In our Luxury Motors saga so far, I have encountered:
1. Bait & Switch
2. Hiding Damage
3. Misrepresented title condition
Not a pleasant experience so far but not earth shattering either. As the events of the past 3 year continue to unfold the story gets to be very interesting and very telling to say the least.
Other parts of the saga are:
4. A close call
5. The Hook
6. The Solution with a hidden Trap
7. Murphy's Law
8. The trap snaps shut
9. A possible solution
10. An end in sight
11. Light at the end of the tunnel
12. Is it daylight or is it a freight train?
13. The ultimate insult & the leopard shows its spots
My objective in bringing these facts to light is twofold; 1. On the chance (slim) that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, I would like to give the dealership a final opportunity to step up and make things right, which I have been unable to accomplish through normal channels over the past 3 years. And 2, I hope to give others the benefit of learning from my mistakes hopefully avoiding the same mistakes.
In the event a reasonable resolution can be made, I am willing to update this report to that effect.in the event my worst suspicions are true, I hope to have some role in reducing the number of customers that fall victim to Luxury Motors, and if the absolute worst of my suspicions are true, see them either go out of business, or be put out of business before hurting too many others.
I am making arrangements with some people I know to have a charitable trust pay a bounty to anyone who buys a car anywhere EXCEPT at one of the Luxury Motors Stores, kind of an extra rebate type of incentive to find a dealer that will treat you right and earn, rather than take, your business. Stay tuned for details it appears to be possible.
In the meantime review the information and learn from my mistakes. Go anywhere except one of the Luxury Motors dealers to purchase a car for the best chance at keeping your sanity and not being taken advantage of.
Check the BBB rating, consumer complaintss and other consumer forums. Don't make the same mistake I did, check those first, not after. A complaint is not necessarily a bad thing. Some complaints have merit, some do not. Look at the pattern of complaints and their resolutions. Ask yourself if what you see demonstrates a firm that tries to do the right thing by their customers. Building great customer satisfaction is a much longer way to success for a dealership, but it is the permanent way. Look for signs of repeat business, anyone can market, advertise, and pressure their way to high sales volume. There are plenty of dealers out there who subscribe to the philosophy brought out in the great book on the car business Customers for Life, other who just run another ad rather than wait for repeat business and word of mouth. Check the CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index) if you can. With some dealers CSI is a score, the higher the better, with the best dealers it is a state of mind that carries through and is evidenced in all their dealings with customers.
I am taking the time to lay things out as I am to give the reader a basis for understanding I am not a raving lunatic who makes unfounded accusations, but a reasonable and rational person, who in spite of being rational has made some mistakes, one of which was misplacing trust, and as a result has been taken advantage of.
Car salespeople must be adept not only at sales and negotiation, but many are trained in deflection, misdirection (the magician's secret) and are adept at turning things around. One big weapon in the car salesperson's bag of tricks is time. The more of your time the salesperson can get you to invest with them, the more likely they are to make a sale. Most of the Luxury Motors sales and management staff I have encountered are masters at some of these skills. These skills in the hands of a professional sales person are not in and of them selves bad or harmful. Employed by a less than professional or unscrupulous salesperson they can be very harmful to your financial well being. Most of the people I have encountered at Luxury Motors can deflect as if they are made of rubber, are as slippery as Teflon when it comes to trying to pin them down for an answer, misdirect with the best of magicians, and are masters at tuning everything around in their favor, and as a result are good at getting you to invest so much time that you either give in, or give up.
And now our saga continues with:
#4. A close call
I decided to continue driving the car after having spent the money for the window repairs and a new set of tires and the dealers I spoke to were not interest in taking my trade based on it's title history and/or where it was purchased.
Later, when I decided it was time to possibly consider changing cars again, I thought if I went back where I bought it I might have the best chance of getting it accepted as a trade and a reasonable deal on the trade. I was hoping to make up some of the previous overcharge and challenges and hoped to get things made right.
On or about 5-27-06 I visited Luxury Motors in Downers Grove to look at available cars and get a feel for pricing. At that time I was anticipating a closing on a transaction and expecting sizable revenue from it. I test drove a 2004 Mercedes SL500 and although the sales people attempted to pressure me into a sale, I left the store fully intending to wait for the closing and purchase a car at the time I had available funds to do so.
At the time I was anticipating a closing I was waiting for to take place around the end of June.
My trade was looked at, I was quoted a price (low) on it, and it was not easy getting out of there without signing anything. It took forever to get the key to my car back, but once I got them back I left out of ther very quickly.
This visit was worse than my previous visit and I left wondering if the best thing to do was just to keep the Jag, wait for my transaction to close and worry about buying another car at that time.
Once I got home that is in fact what I resolved to do, relieved that I had dodged the bullet on that close call.
Little did I know what that had in store fore me next...
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