OK, where do I start? I'm going straight to the point regarding my recent car buying experience. First, we went in to purchase a used vehicle. The experience, while we were browsing for the right car, was welcomed by a friendly salesman named Felix. Everything was good, so far. I researched the vehicle that we were interested in and we researched the value on www.Nada.com (highly recommend this site), and various sources. The price was fair in comparison to the resale value. I recommend doing your research prior to purchasing a vehicle. THEY WILL PREY ON YOUR IGNORANCE if you don't!
Helpful tip:
DO NOT EVER NEGOTIATE PAYMENT! Negotiate the actual price of the vehicle. They come at you with questions like "can you afford this payment, or that payment" etc. So please be smart and politely say: "I'm not interested in monthly payments, I'm only interested in the sale price!" They will do as much as they can to divert your attention from the actual price of the vehicle to "monthly payments."
Anyhow, as we found the vehicle that we were interested in, we proceeded to the small cubicle on the north side of the complex (Facing the freeway). They proceed to start the "application process." Basically, what they do is run your credit to determine your eligibility, in regards to "how much" you are "approved" for. (ex: "Customer" is approved for $20k loan, so you may consider purchasing a vehicle of equal or lesser value. But it is important to consider, that you have to add "taxes and licensing" and other associated "fees.") They will ask you how much are you willing to spend on "down payment." You may be asking yourself, "Whats the big deal, every dealer does that." Of course, they don't want to waste their time knowing that you will not be able to qualify for the vehicle that you are trying to negotiate.
This is not the bad part. The bad started when we proceeded to financing. We were introduced to Robert Terfehr, who is the Finance Manager. We introduced ourselves, in a professional manner, and continued the process. He seemed to be cordial at first, but as we proceed to finalize the process, he presented a monthly payment of $485/month.
Hmm, I knew something was off. I asked to view the itemized sales receipt before we signed. (It's the long yellow form that has a bunch of numbers on it). I quickly noticed an additional cost of 2000.00 on the total cost of the purchase. I asked what this was for, but he quickly mentioned that it was a warranty that was "needed" to be approved for the loan. He also said that If I did not want to add the "Powertrain warranty," the payment would remain the same due the interest rate, YES THE INTEREST RATE increasing by 5%. What a funny man, very deceitful, but funny. So basically, he said that it is better to have this warranty, and its important, yada-yada. We immediately declined the bullshit "warranty" and mind you, HE DID NOT DISCLOSE THE WARRANTY IN THE FIRST PLACE! (this is why you do not negotiate payments, you must negotiate price.) This is a very bad sales practice. He even called me a "smart alec" because he was so pissed that he could not "f**k us" on this deal. He obviously profiled us, thinking that we were ignorant or something. Jokes on him. He even tried to threaten us by saying that he will "cancel the deal" because I started to be very cordial, but stern. I know my shit! What happens next you ask? As he proceeds to finalize the documents without the added "warranty", the payment "magically" went down from $485/month to $441/month. This was based on a 72 month term.
($485-$441= $44 x 72 payments = $2952 )
That is a big difference, don't you think? He Lied to us!
Oh boy was he mad. Simply put, we did nothing wrong, we just disagreed to the additional cost that the dealer tried to impose on us. This is our right to decline "optional" costs if we choose to do so. Please don't allow these cons to "bully" you to buy something you don't really need. I understand that we could have just walked away, but the Salesman, Felix did an excellent job serving us. (I know they make commission, and I didn't want assholes like Robert Terfehr ruin his commission) That is THE ONLY reason why we proceeded to finalize the deal. I'm certain that there will be ZERO ACCOUNTABLITY, because Robert has been in the business for 30+ years, he said it himself. So this tells me that most of the "higher ups" are just as crooked. Businesses should understand that reputation is everything. And when you are caught red handed, literally trying to scam people, this is not good for business. I truly hope that someone looks into the negligence and unethical sales practices that Mr. Robert "Robbery" Tehfehr is conducting. I took the time to write this to help, in hopes that you don't ripped off. Remember, you only buy cars a handful of times in your life. Save YOURSELF money, at the end of the day, they are looking out for THEMSELVES anyway.
Peace to you all, and stay blessed.
-TEYOH! read more