On 9/17/2014 I Saw the a truck I would be interested in on AutoNation South online inventory. Drove into the dealership in my trade-in truck. As i was driving out to think about buying the new truck, I was intercepted buy salesperson Mary M. I drove the truck, liked it and told Mary to call me with the best, no haggle price on the truck and that I only wanted to finance the truck at the best rate over 36 months. Called Marry back and said I liked the Ford. What was the best price net of all incentives and interest rate if I qualified. I agreed to the price so, THE SALES PROCESS FROM HELL began. Got there at 4, told them we had dinner guests at 6:30, Mary assures me no problem. Time stands still when buying any car but this was exceptionally painful. They check out my trade, check out my credit and come back with a written "financial and deal" offer. Mary and I went over the offer and I had questions about the interest rate and trade in allow. Mary said not to worry, good credit rating would get the 1.99 offered and there was an additional incentive from Ford to increase my low trade allowance. No doubt I was feeling the fast talking excuses coming my way. I said, let me be clear. If my credit rating comes back good, the price is this, and I circled it and Mary marked it, the interest rate is...... Mary wrote down 36 mo @1.99% , $3,000 down on my credit card. I said, "this is the deal I am accepting based on my credit rating being good. Mary agreed and said yes. I signed the agreement across from where GSM, Tom A. signed the same page. My credit rating came back very good. I thought the deal I signed and Tom A. signed was done and we just have the documents to complete and I could still make dinner with my wife and company. AT THIS POINT, IT ALL FELL APART!!!! I reminded Mary that we had a clearly understood deal explained by her in writing and signed by Tom A. and me. Mary said that this was an honest dealership and they would stand by the deal and make it right. NOT A CHANCE IN THE WORLD. Apparently Ford offers 1.99% or $2,200 in rebates but not both. I said, I'm out, you guys reneged on the written deal. Mary tells me to just wait and let her excellent finance team work to get me 1.99% from a lender. Good news, they got me 1.99. However because it isn't from Ford, the truck price now goes up an additional $2,200. At this point, I made them an offer including a bed liner for my truck. Tom A., (the man behind the curtain) rejected my offer and counter offered at $500 more than the agreed offer and no bed liner. I wanted the truck, I had been in the process for over 2 hours. I agreed to pay A.'s offer realizing that I'm screwed. Tom A. reneged on a written deal clearly explained, understood and agreed upon by A.'s agent, Mary M. At AutoNation South sales, it is called good work. Overall it was the worst, most horrible car buying experience in my life. Absolutely every bad thing you hear about car buying happened to me. I'm not judging any of these people personally. I am judging their professional conduct on a business level. I found the dealership on 9/17/14, AutoNation South, had poorly trained sales person, unethical and dishonorable GSM tactics. Obviously just my observation and opinion. I called and got the new car manager Steve R. and told him the story on 9/19/14. He said he would look into it. On Monday, 9/22 Steve said Tom A. would agree to split the cost of the bed liner at $200. Apparently, the dealership was loosing over $300 on my truck deal. Not my problem. Tom A. set the price. I asked Steve if the $200 meant I could not tell the truth about this deal in a review. Steve said tell the truth. Here is the bottom line. There are lots of nice reviews about AutoNation South and some of their people here to read. Read the reviews where the deal had some problems. You can risk it and hope your deal is a good deal and buy from this dealership. Or, you can be smart with your money and go to just about any other AutoNation Ford, like the one on Bryant Irvin Rd. and increase you odds of having a much better car buying experience. It has been my experience that Quality, training, integrity, honesty all start at and reflects the dealership GM and GSM. Again, just my opinion and observation. Good car buying.
stella2015
Sep 23, 2014
