Car Dealerships! oh and a couple pics I took recently

Yesterday I had this appointment at the VA in Bonham. We recently bought this car from an individual and for what we paid it is an ok car, however after driving a mini van for many years I am just not feeling comfy in this car. I need a family vehicle. So as we where going to Bonham any way I decided that we would stop by Bonham Chrysler and see what pre-owned cars they had we actually found one that we loved! It was a

2004 Chrysler Pacifica SUV

   

This is actually the very vehicle we looked at and even test drove for the day. The sales guy said take it to your appointment and when you get back we will have the financing worked out. I said to him specifically that I was not willing to pay any money down, I simply wanted to use the car as a trade in for the down payment and then make payments. Now this is something that I have done in the past and on vehicles that to be honest where not worth trading in but if the car lot wants to take them then great. 

We returned with the above vehicle and was informed that financing was all sorted we just needed to speak to the finance guy. The sales guy says first let me run over the numbers with you. We are asking $13 and change for the vehicle, but have brought that down to $10 and change, we will give you $3  for the car and bring that down to  $9. Now a warning bell went right off for me because I know the car isn't worth $3 and I also know that if you take 10 which is what they brought the price down to and subtract 3 that leaves 7 not 9 however I just listened and waited for the finance guy. 

Ok in the past when I have traded in a crap car and not made a down payment what the finance people have done is gave us say $1500 trade in for a car that is really worth about $500, they tell the finance company that they gave us $500 and then we put up the other $1000. I have done this several times over the years. However this finance guy wanted to say that our car was worth $500 and they would say they where giving us $3000 but we would have to come up with cash for the $2500 difference. This is well to be blunt ass backwards from any other deal I have every heard of, what would be the point of telling the finance company that they gave us $3000 trade in if we actually put up the $2500. The whole point in doing this scheming on the trade in and down payment is so that the finance company thinks you put cash down when really you only traded in your car.  To be honest I was texting with Misty and only half way listening to the guy, but I sat up straight and took notice when he said that we would be putting up the $2500. I ask him to explain again so I could be sure of what I had heard. 

Needless to say we opted not to because I had already said I wasn't giving them the car and cash. So we leave the lot and head home. On the way we drove past a couple other car lots, smaller less BS car lots. There happens to be the same vehicle sitting at one of the lots only it is the prettiest blue. So we stop just to ask. This lot don't really do trade ins, they want a down payment. So we ask about the Pacifica. Theirs happens to be a 2006 model, less miles and they are only asking $9 something for it. Stephen and I just looked at each other with this "good job we just avoided getting screwed" look. Now we are going over the finances and attempting to come up with a down payment and keeping the car to give to Sara and Luke. However the fact that this car is almost $4000 less than the one at BC really got us a little irritated. 

We didn't look on the net before we stopped, it was a last minute "hey lets just see" kind of deal. Today we went and looked at BC website and I will be darned, they have that vehicle that we test drove  listed at $9,999 so why the HELL did they try to tell us $13! I mean isn't that false advertising or something?  

It is really my own fault because a couple years ago we had a few dollars saved and wanted to go to this same car lot's cash only lot and pick up something fairly cheap to get Stephen started out. This was when he first moved here and didn't have a car or a job at the moment. So needless to say car payments where not an option with no job.  They had all these $2000 cars on their site but when we got there they refused to show us anything less than $5000 and when I ask specifically about cars on their site that said $1999 they came up with excuses about how those cars where on lots in other towns. I ask could they call those lots and verify that the cars where there so that we could go see them, they refused to do so. Now I explained to the guy that Stephen had only been here a couple of weeks and that he didn't have a job yet and that until Uncle Sam gave him a work permit he wouldn't have a job so I needed a cash deal, he still wouldn't let me see the cheap cars. I should have known better than to ever go back there. I can assure you that I won't be doing it again. 

I  just can't understand a business being ran that way, I mean haven't they ever heard that you are suppose to listen to the customer and find out what their needs are, what their abilities are and go from there? This place is all about screwing you over and pushing you into something that you can't afford or something that you said you are not willing to do! I really hate pushy lying sales people!

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Now on another note here are a couple pics that I took when I went with Stephen to look for a hawk.