Jones Junction/Bel Air Nissan taking advantage of good hard working people trying to use the CARS program Bel Air Maryland

The following is a letter sent to the owner of Jones Junction regarding the horrible experience we had trying to buy a car there. The leading offender - Mr. Zell assures me that he is "all over the internet" for some reason. I truly hope he does read this because I really want to know what kind of MAN screams at a woman who has tears streaming down her face.

My husband and I went to your Nissan dealership in Bel Air on Friday to try and take advantage of the CARS program. Lamar Williams was our salesperson. We explained to Lamar that we had just come from a very bad experience at Bob Bell and we were promised a fair and honest sales experience at your establishment. I am afraid that was not the case at all.

Everything seemed to be going fine at first. We found a Versa that we were very interested in, Lamar believed that he could get the price down to 12,500 for us which was fair, and he sold us on the extra features like the free car washes and oil changes offered by your dealership. Then we got to the finance portion and things started going downhill. My credit score came back at 585; admittedly not great, but not abysmal either. Lamar swore up and down that the best interest rate the bank could give us was 20% and monthly payments of $220. We told him that was completely outrageous and Lamar said time and time again, "That's not us, That's what the bank said." We left very quickly.

We visited several other dealerships over the weekend. Two separate dealers told us that our credit was never submitted to the bank because it would have shown up on their report. They explained that your dealership likely made an estimate on our interest rate based on the credit score. One dealer also explained that this is not the best practice due to the fact that customers can drive away with a car and get a call 2 days later demanding more money or the return of the vehicle.

My husband called Lamar Monday morning and said that we understood they made an estimate on our interest rate. My husband asked if Lamar would please go ahead and submit it to the bank and tell us what the actual interest rate would be. Lamar begrudgingly agreed. We waited all day for a call back, we called back several times, and we never got an answer. After dinner we decided to take a ride back to your dealership to try and speak with someone in person. My husband found Lamar who told him that they submitted it to the bank and the interest rate would be over 20%. He wanted to leave at this point but I tried to give your dealer one more chance and I found the sales manager. I spoke with Steven Zell and I explained everything that happened. I also explained that according to FICO.com, our credit rating should qualify us for an auto loan with approximately 15% interest, adjusted for locale. I also explained that my husband spoke with the credit union today, who believes that we can get 11.9% on our interest or less, on a 60 month loan. The problem with the credit union is that they have a 24 to 48 hour turnaround time on loan approvals and we are unsure if they will be able to get us the check in time to take advantage of the CARS program. Mr. Zell said he did not know what FICO was, which I find hard to believe. Mr. Zell then informed me that Lamar never told the finance department that we would be using the CARS program and would qualify for a $4500 voucher toward our purchase. I then all but begged Mr. Zell to see what he could do for us.

After about 30 minutes Mr. Zell informed me that he could process our credit for a 72 month loan with 18% interest and the monthly payments would be $248.17. I was shocked at his figures, as this was a higher payment than the initial offer made by your dealership only three days prior. We were quoted payments of approximately $220.00 per month for 60 months at a 20% interest rate. They were now asking for over $28 more per month for a 72 month loan as opposed to a 60 month loan based on a higher interest rate. Something was way off and my husband became involved, who has an excellent head for numbers. When Tom confronted Mr. Zell about the numbers not adding up correctly, Mr. Zell informed him that the numbers were, indeed, correct. Tom informed Mr. Zell that based on a financed amount of $8700, there was no way the payments could be $248 with 18% interest on a 72 month loan when they were only $220 with 20% interest on a 60 month loan. Mr. Zell stated that the numbers were correct and my husband stated that we were going to leave the dealership as there was no way those figures were correct and that the dealer was being deceitful.

