Lengthy Car Sale

I received an advertisement in the mail the other day from the local Chevrolet dealer we purchased our minivan from this past January. I didn't really think about that sale until they sent me the advertisement, trying to get me to return the dealership and purchase another car. There were two things that made me leery about this advertisement. The first was that the car that they wanted me to trade in wasn't the minivan I purchased, the wanted my Hyundai Sonata. I never drove the Sonata to the dealership when I took the van in for repairs or when I purchased it, I drove our Impala. So it appears that our local DMV is selling our information to make money and to help local businesses generate possible customers. The second issue with this advertisement is that they sent me an advertisement that has already factored my trade-in in the price of the vehicles that are on sale. So if I were to decide to make a purchase, I have no bargaining on the price of the vehicle or what I will receive for my Sonata if I were to trade it in. Not much of a sale for me.

Now after thinking about the last time this dealer sold me a vehicle, I decided to just toss the advertisement into the trash can. When my wife and I purchased our minivan, we paid cash for it. We took about an hour and a half to test drive it, look up the values, get the car fact report, and negotiate the price of the van. After negotiating, finally agreed to the price of $4900 plus tax, title, and fees and decided to purchase the van. Four hours later we were herded into another building and asked to sit in a small crowded office that was hot and smelled like corned beef. after sitting in this office for a half an hour, a man finally came in and introduced himself. He announced that he was going to get us a great finance rate and that we could get a really good deal on an extended warranty for our van. During this little speech he gave us, he never looked at us, he was digging out paperwork and looking at his computer screen. When he finished printing off the paperwork, he went over the price and the fees, his total came out to about $1200 more than we agreed. He indicated to us that we had taxes and title fees and the extended warranty. We asked why he sold us a warranty, we did not ask for one, nor did he ask us if we wanted a warranty. After removing the warranty, he was still over by $550 dollars, to which he responded that the price quoted to us did not include tax and title. We explained to him that we made the agreement for $6250 out the door, including all fees and taxes. He said we were mistaken and told us to wait a minute so he could talk to the manager in the next building over. He had a phone and did not pick it up and call over to the other building, he had to walk over and talk to a manager in person? Fifteen minutes later he returned and said that the sales manager made a mistake and that his numbers were correct. So my wife and I stood up and put our coats on and started for the door to the office. I was already out the door when he finally asked if we were leaving, my wife turned and told him that we were leaving. We already negotiated a price for the van we wanted and we were not going to pay any more than the price we agreed to. His response was that since that van had high miles it was going to take a while to find a lender to approve the loan. My wife then told him that this was a cash sale, we did not need a loan did the manager not tell him that this was a cash sale. He said no and asked us to take our seats. We sat back down and he changed the forms to reflect our agreed payment, he then gave us the forms top sign one of which was the "we owe you" form. This form was blank, it was supposed to indicate that we were to get two additional keys and a remote. When we inquired about it, the gentleman across from us indicated that for the price we were paying for the vehicle, we were going to have to get the keys and remote at an extra cost. Again we told him, we already made the deal with the manager and the salesman who showed us the van, no extra keys and remote, we are going to go somewhere else and buy a van. Once again, the gentlman left us sitting in his office for almost an half an hour before he returned claiming that he had to get permission from the general manager to get the keys and remote made for us, they are losing money on this sale.

After geting our paperwork in order and all of our agreed upon promises kept, we were finally done. As we were walking out the door to get the van, we were told it would be a few minutes, the van was getting detailed. Another twenty minutes later, the van finally was pulled around to the door for us. We waited another ten minutes for a 30 day tag to be placed on the vehicle before the saleman we first spoke to finally handed me the keys. We arrived at the dealership at 10:38 AM, it was 6:42PM when we left. As I pulled out of the dealership, the fuel light came on and the van started to make dinging noises. The van ran out of gas as we turned out onto the highway less than 200 feet from the dealership. I walked back to the dealership, to get someone to help us get gas and the doors were already locked. It was a good thing my wife stayed with the other car or I would have had to walk or have her drive all the way back to the dealership to give me gas.

The saleman called me about a month later to ask me how the vehicle was running, I told him that it was doing fine, it has been a good vehicle for us. He then asked if we had a chance to rate him yet, I told him that I had not, I have had no one contact me, e-mail me, or send me a paper evaluation about the sale of my van as of yet. I did tell him that we were a little upset that it took over seven hours to buy a vehicle for cash, we were even more upset when it ran out of gas at the light. I could not help to ask him if it is common for him to sell a vehicle without making sure there is fuel in it. He told me that he did not know it needed fuel, but we did drive it a lot that day. Not the point, but to him it made sense so I dropped it.

I am not saying that I woul dnot purchase another vehicle from this dealership, but I will make sure that when I do buy that I pay attention to all of the details of the sale. I wil not purhcase a vehicle from the pre-decided sale inventory if I do go during a sale to look at or purchase a vehicle. I certainly will not use the same salesman.