{sigh} It looks like there’s a good chance the (not-so) new car is going back to the dealership on Monday.
The sleazy high-pressure finance manager dude at the Toyota dealership called this afternoon, claiming that my loan was not approved. I said of course it’s approved: I was pre-approved at the credit union for 22.5 grand. Videlicet:
Your OneAZ Credit Union loan application has been approved with conditions.
Loan Type: Exclusive Auto Promo Vehicle Year: 2016 Loan Amount: $22,500.00 Interest Rate: 1.90% Term: 60
“We couldn’t pull a credit report because your Experian account is frozen,” said he.
“No, it’s not: I unfroze it from C***’s phone (C*** being the saleswoman) and arranged for it to stay unfrozen through September 24.”
“Well, we couldn’t get a credit report. You need to call Experian and unfreeze it.”
I call C*** and ask WTF? She had come bouncing back into her office with the credit report in hand and exclaimed “You are a banker’s dream!” She’d just discovered my credit rating: 807.
So I say, D** (the gent in question) says you didn’t get a credit report from Experian. She now says — hang onto your hat — that actually that credit report was from TransUnion, and they have to get reports from each of the three credit bureaus.
That, alas, is a flat untruth.
a) If that were true, she would have said so yesterday;
b) I am dead certain it was Experian, because the system emitted the usual “welcome to Experian” robo-chatter; and
c) Transunion, Equifax, and Experian each provide unique passwords – the PW for Experian would not have gotten me in to Transunion and therefore I could not have lifted the freeze there.
I didn’t bring the passwords for TransUnion or Equifax; Experian’s is digits from an ancient and irrelevant phone number and so easy for me to remember. Far be it from me to say that C*** is lying…but…uhm…maybe not that far.
What’s going on here is that the dealership is trying to corral me into accepting their 2.9% loan; they will make less on the 1.9% loan through the CU – possibly they will make nothing, since the loan is not through them but through the credit union. The guy tried to pressure me into taking the 2.9% loan yesterday, but I declined. He also tried to high-pressure me into buying an expensive extended warranty on top of the “Certified Pre-owned” feature. It took four refusals over the course of an hour or more to get him to knock it off.
So I call the loan officer at the credit union, T****, who says he can’t see what their problem is, since the loan has been approved and the dealership has received the letter of approval, which the CU has also sent to me. There’s a direct and an indirect way of buying the car, he explains. The present and most typical strategy is “indirect,” whereby the loan is routed through something called CUDL. If it doesn’t work, then they will arrange for the “direct” method, which involves my traipsing to the credit union to get the documentation and a check. But he says there’s NO reason they shouldn’t be able to do this in the normal “indirect” manner. He said he would call D** and propose that they accept a “direct” loan.
At the time, I also ask T**** if the “year: 2016” means the loan applies only to new vehicles. He checks and says no, as agreed earlier, it covers 2012-2016 models.
Somewhat after 5 p.m., T**** called to say Bell Rd had agreed to do the “direct” method. This entails my driving to the credit union, picking up a check, and delivering it in person to the dealership.
With some hassle — the password was the last four digits of my SS number and they had entered the wrong characters — I filled out the required “signature” form, turned it in, and downloaded it to DropBox and to disk.
So on Monday I’m supposed to drive to the credit union Monday morning to pick up a check and then shlep it to the dealership.
That is going to blow away at least half of another day, probably more.
If I get one more scintilla of aggravation on Monday, I’m going to return the car, demand my car back plus any gasoline they’ve consumed, and tell them I expect them to fix anything they’ve broken on it.
Let us hope this isn’t a “preview” of things to come should you need work done on your car. I would pick up the check and go to the dealership. When there I would ask to speak to the manager….if he’s unavailable…I’d ask for contact information with the District Rep that oversees that dealership operation. And I’d let the Rep be fully aware of the treatment you received. This sounds almost like your being held hostage. Toyota is very big on customer satisfaction….they need to know about your poor experience….
Funny story….when I bought my truck (over 13 years ago) I was “entertained” by basically the same “dog & pony show” you described…I declined the warranties and under-coatings and clear coatings…etc, but not the free coffee and donuts. So the finance guy was last and he’s right out of a movie….very slick….got it ALL figured out…. So it seemed if I financed the truck thru Ford I was eligible for the $1000 rebate that they would take off the purchase price. BUT I had already negotiated the purchase price….a very FAIR price. So I grab the guys paperwork and ask for a moment to read it while enjoying free coffee and donuts. The “finance guy” ain’t happy…he wants to close and seems to be unaware I’ve already “locked” the sale price so he can’t recapture $ from the sale price to pay for the rebate. So I read the docs….it’s all in “legaleze” …BUT there is no “prepayment” penalty….the interest rate is 3.9%…but who cares. So I come back and tell the “surprised” finance guy….”let’s do it”. He’s ecstatic….temporarily….tells me I have stellar credit etc…It seems we’re BFF’s now. He tries to adjust the price…I tell him that can’t happen….He tries to make me take the “add-ons” as a condition of the rebate….I explain to him that’s illegal….So after much “research” he prints up the paperwork and doesn’t seem so happy and we’re no longer BFF’s. I got the keys to the truck along with the “new car smell” and headed home. About 10 days later I got my payment book and info from Ford. I made one payment from the book and then called and asked Ford what the protocol was to pay off the loan. Sent a check for the payoff that day and that was that…
Hope it works out for you…
THAT is an amazing story!
