On 8/9/08, we went car shopping. We stopped by American Toyota to check out a 2005 Dodge Caravan we had seen online for $9,997. It seemed like a great deal, 47,000 miles and lots of extras. We needed to trade in our 2000 Saturn sedan, but we still owed a little bit of money on it but were not at all upside down.
After we test drove the car, we sat down with a salesperson. At first, they offered us a disgustingly small amount for our trade-in. It was insulting! I told the salesperson that we would not accept that offer, and needed them to do better. He came back with the SAME offer, and tried to convince me that it really was acceptable. This happened multiple times.
About 2 1/2 hours later with this back-and-forth business (I know all car sales involve this but really, more than 2 hours? And no give whatsoever from the dealer? Ridiculous) I was tired of it and told him what my final negotiation would be, and further told the salesperson that if his finance manager said no, he needed to bring me the keys to my Saturn (which they still had from appraising the sedan earlier in the day). He came back with a different, still unacceptable offer and NO keys. I was furious, and we walked away and left the dealership. The salesperson called us within 2 hours of leaving and agreed to our final offer, and we went back on 8/11/08.
That day went more smoothly, although the warranty sale was very aggressive and pushy, and we left with the vehicle. We drove 20 minutes to our home, and my husband dropped me off at home to run back to the dealership with a document we had forgotten before. When we went to start the vehicle, it would not start. The vehicle was dead.
We called American Toyota and were assured by the sales manager that they would "take care of us" and we made arrangements to have the vehicle towed back to the dealership the next morning to check out the problem and repair it. I knew New Mexico had a lemon law, so I looked it up that night and printed out a copy, just in case.
The next morning, the vehicle was towed back to the dealership. It took two hours for them to provide us with a loaner (as promised the night before), and then we got a call diagnosing the problem as an "electrical issue". At this time, they quoted us a price of "at least $1,200" to fix the problem. My husband returned to the dealership and told them that he would be willing to pay the maximum of $50 for a maximum of 2 repairs as outlined in the Lemon Law statute, so that they could rectify the situation.
At that time, they told us that New Mexico did not have a lemon law that applied to used vehicles, and we had to show them the paper copy of the statute to get them to acknowledge that we were, indeed, well within the limits of the 15-day period covered by the lemon law (which, ironically, was also outlined in one of the forms we had signed the day before during our purchase - they absolutely KNEW that there was a lemon law that applied to used vehicles, they were simply dishonest enough to tell us otherwise and hope we were uninformed enough to believe them).
It took about 3 1/2 hours to convince them of the existence of the lemon law, to discuss how our 1/2 hour of ownership qualified under the lemon law, and how they could either pay for the repair or refund our money. After 3 1/2 hours, they grudgingly agreed to void the sale, and we left with our Saturn that we had traded in the day before.
We went over to Bob Turner's Ford Country, and had a MUCH better experience. We bought a used minivan from Bob Turners for less money, with a bigger down payment, and a better finance rate. The sales people at Bob Turner's were fantastic, and it was such a nice change from the rude, pushy, and dishonest employees we dealt with at American Toyota. We have also submitted a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and are making sure to tell all our friends and family about this experience. They should be ashamed, what a disappointing experience we had.
Dissatisfied Customer
Albuquerque, New Mexico
U.S.A.
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