Just wanted to tell my experience and hope it helps others. I at first went in for a Hybrid but not having one I wanted I settled for the Honda Civic. Capital One Auto Finance sent me a Blank Check that I would receive the next day.
The salesman was great and pretty nice. The finance manager, however, Jamal was not. Here is what he did. He got me to sign what he called a temp contract. (Note: No such thing. You sign a contract and that's that) but he kept saying this contract means nothing and blah blah and that the next day when I come he'd write up one for the blank check.
The reason he gave for doing this was so that I could take the car and should I get stopped I would not have any problem but that we wouldn't finalize things until tomorrow when I brought the check in.
Brought the check in the next day and after reading it he found that in the fine print the check is only valid for cars sold at 110% of their invoice so basically the check was no good.
Well I told him ok in that case I would just like to wait. I'll save up some and put a big down payment on it. This is when he showed his true colors. Remember that "dummy" contract? The one that didn't mean anything? Well now it means something.
What he'd done was this. He'd gotten approval for a loan at 5% higher interest than the one I was going to use with the check. It was also 6 years rather than 5.
So bottom line was I found myself bound by that contract and of course he was oh so sorry and passed the buck onto his manager saying well you know I've talked to you so I know but he's by the book etc etc.
I will not ever buy from them again and Jamal's tactics and personal ethics seem questionable to me so if you do find yourself there be careful.
Follow the rule that I broke. Don't go in and sign anything until everything is set. He knew that their was a chance that the check couldn't be used and rather than tell me this he just got me into a different contract that he could use as leverage.
What should have happened was that nothing be done until I brought the check in. After checking that over THEN we decide. I would have decided to wait had I known this in advance.
I'm in a very nice car that I like and I may be able to refinance down the road. But just be careful. Although I do like the car I feel like I was suckered. Not ripped off mind you but suckered and trapped.
While I don't hate the car and the finance terms aren't absolutely horrible, I feel that the way Jamal did this taints the entire experience for me. He may be more polished but he's just a new variation on the old snake oil saleman. Oh so flexible and accommodating until he has you in his trap and then it's oh I'm sorry, my hands are tied, no you can't change not a single thing.
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