When I bought my Dodge truck I made the mistake of going into the dealership in person. Evidently they consider people who walk in the door to be suckers or something. I told the guy I wanted to see the truck that was in the paper with a big discount and he told me that it was sold. I went home and checked stock on line and of course he was lying to me. I ended up contacting a different dealer via email and getting a quote for a truck that was in stock. They gave me a fairly large discount and I was happy. I'm not sure why the first sales guy lied to me. I don't see how lying helps him sell vehicles.
This nonsense has been around for a very long time. My dad was looking for a lightly used pickup back around '88 and he went through the same dance. He told that salesman he would not buy ANY vehicle from him after pulling that, and left. (He ended up with a nice four-year-old F-150 with only 40k miles at the second dealership, who did "have it in stock".) I suspect HIS parents had the same BS experience in their day...
Apparently the rationale is, once they have a live sucker on the lot, they'll sell him something. Preferably an upsell.
I highly recommend anyone daring to set foot on a car lot read Remar Sutton's "Don't Get Taken Every Time". It's been through several printings and is essential reading before entering the lions' den.
Incidentally, the last time I bought a car from a dealer was also four years old in '88, and they pulled every single stunt detailed in the book. Wish I'd known about it then.
