Complaint Review: Driver's Automart

Excerpted from my Complaint to Florida Office of the Attorney General         

On 6/28/18 I visited the Driver’s Automart dealership in Davie, FL. I was interested in looking at two electric storm blue 2018 Toyota Rav4 XLEs with a little over 14,000 miles and advertised prices from approximately $18,400 to $18,800. I test drove 1 vehicle, but it had a badly stained passenger’s seat. The salesman Wilberto Rodriguez said the other vehicle was identical except it had approx. 500 miles more but was a few hundred dollars cheaper, so I made the decision to purchase that one.

When I went through the financing paperwork on the car, I was not given the advertised price, but the finance manager Norka Santana told me they had to add an “environmental fee” which involved cleaning the vehicle and doing undercoating (which I am skeptical they did). Plus, there was an added dealer prep fee. These fees added up to well over $2,000 extra. However, the signed documents they gave me do not include the page with these separate charges. The only copy they gave me reflects a sales price of $22,344.63 including $1182.15 sales tax.

I relied on the advertised price of approximately $18,800 as noted above, which reflected a number of safety features, a navigation system, entune premium audio, floor mats, and other features. When I got home I found that this vehicle did not have a navigation system, entune premium audio, floor mats, or some other features listed on the description.

When I called about this, Wilberto told me that the description on the website was “general” and not specific to this vehicle. I told him there was no mention of that or obvious disclaimer on the site and he said “good point.” I emailed Wilberto, Norka, and general manager Carlos Cabo and asked for some remedy. I heard nothing back from anyone at the dealership to this day, but shortly thereafter the website changed, all Rav4’s were temporarily removed from the site, and there was now a small disclaimer at the bottom of each car listing that says: “While great effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, errors do occur so please verify information with a customer service rep.” This disclaimer was not there when I purchased my vehicle.

I also found this on a site for consumer education, which is why I am writing this today:

"The advertised price must include all fees or charges that the customer must pay, including freight or destination charge, dealer preparation charge, and charges for undercoating or rustproofing. State and local taxes, tags, registration fees, and title fees, unless otherwise required by local law or standard, need not be disclosed in the advertisement." -- Florida Statute Section 501.976(16).

I am making this complaint because:

1. Driver’s Automart deceptively lists an advertised price that does not include these “environmental” and dealer fees adding up to thousands of dollars.
2. In my case, the listing was deceptive as it claimed numerous features the vehicle did not have as I found when I got it home. It is nice they changed the site to be more honest after I complained, but this was not the case for me.

I hope this complaint will help protect future buyers from this dealer’s deceptive practices.