Premier Hyundai Milwuakie Oregon Bait and Switch: Salesman Outright Lied Milwaukie Oregon

To,
The Oregonion-Letters to the Editor (Editorial/Comment)contribution.

With the economic climate as it is and with so many people finding themselves suddenly unemployed, we are seeing more and more television and newspaper advertisements designed to stimulate our eyes, ears and mind with the hope and promise of easing our insecurities of making new long-time purchases.

Such is the case with the automotive market.
With government bailouts, restructering, the discontinuation of model lines and forced partnerships, it is no wonder that many automakers, both foreign and domestic are offering buyers incentives, boasting our confidence that if we lose our jobs,the automaker will make payments, sometimes up to 12 months and if you still find yourself unemployed, you can return the car with no negative effect to your credit.
Who can resist such an offer.
Add this to dealer rebates in the thousands and you find people just like me, still employed, looking for a good bargain and the relief of a safe commitment.

On Saturday April 25th 2009, my wife, my daughter and myself are at Premier Hyundai of Milwuakie-Gladstone. With a newspaper advertisement in my back pocket and the new confidence of the Hyundai Assurance program in mind, I meet a nice young salesperson by the name of Jeff.
Jeff is new to the car business and therefore perhaps a little naive of some of the things a car salesman has to do to have you drive off the lot with one of their fine cars. But here I am jumping ahead of the story.

The advertisement is for a 2008 Hyundai Tiburon with a rebates that take a $20,000 car down to just under $11,000.
According to Jeff, the Tiburon is being replaced by the new Genesis coup, so they want to unload these new 2008 model year Tiburon cars.

My trade-in is a 2008 Hyundai Accent with exactly 11,999 miles on it.

After the usual nonsene of asking for nearly half the price as a down payment, I ask Jeff for the piece of paper that he had started to write this stuff down.
I scribble out his $4500 number then replace it with three or four other nearly rediculous numbers and scribble those out as well. I write $500.00 down, circle and initial it. I write down my target monthly payment and initial this as well. I tell him that I agree to purchase this car for this down payment and at this monthly payment.
I have just done half of Jeff's or any other front line sales person's job for him.
I hand this back to him explaining that this is not my first car buying experience, which, now that I think of it,is pretty much like a rodeo, including the rodeo clown.

The fact is, I have bought several used and mostly used cars in the past 9 years through the string of car lots that litter, or adorn, McGloughlin Boulevard. I have even been in this same building before, when it was Thomason and Jaylee Auto Group. I believe I may have even bought one from the Premier Mazda as well.

Jeff makes a call to whom he tells me is his used car manager and then tells me that they could only offer me $4,000 for my 2008 Hyundai Accent with less than, ok one mile less than, 12,000 miles on it.
This of course was dissapointing, since after all this is a Hyundai dealership, and though my car needed to be washed, the carpets vacumned and the front hubcaps had the tire chain marks from this last winter, the car had no scratches, dings or dents and had perfect glass all around.

Being that this car was only a year old, it of course had negative or 'dis-equity', as the new politically correct term is, in it and we were very aware of this.
We figured with the car selling at about half the MSRP value, that this negative, or dis-equity, would be easily melted into the final 'to be financed' amount.

Along comes a Sales Manager by the name of June (pronounced Joony) Jermany to assist our still-wet-behind-the-ears salesman.
This is the normal tag team match that many of us has experienced in the old days of Portland Wrestling.
June continues the ritual,or hazing, or negotiations,as has been handed down to him by the great ancestors of car salesmen for many centuries, or in June's case, the last 23 years. He presents the initial offerings of enourmous down and monthly payment options to the altar.
June also goes into a spiel of how he taught his son's to manage and save money. I am in my late 40's and really dont need any fatherly or grand-fatherly advice from a stranger.

Now mind you that we do have credit issues ourselves, so we are not in the best of positions at the sacrifice altar sometimes called the negotiation table.
However, with this said, we come to an agreement on a down and monthly payment, both of which were nearly twice my target amount, but still something I could live with.
Because I have been through these deals before and because I was at my financial limit , I asked the old sage, June, if I was going to get a phone call telling me to come back in because they need more money. June promised me that this was not going to happen.

The papers were drawn up and signed and we drove away with our new car with the confidence of June's promise that this was a done deal.
I showed this little beauty of a car off to our family, friends and co-workers, telling them how good of a deal I got at nearly half off the MSRP and how well I was treated by the dealership and about the Hyundai Assurance program.
We began to talk about our next purchase with the Premier Group, that would take place later in the year for my wife's next car.

