Automobile dealers generally do not enjoy the best reputation.in many cases the bad reputation not deserved and is caused by a minority of 1 or more bad salespeople who are the exception, and not the rule. Generally the dealership, as a community business, is trying to do right by their customers and build a respectable business.in the case of Luxury Motors, a large volume network of dealerships, it seems the stereotypical sleazy salespeople, and deceptive sales practices permeate the entire organization and are the rule not the exception.
I have purchased many cars over the years. I enjoy cars, but I do not enjoy the car buying experience. I have encountered good and bad sales people, and good and bad dealers. I have never encountered a dealership that treats its customers with more disregard than Luxury Motors. A car dealership is a for profit business and as such a business needs to earn a profit to stay in business. Luxury Motors leaves me with the impression that their motto is; Profit at all costs damn the customers. I make this statement based on my impressions of dealing with them over the past 3 years in a series of nightmares.
I am attempting to put the challenges I have faced into a series of related reports so the clear pattern of deceit, deception, and customer disregard is fully illustrated. Readers are strongly cautioned to avoid any of the Luxury Motors dealers as a place to buy a car. If you do deal with them, get everything in writing, have any used vehicle completely and independently inspected, verify that there is a clear and original title to be transferred, and be sure to get a far facts report and totally scrutinize it. Do business with them at your own risk. Carefully scrutinize their low pricing claims and you will probably find the deal is not really better than at a reputable dealer or you end up getting what you are paying for by dealing with low price.
In our Luxury Motors saga so far, I have encountered:
1. Bait & Switch
2. Hiding Damage
3. Misrepresented title condition
4. A close call
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:
5. The Hook that sets the trap
6. The Trick and the 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 in the process of 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 buy 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 being too understanding and too willing to give the benefit of the doubt, and as a result has been taken advantage of.
Car salespeople must be adept not only at sales and negotiation, but are trained in deflection, misdirection, (the magician's secret) and are adept at spin, and 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 or most of these skills. These skills in the hands of a professional sales person are not in and of themselves 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 like the best of magicians, spin like a master DJ, and are masters at tuning everything around, always in their favor. As a result they are good at getting you to invest so much of your time that you either give in, or give up. What make the Luxury Motors people I have encountered exceptionally dangerous is at first impression they do not appear or come off as the sleazy people you need to take a shower after talking to, they come off as busy but sincere. A wolf in lamb's clothing is still a wolf, you just don't realize it until it is too late.
And now our saga continues with:
5. The hook that sets the trap
We left off with the close call.
It was everything I could do to get out of there without signing any papers and buying something I could not yet afford. It was a close call, indeed.
On 5-29-06 I received a call from Tony Preston at Saab Downers Grove (one of the Luxury Motors Stores), who identified himself as the manager, and asked if there was anything he could do to sell me the car I had looked at.
I recognized the name as the salesperson who had sold me the Jaguar.
I reminded him at the time that he was the salesman that sold me my previous car (the Jaguar) and stated that I was waiting for a closing to have the funds to buy.
He asked me to stop by to say HI and he would see if there was anything he could do to help me out on the pricing for when I was ready as an existing customer. I told him I would be in the area 6-1-06.
At that point I thought I had lucked out, if the original salesman was still employed, he would certainly recall the fact that he said buying the car I did would be doing them a favor and since they didn't disclose and couldn't resolve the other issues, maybe there was a way to make thing right after all.
I finally saw an end in site to the problems I had faced with the Jagaur, little did I know that I was walking into a trap and was about to be ambushed...
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