MC
Melanie Clark
Dec 8, 2025
BUYER BEWARE!
I was very disappointed with the sales team @Lexus of Montgomery.
After verifying that the car I was looking for was indeed at the dealership, I drove three hours to see and buy the car. When I arrived, I was told by a different sales person that the car was no longer there. Bill, the member of the sales team apologized that he “didn’t know where the car was exactly“. After expressing my horror, he did check with another individual who found the car.
Since I noted that I was certain that I wanted this car, I had a very unfavorable interaction. First of all I was left waiting for about an hour and a half since “the Internet was not working“. After it was obvious that the Internet was working based on the obvious tapping of sales, people at their computer, computers, Bill did not approach me to finish the deal even though he knew I was in a hurry to drive three hours back to my home. Because I was trying to not be pushy and rude, about 30 minutes later, I approached him, he admitted after he closed his Internet browser of fun that indeed, the Internet was back.
At that moment, we started the negotiation for the car. I had already given them my car keys to evaluate my trade-in. The Lexus was marked $5000 above the MSRP. When I originally saw the purchase agreement for the car, It was not obvious. However, when I saw the window sticker, I noticed that the price given to me was $5000 above the sticker. I was told that they could give me the MSRP if I was local, but because I would not be servicing my Lexus with them, they had a markup of $5000. This was noted by the manager, John Gogel.
Additionally, I was given a very low trade-in value for my car. I had already been quoted $3000 more for the car at a Toyota dealership in my hometown (when I was considering purchasing a Toyota). John said there is a noise on startup. He told me it looked like “the transmission was going”. After I noted that the car had just been fully evaluated by a GMC dealer as I take it there as a responsible car owner for all of its services and that, indeed, John’s assessment was incorrect, I was told “oh wait, it is the power steering, not the transmission.” The entire deal of 3000 less than acceptable trade-in and 5000 above MSRP was not economical or even ethical in my opinion. This was quite disappointing since I drove three hours and wasn’t demanding an extraordinary deal. Of course, they are in no way required to sell me a car. And they are welcome to sell it for whatever they like, however, I do believe what I have experienced is poor business, practice, and unethical. In the very least, it is not kind or thoughtful for them to treat me like this after knowing that I was driving six hours round-trip.
Sadly, after looking up online reviews, it seems that I am not the only to experience this manipulation and price gouging.
It is quite disgusting that any car dealer would act this way, especially knowing that I was personally spending so much time driving to purchase the vehicle and not making extra extraordinary demands for a “good deal”. However, I will be noting this in a special letter to Lexus of USA as I have never been a Lexus or Toyota customer before. Based on this, I will severely evaluate whether or not I ever want to be a Lexus or Toyota customer. If this is what @Lexus puts out as An example of the business and personal ethics of
their brand, then I want no part of it.
For others, considering utilizing this dealership, I would consider purchasing your car somewhere else, even if you have to get it serviced in Montgomery because he lived there. I can highly recommend the Lexus dealership in Mobile. I would have definitely bought my car from the Lexus dealership in Mobile have they had one in stock