Negotiated a fair price over the phone for a Grand Caravan 2006 SXT Special Edition. Then decided to add our 1993 Chevy Blazer towards a trade in. KBB, Edmunds, etc. All rated it at $1500 in excellent condition, $1250 in good, and $775 in fair. I offered him $750 since I wasn't trying to be greedy and it does have some problems and repairs needed. I spoke with the C&C rep. Over the phone and he assured me that wouldn't be a problem.
My wife, two week old son, and I traveled down to the dealership three days later to finalize the deal. We took the Dodge for a drive down to a mechanic and everything checked out. Brakes were worn, but no more than normal wear and tear. While we were gone, we agreed they could take our Blazer down the street to his wholesale guy. Upon our return the trade-in offer was $200, not $750. The reason? Their guy down at the wholesale said they could sell it for $500 tops. The sales rep. Explained that the wholesale guy would charge $200 to sell it and they would make $100 (since they offered me $200 for the trade-in). I balked and walked out, only to discover that my Blazer jumped and sputtered. I was furious, returned and demanded to see the owner, who moments before refused to speak with me about the trade-in. He came out and we discovered it was the 4-wheel drive button had been left on. Okay, I calmed down and talked with him about the trade-in value. He assured me they didn't have the time nor the desire to pump any money into selling it and it would go straight to wholesale. We really liked the Dodge, so we decided to go to lunch, discuss it and come back.
They let us take the Doge and as we drove it to the restaurant, we noticed the engine light came on. We looked in the manual and it stated the most common problem was improper octane gas... Which made sense because the sales rep. Just took it to put $10 in gas in the tank (as a side note, that's the largest amount of money they're supposedly allowed to spend to fill up a used car). So the manual said to press the trip meter. Did that, no change. We asked the sales rep. When we returned and he took it in to their service dept. Guy stated that it was a EGR..."What's that?" Carbon particles popped up a gas hose. "Okay, how to fix and what's the cost?" Amazing, it's about $200.
So at this point we should have just walked out, got a news reporter, and started the investigation. However, again, we were really into the car, knew that it was after all USED, and it came with a 50/50 warranty for 1 month/1,000 miles. So we decided to take the offer. I mean, I didn't have the time or money to spend (plus pay insurance) to fix up the Blazer only to sell it. So we agreed. This was the friday before labor day...
Labor day (Monday) I go back to their website and see that our 1993 Blazer is now up for sale for $1497. Did they put any work into it? Nope. Any repairs? Of course not. Did it go to the wholesale guy like they assured me several times? Nope. All that happened was I negotiated a very good original deal and when they heard "trade in", they went into used car dealer mode and dug in their heels to make up the difference.
Now, to those former used car dealers and sympathizers, I'm thoroughly aware that car dealerships must make money. I even agreed with the sales rep. That no deal is worth it unless both parties are willing to both give up and get something. But the rep. Told me flat out that he would make $200 and his owner would make $200 off the original negotiation. That was before the trade-in. They essentially made a $550 profit off the difference of what the trade-in is worth, and what they offered me. THEN, they lied and put it up for sale for three times what they would sell it to their wholesale guy. Whether you dislike greed and money-grubbing, or you're strictly a morals kind of person... They broke both sets of values.
And the engine light is still on. I've contacted them to try and figure out what it is and how much they want to rip me off again, only to be told to take it to a local dealer and report back to them to see if it's the same thing they found. Then they would decide what to do from there.
Never dealing with them again and doing everything in my power to get the word out for others. Don't make the drive. Don't call or email these guys. They are nothing but smiling friendly crooks!
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