Speedway Kia Bait and switch and lied false promises Daytona Florida

Recently I decided to purchase a newer used car (01-03). I had the funding secured and began looking. I was particularly interested in an Echo, but could not find any for a reasonable price in my area.

On June 29th I emailed car dealerships in St. Augustine and Daytona to see if they had an 01 or 02 Echo, 4 door, automatic. The next morning Speedway Kia called and said they had just what I was looking for. Being that Daytona is a 2 hour drive away I asked the salesman, Shawn, some info about the car. I asked about the price, he said they had just got it in and had not priced it yet. I told him that if I was driving from Jacksonville I would need a price. Shawn asked me how much I was looking to spend for one. I said for an 01 (being the cheapest car Toyota makes) about $7,000. Shawn said, come on down, Ill make you happy. I told him that I was on deadline for an assignment but I would be there when I could.

Being that I had been looking for an Echo for awhile I decided not to hesitate. I asked a friend to accompany me. It was her only day off that week but I trusted her judgment and she had been helping me shop for a car all along. We drove the two hours to Daytona and arrived there about 1:30pm. Shawn (62, Jamaican, big guy) was outside and met us at the car, he asked if we would be trading it in, I said possibly. (It is a 12 year old car with 205,000 miles and a dent.)

Shawn then scoured the lot for the Echo. He went to talk to a manager inside the dealership. Shawn came back and said they had two Echos, one was being test driven by a woman who wanted to bring it home to show her husband and the other had a small dent that was being pulled out by the body shop. That was the car I was there to see so we decided to wait the hour for the car to get back, but expressed our dissatisfaction with driving all that way to wait. Shawn went to speak with the manager again.

He came back and asked if there was any other cars he could show me. I stated that I was only interested in either a Toyota or a Honda, but I really wanted to see the Echo, thats why I had driven all that way. He spoke to someone again and came back and said I want to make you happy, how about an 03 Nissan. Not being familiar with Nissan or there values I figured it couldnt hurt to look, it was an 03 and we had an hour wait.

He brought us instead to an older Altima. I explained that it was to long and that I didnt like it. He insisted that I try it and that he could make it work for me. Having an hour to wait we decided to give it a try. As we got in the car and were backing up, Shawn asked if I wanted to finance any, I said no, $7,000 was enough to be paying back into the bank. He continued to pull the car out of the drive when my friend asked, is this in her price range? Shawn stated, $10,000 right? I said, No, I told you $7,000 and a possible trade in. Shawn then said, Oh I dont know why I was thinking 10, how about that 03 Sentra. It was a car that was next to us. The Sentra was a much smaller Nissan then the Altima.

We took it for a test drive. I had never driven a Nissan before, nor knew anyone who had one. Being neither a Toyota or Honda I wasnt expecting the value to be anywhere near either of them. I really liked the car after the test drive and came back into the building to talk. Shawn sat down and began to talk money with me. I reiterated that I had $7,000 dollars on me plus the trade in. He began to ask me how much I wanted for the trade in, I told him, what ever gets me out the door (meaning tax, tag, and title). He went to speak to a manager and have them look at my car.

I was then asked if I wanted financing. I said, no, I already told you I brought money with me and I dont want to finance anymore. Shawn asked if I was sure, he wanted me to finance just a little bit he said. I reiterated no. Finally, a guy came out of the back (short, 56 maybe, possibly Jewish, I think his name was Sal) and said he was in charge of the vehicles and there was no way he could give me the Sentra for $7k plus my trade in. He said he had (I think it was) $13k in the car.

I said well then why was the car shown to us if it was out of our price range. He said he didnt know. I explained to him that we were called to come down and look at an Echo, only to find that it wasnt here it would be back soon and then when we expressed our irritation was told that I want to make you happy, let me show you an 03 Sentra. He said he didnt know why we were shown that car and if we wanted it we were going to need to finance some more. I explained that I had been up front since the beginning about how much money I had and was willing to spend and that I did NOT want financing from them. He said well then I cant sell you the car.

He started looking through his list and said I hear you are interested in foreign vehicles. He started to name off a few on the lot that he said was in my range. I said no, we had come to look at the Echo and it wasnt there and we were shown the Sentra instead. Now we were being told we couldnt have the Sentra. I think asked where the Echo was. He said that he didnt have one, he sold it the night before.

I said what do you mean? I was called first thing this morning and told to drive from Jacksonville to see it and you guys would make me happy. Then when I get here I am told there are two Echos, a gold one which a lady is showing to her husband and the silver one that I was interested in that is having a dent pulled out. He said no, he had only one Echo and it was sold the night before. To say the least, by this point my friend and I were completely upset. Not only had we been lied to but we had been given the bait and switch.

We stormed out of there and on the way out asked for a manager. We were told it was the guy we had just spoken too. So we left and drove the two hours back to Jacksonville, having wasted a day, half a tank of gas and our time.

I was contacted by email by a different person at the dealership (Sue?) who told me they were having a tent sale that weekend. She did not know of the situation that had occurred and I asked for the general managers name and number. She gave it to me and I called on Tues June 24th. Sue answered and said he was out of town until the next day. She was very friendly and asked if she could help. I explained the situation to her, she seemed very concerned. She said she would have the division manager call me back the next day. I said Thursday would be better.

Thursday came and went and I was never contacted. While it was a holiday weekend, if the manager had been told he should have called back. I wasted an entire day going to that dealership the least he could have done was left a message on my answering machine.

I feel this is a definite instance where a dealership is trying to take advantage of someone else. Not only was I lied to but the product was switched on me, there was no Echo after all.

Christy
Jacksonville, Florida
U.S.A.



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