If you have ever walked into a car dealership, been treated like royalty through the whole buying process, signed your name on the dotted line, and then returned a few months later for service only to be greeted with the energy of a DMV on a Monday morning, you are not imagining things. A five-second TikTok from user TayJanee (@tayjanee) said what millions of car owners have apparently been thinking for years, and the internet could not agree fast enough.
The clip, posted on April 21, contained no dialogue whatsoever. Just a simple text overlay that read: “Ever notice how rude car dealerships are to you in the service department after you buy a brand new vehicle from them?????? LMAO.” That was it. No dramatic reveal. No receipts. Just a question that apparently needed to be asked. The video pulled in more than 2.4 million views and thousands of comments, most of them variations of “YES, EXACTLY THIS.”
TayJanee did not stop at a vague observation. She shared her own experiences in the comments, describing how she bought a Jeep and spent a year and a half being told squeaking brakes were completely normal, only to later find out she supposedly needed new ones. A family friend who inspected the brakes told her they were fine. She also described a situation where a service desk employee insisted on test-driving the car only in a parking lot, even though TayJanee explained the noise only happened at highway speeds. She eventually had to take the advisor onto the highway herself before anyone would take the issue seriously.
The response to the video made one thing very clear: this is not a one-dealership problem. It is a pattern that drivers across the country recognize immediately, and the explanation for why it happens turns out to be less about attitude and more about how money flows through the dealership system.
The Comment Section Basically Wrote a Documentary
@tayjanee CUS SAME#cardealerships #chevy #gmc #jeep #fyp ♬ original sound – bella 🧘🏼♀️
The replies to TayJanee’s video read like a support group for new car owners. “And your salesman walks right by you like he never met you,” wrote one commenter, earning a flood of likes from people who knew exactly what that felt like. Others pointed out that the complimentary water and friendly small talk that were so abundant on buying day seem to vanish completely the moment you return for an oil change or a warranty concern.
One of the most widely discussed comments came from someone who identified themselves as a service advisor. “We don’t hate you,” they wrote. “We just hate the promises Sales gave you, and half of them aren’t true.” Multiple other service advisors chimed in with similar sentiments, describing situations where customers arrived expecting free fixes based on things a salesperson told them, only for the service department to be the one stuck delivering bad news. One former warranty manager said they had lost count of how many times they had to deny a claim because a salesperson told a customer something was covered when it simply was not.
It All Comes Down to Who Gets Paid for What
The frustration on both sides of the counter makes a lot more sense once you understand how commission structures work at most dealerships. Salespeople typically earn based on the profit margin of each vehicle sold. Once you drive off the lot, their financial interest in you is essentially over.
Service advisors operate on an almost entirely different model. According to the North Carolina Consumer Council, most service advisors earn little to no base salary, making the bulk of their income from a percentage of the services they sell. That means warranty work and free first-visit services, the exact things a new car buyer is most likely coming in for, represent time spent for minimal or no personal financial return. It is not a great recipe for rolling out the welcome mat.
This same incentive gap also explains the complaints about finance managers. Several commenters described being treated warmly during the finance process right up until they declined the extended warranty or other add-ons. After that, the temperature in the room apparently dropped significantly.
What the Dealership Industry Can Learn From a Five-Second Video
The irony of all this is that the service department is actually the single best opportunity a dealership has to build long-term loyalty after the sale. One Toyota technician made the point plainly in the comments: if a dealership treats customers poorly during their free first services, they are actively undermining any chance of that person returning for paid work later or recommending the dealership to someone else.
Some commenters said they already acted on exactly that logic. One person switched to Toyota entirely. Another bought her next Ford from an Audi dealership because her Ford service department had soured her on the brand. TayJanee put it simply in a reply: “Don’t sell cars to people then be mad when they bring them in two to four months after buying them because they’re junk. Got warranty for a reason.”
The lesson is not complicated. Customers who feel disrespected after a purchase do not just stop coming back for service. They stop buying from the brand altogether, and they tell people about it. Sometimes, apparently, to 2.4 million of them at a time.