Buying a new car is often a mix of excitement and frustration, especially when sneaky salesman try to sneak additional fees into the fine print.

But just when the buyer felt defeated, a hidden detail flipped the tables, turning the salesman’s trickery into sweet payback.

Read on for all the details!

manager at a car dealership learned a lesson. maybe

Many years ago, I was in the process of buying a brand new sports car—my dream car.

I had wanted this car since I was 12.

I was young and in my 20s, and I wanted to reward myself for some recent business successes.

The car buying experience started off normal enough.

I did the typical test drive at the local dealership, decided on the color, options, and so on, and began negotiating the price with the salesman.

After that, he told me they didn’t actually have the car with the color and options I wanted at the dealership.

The buyer decided to be patient. No harm, no foul.

They would have to get it transported from another dealership about 30 miles away.

This would take a few days, so I’d have to wait a week before I could take possession of the car.

I didn’t think that was too unreasonable, so I agreed and planned to come back a week later.

That is, until it came to signing the paperwork.

We finished the paperwork with the manager, signed everything, and I was about to leave when I noticed something: they were going to charge me a $150 “transportation fee” to move the car from the other dealership.

They never told me about this additional fee during the negotiation process, so I was a bit frustrated and told them so.

For $150, I could go get the car myself!

The manager wasn’t sympathetic to the buyer’s concerns.

The manager then told me, “It’s too bad you already signed the contract. You should have been more observant. We can’t take the charge off now.”

He had a smug grin on his face and a tone that made it clear he was quite pleased with himself.

The buyer decides there’s nothing they can do, so they accept defeat.

I wasn’t at all happy and let him know it, but there was nothing I could do at that point. The contract was signed.

A week later, I came to pick up my new sports car.

When I arrived, the same manager came up to me and asked to speak with me in his office.

But then came the buyer’s lucky break!

He explained that there had been a mistake with the invoice. The car I was buying had all the options on it. It was fully loaded with everything, including what they called a “gold package,” where the emblem and lettering on the car were in gold instead of the standard silver.

Looks like the dealer made a mistake this time.

He explained that this package came with an additional cost of $400, but they had neglected to add this cost to the invoice.

He told me I needed to make up the difference.

I didn’t even know a gold package was an option. They had never mentioned it before.

Cue my petty revenge.

You can guess what the buyer told him.

I smiled my best smug grin and told him, “It’s too bad you already signed the contract. You should have been more observant.”

I paused a bit to let that sink in, then added, “I’m going to pick up my car with the VIN that’s on the contract, for the price on the contract,” and stood up.

He hung his head in defeat, knowing there was nothing he could do about it since he had signed the contract.

If the dealer had acted with a bit more humility…

If he hadn’t treated me the way he did a week earlier, I might have considered negotiating a new price.

But I felt he deserved to be put in his place, and the revenge was sweet.

The charge was one thing, but his attitude was obnoxious.

It’s the principle of the thing for this buyer.

It was only a $250 difference, but the satisfaction was priceless.

He handed me the keys, and I drove off in my new sports car feeling great.

The gold looked better with my color choice than the silver would have anyway.

No doubt this turn of events drove the salesman up the wall.

What did Reddit have to say?

Needless to say, this commenter doesn’t think highly of people in this line of work.

Let this commenter’s story be a lesson to all salespeople.

Sounds like this redditor had a similar bad experience at the car dealership.

This redditor thinks the middleman should be cut out all together!

The only thing more dazzling than the car’s gold emblem was watching the smug look on the dealer’s face disappear.

Always remember to read the fine print, folks!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.