I went to Paul Blanco's dealership yesterday after speaking with a guy named Jason on the phone. He approved me for a $10,000 loan which made me extremely hopeful that I might find myself a decent car. I went to the website to look at some vehicles that would be in my price range so that when I got to the dealership I knew what my options were. Curiously the website stopped showing the actual sticker price on the car, a few days earlier they were showing the actual sticker price however yesterday when I was looking for vehicles they were only showing the Kelly Blue Book Range.
Let me tell you if your looking for a car at this lot the Kelly Blue Book price should be the fair price at best. Once I got to the dealership Jason showed me a three cars an 07 Ford Focus, an 07 Suzuki Forenza and a Nissan I forget the make and year. The Nissan was a joke it looked like it had been keyed all the way up and down both sides of the car. I laughed at the notion of getting a car that looked like that. The Suzuki by all appearances seemed okay it had a little body damage on the front left fender but it was hardly noticeable. I asked Jason what the price for the Suzuki was and he said $9,999. The last car was the Ford Focus and when I opened the car door to look inside the car smelled like a bum had been camped out there for a year. It was disgusting, there were stains in the carpets and calcified white marks all over the console and shifter. It also had scratches and scuffs and dings on the outside of the car. While I was annoyed at the appearance and smell he assured me that they could detail the car and get the smell out and the scuffs and some of the dings out. He told me the Focus was 10,900 and they would knock something off the cost for the detail work.
I test drove the Focus and felt satisfied in knowing they could get the scuffs and smell out of the car. When we went inside to work with some numbers Jason came back and told me that unfortunately for what the cost of the Focus was they wouldn't be able to work with me. That seemed odd to me given the fact i was pre-approved for a $10,000. Figuring in my down payment I should have been well within the limits of what I was asking for in monthly payments.
I looked at the sheet of paper showing how they figured in all the numbers the first thing I noticed is 1. The car listed on the paper was the Suzuki, 2. The price of the car mysteriously jumped up by $2500 dollars, 3. They had my down payment listed for
an extra $750. When I confronted Jason about the price of the car and the fact that he figured the numbers for the wrong car his reply was "I'm sorry I thought the cost for the Focus was much less. We couldn't get the Focus for the range you are working with." And he also said "There is no way I would have quoted $9,999 for the Suzuki." Well since my dad was there I knew I wasn't crazy.
They wanted to finance me at 24% which is way to high given my credit score and the state I live in. Besides they finance themselves. Paul Blanco doesn't finance through credit unions. Jason had the nerve to tell me if I wanted to come back in two days they'd have some cars in my price range. Yeah Right! I caught you in more than one deceptive bold face lie and you think I'm going to come back and put my trust in your shady company. Please.
Beggars can't be choosers, but they don't have to be victims either.
Do Not Go To Paul Blanco.