Nogales, Sierra Vista, Douglas) as well as own and operate my own online businesses and I will not be taken advantage of nor stand idly by as these kind of unethical practices are going on. My family has purchased five vehicles from a local Dodge dealership over the past several years; however they did not have quite what I was looking for so I shopped elsewhere (including Chapman Dodge). I will purchase the vehicle I am looking for and I may even end up paying more than I would have at Chapman Dodge but when I do so it will be from a dealer that will treat ME with with the dignity and respect that I deserve and who is willing to earn my business.

David - I obvoiusly struck a cord somewhere... I was up front and honest from the get-go with the salesperson. I let them (the salesperson) I was dealing with know that I was making a 4+ hour commitment of MY TIME to visit the Scottsdale Chapman Dodge dealership expecting to be treated fairly and honestly. I asked numerous questions over the phone before I ever climbed into my truck and drove up to the dealership. An offer of $8000 was low-ball pure and simple (you yourself stated that the figure should have been closer to $9,255 NOT the $8,000 originally presented - and BTW I get $9,780 off the KBB site as a "suggested" trade-in dealer allowance). I'm not illiterate or unintelligent, I run the entire southern Arizona operation for a national corporation (Tucson, Nogales, Sierra Vista, Douglas) as well as own and operate my own online businesses and I will not be taken advantage of nor stand idly by as these kind of unethical practices are going on. My family has purchased five vehicles from a local Dodge dealership over the past several years; however they did not have quite what I was looking for so I shopped elsewhere (including Chapman Dodge). I will purchase the vehicle I am looking for and I may even end up paying more than I would have at Chapman Dodge but when I do so it will be from a dealer that will treat ME with with the dignity and respect that I deserve and who is willing to earn my business.

David - I obvoiusly struck a cord somewhere... I was up front and honest from the get-go with the salesperson. I let them (the salesperson) I was dealing with know that I was making a 4+ hour commitment of MY TIME to visit the Scottsdale Chapman Dodge dealership expecting to be treated fairly and honestly. I asked numerous questions over the phone before I ever climbed into my truck and drove up to the dealership. An offer of $8000 was low-ball pure and simple (you yourself stated that the figure should have been closer to $9,255 NOT the $8,000 originally presented - and BTW I get $9,780 off the KBB site as a "suggested" trade-in dealer allowance). I'm not illiterate or unintelligent, I run the entire southern Arizona operation for a national corporation (Tucson, Nogales, Sierra Vista, Douglas) as well as own and operate my own online businesses and I will not be taken advantage of nor stand idly by as these kind of unethical practices are going on. My family has purchased five vehicles from a local Dodge dealership over the past several years; however they did not have quite what I was looking for so I shopped elsewhere (including Chapman Dodge). I will purchase the vehicle I am looking for and I may even end up paying more than I would have at Chapman Dodge but when I do so it will be from a dealer that will treat ME with with the dignity and respect that I deserve and who is willing to earn my business.

Trade ins have no impact on the sell price of any advertised vehicle. The sell price is valid whether you have a trade in or not. We pride ourselves in honesty and integrity, not bait and switch as you pleasantly found out. Before you left that day the final figure for your trade was $9000. Accurate trade value as per KBB.com is 9255 for good condition on an 87k truck. This offer is still valid and encourage you to compare.

I did lots of research before even going to look at anything. I ran numbers on my trade via Kelly Blue Book and checked several online sites to get a range of resale values for my truck. I also checked local papers to see what different model years in the range I was looking at where going for (prices, featues, etc). I took notes and carried everything I gathered from one dealer to the next so I had a very real idea of what the value of my truck was before I ever stepped foot inside a dealership. There was only one dealer (in Tucson) that I felt was honest comparatively honest with me; unfortunately they didn't have any new or used stripped down diesels on the lot...

You did the right thing by shopping your trade to several dealers. Carmax is also a good idea, if you have one close to you. Since they will buy the vehicle whether you buy a car from them or not; you are fairly certain that you are getting near a true wholesale value from Carmax, and not getting an over-allowance or under-allowance like from a regular car dealer. You see...the only difference that makes any difference...IS THE DIFFERENCE. Example #1 New vehicle = $28,000 (red tag price) Trade allowance = $4,000 (true wholesale) Difference you owe = $24,000 Example #2 New Vehicle = $32,000 (a little less than msrp) Trade allowance = $8,000 (over-allowance) Difference you owe = $24,000 It's the difference you need to be concerned with!....Get it?

Glad you didn't take the $8000 ripoff trade-in. Once you found the price on the internet, you should have called to see if the had one left, in stock, before the drive. If they did, arrive at the dealer with your own money. Then they can't screw you on the financing. Sell the trade in yourself.