After seeng an advertisment for Foothill Nissan, I contacted them and they ran a credit report on me. After an hour they called me back and told me I was approved for up to $22000.00.
I lived 3 hours from them so I asked what cars they had in stock which I could afford. They wouldn't tell me, so I had to drive down there in my personal car which was on it's last legs. When I arrived the sales rep showed me 4 cars which I could qualify for. 3 Grand Ams and a Mustang. All the vehicles were sticker priced at $2000 above retail book, I needed a good car so I offered $500 under retail book and they accepted. So I settled on a GranAm and before the papers were signed they had changed the interest and payment 3 times of course adjusting a little higher each time. Two days later I received a call from their Finance department saying they needed an additional $1000 cash down in order to secure financing.
I was confused because I believe the financing was settled, I had signed a contract stating the terms and disclosure information (with an interested rate on the contract of 19%).
They said I had no choice and said I had to travel to their location to resign papers. Long story short, I didn't travel to Foothill Nissan, but sent in my installment payments as was agreed in the original documentation.
In the next two weeks I received my registration and a thank you card. No additional phone calls regarding financing, so I believed we were alright. 3 months later I receive a phone call from a woman who was very rude insisting that they have been trying to contact me for three months, (funny thing was that she was talking to me at work and I hadn't changed jobs, nor recieved any previous calls or messages). She also says that I havent lived up to my contract obligations and that they want the car back or she will contact the Sheriff to pick it up.
I contacted Foothill Nissan main office who tells me that the payments I had made so far were used for the down payment only and that I hadn't made any installments yet. They further stated that they had never got me financed and were not going to attempt to do so at this time. They gave me the option getting my own financing if I wanted to keep the overpriced car they swindled me into. I then asked what happened to my trade in? They stated it was sold at auction and that the money recieved would be applied to the costs for repossesion (only $500.00).
I therefore decided to give them the car back and pursue the matter legally. I am in the middle of that experience now. They sent me notice that I owed them $25000, (I paid $16,000 at purchase) and they would sell the car, sending me the bill for the balance remainding. I never received anything after that, but it does show up on my credit report... Another Intersting fact though, 2 months after they sold the car I received a letter from DMV asking for Registration renewel fees for both my trade in as well as the Grand Am... I don't know how this will turn out, but my advise to anyone buying a car is to stay as far away from Foothill Nissan as possible... I have since talked to other people who have had similar experiences with that "Den of Theieves"
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