Social Experiment (Knoxville Car Dealers and Car Lots)

In collaboration with the VelvetMantis from bugly.com, we have decided to conduct a social experiment using local car dealers. We will use both blogs to detail visits to one or two car lots per week in an effort to uncover some unsavory practices. I will start things off with the ad pictured above.

The ad shown was from the Knoxville News-Sentinel and is actually still displayed on this particular dealer's website. I called the dealer about the highlighted vehicle to confirm the price and ascertain the mileage. The young man on the phone needed to go out to verify the information, of course, so I gave him my name and number. Five minutes later he called back to say the truck was still available and told me the mileage was around 68k. I drove over to the dealer spent about ten minutes going over the truck then drove it around their test driving loop. This all took about 40 minutes total. I then wanted to find out what I could get for my trade as the vehicle was fairly nice for the price.

The young man says " Just between you and me, if I give you a thousand for your trade and knock a thousand off of mine where would we be?" I said "I'll buy it right now."
He goes in to talk to the "manager" and comes out about ten minutes later.

"We have a problem," he says. "That ad is a MISPRINT in the paper. That vehicle should be $17,995."

I left.

Here is why we are conducting this experiment. This is the second time I have gone to this car dealer about six months apart and the exact same thing has happened both times. This, in conjunction with some of the other experiences I am having while car shopping, is leading me to believe that these guys are all using bait and switch type tactics. We will compile our information and ask for a response from the owners of these places of business. At that point we will decide whether or not to make this information more "public."