“I was pissed.”
A man gets offended when the dealership salesperson refuses him a test drive and insists paperwork must be run before doing so.
In a TikTok with over 800 views as of this writing, Griffin (@griffinoffroadadventures) reveals the strange interaction he says he had at the Toyota Shottenkirk dealership and what he found inside his car after doing some maintenance on it.
“I got another rant about these car dealerships and the [expletive] that they pull,” Griffin begins.
Griffin believes that dealerships need to start “taking accountability and taking care of their customers better.” He brings up the Toyota Shottenkirk in Granbury, Texas, and the odd interaction he says he had with them.
Griffin says he was in the market for a particular 2022 Chevrolet Blazer. He saw that Toyota Shottenkirk had two Blazers available and went in for a test drive.
Griffin says he walked into the dealership and requested a test drive for the Blazer, and the salesperson immediately requested to fill out some paperwork. This caught Griffin off guard, and he refused to do any paperwork before test driving.
“Well, I need to know if you can afford it,” Griffin reports the dealership worker responding.
“That’s not a good thing to ask me,” Griffin tells his viewers. “I have an 800 credit score; I can buy anything I want.”
Griffin says he doubled down and informed the salesperson that he will only do paperwork if the car is a good fit.
“Don’t ever let these dealerships push you around,” he says. “Don’t, because they want to sell you the vehicle more than you want to buy one. I promise you there’s another car just like the one you’re looking at down the road, guaranteed. They are not the only dealership on the block. If they push you around, walk out.”
After the test drive, Griffin decides to buy the car from the Toyota Shottenkirk dealership.
“I let him run my credit. He comes back kissing my [expletive],” Griffin shares.
He says the salesperson was excited to lock in the deal after running the credit check. Griffin says the worker tried to force him into getting an extended warranty, saying he was only able to get Griffin such a good price on the car because of it.
Griffin was not interested, but he says the salesperson refused to listen. He got tired of arguing with the salesperson and decided to accept the warranty and cancel it later on.
“Thirty days later, I canceled it,” Griffin reveals.
Griffin didn’t want the extended warranty because he does his own repair work and believes warranties are a waste of money—except for GAP insurance. Griffin says it took a year and the threat of a lawsuit to cancel the warranty. Eventually, the dealership repaid the fee.
However, the cherry on top is what Griffin discovered when working on the vehicle.
“They put a [expletive] tracker on my car without my permission,” he vents.
Griffin issues a PSA to be careful with these dealerships sneakily adding trackers to vehicles.
“That’s against the law. I own this car; you don’t. You can’t put unauthorized equipment in my vehicle without my permission,” he says.
Griffin concludes the post by saying to avoid Toyota Shottenkirk at all costs and that legal action will be pursued.
Viewers in the comments section agreed with Griffin and couldn’t believe the dealership installed the tracker.
“That’s crazy..” one TikTok commenter wrote.
“I absolutely REFUSE to go to a car dealership these days. ESPECIALLY in Granbury,” a second commented.
“Shottenkirk Toyota had a salesman leave the country and is wanted by the FBI for fraud. That whole group is a mess,” another shared.
While one viewer was curious about why the dealership even put a tracker on it in the first place.
“Why would they want to put a tracker on it? What’s the reasoning?” one asked.
“The only thing I can think of is so they can sell info to different companies like driving habits where you go ( i.e hood) for ins reasons and or to repo companies ect…” Griffin replied.
More and more, car buyers are finding hidden GPS trackers in their vehicles after purchasing from a dealership. One Jeep Gladiator driver discovered a hidden GPS tracker, which ended up raising his insurance.
Dealerships will install GPS trackers onto vehicles for inventory management, financial controls, and security purposes, Moto Watch Dog reports.
Installing GPS trackers can monitor inventory location and prevent theft. The last thing any dealership wants is to discover two vehicles were stolen and there is no tracker installed.
Trackers can also be installed when a driver borrows a vehicle so the dealership can keep tabs on the car, as they still own it. In most cases, the dealership will remove or deactivate trackers after the sale, unless the customer agrees to keep them on.
According to GPX, dealerships can only track the vehicle before or during financing. After ownership is transferred, it is illegal for the dealership to continue to track the vehicle unless agreed upon.
These tracking devices are typically hidden inside the driver’s compartment or underneath the dashboard. Additionally, GPS trackers can be installed inside the glove box, behind bumpers, inside brake light compartments, in the engine bay, in the trunk, in the sun visor, mounted on the undercarriage, or attached to the OBD-II port.
To discover if your vehicle has a tracker, you can first check the OBD-II port under the dashboard and check the usual hiding spots as well. If you really want to go for it, you can purchase a GPS bug detector or simply ask the dealership if there is one installed.
Motor1 has contacted Griffin via TikTok direct message and commented on the post, and Toyota Shottenkirk through the website contact submission form. This post will be updated if either party replies.
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