Complaint Review: Automax of Brevard aka: Foreman Motors - Melbourne Florida

Please do your research before attempting to purchase a vehicle from this dealer. They are crooked and they know they are. They ripped my daughter off for $1200.00 on a down payment for a car that she never took off of their lot. What they adveritise is FALSE. They will mislead you into a "great deal" that turns out to be a complete and total RIPOFF; actually fraud is a more appropriate term. My daughter actually brought a little box that she kept her money in and she had $1200 bundles in rubberbands of one's, fives, 10s and 20s. She worked hard for this money.

My daughter makes most of her money from tips (she works in the food industry). She saved for months for a down payment to put on her first car. The vehicle was adveritised at $3990.00 which was a cash only price... okay I get that. They said this car was in "excellent" condition and it had a "clean" title. When their salesman showed us the car, he stated that it came with a 2-year warranty. Okay, great, this seems like a good deal even if the financing costs a little more, it was something that my daughter could manage....So when we went inside to make a deal, we were greeted by a "very large" man who was seated at a table with a laptop in from of him. After a little conversing, we all agreed on a finance price of $5500 OUT THE DOOR, this was what we were told... $5500, it's a little steep, but it is a buy here, pay here, right? that is expected. So he asked my daughter for her down payment money. So she pulls out her little box of cash and hands it to the "very large" man. Okay, so with a down payment of $1200 and an interest rate of 21% (that she was quoted), and a sales tax of around $500, the financing should have been around $6000. So we figure that is doable. A woman (Giselle) came out from the back office and took the cash so she could put it through the "money counter" machine to be sure it's all there.  After we confirmed the price and the down payment was received, we proceeded to the back office where the contract was being prepared by Giselle. During the process of preparing the contract, my daughter had to obtain insurance in order to take the vehicle home, but it was Labor day and the offices were closed. When Giselle finish printing up the contract, she placed a stack of papers (the contract) in front of my daughter and said "sign where highlighted". She never bothered to go over the contract with her nor did she go over the financing with her (like normal dealers do when you purchase a vehicle new or used). Being that this is my daughters first vehicle and first big purchase ever, she signed and initaled where it was highlighted. She did not think to read it first (okay that was her bad, but she was also signing the papers based on the verbal confirmation of price she was given right before they took her money AND the advertisement's details of the car).

Being that it was Labor Day, she could not obtain insurance that day, so we were going to come back the next day after she got insurance and pick up the car. She was not able to take the car home with her yet. When we all returned home, we looked over the contract. We were utterly floored by how much she was going to end up paying and we decided to try to renegotiate the deal. The following day, my husband called them and Giselle spoke to him, but became very rude with him when he asked about the price. Ultimately, my husband ended up going back in person and trying to get the price down. They said, okay, $4500 put the door, but asked for an additional deposit (??), so my husband gave them an additional $500 in good faith to not screw over our daughter.

So later that same day, I met my daughter at the dealership with her boyfriend. Giselle would not write up the new contract unless we gave her the COPY of the previous one, which I did not understand because she has the original and we were about 25 monutes away from the house. I called my husband and told him she won't redo the contract until she has the copy of the old one. So while I am on the phone, Giselle and my daughter's boyfriend were conversing back and forth. I then asked her what the extra $3000 was and she never acknowledged me.

The next thing I heard was my daughter's boyfriend saying, "let's wait on the insurance until we see the final price". At that point, Giselle became irate and stated "I don't have to give you that information, I am doing this as a courtesy, you should be thankful"... So I told my daughter, "its okay, if this doesn't work out, we will get your down payment back and go somewhere else". Giselle responded "oh no! you're not getting your money back", so at that point I exchanged words with her and she further stated "and you can't have me fired because (mumble mumble..) related to the owner". More words were exchanged between Giselle and my daughter's boyfriend before Giselle said "I don't like your attitude and I am not doing this deal with you anymore. You need to leave!"

I called her a name and grabbed my daughter and walked out. Giselle actually called the cops.

Bottom line, when we all noticed that she was paying over $8500.00!!! for a vehicle that is only worth $3100.00 per Kelly Blue Book, we were yelled at and treated like they were doing us a favor?? What they advertise is NOT what you get. Read the countless compaints on cars.com.

Please keep in mind, when reading their reviews, Automax also creates their own 5-star reviews. You will see all 1-star and a few 5-stars. The 5-stars are fraudulant, just like the company.

DO NOT GO THERE. IF YOU DO, DO YOUR RESEARCH ON THE VEHCILE AND THEM!! I PROMISE, YOU WILL REGRET IT IF YOU BUY SOMETHING FROM THEM. THEY ARE CROOKS!!

Well... everything