We have purchased four cars from Stockton to Malone Honda over the years, and the 4th one has been a real disaster. My son purchased a 04 Buick Century in 2005 which unfortunatly was involved in an accident and was totalled. So we went back to Stockton to Malone Honda to look for another car for my son.
We were shown a 2001 Toyota Celica GTS that they had purchased for another customer that had backed out of the deal to buy it. They wanted this car off their lot, and it was, in my opinion the type of car I wanted to see my son get. We have worked with the same salesman for 2 cars previous and we have always liked working with this guy. When he originally came back with a deal they wanted $2000 for a down payment which I told them I could not do. My son asked if they could use the money that would be refunded from the maintenance agreement for the down payment because that is what they had done when he trade in his Dodge truck for the Buick Century. The salesman took that information to the sales manager, I suppose for approval, and came back and said that would work great. The sale was made and the contract states a $2200 cash down payment was made. That amount was deducted from the cost of the car, leaving the amount to be financed. Stockton to Malone's finance guy got the loan set up and off we went.
2 months later I get a call from Kami at Stockton to Malone Honda saying that I owed them $2200. I asked what for. Kami said for the down payment. I explained to her the process stated above. She said that was illegal because all the money had to go back to Bank of America to pay off the loan on the Buick. I told her that my contract states that I paid a $2200 cash down payment. I have been treatened ever since that they would take me to court and ruin my credit (which scores over 850).
They are claiming that no one knew that the Buick was totaled which is an outright LIE. Everyone knew. Salesman, sales manager, finance manager. Each said how lucky we were to have had Gap Insurance on the Buick because of being upside down in value.
The kicker is that we paid for an alarm system that was installed by THEIR prefered installer that does not function properly and according to the contract a mirror was to be fixed that was not functioning. After THEIR prefered installer for the alarm finished, now both mirrors are not functioning, and the headlight and fog light on the driver side burn out very quickly. Twice in 5 months. Their service department was going to fix the electrical problem at their expense until they saw the note that we owe $2200 dollars. Then they refused to do the work.
Because they are all part of the Larry Miller Group, every dealer that is part of this group is on the same computer network therefore everytime you try to get any service, they harass you about the supposed down payment owed. I can no longer trust any of the Larry H. Miller group of dealers to do work on this vehicle.
They blame me because they messed up.
1. They made the deal.including the use of the Maintenance Agreement refund for the down payment.
2. They set up the loan.
3. They sent us home with the car.
If what they did here is illegal by trying to use these funds, then what else do they do that is illegal? I am not an auto sales company or professional, how would I know what is legal for them to do? THEY APPROVED THE DEAL. I have a contract to prove it!
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