Late in August I was contacted by Gwinnett Place Dodge regarding a truck I wanted to purchase. I responded and told the internet sales manager, Adam Jackson, what kind of deal I was looking for.
I told Adam I had a 2001 PT Cruiser that I wanted to trade in on a 2004 Ram 1500 Quad Cab. Considering I was 3K upside down in my loan and the 11K incentives that Dodge was offering I would be able to get the a $350.00 to $400.00 monthly payment I was looking for. I also informed him in order to reach this I would need the blue book value for the trade in and the reduced financing. I currently have financing through Chrysler and since I have an excellent credit rating with them I was told that it wouldn't be a problem to get both the incentives and the 2.9% financing.
When I arrived at the dealership it was an entirely different story. Not only did they refuse to give me the reduced financing but they only offered me 6K on my trade in. The blue book value was 10K. Also they gave some lame excuse about needing to keep me at my current 6.9% rate that I was paying with Chrysler.
I got the impression that the only desire of the dealership was to see how much money they could make on this one deal. I had been a loyal Chrysler / Dodge customer for several years and I was very disapointed to see the unsavory business practices they exhibited.
To add insult to injury, one week after I was at the dealership, Dodge started to run a new add with a 0% finance rate in addition to the previously advertised incentives. I know if I'd been given that financing we could have met the criteria I was looking for.
Bottom Line: Don't believe anything a dealership tells you. They are not in the business of making lifetime customers. They are in the business of making one time deals... Or should I say rip offs.
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