On August 18 we went to the Smithtown Nissan dealership to purchase a 2007 Altima 2.5S. We told the salesman that we want to finance with a loan from our bank. The sales manager explained that we would get a better rate if we take the loan with their dealership through the Smart Buy program. He said our monthly payments would be lower and the term will be 39 months. We agreed to take the loan with them.
We realized 2 weeks later upon receiving our first payment notice that the Smart Buyis actually a LEASE. The sales manager NEVER mentioned the word LEASE while we discussed the financing of the car. We signed all the paperwork thinking we were getting a financed loan from Smithtown Nissan. We went to them on September 2 to discuss the error in the deal. They said the Smart Buy works for 39 months and then an additional 2 years if we want to own the car (same as a Purchase option on a lease). It is not right for them to call the deal a Smart Buy when in fact it is a lease. They said if we want to buy the car we need to call Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation. We do not know how much we will be charged to get out of the lease and feel it is not right to deceive a customer like they did to us.
If it is Lease it should be referred to as a lease not a fancy name like Smart Buy. The dealer should not be using this term to trick customers into taking a lease when they really wanted to take a loan. Smart Buy in the way it is worded should mean purchasing the vehicle not leasing. When a person is leasing they are not Buying.
We are not familiar with leasing but after researching online I notice that the "agreed upon value of vehicle" they put on lease is 27k not the 18k I agreed to buy for and to make matters worse I put down 5k on the car so that my loan that I thought I got won't be too large.
I do not want them to get away with ripping off other customers.
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