I bet you can imagine what happened next.

On Saturday May 2nd 2009, I recieved a phone call from the finance department telling me that I need to come in and re-sign papers.
I was going to make it in that day, but later called back and made an appointment for 10 am the following day.
The next day my wife and I stopped in to sign these papers. We were on our way to Springfield to my Uncle's funeral.
We were told by one of the staff that 'due to the current banking climate, the bank needs an additional $2500.00 down'.
I told him of June's claim that this would not happen, but I received no response at all on that issue.

Brian Sallee, the Finance Mangler-Manager came out to tell us me the same thing. We asked if our trade-in was still here and that we because of the lies and the fact that we didnt have a spare $2500.00, were done with this deal. They brought our trade-in around to the front. We laid the keys done on the table and I told them that we needed our debit card credited for half of the down payment they received from it as well as our check for the second half.
We were told that there was nobody around that could do that until Monday.
So, we took back the Tiburon keys and told Brian that we will be back Monday when they had both our check and someone there to credit our debit card. We drove the Tiburon down to the funeral in Springfield.

On Monday May 4th 2009, I called the financial institution that Premier was using. The gentleman there could only tell me that he presented a dollar amount to be financed that they needed to be at to secure the loan and that I would have to negotiate with Premier if I wanted this car.
I then called Brian at Premier to tell him the same thing. He told me that they spent the last week trying to find someone to finance the car.
That afternoon, after work, I picked up my wife and we drove back to Premier Hyundai and waited around for them to find the registration for our trade-in, which they never did.
They returned our check and credited our debit card and we drove away, very dissapointed after having the car for a week, thinking that all is good.

The lesson here as well as the hardest thing to deal with is this.
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER believe anything a car salesman tells you.
Their job is to get you to drive away in a car the same day you come in so that you have it long enough that you would do anything to keep it and not have to drive back home and your job with the same car you traded in.

My advice would be to tell the Finance Manager and the salesman that you will NOT drive the car off the lot until you see a ligitamate approved loan.
This one is a tough one since the paperwork you initially sign looks like an approved loan.

Last night, we looked up the trade-in value (not retail, not private party, but trade-in) of a 2008 Hyundai Accent with 12,000 miles. I attached the link to this letter/email.
I also copied/pasted it below.

Even in 'Good' condition, the trade-in value is $6725.00.
That's $2725.00 more than what I was offered. That's more than the additional $2500.00 that they needed.
If Premier wanted to make this deal as it was they could have.
We have been very loyal to the past dealerships and this could have been one of them. We planned on making another purchase later in the year and it could have been with the Premier Group.

Bottom line:
If you want to 'Drive Home Happy', dont bother with the Premier Group.

Here is that copy/paste from Kelly Bluebook (kbb.com)


Condition Ratings
Excellent
$7,250

Looks new, is in excellent mechanical condition and needs no reconditioning.
Never had any paint or body work and is free of rust.
Clean title history and will pass a smog and safety inspection.
Engine compartment is clean, with no fluid leaks and is free of any wear or visible defects.
Complete and verifiable service records.
Less than 5% of all used vehicles fall into this category.

Good
$6,725

Free of any major defects.
Clean title history, the paints, body, and interior have only minor (if any) blemishes, and there are no major mechanical problems.
Little or no rust on this vehicle.
Tires match and have substantial tread wear left.
A "good" vehicle will need some reconditioning to be sold at retail.
Most consumer owned vehicles fall into this category.

Fair
$5,800

Some mechanical or cosmetic defects and needs servicing but is still in reasonable running condition.
Clean title history, the paint, body and/or interior need work performed by a professional.
Tires may need to be replaced.
There may be some repairable rust damage.

Poor
N/A

Severe mechanical and/or cosmetic defects and is in poor running condition.
May have problems that cannot be readily fixed such as a damaged frame or a rusted-through body.
Branded title (salvage, flood, etc.) or unsubstantiated mileage.

A quote from Premier Group's "Meet Our Staff"
'June has been in the automotive industry for 23 years. He is a very attentive and kind person to work with. June can help you in just about any way that you need him to.'

Kelly Blue Book 'Trade In Value'
http://www.kbb.com/KBB/UsedCars/PricingReport.aspx?YearId=2008&Mileage=12000&VehicleClass=UsedCar&ManufacturerId=20&Condition=Excellent&ParentView=UsedCarsPricingReport&ModelId=136&PriceType=Trade-In&VehicleId=197291&SelectionHistory=197291%7c30548%7c97206%7c0%7c0%7c&trid=37

Cliff
Portland, Oregon
U.S.A.

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