I purchased a vehicle from HK Finance in August. I had been in a wreck 2 weeks before this and needed a car. After just been through a divorce, my credit was not as good as it used to be, so I knew I would have problems getting financed.
I took my vehicle to HK finance, but it was seriously damaged. They told me that it would cost them more to tow it to the auction than what they could actually get for it. Ok, that's understandable. However, I had a balance on the car of $3,200. They told me that the bank will not allow me to have 2 outstanding auto loans. Fair enough.
They told me that they would roll the $3,200 balance into the price of the new car. I asked what I should do with my vehicle. They said "junk it, fix it, sell it, do whatever you want with it." I know that this is a common practice in the automotive industry since I used to be a finance manager.
The price of the car was supposed to be $8,135. I financed $10,035 ($35 for doc stamps) and put down $1,300 bringing the grand total to $11,335 (which is $8,135 $1,300). I'll get back to this in a moment.
Nine days after I purchased my vehicle, with only a few hundred miles on it, the transmission fell apart. I took it to the dealership and they said that the warranty only covered 25% of the parts and labor. I left the vehicle with them for almost two weeks.
They took it to a transmission shop for an estimate but kept giving me the run around about getting it fixed. Then I was told that they had to find a transmission. They wanted to give me a transmission that had 40,000 miles on it! The transmission went out at about 65,000 miles. Why should I settle for this?
Finally I told them I would get it fixed myself. I took it to a mechanic that I know and trust and he replaced it with all brand new parts and a warranty for $1,800, which is not a bad deal, but still a lot for me.
Back to the financing...
I moved out of state two months later thinking that everything was ok. I moved back to Florida a year later after my assignment was up and I start receiving threatening letters, then phone calls from my old finance company with the old car. They are threatening to take me to court and garnish my wages.
I faxed them a copy of the contract and attempted to speak with Lou (Finance Director) at HK Finance. He is demanding that I give him the old car (that I was told is worth no mroe than $50). I can't do that though. First, that wasn't in the deal. Secondly, I gave the car to my parents in Arizona so that they can fix it up and give it to my little sister.
Every time I go to the dealership with contract in hand, I'm told that Lou is not there. One time they took the contract from me and then tried to keep it without giving it back. I finally got Lou on the phone when I had someone else ask for him, but every time I tried to speak to him or get a word in, he would bang the phone receiver on the desk and repeatedly hit it like a 2 year old so that I couldn't speak.
I'm disappointed that I allowed this to happen to myself. I sold cars for more than 5 years. I was a sales manager and a finance manager with a large reputable dealership. I saw this sort of practice happen all the time and even wrote contracts in which we would pay off the balance of an old vehicle and roll it into the price of the new car when it wasn't worth it to us to take it in. The big difference though? We ACTUALLY paid off the old vehicle!!!
I advise everyone to never buy a vehicle from these people. Don't let them rob you! There are other used car dealerships that are much more reputable and can get you bought from the finance companies. Don't let them bully you into thinking that you can't get bought anywhere else.
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