2 Men Try To Buy The Same GMC Truck On The Same Tuesday. Then The Salesman Steps In—And Makes A Controversial Decision

A car sales manager says two buyers showed up for the same truck on the same day—but only one of them drove it home.

Odanis Saloman (@odanis.salomon), a sales manager at C&L Motors in Tampa, Florida, shared the dealership dilemma after two customers ended up competing for the same 2015 GMC Sierra 2500 All-Terrain Edition.

“2 customers came in on the same truck. Did I make the right decision?” he asks in the text overlay of the clip.

According to Saloman, the dealership had received more than 100 inquiries about the “amazing” truck, but two buyers scheduled appointments to see it on the same day.

“Both leads were for one salesman, by the way,” he says.

The first customer booked a 10 a.m. appointment, while the second asked to come by at 3 p.m. The salesman agreed, but let the second customer know someone else was scheduled to see the truck first.

That plan didn’t last.

Saloman says the second customer unexpectedly showed up well before his scheduled appointment. As a salesman began helping him, the dealership got busy, and the first customer arrived around 9:40 a.m.—20 minutes before his own appointment.

“All of this happens in a very quick time frame,” Saloman says.

The first customer was frustrated to find someone else already filling out paperwork for the truck. But Saloman says the dealership doesn’t hold vehicles without a deposit, so there was no guarantee either customer would ultimately buy it.

“I understand where his mindset was,” Saloman says. “But we don’t know if this person is actually going to buy the truck.”

The first customer then offered more than the asking price to outbid the other buyer. It didn’t work. Saloman says the earlier arrival was approved for financing and drove away in the Sierra, while the other customer left upset.

Saloman says he looked for another truck that compared to the Sierra but found “nothing.”

A day or two later, he says he discovered messages between the first customer and one of the dealership’s AI systems. In the chat, the customer allegedly said he wanted to have the truck inspected by an outside mechanic before buying and then planned to “haggle numbers” to reach a deal.

“Although he was the first one to set an appointment, I think I made the right decision by selling it to the first person that arrived at the dealership,” Saloman says. He predicted the other customer would have tried to negotiate the price and make the sale more difficult.

“Do you think I made the right decision?” he asks viewers. As of this writing, his video has just over 8,000 views.

Do Appointments Hold A Car? 

The disagreement in Saloman’s video boils down to a question that doesn’t have one universal answer: Does making an appointment reserve a vehicle?

In many cases, no.

Whether a dealership will hold a vehicle is largely a matter of store policy and demand for the car. According to GoodCar, some dealers are willing to accept a deposit to temporarily remove a car from the market, effectively removing it from the lot and preventing others from taking it for at least a set window, typically agreed upon between the customer and the dealership.

There’s no federal rule requiring a dealer to reserve a used vehicle simply because a customer scheduled an appointment. The Federal Trade Commission’s guidance for used-car buyers instead encourages shoppers to confirm in writing that the vehicle is still available before making the trip to the dealership. It also recommends asking for the out-the-door price in writing ahead of time to avoid surprises when you arrive.

That recommendation makes one detail from Saloman’s story notable. He later said the first customer planned to have the truck inspected by another mechanic before buying it and then “haggle numbers” afterward.

Wanting an independent inspection isn’t unusual—in fact, the FTC and other car experts recommend it—but it can complicate the timing when a vehicle is attracting multiple buyers.

Ultimately, dealerships set their own policies on holding inventory. Some won’t take a car off the market without a deposit, while others won’t promise to hold it at all. 

For shoppers, consumer advocates say the safest approach is to ask those questions before heading to the lot—especially if you’re traveling a long distance or looking at a vehicle that’s already generating a lot of interest.

‘The 3:00PM Client Outsmarted The 10:00AM Client’

Most viewers sided with Saloman and said the dealership had no obligation to hold the truck without money down.

“Unless there is a deposit, then I’m not holding a vehicle. He should have came in right then when he found it,” one commenter wrote.

Others reduced it to a simple rule.

“1st come 1st served,” one person said.

“1st come, 1st serve!” another agreed.

Some viewers said the first customer may not have believed the dealership when it warned him that someone else was interested.

“I think he thought the dealership was bluffing. You know how many times I’ve heard ‘3 people are gonna come see this car’ just to show up and see the car still there?” one commenter wrote.

Another questioned how the truck had remained available despite all the interest Saloman described.

“125 in 2 weeks and it wasn’t sold already?” they asked.

Several commenters said a serious buyer would have gone to the dealership immediately rather than setting an appointment.

“I want the vehicle I’m not setting no darn appt. Period!” one viewer wrote.

“The 10 o’clock guy was a tire kicker. He would have never bought the truck. No sale, no money money talks,” another commenter added.

Not everyone agreed with how the dealership handled it. One viewer said Saloman should have contacted the first customer once the other buyer arrived.

“Yea, you should have called him. Wasting his time. Roles were reversed, you’d be pissy if your time was wasted,” they wrote.

Motor1 reached out to Saloman via TikTok direct message. We’ll update this story if he responds.

 

 

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