$500 non-refundable deposit in Chicagoland (Libertyville)

[redLEAF]

I accepted the offer with Libertyville for MSRP, with the $500.00 deposit requirement. They are only a few miles from my work, and I use their VW dealership for my current VW servicing.

I RAQ from them on a Friday evening, bounced back and forth with Jeff Bogdala over the weekend and Monday. The dashboard said they should have placed the quote within 24 hours, but they said they were having issues with their dealers' dashboard. They wanted me to come in and sign their sales order instead. I told them make it appear on my dashboard or I would switch dealers.

They finally got their act together. I don't really begrudge them their $500 deposit. They want to see ernest buyers, not looky-loos.

Rather than pile on anymore as bigtlb is a fellow Chicagoan and as he says has made a firm decision to buy a LEAF (I'm waiting on the local LEAF drive event here in town next week to firm up my own decision -- haven't even sat in one yet!) this just serves as basically a heads up of the typical dealer tactics that simply haven't gone away just because of this 'new' process put in place. After all, these are business people, free pretty much within the law to get as much and secure as much business as they can -- they may take a bit of a hit on the customer satisfaction side (or not) but if they indeed offer decent service perhaps that overcomes it. I personally have driven way out of my way to a 'better' dealer experience and bought cars both near and far from where I live and work -- dealer ownership does also change from time to time so I always give the more convenient location a shot to see if things have changed and that happened with my most recent new car purchase (an '09 VW Routan) so things can and will change -- it's all up to what the customer is willing to accept and as always 'buyer beware'.

 

[bigtlb]

Actually after meeting with Jeff Bogdala, I can believe they were confused about the process.

I know the tactic of trying to get you in to the office is from their regular car sales strategy. I refused until they submitted the quote to my dashboard. I didn't really complain about the $500 at the time, because I have made up my mind about the car. I have been waiting for an electric car since the Aptera (I was never allowed to reserve fortunately :lol: ). My decision had been up in the air recently, between Ford and Nissan, since Ford has the faster L2 charger and Nissan was already delivering. But I clenched my decision on recent evidence that Ford looks like they are stalling/delaying further (at least for Chicagoland) and news that the 2012 LEAFS were coming with L3 standard, which would be more useful in the future as nationwide infrastructure gets built out.

I took a little more flack from Liberty Imports than most people would because they are 4 miles from my work, and in the direction that I occasionally make further commutes (to Gurnee Mills and Pleasant Prairie, WI). Also, my daily commute will be about 60 miles round-trip. I wanted to secure rights to the L2 stations that they will be required to put in.

In the past we have received reports that some dealerships only allow their "customers" to use their L2's. I just didn't want that to be an issue in the future.

 

[lukati]

I wanted to secure rights to the L2 stations that they will be required to put in. In the past we have received reports that some dealerships only allow their "customers" to use their L2's. I just didn't want that to be an issue in the future.

Good point. Didn't think about that.

I received an email from Jeff this morning. He apologized for the confusion and waived the $500 deposit.

 

[smkettner]

I see nothing wrong with the $500 deposit if agreed at time of RAQ. I would have a problem with adding the condition after the fact.

 

[lukati]

I see nothing wrong with the $500 deposit if agreed at time of RAQ. I would have a problem with adding the condition after the fact.

smkettner: I think we agree on this. The deposit was not agreed upon during the RAQ process. It was first mentioned in a telephone conversation one week after the order was confirmed by Nissan. In any case, the problem has now gone away since the dealership has retracted the deposit requirement.