This is your guide to dealing with the used car department at McGrath City Honda. It is intended for first time buyers, such as myself, who don't know the common or even obvious traps that a buyer can fall into. Now I know, it won't happen again and I most certainly won't return here to purchase a vehicle new or used.
1) Dealing with the sales person is exactly what you've heard. Haggle over the price, they will make it work. No matter how many times they disappear to ""talk to the manager"" it's all the common BS you're imagining will happen prior to going in.
2) Once you have agreed upon a price, no matter what the sales person says or no matter what you sign in terms of pricing sheets with the sales person, it means nothing. THE NEGOTIATIONS AND SALES HAVE NOT YET ENDED.
3)Even though I thought ""finance manager"" sounded more like ""accountant"" to me, THEY ARE JUST ANOTHER SALES PERSON IN THE PROCESS.
4)The BS warranty packages, which include mechanical warranties, interior/exterior warranties, GAP Protection, Tire and Wheel warranties and lojack are your choice but THEY ARE EXPENSIVE. What they won't tell you is the price of these packages unless you really really poke and prod (which I didn't do).
(Side note: Its your call if you want the warranty or not, but, they are typically up to 100,000 miles. In my opinion, the chances of the scary $5000 repair for the transmission ""falling out"" before 100,000 miles are pretty slim.)
5)The number they write down on the warranty sheet (IE. $400) IS NOT THE COST OF THE PACKAGE, BUT YOUR NEW MONTHLY PAYMENT
6)When you go to sign the final financing contract and when they divert your attention to the bottom of the sheet and get you started initialing things like ""make and model"" and the vin, THIS IS A TACTIC TO DIVERT YOU AWAY FROM THE FACT THAT YOUR MONTHLY PAYMENT JUST WENT UP $100 DUE TO WARRANTY ITEMS BEING ADDED AND THE NEW AMOUNT FINANCED IS ENOUGH TO BUY A NEW CAR
7)The payment summary sheet they print up at the end of it all that is closer to the price you THOUGHT you were paying and is $100 LESS than the payment on the contract may or may not have been due to ""a computer glitch"" but that is not binding, the contract is.
As you can see by what I listed above, you can walk in thinking you are paying a certain price for a car and walk out thinking you got the discussed price when in reality you signed a contract that is much different. This isn't information they will dwell on and make sure you understand. So don't make the mistake I did, know what you are signing, look everything over, bring someone with you that knows whats going on and pay particular attention to THE TOP OF FINANCE CONTRACT that says exactly how much you are financing and how much your monthly payment will be. Everything else is just junk to confuse and deceive.
I was naive in thinking they would take me serious when I told them I'm on a budget. But it's pretty obvious they did not care. My mistake
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