I bought a used Ford Contour from Jim Click Nissan in May, 1999. At a certain point in the process, they told me my payment amount - $361.
We then went into the finance guy's office and he ran me through a bunch of paperwork. During this process, he tried to sell me all sorts of add-ons, including an extended warranty. He offered me the warranty at an extra $5 per month on my payment. This was a 60 month loan, so I figured it was a good deal - $300 total price for the warranty. I accepted his offer.
When I reviewed the documents at home, I noticed the extended warranty was priced at over $900. I was really confused - how does $5 a month for 60 months equal $900 dollars?
So I went back to the dealership to figure out what they had done.
Apparently, when they took my credit info and sent it to all their lenders, they got several loan offers back at a variety of interest rates. When they initially told me what my payment would be, they did not go off of the lowest-interest rate loan they got back from the lenders.instead, they deliberately chose a higher interest rate loan when quoting my payment amount. Then, when they tried to sell me extended warranties, alarm systems, etc. - they switched loans on me. They switched from the initial high-interest loan to a lower-interest loan to hide the true cost of the add-ons. They did all of this in secret, and I had no clue.
This is apparently a popular scam, and it can be avoided by doing your homework and dealing in actual prices for everything - instead of monthly payment amounts. I recommend avoiding Jim Click at all costs. Lots of Tucson residents now drive to Oracle Ford or Phoenix-area dealers just to avoid him.
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