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| - East Madison Toyota (formerly Lancaster) was the second to last dealer we visited in our search for a certified used Prius. I'd done my research and knew what I wanted, and these guys had it.... but unfortunately it sold shortly before we got there. We were encouraged by salesman George Penny to come in and try the next closest one. I told him from the start that it was just out of our price range, but he encouraged us to just give it a try. We were minutes away and figured - best case we get a great deal on an awesome car, worst case - we don't.
We were immediately approached by several salesman, but since George had answered questions earlier we said we were looking for him. I worked commission sales in the past and nothing sucks more than helping someone only to have them return and purchase from a colleague just because they approached them first on the return trip. Anyway... we test drove the car and it was great. George answered all our questions and was friendly. Then we went inside to talk numbers.
He gave us his out the door price, we gave our "top" price - which was 2k less than his price and 1k less than our actual top price. But, wanting to leave some room to negotiate - we had told him it was more than we were looking to spend, so our lowball should not have been a shock. In spite of several requests for him to do a little better on the price, he said he wouldn't until we came up on our offer. I'm sure some people don't care, but I don't counter against my own offers. You went - I went - now it's YOUR turn. Come down a hundred, anything, but work with me here. This is where he became the salesman stereotype. Suddenly the car we wanted became this unobtainable thing because "summer... shortage of cars on the market... we have unrealistic expectations." He told us the other dealers we were looking at (guesses, since we didn't name names) took the cars that his dealer rejected at the auctions and started naming several used car lots that had similar cars to this one. When I said we hadn't been going to used car lots, he switched gears and talked down Smart Motors. Really dude? Now you're trash talking the competition? Grow up.
Realizing we were about to leave, he tried to save the sale and tell us the Prius was not the car for us, we should go for a Camry because they get over 40mpg (in what world?) and are cheaper - then made us wait for the keys to our trade in they'd been appraising while they checked to see if they could "give us a better price" - then came back to say they couldn't.
We ended up buying a (certified used) Prius the very next day at Smart Motors - the car was exactly the same as the one we'd tried to buy here, only one year older, a little less expensive, and with lower mileage. Funny, since we'd just been told we'd never find it. Yet less than a day later, there it was.
Was it the worst experience in the world? No. But if you are someone dreading the typical pushy salesman experience with less than honest employees, I would absolutely skip this place. There's a reason they aren't ranked #1. Also resorting to talking down other businesses is low and reflects poorly on the one you work for.
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