Michael Hollinger

I’m disappointed by Grubbs Infiniti. Saturday, I drove up to Dallas, checkbook in-hand, ready to put money down toward a car. I drove away empty-handed. I’d heard about them for years, since I bought my first G35. The have an active online presence, and I had a great experience working with them back in 2005. Back then, Grubbs offered to meet my best offer, and throw in free tints as an incentive. They even offered to fly me to Dallas one-way (when flights were only $50). The only reason I didn’t buy a car was fear of being held hostage in Dallas, car-less. I left feeling really positive about the dealership and the brand. This changed, however last weekend.

Since I recently had the option to buy another car, and now live only 3 hours from Dallas, I decided to try them again. I found the perfect car on their lot, ~185 miles away: a 2008 G35, with black interior, premium, nav, and sport wheels. After speaking with a sales consultant, reviewing the service docs, and closely reviewing the pictures on their website, I set up an appointment Saturday to see the specific car. I drove up that afternoon and was greeted promptly by my sales contact. I did a walk-around of the car, and found some of the “usual” wear in the paint around the door handles, which I’ve seen before on loaners from Austin Infiniti. When I opened the door and sat down, though, I was immediately struck by how dirty and unkept the car was:

• Someone’s CDs were clipped to the driver-side sun visor. The sales consultant politely removed them.
• The steering wheel’s leather looked like it was worn through, and was grey in parts. We’ll come back to this…
• Something was splashed on and had dried onto the navigation screen. It looked like it wasn’t properly cleaned.
• While asking about the iPod integration, I opened the arm rest and found someone’s spare change, and a child’s watergun stashed away.
• We went out on our test drive. The brand-new tires (as of three weeks ago) weren’t quite balanced; the steering wheel vibrated slightly at highway speed.
• After returning to the lot I switched to the back seats, pulled down the center arm rest, and immediately was greeted with the smell of drying, stale cola. Someone had spilled some sort of soda on the arm rest.
• I flipped open the cupholder, and found even more soda.
• I asked about the trunk, opened it, and found a fedex box.
• After a walk-around, I found several touchups in the paint that were done poorly. My salesman agreed, and stated that they probably weren’t done by “his guy.”
• I also found a small crack in the driver’s side headlight lens.

The car, according to service records, had 23,274 miles on 8/06/10. Less than 22 days later, it had 25,536 miles. While we were going over the car, I started to rub / pick at the steering wheel (which appeared to be completely worn). The wear marks turned out to be grey dirt, evenly-caked onto the wheel!

It’s obvious that someone has been using this as a daily-driver, driving over 100 miles per day. Like any used car, this one had some touch-ups done in the paint. Unfortunately they were done poorly, with mis-matched paint. I also found a crack in the headlight, which is easily a $1,000 repair. When I offered less, the salesman stated that the car would no longer be “Certified” if they sold it for that amount. I also wouldn’t qualify for super-low interest rates on a car loan.

As we sat in his office, the sales rep and I discussed each of these items, and the net of his message to me was the condition of the car was typical for used cars on their lot, AND the price couldn’t come down to what I believe was a fair price.

I’m genuinely disappointed. I wasted six hours of my time, a tank of gas, and 375 miles on my car to drive up and view someone’s toy. I even canceled plans to fly home for my Dad’s birthday! The sales team had the audacity to tell me that the light was a $1,000 repair, and then print out a sales offer with a ~$1,000 discount and “NOT fixing head lamp!” written out on it, completely ignoring every other problem with the car.

This was a complete waste of my time, and I’m embarrassed for Infiniti, the sales team, and the dealership.

I walked away from Grubbs wondering just what else they’d show me, if that was “average” for their lot. As I settled back into my 5.5-yr-old car, with 66,000 miles, I took note of the quality of the paint, the richness of the leather, and the cleanliness of the cabin, and realized I still enjoy driving my car, each and every day that goes by. I guess this wasn’t a total waste.

UPDATE: The car has been a “salesman demo.” This means (based on emails) that staff at the dealership may “demo” the car around DFW, and drive it to / from work. My salesman also owned up to being the salesman driving the car! I genuinely wish he’d had the car detailed before showing it to me, and wasting my time.

I’m still waiting on my sales contact to call me. We last exchanged emails Monday afternoon.