Bait and switch...and switch...and switch...

[patrick49]

I'm in the process of working out a sale from a dealership that's about 350 miles from me, so I'm trying to iron out everything in writing before I leave the house. We've agreed on the price and the value of my trade-in, and the original salesman told me over e-mail that I'd qualify for 0.9%/72 mos. at that price.

This morning, a guy from the used side called me to confirm the value of my trade, and when I asked for a written offer sheet, he sent it without the financing terms written in. I asked him to redo it with all terms, and 15 minutes later I got a call from someone else in sales - OOPS, you can't combine that price with that financing rate, but I can get you in at 2.9%/84 mos. Ok, I'll play ball - asked for the written offer sheet with that number. Got a call from a third person - OOPS, you can only get that price and 2.9% financing on a 36-month balloon loan. He said that I after the 36 months, I can choose to turn the car back in, make the payment, refinance on my own, or continue making the same payments at 2.9%.

That last part doesn't sound right to me - if I had that option, why wouldn't they just finance me at 2.9%/72 mos.? I've never financed this way before - can anyone enlighten me if that's actually a real thing? I thought only the other three options were available for closing out a balloon loan. I asked him if that option would be written explicitly into the contract, and he said yes, so I asked him to write up the sales contract that I would sign and e-mail it to me so I can review it (because I'm not about to drive 6 hours and get run around). That was about an hour ago and so far, crickets.

Part of me is bitter at the whole experience because they expected me to come up there without any of this information and pull all these changes on me at the dealership, likely thinking that I'd be of the mindset of "well, I just drove 6 hours to get here and have a 6 hour drive home, I sure would rather do it in the Stinger" and just agree to whatever they threw at me. So...not great!

 

[Get Stung]

I'm in the process of working out a sale from a dealership that's about 350 miles from me, so I'm trying to iron out everything in writing before I leave the house. We've agreed on the price and the value of my trade-in, and the original salesman told me over e-mail that I'd qualify for 0.9%/72 mos. at that price.

This morning, a guy from the used side called me to confirm the value of my trade, and when I asked for a written offer sheet, he sent it without the financing terms written in. I asked him to redo it with all terms, and 15 minutes later I got a call from someone else in sales - OOPS, you can't combine that price with that financing rate, but I can get you in at 2.9%/84 mos. Ok, I'll play ball - asked for the written offer sheet with that number. Got a call from a third person - OOPS, you can only get that price and 2.9% financing on a 36-month balloon loan. He said that I after the 36 months, I can choose to turn the car back in, make the payment, refinance on my own, or continue making the same payments at 2.9%.

That last part doesn't sound right to me - if I had that option, why wouldn't they just finance me at 2.9%/72 mos.? I've never financed this way before - can anyone enlighten me if that's actually a real thing? I thought only the other three options were available for closing out a balloon loan. I asked him if that option would be written explicitly into the contract, and he said yes, so I asked him to write up the sales contract that I would sign and e-mail it to me so I can review it (because I'm not about to drive 6 hours and get run around). That was about an hour ago and so far, crickets.

Part of me is bitter at the whole experience because they expected me to come up there without any of this information and pull all these changes on me at the dealership, likely thinking that I'd be of the mindset of "well, I just drove 6 hours to get here and have a 6 hour drive home, I sure would rather do it in the Stinger" and just agree to whatever they threw at me. So...not great!

Neeeexxxxttttt!!!!!

 

[SteveCo]

I think the first time they changed the yardsticks on you it was a trial balloon to see if you'd protest - it doesn't costs them anything to try, and they stand to make a lot of money. When you didn't fight that, they figured they'd got a live one and decided to see how far they could push it.

Go find another, ethical dealer, stick with what you want to pay, and make an even better deal with them. Good luck!

 

[patrick49]

I think the first time they changed the yardsticks on you it was a trial balloon to see if you'd protest - it doesn't costs them anything to try, and they stand to make a lot of money. When you didn't fight that, they figured they'd got a live one and decided to see how far they could push it.

