I had bought a new car from Chapman many years ago, and it was a complete disaster. I usually will give a business a 2nd chance.
So, recently I was looking for a cheap, automatic used p/u, preferably a toyota or nissan. I was on my way to work, and passed by and saw one for sale. I looked at it, and it was priced at $9500 (way overpriced for this truck), but that isn't the problem - they can make the price anything they want.
I test drove the truck, and it seemed fine. I went back into the dealership, and said I would like to make a deal, and I only had 1 hour as I had to go to work (which was true). They said "no problem", and they had me fill out paperwork (piles of references for no reason), and proceeded to bargain.
I told them I just wanted to know the out the door price, and interest rate. They somehow didn't know how to figure out the price, but they sure knew the payments - $500 p/m, 60 months, $1000 dn, and my trade-in (junk - worth about $500). When I said that was ridiculous, they can back numerous times with different (lower) payments, until it was about $310 p/m/$1000 down, 48 months. This was still unacceptable, so I said thank you, we shook hands and I left.
This is where the fun begins - The manager actually followed me into traffic (I was stopped at a light). He said he wanted to make a deal. So I turned around, and went back. He came up with exactly the same figures. I said no again, and left. He followed me again into traffic! He said he would make a deal, at my price ($250 pm/36 months/no down/no trade). I asked him to repeat what the deal was. He did, and I went back. I had about 10 minutes before work, so I needed to get it done.
I went into the finance office. The finance guy proceeded to write it up. All of a sudden, it's back to $310 month and for 42 months. I told him there was a mistake, and he gave me the meanest look, and called in the manager. He says that is what we agreed to, and proceeded to show me the paper. I, then proceeded to turn the paper over, to where the correct totals were, and he gave me this (very unconvincing) apology about how busy he was, and he must have made a mistake.
He then told the finance guy to give me the figures we agreed upon. "Just make the term 48 months - nobody cares about the term, as long as the payments are right", is what he said. I replied that I care about the term, and proceeded to tell them what I thought about them, and walked out. Moral - don't ever shop at any Chapman franchise!
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