In june I decided to treat myself to a new car. It was my birthday and I thought, hey, I deserve this.
After spending hours at Fox Chevrolet of Laurel trying to decide what kind of car I could see myself driving for the next few years, I decided on the Chevy Cavalier. It seemed practical, reliable and I got the salesman, "Jerry Butcher, " to negotiate a good price with me while we were on the lot.
Once inside the dealership however, the price we had negotiated out on the lot had turned into something much different. The vehicle price was no longer the $18,000.00 we had agreed upon just moments earlier. And the $2,500.00 Manufacturers Rebate no longer applied, nor did my trade in apparently.
I decided to at that moment to make my purchase elsewhere. As I was walking out the door I was approached by the Dealerhip manager who said that he'd really like to work things out with me and said he could make me a deal. After getting the price of the car back down to the $18,000.00 it was originally promised to me for, I decided to go ahead with the purchase.
All was well for the next three days until I received a call from the finance department at Fox Chevrolet. They said that they were having some trouble from the finance company and might need me to return the car. I knew that something wasn't right and said that I would be there by the end of the day to return their car and pick up my trade in.
When I arrived at Fox I had all of my paperwork and was ready to return the car. But wait... I was informed that the financing actually did go through, but it was going to be through a different bank and at a better interest rate. I just needed to hand over all of my old contracts and sign new ones. It was the end of the business day and I was rushed into signing the new paperwork, but not brfore they pointed out the new, lower interest rate and lower payment.
I cannot believe I did not read the contract in its entirety. Yes, the interest rate and payment's were both lower. But the Total Sale Price and Total Number of Payments had gone up. And I don't mean gone up just a little. My Total Sale Price, with finance charges, taxes, tags, etc. Had gone from around mid $22,000.00 to $26,729.70.
It was nearly a year before I had realized that this had happened when I received a statement from the finance company that just happened to have my expected payoff date listed at the bottom. It had been almost a year and I didn't feel there was anything I could have done about it. I didn't have the old contract because they insisted that I return it to them. It would have been my word against theirs.
So, in short, I GOT SCREWED
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