Go find another, ethical dealer, stick with what you what to pay, and make an even better deal with them. Good luck!

Yeah, the first time they said that that rebate and financing combination is not available and they flat out wouldn't do it. I pushed them on why it was offered in the first place and they just said that it shouldn't have been and didn't budge. Then basically pulled the same thing the second time. Sucks, but oh well.

 

[Tobstertx3]

Walk away!

 

[patrick49]

Walk away!

I did, not worth the hassle. Trying to make myself be patient as the prices will drop when the '20s show up, but I've already found a used GT2 AWD in Houston under 35k. Just not sure I want to give up the warranty that a new one would come with.

 

[Menissalt]

Don't deal with these people, they're trying to work you over. As a side note nobody can guarantee financing terms until your credit is pulled. I'd really only recommend up to a 60 month, 72 or 84 month loans not only cost more in interest but you're paying significantly less than the depreciation which leaves a lot of negative equity.

Looks like the 0% or 0.9% offers can be combined with $2000 off for competitive or owner loyalty. They also have $7,300 leash cash right now for GT2s for 36/mo 12k/mi which is probably the better deal, even if you want to purchase instead of lease.

If it's anywhere near close for you enough check out Huffines McKinney in Texas, they won't give you the run around.

 

[SKStinger]

Don't deal with these people, they're trying to work you over. As a side note nobody can guarantee financing terms until your credit is pulled. I'd really only recommend up to a 60 month, 72 or 84 month loans not only cost more in interest but you're paying significantly less than the depreciation which leaves a lot of negative equity.

Looks like the 0% or 0.9% offers can be combined with $2000 off for competitive or owner loyalty. They also have $7,300 leash cash right now for GT2s for 36/mo 12k/mi which is probably the better deal, even if you want to purchase instead of lease.

If it's anywhere near close for you enough check out Huffines McKinney in Texas, they won't give you the run around.

This is excellent advice. Extending your amortization beyond 5 years in order to lower your payments generally means you can't afford the vehicle at the sale price and puts you in a negative equity situation. I think you should strongly consider leasing the vehicle, especially with the lease cash offer above. That's a pretty sweet incentive!

 

[patrick49]

Don't deal with these people, they're trying to work you over. As a side note nobody can guarantee financing terms until your credit is pulled. I'd really only recommend up to a 60 month, 72 or 84 month loans not only cost more in interest but you're paying significantly less than the depreciation which leaves a lot of negative equity.

Looks like the 0% or 0.9% offers can be combined with $2000 off for competitive or owner loyalty. They also have $7,300 leash cash right now for GT2s for 36/mo 12k/mi which is probably the better deal, even if you want to purchase instead of lease.

If it's anywhere near close for you enough check out Huffines McKinney in Texas, they won't give you the run around.

This is excellent advice. Extending your amortization beyond 5 years in order to lower your payments generally means you can't afford the vehicle at the sale price and puts you in a negative equity situation. I think you should strongly consider leasing the vehicle, especially with the lease cash offer above. That's a pretty sweet incentive!

72 months is really as far as I'm willing to go. They threw 84 months out there and I listened to see where it would go from there, but that wasn't on the table for me. At the original price and finance structure they offered, it was only going to be about $1100 in finance charges over the 72-month loan, but that all evaporated when I asked them to put it in writing.

I'm not particularly interested in leasing, especially given the tax involved with a buyout in Texas. I'm basically just shopping for the best deal I can find on a GT1, trying to be patient and see where it goes, that approach has worked for me in the past. I think I've skimmed the listings at a couple of different Huffines, but I haven't gotten in touch with them yet, I'll keep it in mind though, thanks!

 

[Tobstertx3]

Where in Texas are you?

 

[patrick49]

Pflugerville, Austin suburbs.

 

[Ruturaj]

Get a balloon financing, you can get same incentives as a lease, refinance your car.

You should be able to get 5k off MSRP, 9900 in rebate (numbers for for gt2 awd).

