Complaint Review: Land Rover Salt Lake City

Beware of dishonest practices in this dealership.  When leasing a brand new Discovery Sport back in December 2015, I was told by the Finance Manager Keith, it was a better deal to lease since I don’t keep vehicles very long.  The difference between the lease and the purchase was very little and didn’t concern me, so I took his advice.  I put over $3,000 down and began my lease. When I leased the car, I knew I would be getting moved with the government to Germany soon. I explained that I would be going to Germany to Keith, and how would I get the bank release letter to allow me to have the government ship my vehicle to Germany. Keith stated that they do it all the time that once the lease was set up I could call LandRover Financial (Chase Bank) and they would give me the required letter to allow my vehicle to be shipped overseas. This was the typical process when I shipped my truck over on a prior PCS with a vehicle under bank note, so I believed him.  A few documents later during the signing I was given an export agreement to sign. It said I wouldn’t export the vehicle or be subject to a penalty.  I asked Keith if this would be a problem shipping my vehicle. Keith again reassured me and said "No, this form is really only for brokers. Russians like to buy these cars. Since you are keeping your car, there would be no problem taking it to Germany".  3 months and four payments later now nearly $7,000 into the vehicle I received my orders to move to Germany.  I called the number that Keith gave me to Land Rover Financial, and was promptly informed that leased Land Rover vehicles are never allowed to be shipped overseas. I asked if there were exceptions and was told no.  That the bank does not make exceptions for anyone, that the dealer is well aware of this.  I went back to the dealership fearing that I was going to be getting a very bad deal and asked Keith specifically to again clarify for me that, “I could take the leased vehicle overseas”. He again stated yes, that they always allow people who relocate for the government to take their vehicles. Again, he told me that the export agreement didn't matter. After he made all these statements telling me not to worry that they do this all the time, I told him that I called the bank and they told me I couldn't take it. I also called Land Rover North America and was told the same thing. Then and only then did Keith say that he had no idea about that.  Now, I was stuck because had I simply done the car as a loan instead of a lease this would not have been an issue.  Thankfully, Utah is a single party consent for recording State, so I audio recorded my full conversation with Keith. I called and spoke to the General Manager of the dealership. He put Keith on the phone. Keith denied saying that I could take the car to Germany. That is when I let him know that I audio taped the conversation and he was lying. All I was asking for was that the dealership help me sort this out and figure out a way for me to keep the vehicle. I never wanted to get rid of the vehicle, I just wanted to take it with me. I had two options, convert the lease to a purchase at a large financial loss, or turn the vehicle in early (early lease termination) at a somewhat smaller huge financial loss. Neither of those were good options.  However, I was working with the heads at Land Rover North America and Chase Auto Finance.  I wasn’t trying to get out of paying or anything like that.  I just needed the dealership to assist since it was their lie that got me into this situation.  Chase Financial Corporate office actually felt sorry for me, and after they agreed to help as much as they were able I did an early lease termination.  I dropped the vehicle back off at the dealer in March (Yes only 3 months into this ordeal).  They would sell the car and I would cover the balance and the early termination penalty.  Chase Auto Finance was nice enough to split the $11,706.72 bill with me 50/50.  So, I paid Land Rover Financial $5,853.36. Added to the nearly $7,000 already invested it cost me over $12,000 to lease this vehicle for 3 months.  This put me in a severe financial hardship.  The dealership new that I was under orders to report to Germany and had to make decisions quickly and they utilized this pressure to squeeze me out of the vehicle.  I reached out to the owner to try and appeal to his integrity and humanity to realize that his dishonest employee severely impacted me financially.  He had refused to return my calls, I am not allowed his email, but I was able to email him on LinkedIn but he didn’t respond to that either.  Beware of the dishonest practices of this dealership.  Oh yeah, I still have the audio recording.