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Don't get screwed by Auto PIRATES & THIEVES!!! READ THIS!!!Dec 22 '99 Write an essay on this topic.THIS IS A MUST READ IF YOU WANT TO SAVE BIG MONEY! My wife and are are the kind of people who prefer paying off a car and owning it outright. Leasing is for those who either need to have a new car all the time and/or resign themselves to always having a car payment. Hers is a Honda Accord '86 mine WAS a Subaru Legacy '91. My transmission went and we needed over $2000 to fix and only 30 days were guaranteed. Clearly time to replace as even with the rebuild the value and condition was questionable at best. Additionally our little starter home purchased 1-1/2 years ago cries out for a vehicle with decent cargo space to bring goods back from the home center. So being financially embarrassed (I have a fledgling start up internet business) we decided to lease. For whatever reason we decided on the Honda CRV. Dealer #1 $322/mo. for 36 months. Dealer #2 $298 for 48/mo. Dealer #3 $265/36 mo. BACK to Dealer #1 now $272 for 36/mo. and so on. (All these deals are no $$$ down w/tax included and auto trans.). We then decided to go for a full size SUV. Dealer #1 Liccardi Ford (Explorer) medium equipment $365 for 39/mo. Mind you I went in well equipped with info from my bro-in-law a former Credit Manager at a large auto dealership! Wanting to make a deal I swam the tide and bounced around the ring with these guys for around 8 hours total! At one point I got them down to $273/mo for a full power Explorer Sport after dealing w/3 lying, 2-faced maniacs. I had to P/U my wife @work and they suggested I take the Explorer to get her...a great idea so now we both are in the showroom and love the car. They hand write a retail order and I have them fax it to my bro-in-law and this and that. 45 minutes later I am on the phone to my bro who I called BEFORE they 'sent' the fax and was by the machine. The guy had told me the fax went thru. My bro says he never got it. When I return to the action they are trying to get my wife to sign a contract not for 36 but for 66 months!!! They explained to me that it was really 36 but to give me special $ assistance because of my financial plight they needed to make it 66 months but would roll it over after 36 so it was really a 36 month lease. I called my bro who got on the phone and reamed out the GM. The GM then offered us this wonderful deal of get this (no $ down of course) 24 months only (unheard of) thru a special promo he'd forgot about for The most beautiful Deluxe LOADED Explorer in Pearl White that was sitting in the Showroom with 5,800 miles on it and a sticker of $32,000! When the papers finally appeared (after they kept us there til closing to make sure we couldn't go anywhere else to shop around) The deal was as described w/no $ down $269/mo. for 24 months but the mileage was only 18000 not 24000 and we'd clearly been assured of 12000 per year. he explained how since this demo had 5800 on it blah, blah, and so on. I told them we'd sleep on it and 3 guys 'blocked' our path out. My bro and others all said they NEVER heard of such a thing. I might have even accepted this deal if they'd been up front about it but by now the though of doing business with people like this and then facing them AGAIN at the end of the lease was NOT an option. So I set out the next day determined to make a deal elsewhere on a Ford, Chevy, or Jeep. First stop was Global Chevy. I told the guy Liccardi Ford beat me up and I have no time for games, Just good numbers, straight talk and I am shopping price. The salesperson made a couple of half-hearted attempts to control, and 'steer' me one way or the other but I was firm and maintained control. I told him roughly the car I wanted and the terms. 36/mo., no$ down, 12K miles/yr no cap, no gap, he went to speak with his manager (they all do that) came back and said $255 plus tax ($272)(told me uncle sam gets tax not them). Thats another line they all use like they're talking to an idiot. I told him I hate to be hard but I need a cheap payment and will get it somewhere else. My recommendation make a fast couple of bucks on me and move on to the next prospect. I was determined to keep my self-esteem high and get a great deal. I KNEW I was in the good deal ballpark range now and my bro had told me no matter how low they still make $$$ somewhere. Now the Sales Mgr. who was in the wings appeared and ask right away what I need to drive the car home today. I gave him the aformentioned terms. He asked me to work with him and split the tax and I told him that seemed reasonable but I wouldn't budge from the $250 Total payment. He asked if I wanted to se a stripped down van with auto trans. I got up to leave politely telling him I'm sorry but I will try elsewhere. He came down $5. I took out my calculator for a bit and told him I really would make a deal now if he'd meet the price I need and that I wont insult him by coming up a dollar and he comes down a dollar and so on. I stood and said $255 total and thats final and he put out his hand to shake on it. THIS ENTIRE PROCESS TOOK 15 MINUTES!!! No surprises in paper work then or after. Everyone was nice, polite and 'real' unlike the Ford dealer where everyone was hyper and rude and crazy like their reputation (I went in anyway!). THE POINT - I was firm and in control and got what I wanted...probably could have upgraded the car a wee bit, but I went about as low payment wise as I could have. And they made a couple of bucks (thats not my problem). Another good point I was glad for this nice young father of 2 to get commission on my deal and not give it to an a--hole! I proceeded to tell all my contacts that Liccardi are criminals and I had a great experience at global and I recommend them highly. The VERY FIRST person I told about Global proceeded to tell me a horror story about how they tried to screw them with lies and double-talk and they'd almost made a big mistake and bought from them! There is an obvious moral here that they ALL are rotten and self-esteem must be high or these guys will flim-flam you every time. I felt in control the whole way and that made the difference. I am delighted to send people in to see this decent young man and I tell them to tell them to ONLY deal with this one guy and to tell him up front that I will look at the retail agreement BEFORE anything is signed! Go to www.bbb.com the Better Business Bureau and see how Franchised Auto Dealers are numero uno in complaints (last year over 250,000) for 15 straight years by a margin of over 2 to 1 over #2 which is Used Car Dealers!!! Oddly enough #3 is Dry Cleaning and Laundering Services! The following are very useful sites: www.kbb.com - Kelly Blue Book easily gives you all pricing info on new, used, etc. www.autoweb.com and www.carpoint.com and www.autobytel.com all give you the sticker info without running around. But dont be fooled by sticker the 'dealer cost' they provide. There are always rebates and incentives the dealerships get that we are not entitled to know of and even at below cost (if we actually knew what it was) they make big wampum on financing kickbacks and/or incentives. rule of thumb I learned is the publicized dealer cost is around 7.5% off the sticker and take 5% off of that and this is what you should pay. Just imagine my friends who leased an Explorer from Liccardi for payments of $345 for 39 months on the same car we could have had for $269 for 24 months. Do the math...this is thousands of dollars difference!!! On a purchase a difference in payments of perhaps $425 and $340 over say 5 years is $5,100.00!!! So it pays BIG to shop and shop tough. I hope this helps. (read my review of the Chevy S-10 Blazer)  |
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