July 10: - The date I walked out on a purchase at Crown Hyundai in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was undoubtedly the WORST car buying experience I have ever had! While full details are available at http://www.crappycardeals.com, I can present an overview here:
This dealer is about 60 miles from my home. Through an auto consultant that I have used many times, we negotiated price, trade in terms and finance interest rate on a new car purchase with Crown Hyundai in St. Petersburg, Florida. The trade was being handled through a third party dealer, using what is known in the auto industry as a "draft". The interest rate they said they could provide was 4.5%.
After driving over an hour to this dealer, we found that they had no intention of honoring any of their commitments. They refused to honor the draft, insisting they had told the third party dealer they wanted a certified check. (They had confirmed they would accept the draft to me the day prior). It took two hours to haggle through that point and get to the finance office, where I ultimately learned that they had me financed at 6.24%. Top add insult to injury, they actually did not tell me this until we were about to sign the final loan documents! Needless to say, we walked.
I think the entire deal with Crown Hyundai of St. Petersburg, Florida was a complete farce. We negotiated several key points in good faith, and the bottom line is Crown Hyundai was at best, slow to respond and highly dysfunctional. At worst, they were outright dishonest. Dealing with this dealership was 4 days of needless frustration, capped off with their failure to honor key commitments in the agreement. Be wary of any promises made when purchasing from any Crown dealer in St. Pete!
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