I just had the worst experience buying a car ever, and it definitely needs to be addressed.
My wife's car blew an engine on Monday. She needs a car for work so we started looking for a new car for her on Tuesday. We went to 1 dealership in Blair and came home to a local Ford dealership. They didn't have the best used car inventory but we were able to find a vehicle that would work.
The day we're to go sign for the vehicle, I get a cold call from Performance Chrysler. Odd, but impeccable, timing. The salesman on the other end of the phone is clearly feature launching and trying to get me to NOT sign for the vehicle on Friday night. After hearing about some of their inventory I decide it was in fact smart to delay the purchase and go to Performance for a look.
I arrived at Performance at approximately 11:30 on Saturday, 12/13/14. I met with Nick D. and the car that lured us there simply wasn't worth the money there were asking. That's not a problem, we looked for others on their lot. We kicked a few tires but found one that we liked.
The vehicle was an 08 Jeep Liberty. When we opened the door there was a HORRIBLE cloud of cigarette stench that left the vehicle. The previous owner clearly smoked in the vehicle and they were NOT "window" smokers. This is a used car lot, so again I don't hold this against Performance. It had a broken window switch and a broken window as well as some hail damage. It also had some hail damage on the roof and the hood.
The salesman assured us that they could get the smell out or at least get it to greatly diminish so we played the car haggle hussle and came to the following deal:
I would pay $6750 for the vehicle. Performance would fix the window and provide the part for the window switch. I agreed to do the labor putting the switch in. Performance would detail the vehicle extremely thoroughly and fill the tank with gas. This was subject to Performance being able to get a majority of the smell out.
As I explained to Nick D, my wife and I are former smokers. As such, our previous car also had some cigarette smell to it that we are OK with. We don't smoke any longer so a smoke-free car is better but this is a used car and we would have been getting a great deal. We can shampoo / mask if needed. In the current state, however, it simply wouldn't be acceptable.
Nick D and a manager, Brandon, agreed to this deal. We shook hands and awaited paperwork to be drawn up.
When Nick brought the paperwork to us, it had 2 glaring mistakes. First, it had "PARTS ONLY SALE" listed on every document and it did not lay out the aforementioned subjectivity. I let Nick know it must be a mistake for the "PARTS ONLY SALE" and he explained it's just what is on all his documents. I let him know that is a show-stopper for me. I was not buying parts, I was buying a vehicle. As such, I won't sign a document that says I'm buying parts. I also pointed out that the subjectivity wasn't put in writing.
Nick went to the manager desk and came back with a gentlemen named Mike.
Mike explained to us that he wouldn't remove the "PARTS ONLY SALE" wording because if he did we might bring the vehicle back for service issues. I pointed out that AS-IS NO WARRANTY was accepted and agreed to. I let him know I had no preconceived notion of recourse on any car issue once it leaves the lot. Mike would not budge. Since I was not buying parts, the meeting of the minds we once had was undone. Mike explained he had other vehicles we may be interested in and went to go look. At this point it was 2:45 and my wife didn't want to wait any longer so we got up to leave.
Nick saw us leaving and asked us to wait, maybe he could get a different manager to fix it.
I'm sorry sir, it was too late. You knew up-front that we already had a car picked out and it was just waiting our signature.
Brandon, the first manager that agreed to the deal, also saw us on the way out and was befuddled how someone else un-did the deal. I let him know briefly what happened and he appeared to be stunned.
As we were on I-80 driving to go sign paperwork for the other car we received another call from Nick D. Nick begged me to come back in the lot, and I explained to him that he had the chance to sell me a car. I explained that we had already agreed on a deal and I wholly intended on consummating that deal. I let him know that I was not turning around, I was going to sign for the original car at a different dealership.
I did not lie, I was heading to Atchley where what we agreed on is what we signed for.
A point of note - Nick isn't a bad guy. He actually is persistent, as he called me again 4:09 to try to earn my business. Unfortunately for him I was signing for the vehicle at that moment.
When we agree on a deal, that deal needs to be written before I'll sign it. Just like your red stamp says, "There are no verbal promises outside of what is contained on this document." read more