Stockton Hyundai, Joey Gonzalez ,Sales Manager, Selling Used Cars at New Car Prices. BUYER BEWARE. Stockton California

This is a warning for people to always make sure you confirm the vehicle specifications and FINAL (out-the-door) price of the vehicle you are buying, and get everything in writing.

I did an online inventory search on the official Hyundai USA website and discovered that Stockton Hyundai dealership were among the few dealers within 100 miles of my home that had the exact vehicle configuration I was looking to purchase. Additionally, I confirmed their inventory on their own personal website. They had two versions of the vehicle I wanted. The model, trim, specs and color combination were exactly the same for both vehicles, except one was listed as "NEW" and another one was listed as "USED" (with 5,757 miles on it). I was after the new one. 

I initially contacted Stockton Hyundai via phone on 06/29/14 and spoke to a female named Adriana. She was helpful and courteous. I told her I had done all my research and test-driven the vehicle already. I communicated that the purpose of my call was to confirm the availability of the "NEW" vehicle and get an agreement on the price before I drive over to the dealership to buy it. She indicated she understood me and even sent me an email follow-up recapping our conversation along with a digital Window Sticker of the vehicle we discussed. Everything looked good. The price was the only factor left to discuss, so Adriana passed my information along to her General Manager, Joey Gonzalez. 

Mr. Gonzalez and I initially spoke over the phone and then continued our discussion via email for a couple of days. We went back & forth regarding pricing, fees and incentives. I told him I had already been offered $30,800 (including one $750 cash-back incentive) for this vehicle from a nearby dealer well over a month ago, but I couldn't make the purchase at that time because my loan got held up due to technicalities at the credit union.

Mr. Gonzalez countered with $31,245 (including one $750 cash-back incentive). In my final response, I told him I had a TrueCar certificate for the vehicle in the configuration I wanted and that it was priced at $30,408 after accounting for all rebates and incentives I qualified for. I even sent him the certificate attached to my email so that he could verify it. He completely ignored that rate and told me I should go buy the car at a dealer near me. I replied telling him that I can't do so because dealers near me don't have the color combination I want. His final reply for the day was, "Jimmy, if I have the color you want just come and pay for it :-) ".

I took this as an indication that we have an agreement so I asked him via email to confirm the price and vehicle specifications once more, and I informed him that my wife & I will ask for time off from work in order to make the five-hour round-trip to his dealership. He didn't respond that evening (must have left for the day - 6/30). 

I got contacted by Adriana the next morning (7/1). I told her that my wife & I got time off work today in order to drive over to their dealership and make our purchase. She sounded cheerful about the fact that we have an agreement. I asked her to email me the final price and vehicle specs once more because her manager (Mr. Gonzalez) hadn't yet done so.

This is when I got the nastiest surprise: BOTH of the vehicles they had in stock (which matched my spec/trim/model requirements) were practically USED. One vehicle was already listed as USED on their website (along with 5,767 miles). I knew about that one and told them at the onset of our communications that I was only interested in the version that was listed as NEW on their company website. Apparently, this "NEW" vehicle had 2,334 miles on it because "the owner's wife is driving it". So, they're unloading vehicles they've used for personal enjoyment onto unsuspecting buyers and expcting them to pay full price.

Common sense dictates that a vehicle with 2,334 miles is not NEW, regardless of what label you want to put on it (legally, a car is considered "new" until it is registered for the first time). Dealers often have "Demo" vehicles that they use for test drives or company-related trips, and these vehicles generally depreciate at the rate of about 0.40 cents per mile. So, their price should be adjusted accordingly.

So, to recap: General Manager Joey Gonzalez was trying to sell me a practically USED vehicle at a price higher than what I was offered for the exact same vehicle over a month ago, and he even refused to sell me this car at a fair NEW TrueCar Value. This may not be illegal, of course, but it is certainly unethical and unprofessional in my book. He can price his vehicles at $50,000 above retail value if he wants as long as he is upfront about it. 

What really upset me (and the main reason for this report) is the fact that neither the Manager nor his employees disclosed the odometer mileage to me even when they could have done so at the onset of our conversation. Mr. Gonzalez also could have responded with the mileage information first thing in the morning upon seeing my email. Instead, he had one of his salespersons call me and haggle with me about the price some more while trying to explain to me how I was getting such a good deal. Luckily, I did not spend the two-hour drive to go there.

They should have informed me at the onset of our negotiations that the vehicle in duscussion had over 2,000 miles on it.