A Texas dealership just lost a sale because of an archaic policy to not allow sales over the phone or via email. And, the exchange was enough to make a regular car broker “lose [his] cool,” over the phone with them. 

A popular TikTok content creator, Tom Mikula (@tomislavmikula), posted a video of a conversation with a car dealership that went sour. That’s partially because Mikula was able to clearly catch a salesperson trying to force him to come into the dealership in order to negotiate prices for a Toyota RAV 4. Instead of allowing him to make a deposit, the dealership requested that he come “in-person” for a vehicle that wasn’t even available at their lot. 

So, Mikula posted a clip of the conversation to his TikTok page. Since posting, the video’s gotten 182,000 views, with viewers pointing out that the dealership may have obviously been trying to fib numbers and wait to confirm the final sale until Mikula and his client couldn’t say no anymore. 

Mikula Tries To Purchase a Vehicle at a Dealership, Only To Be Told He Needs To Come In-Person To Make a Deposit.

The dealership did not have the vehicle Mikula was trying to buy on the lot. Knowing this, Mikula asked why he would need to come in-person to make a deposit for a vehicle that he already was intending on purchasing. 

“ I’m willing to do this all over the phone,” Mikula told the sale representative. “[I’m] trying to make it easy. I’m willing to buy your car today, put a deposit on it. I don’t wanna drive 30 minutes to your dealership. Wait the 20 to minutes to an hour it takes to talk to a salesperson.” 

The saleswoman reiterated that he couldn’t purchase the vehicle digitally as it was “not [their] process.”

So, Mikula decided to register the vehicle in another state. He shifted gears and let the woman on the other end of the line know that he’d prefer to register the car in Miami. Confused, she asked why he was suddenly changing his mind as to where the vehicle would be registered. He then calmly explained that, “ you’re punishing me… by being local that I have to come in.” 

From there, he had a back-and-forth with the saleswoman. Mikula explained to the representative that, “ I’m a local customer trying to buy a car locally, and you’re basically saying, ‘Hey, I won’t give you numbers over the phone because you’re local.’ It makes it seem like you guys are hiding something rather than being honest with the number so I can put a deposit on it.”

Then, things took a turn when the saleswoman mentioned his TikTok account. 

Suddenly, the Conversation Shifts to Mikula’s Digital Content

In the middle of their conversation, the sales representative mentioned that she was a fan of Mikula’s digital content. She asked, “ Are you actually interested in the vehicle or are you just using it for TikTok live?” 

Mikula once again clarified that he was genuinely interested in purchasing a vehicle from the dealership for one of his clients that he works with regularly. But, it didn’t seem like the dealership believed him. 

The saleswoman continued asking him whether or not he was genuinely interested in purchasing a vehicle, a slightly inappropriate question considering he was calling with a genuine inquiry. It made it seem like the dealership had justification to ignore his requests, which Mikula picked up on. 

“Why are they so adamant that you’re not actually buying cars?” a commenter asked after seeing the entire exchange. 

Mikula then escalated the conversation to a manager, but the situation apparently did not resolve itself. 

Mikula’s Experience—Not the First Time

Surprisingly, Mikula has had similar experiences before with this particular dealership. That was the second time that the TikToker had called the local business, with mixed results from both calls. 

Mikula clarified that the dealership had reached out to him personally and let him know that he would not have the same experience. Because guess what,” Mikula said. “They’ve really changed. They adapt to new things and they really wanted to show that off and to give them another chance.”

So, Mikula did. He called both to purchase a car and to give the dealership another opportunity to appear more positively on his page. He had a client that was in a rush for a car and they needed the vehicle as soon as possible. Instead of allowing Mikula to make a deposit over the phone, however, the dealership insisted that he come inside, which to him, was a clear upselling strategy or ploy. 

On the phone, Mikula clarified that he was recording the conversation with the dealership and that “ [They] know [they’re] live and this is how [they] want to act. This is how you want to act.” 

Ultimately, he was able to secure a vehicle at another dealership about an hour away for his client. Based on his post, Mikula has no intentions of purchasing a vehicle with the original dealership or contacting them again.

Why do dealerships avoid over the phone transactions?

While Mikula was right to point out that many dealerships have shady reasons to avoid giving real sale quotes over the phone or via email, there are also a few general reasons why they do so. 

For one, dealerships don’t want to waste their time or resources. Giving quotes for vehicles over the phone or via email doesn’t necessarily mean that the buyer will purchase the car from the lot, so dealers see it as a waste of time. It’s an unfortunate reality for some buyers, because it forces them to waste time driving to individual dealerships to see vehicles and request quotes. 

But in this case, Mikula was willing to agree to a quote offered by the dealership his client wanted to use. He even offered a deposit on the phone call in question. Both of those things point toward the issue being with semantics and not a genuine concern that Mikula had no interest in actually buying a car. 

Often, dealerships will force potential clients to come in and ask about quotes for vehicles. This can be because prices fluctuate. Dealers want to ask for add-ons and additional charges that are easier to pressure buyers into grabbing in-person, and they want the buyer to be in a vulnerable position that incentives better sales. 

Ultimately, it’s a policy that some dealerships will stick to, even if they’re losing sales on vehicles.

We’ve reached out to Mikula via email and TikTok direct message for more information about the dealership. We’ll let you know if he responds. 

@tomislavmikula This dealership has been on a video before, manager apologized, and asked me to try again #toyota #carbuying #delivrd ♬ original sound – Delivrd