On June 18th of 1999 we went to Bill Heard Chevrolet in Sanford. We were looking for a 2000 Chevy Silverado. We decided to go to this dealership because of the flyer we had been receiving in the mail. They had vouchers in them that said $750 good to your purchase of a new Chevrolet vehicle.
So my husband and I went after I got home from work. When we got there we were me (as always) by a friendly salesman. He asked what we were looking for and we told him. So we started looking at the lot. (What we wanted was an 2000 Silverado extended cab with power windows and locks. Not hard right?) Well we walked the whole lot and only found 3 that matched what we were looking for.
So we were going to test drive one then our had to go and help some return customers we were handed over to another grinning salesman. We test drove the one we were looking at and went in to talk over the numbers. He did alot of back and forth then finally told us we couldn't get that one. So we were escorted back to the lot to look for one that was a little less expensive. He said we would probably not be able to get an extended cab. I asked why not because we were trading in an extended cab chevy.
He looked me straight in the face and said "can you afford a porsche?" I said "No can you?". This is how the rest of the time continued I would say something and he would treat me like I was stupid or not there at all.
So finally they bring out this truck it was beautiful I have to say that much. We test drove it and I told my husband that I really liked it. So we went back in to go over the numbers again. This time they kept pressuring us about our down payment. We only wanted to trade our truck and put $500 down plus that $750 voucher that we had gotten in the mail.
When I asked him about the voucher he started laughing and said "really what are you going to put down" That was the last time I saw the voucher. Then he went over to the sales managers. He came back and said there was only one thing we could do and that was lease. (By this time they had, had us there for 3 hours.)
So I asked what the payment would be? And he said what kind of payment are you looking for. We were paying $442 before so I said I would like it to be at or less than that. We had also been told about No payment till January. (Which would have been good because we got married in November and we were paying for our whole wedding.) When things started to progress they took us into the finance guy. There was a sign behind him that said "If I don't ask you what brought you here today then I will give you $50". (He never asked.) Anyway so we went in with him and he started throwing paperwork at us. Sign here, sign here. So we did.
I asked how much the payment was and he came back with $565 my eyes about popped out of my head. That's a long way from $442. Anyway, he explained it all away like he's trained to do. (At the time I did not know much about leases.) So then he finishes. I ask him if our insurance is going to go up. He say's "No and if so not by much". They don't tell you that when you get a lease that you have to carry lease coverages (300,000; 100,000; and 50,000) on all vehicles that you have in your names. So not only did the insurance go up it almost doubled. So we were getting ready to leave and they kept going on and on about a survey that Chevrolet would send asking us about our experience.
They said that when we got that to fill it out and bring it to them and they would give us something for free. I also asked the finance guy before we left about the $50 and he laughed and said he couldn't believe I would ask after the great deal he had just got us. That was before everything sunk in with us. We left the dealership at 9:30 at night.
I found out later that by law they should have never let us leave the lot with the truck because we did not have the right insurance coverage for it. About a day later my husband took out the paperwork and started screaming it seems that at the end of this four year lease if we want to keep this truck we will have to pay an additional $13,000 to buy it. That would make the total price we will have paid for the vehicle $40,120. That is really expensive for a lease. Especially when the window sticker was still in the truck and it said the price of the vehicle was 27,000 ouch!
Oh, something I forgot to mention is the truck that we have is what they call a demo truck which means that one of the sales managers had been driving it. We were supposed to have money taken off the price for that but that did not happen either. Now back to the story, so I called Bill Heard on Monday and spoke to the finance guy I asked him why we would be paying the full price of the vehicle by the end of the lease? He didn't answer but made me feel incompetant. Then I wanted him to try and find a way for us to finance which he said he did but I am not sure that he did.
As you can tell we are still in the lease. The next thing that happened is we received the survey from Chevrolet. I filled it out and also attached a two page letter documenting everything which had occured up until then and I made a copy then sent the letter to Chevrolet.
I took the original over to Bill Heard and they really panicked because I didn't have the envelope that you use to send the letter in. I told them I lost it. They gave me a tank of gas for bringing it to them. I know that they never sent it in because nothing on that survey was very flattering for there business. I also never heard anything back from Chevrolet. I really like Chevrolet but this has put me off of them a little. You would think they would want there customers happy. Especially when we pay all of our payments on time.
I would really like to get out of this lease and get on with my life. I will not be suckered into getting into a lease again. We are buying a house so I know our credit is good enough to have bought the truck outright. We are also having a baby and I wanted to get a car but we can't get out of this truck.
I am not saying that I don't like the truck or we can't afford it. It would just be nice to have that extra money. I don't know if anyone can help us, we have pretty much resigned ourselves to paying the four years and being done with it.
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