If I get this car — which I may not, because I seriously do intend to call the deal off if they hassle me any further — I surely won’t have the warranty work done at this place. There’s actually a dealer closer to me. The only reason I went there was to do business with this particular sales agent, with whom I had a glancing acquaintance (she’s one of SDXB’s many ex-girlfriends).
It’s a shame that Toyota dealerships became clones of obnoxious American car dealerships after their vehicles became popular in this country. Of course one reason Toyota cars DID become popular was that, in addition to producing a quality vehicle, at first Toyota treated customers professionally and didn’t jack them around.
Entertainingly, by the way, the sales agent told me that the warranty work on this vehicle could be done by ANY mechanic, so I could take it to Chuck if I pleased. That’s clear and present bullshit, of course — unless they’ve changed their policy hugely, you have to take your car to a dealership for repairs during the course of the warranty. It may be that Chuck can change the oil, but that’s about it.
Y’know, she told me there are 28 computers in a Venza. Your corner mechanic cannot deal with that. So whether or not you’d prefer to deal with an honest mechanic, you’re stuck.
Some years ago, when I had a Camry, I went to pick it up from a Toyota service department. Those guys have quotas to fill. They’d called me to come pick up the car at the exit, but dawdled in bringing it up. While I was standing around, I overheard the sales manager talking by phone to the service bay. The mechanic had finished a car that some woman had brought in — the manager remarked that she was an elderly woman — and had declared that nothing serious was wrong with it. The manager said that would not do, because they had to meet their quota, and then ORDERED THE GUY TO TAKE THE ENGINE APART so he could tell the woman the parts were all over the shop floor and they couldn’t give it back to her. This would let them charge her for disassembling and reassembling stuff, and of course it meant she would be without a car for at least another day. And god only knows what they charged her…
It really wasn’t that amazing….I was just lucky and vigilant. I hate when folks get taken advantage of….especially me. I can thank my parochial school background for the good reading foundation and to be able to comprehend what I’m reading pretty well. I read that financing document pretty thoroughly and one had to make at least one payment before paying off the note….which I did. And Ford actually refunded me part of the final payment as I included the interest for the entire 2nd month and they refunded like 22 days of the interest as I recall. Which was “the right thing to do”.
The thing to consider is the “tell 10” theory of sales….which goes two ways. First to be successful in sales it’s encouraged to “tell 10” people about your business….EVERY DAY. That’s 300 people a month …3650 a year. The thought being, that done diligently one can’t help but be successful. On the other hand, after they are a customer and should you disappoint them…. one can rest assured they will “tell 10” about their unfortunate experience…who will then tell 10….etc. So I would think in this era of “Yelp” and other social media that the Toyota folks would “do the right thing”.
As for the folks at Ford….because of my somewhat positive experience with the purchase and a pretty good service record with the vehicle I bought a replacement battery when it was 11 years old FROM the dealership. I may have gotten one cheaper elsewhere BUT I bought a Ford battery from the dealer and have not been disappointed.
The really crazy thing about my experience was I had trouble sleeping that night because I was so “amped up” from the caffeine and sugar in the donuts.
Ha ha! High on donuts and coffee…maybe it’s part of the dealer’s plan!
If anyone’s reading Yelp, it can’t be helping the dealership: “reviews” on Yelp are full of angry complaints. After awhile, their customer relations guy must have gotten tired of looking in to complaints and posting a response: most of the responses are the same form-letter brush-off.
I imagine you’d probably find the same record just about everywhere — car dealers are notorious for sleazy dealings. That’s why I used a broker, until he retired.
In fact, I had an appointment with a new broker for Tuesday, but because I saw this vehicle and realized there are VERY few Venzas on the market just now, I thought I should move ahead with it. This new guy doesn’t work the same way the other guy did — he seems to have his own car lot. I think he sells used cars as well as trying to track down what the customer wants in other dealerships.
MAN….28 computers in the Venza??? I don’t like where this is going…. What concerns me about autos now a days is the electronics and the availability of electronic parts after a couple of years. In another life I delivered newspapers and bought a Ford Festiva to deliver them…..I loved that car. Great on gas…. economical….had 12 inch tires that I used to buy at Pep Boys for $9.99 each (no misprint). Anyway…..I paid $6K for this little gem OTD….”out the door”. One day when it was about 4 years old and had about 100K miles on it, it died. Had it towed to the shop and my guy calls and says it’s the “main computer” (brain)….is bad….gone…etc. And a new one was gonna be right around $1500 PLUS install PLUS the tow bill. My response…”so we’re junking the car”…. He’s a good guy….sometimes….and suggested holding up and trying to find a “brain” from a junkyard. After three tries we found one that worked and installed it…$450 “soup to nuts”….Drove that car another 150K miles and the guy drove it on the truck when I donated it to Juvenile Diabetes years later. THAT was a good car!
I haven’t had to hassle with car buying for 14 years and I’m not looking forward to it when it’s finally time to go through that hell again. The dealership where I bought my Hyundai also tried to pull a fast one on me concerning the APR but I called ’em on it. How do crooked car dealerships stay in business?!?
I wish you the best of luck tomorrow. I really hope the situation is resolved to your satisfaction.