PS: I think the dealers you talked with are just idiots and didn't know which offers can be combined.

 

[patrick49]

Get a balloon financing, you can get same incentives as a lease, refinance your car.

You should be able to get 5k off MSRP, 9900 in rebate (numbers for for gt2 awd).

PS: I think the dealers you talked with are just idiots and didn't know which offers can be combined.

The dealerships I've talked to locally either refused to do a balloon deal outright or reduced the incentives from lease cash levels significantly so it wasn't worth it.

Edit - and the dealership referenced in this post tried to push me into a balloon that was unfavorable for me after initially offering me deals they wouldn't actually honor.

 

[patrick49]

Found a used red '18 GT2 AWD that will be about $36,500 out the door, MSRP $52k+, picking it up tomorrow if all goes well. Has a lengthy Carfax record of maintenance and install of a remote start.

 

[pkarandi]

Found a used red '18 GT2 AWD that will be about $36,500 out the door, MSRP $52k+, picking it up tomorrow if all goes well. Has a lengthy Carfax record of maintenance and install of a remote start.

Awesome! Congrats. Good on you for walking away from the first dealer. They were just doing, like you said, whatever they could to get you up there and then trying to take advantage that it would be so hard for you to turn around empty-handed. Good job making sure all the details were in writing FIRST!

 

[patrick49]

Awesome! Congrats. Good on you for walking away from the first dealer. They were just doing, like you said, whatever they could to get you up there and then trying to take advantage that it would be so hard for you to turn around empty-handed. Good job making sure all the details were in writing FIRST!

I did get that GT2 yesterday - no tricks, all the numbers were exactly what we had agreed upon. With almost 22k on the odo, I ended up getting the extended warranty, gap, and wheel/tire protection also. The one downer was that there was some light paint damage that didn't show up in the pictures/they didn't mention along the doors and front bumper where the previous owner had definitely scraped something. I'm going to try to get it out with Scratch Doctor, but the dealership offered to have their body shop fix it at the rate they would pay if I want to make the trip back (once gas and time spent driving are taken into account, I might find a better deal locally though). Perils of used cars I guess.

Also, one of the front tires had a giant bulge in it. They replaced that for free with an OEM Michelin. They had to get that special ordered and it took about five and a half hours to show up, which made for a looong day at the dealership.

Hopefully I'll have some time today to get all the settings right, and install my OwlCam and blendmount/invisicord Passport 360 Max. All I had time for last night was to get the dealership emblem off and install the kiddo's car seat base [woooo party].

 

[Gargamel]

I did get that GT2 yesterday - no tricks, all the numbers were exactly what we had agreed upon. With almost 22k on the odo, I ended up getting the extended warranty, gap, and wheel/tire protection also. The one downer was that there was some light paint damage that didn't show up in the pictures/they didn't mention along the doors and front bumper where the previous owner had definitely scraped something. I'm going to try to get it out with Scratch Doctor, but the dealership offered to have their body shop fix it at the rate they would pay if I want to make the trip back (once gas and time spent driving are taken into account, I might find a better deal locally though). Perils of used cars I guess.

Also, one of the front tires had a giant bulge in it. They replaced that for free with an OEM Michelin. They had to get that special ordered and it took about five and a half hours to show up, which made for a looong day at the dealership.

Hopefully I'll have some time today to get all the settings right, and install my OwlCam and blendmount/invisicord Passport 360 Max. All I had time for last night was to get the dealership emblem off and install the kiddo's car seat base [woooo party].

I hope you atleast got a swedish style coffee while waiting. (American style is like weak tea)

 

[Menissalt]

I hope you atleast got a swedish style coffee while waiting. (American style is like weak tea)

Not American espresso though and I don't mean Starbucks

 

[Kgh31386]

Nice! Where’d you get it from? I’m in Austin myself.

 

[patrick49]

Nice! Where’d you get it from? I’m in Austin myself.

Bayway Cadillac in the Woodlands. I've been stalking autotrader for a month or so to find the right one.