Car salesmen have always had an unsavory reputation. Sometimes they are more fraudulent then others.
I received a letter on Monday By the Bush Auto Group with a fantastic offer. The only problem was it was good only on the previous Saturday.
But what the hey? I was willing to give it shot to see if they would honor the letter's offers. I had no illusions in this regard. But I wanted to know what excuses they would use to alibi not paying the promised "Above market Reimbursement allowance" and the "additional $4,600."
Last time I did this I was sure they were going to give me a great deal. But they showed me the fine print, and I cam home with a Wawa Shorti hoagie coupon.
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The letter clearly states they would give me $12,300 for my 11 year old Altima, and $8,000 off on a new car and zero dollars down and zero percent interest. |
From the small print on the back page. The ++ Refers to the Kelly Blue book value with a deduction of 20 cents a mile for every 10,000 miles per year. My car is 11 years old, and 105,000 miles. No problem there.
The + over the + reads, "May receive $4,620 more than the estimated Kelly Blue Book Fair Market trade-in value. But on the front, it clearly states "You Will Receive An Additional $4,620" So I have every reason to expect $12,300 as a trade in.
Then there is the line, "Plus, I Will Give You $8,000+ this Saturday. The + on the back de-references to "... Up to $8,000 of the MSRP of select new Nissan models..."
All told, about $20,000 and a Target gift card ;)
I knew this wasn't going to go my way, but I wanted go through the experience for when I do need a new car.
The first one the $8,000, that only applied to Nissan Armada's. We didn't get down to reasonable sedans. And truth to tell, that one is a legit base on the small print.
Now the $7,710. I was told that only applied to vehicles with "Sport" or "Pro" trim packages. It does not say that in the letter I received, but it did say it on the template on the desk of Chris Gassert. In pencil. I wish I had taken a picture of it. But this is what it looked like:
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| His note was in pencil, and where my name and car is a bracketed key words. |
"My letter does not say that!"
"We have lawyers that wrote this, so it is solid", was the reply.
I don't think so Chris. Considering the template was on your desk.
He also told me he wasn't going to give me $12,000 for my Altima that was worth $4,000. Condition unknown.
"I did not write this letter! You did! Knowing full well it was 11 years old. This is just fraud!"
"And you knew it's condition, your maintenance department has been taking care of it for 11 years."
And he stated they would not honor the $4,600, because it was Monday. I pointed out that it only arrived in my mail box on Monday, and they didn't mail them out soon enough to get there earlier than Saturday.
Things went down hill after that.
