Complaint Review: Tampa Hondaland

Hello,

On 4/16/05 we went to Tampa Hondaland hoping to purchase a new 2005 Honda Odyssey. We owed more on our trade than it is now worth and we expressed our concern over the discrepancy. We were assured we could roll the "negative equity" from our old Odyssey into the loan for the new one. Eventually we agreed on a price. Once in the back office however, the numbers had changed.

The sales manager had agreed to $1500 down, less than $550 per month in payments-for what we understood was a total of $34,500-including taxes and fees. After some discussion, we put $1800 down and signed a contract for making 72 payments of $550.08. It had been a long day, we (my husband, daughter and I) were hungry and tired-it was close to 8 pm and we had been there for over 6 hours without dinner.

On the afternoon of April 25, 2005, I received a phone call from a gentleman from Tampa Hondaland. He said I needed to drop off a check for $1600 for the financing. When questioned he asked to call me back when he had the paperwork in front of him. When he called back he informed me that we had been denied for a loan, but they had found a bank willing to take the loan as "conditional" but only if we paid $1600 more down and agreed to a 7.3 percentage rate-which would obviously raise our monthly payments. Eventually Mark agreed to get on the phone-I could hear him answering my questions in the background- and told me that I could try to obtain financing on my own, but "no one will touch this loan".

My husband called our preferred lender to find out why our loan had been denied. He was assured it was not us (our credit scores are over 700) but that Tampa Hondaland was "unethical" and "deceptive". According to the bank's representative, Tampa Hondaland knew (or should have known) all along that no bank would lend the money under the circumstances agreed to.

Is this extortion? Give us the car for ten days then demand more money upfront and higher monthly payments. What is my recourse-if any? Also, on the day I purchsed the Odyssey, Tampa Hondaland ran an ad in the Tampa Tribune claiming to give $500 in free gas and 2.9 percent financing on all new car purchases. I called Aundrae about the ad on Sunday the 17. He told me that the discalimers on the ad clearly state that the financing was on Accords only and that the free gas was only if full sticker price was paid. There are no such disclaimers on the ad-I have a copy. Today, Mark told me the 2.9 percent financing was only available on loans with "80% equity".

Thanks for any assistance you can offer. I am at a loss-I feel lied to and cheated.

Thanks,

Rebecca
Land O Lakes, Florida
U.S.A.