I have had bad experiences in car dealership sales rooms, but buying my Grand Cherokee was the worst. I had found this Jeep through CarGurus, but it was 1.5 hours away in the Toronto area. This was a Limited X, which gave it most of the appearance of an SRT, but with a V-6. I had already run the VIN through a Chrysler computer and discovered that it had extended warranty. On inspecting the vehicle, I noticed it had a dent in one door that could likely be fixed with paintless dent repair. I tried to use this defect as a bargaining point, to no avail. The salesman said they had just dropped the price by $5000, and would go no lower.
We negotiated a deal, using my vehicle as a trade-in. Then, the salesman said I had to finance the Jeep through the dealership. I told him that I had my own funds in place, and would not finance with them. He replied that financing through the dealership was a condition of sale. He went on to say that Chrysler was upset that people were buying high demand vehicles in Canada, and then selling them in U.S. for higher American $$$. To stop this, the dealerships were tying them up with a lien. He said I could pay off the loan after 6 months.
The salesman then turned me over to the finance guy. This is when I should have walked out. This clown tried to sell me the extended warranty all over again, plus security features, that were already on the vehicle for $1400. I explained that I knew this vehicle already had all this on it, by previously running the VIN, and just needed the warranty transferred to my name. He told me that there would be a $1400 charge for this. I told him he was full of $hit, that there was no charge for the transfer. Then he went on to the financing talk. I grudgingly signed up for it, knowing I could pay it off early. I signed the sales papers, and we could pick up the Jeep on Monday (this was Thursday), after it had been safety checked.
Halfway home, I realized we had not been given a copy of the sales contract. Once home, I E-mailed the finance guy that I needed my copy of the sales contract. I did not get this until Saturday, and noticed that this $1400 of crap was added on to the final price. At this point, I called the guy at the dealership and told him I was not going to pay this extra charge, and that he should deduct it. His response was that this was a legal document with my signature on it. I reminded him that we had had quite a discussion about this extra charge, and I certainly would not have signed the sales papers with this $1400 on it. He got real huffy and asked if I was implying that he had forged a legal document. I said, "BINGO!" . That is exactly what I am saying. I told him if he was going to keep talking about legal documents, I would have my lawyer continue the conversation with him. I said I was going to start looking for another vehicle to buy, and hung up on him.
About an hour later, the dealership guy called to ask me how we could get this deal back on the rails again. I told him that I would NOT finance it through them, and would NOT pay again for the extended warranty that was already on the Jeep. I wanted the $1400 deducted, along with the financing fee, and associated taxes. This was over $2000. I had already left a cash deposit in the amount of the sales tax. I said I needed to see a revised sales contract by the end of the day. I had it in an hour. The new terms were now agreeable to me, so I said I would bring a Certified cheque with me, and complete the deal on Monday. It was a chilly reception at the dealership, and we were in and out in 15 minutes, with my new (to me) Grand Cherokee.
In hindsight, I should have just walked, and found another Jeep to buy, rather than suffer this assault on my blood pressure. I did notice that my wife and I were about the only white folks in this store. I think it makes its living selling to new immigrants to Canada, who do not know all the rules.