My husband left the showroom area at that time and I again attempted to reason with Mr. Zell. He was very aggravated at my husband for questioning his numbers. He stated several times that my husband called him a liar. I told Mr. Zell that all my husband said was that the numbers didn't make sense. Mr. Zell then turned from me, answered the phone, and made it clear that he wanted me to walk away. I, in my confusion and frustration, began to cry. I did everything I could to pull myself together while I was ignored and I stayed hoping against hope that we could still find common ground after all of this chaos. When Mr. Zell finally turned back to me, he reiterated that my husband called him a liar and he no longer wanted to help us. He stated that we could take our business elsewhere. I tried to explain to him that my husband was simply frustrated but Mr. Zell cut me off and said that he was the one who should feel frustrated. I told Mr. Zell again that something just didn't make sense. At this point he gave me a print out and said that the numbers were all there. He began circling things - "Here is your interest rate. Here is the cost which is $500 over MSRP." I stopped him and said, "There. Right there is where you're not being fair." He said it was fair because it supposedly costs him more than the MSRP to have the car on the lot. I informed him that I knew there was a little bit of wiggle room between the MSRP and the invoice, though admittedly not much, and he told me there was no profit margin at all. He tried to convince me that you lose money because my car had to be scraped, which I countered with the fact that you are guaranteed $4500 from the government in short order. Mr. Zell said he felt that was money in my pocket, not yours, to which I stated "This is the problem. You are treating people like you are doing us a favor with this program." His response was to threaten to have me removed from the building as I tearfully tried to reason with him. I then turned the printout around and asked him to write down the name of his boss. He said that he was the boss and there was no one to talk to. I said "Oh you are the owner? You own all off this?" and gestured up and down Bel Air road, His response was to state that he already gave my husband his card. I told him he did not give it to me, and he all but threw is business card at me. In my frustration I said that I could not understand why my family was being treated so unfairly. He yelled that he was treating me fairly and said again to take my business elsewhere. I informed Mr. Zell that I would be filing complaints with every government entity I could, and his response was to - go right ahead because he is all over the internet. I have no idea what this could have meant.

I went to my husband who was with our daughter in the children's playroom area, and he insisted on speaking with Mr. Zell. He approached Mr. Zell and informed him that there was no way the monthly payment would increase when the interest rate had dropped at the same time as the duration of the loan had increased from 60 to 72 months. Mr. Zell insisted that his figures were correct and my husband then told Mr. Zell that he was making a "bold-faced lie". My husband then spoke to another gentleman whom he thought was Mr. Zell's manager, but was informed was Mr. Zell's employee. He stated the above that the monthly payments cannot increase when the term of the loan increases and the interest rate decreases based on the same amount borrowed. He was then told that lengthening the term of the loan actually increases the amount paid (which is true) and therefore, the monthly payments also must increase (which is absolutely false).

After arriving home, my husband reviewed the "F&I - Deal Worksheet" that Mr. Zell had supplied to me. Upon examination, the price of the vehicle had increased to $ 13619, which is $504 over the MSRP even though we had established that we would be paying at most MSRP less $500. This is over $1004 more than the price that we had agreed upon. In addition, the sales tax was based on the inflated price instead of the correct method of applying a 6% sales tax to the total of the agreed price less the $4500 CARS voucher. This amounts to an additional $295 in taxes over what should have been charged. Finally, we noticed a "Gap Premium" charge of $695. Gap premiums are standard when the loan amount exceeds the established value of the vehicle. Even based on Mr. Zell's inflated vehicle price and incorrect application of sales tax, the loan amount according to Mr. Zell was only $10,800 for a vehicle with a MSRP of over $13,000. Applying a Gap Premium based on Mr. Zell's own figures is neither standard industry practice, nor appropriate, nor ethical. The total amount of Mr. Zell's inappropriate additions to the price of the vehicle were $1994.

We are shocked, appalled, and most of all hurt at the treatment that we have received trying to take advantage of the CARS program. I am a responsible adult who has maintained the same good paying job for nearly five years, I have two children; respectfully 12 and 2 years of age, and I maintain a 4.0 GPA and dean's list standing with honors at the college where I work and attend classes In sort, I feel that we have been discriminated against for daring to walk into the dealership as intelligent, well informed buyers. We feel that the program was designed to stimulate a dying industry, remove inefficient vehicles from the road (and the ecosystem), and give the struggling middleclass a small break at a base American dream. I have driven very old cars for most of my life and the CARS program gave me hope that I could own a brand new vehicle at an affordable rate. I have found that the dealerships are taking advantage of people based on the CARS program and I feel that it is irreprehensible. Need I remind you that the reason the automotive industry was in the worst slump it had seen in uncountable years was due to the fact that we are in a major recession? People are not eating and you want to take advantage. Here I am literally crying my eyes out on your showroom floor and your sales manager responds by yelling at me in front of your prospective customers. The news has just reported that you have sold enough vehicles in the last month to qualify for 1 million dollars in government rebates which explains why my family does not matter in the least to you. I expected far more professionalism by your establishment sir, This email will be forwarded to all appropriate government entities as promised. The only thing that we have fought for is a fair deal, which you have made impossible.

Iamnev
nowhere, Maryland
U.S.A.