Complaint Review: Bommarito John Oldsmobile Cadillac Mazda - St. Peters Missouri

This is what happened to me at Bommarito John Oldsmobile Cadillac Mazda

Car dealers spend millions of dollars training their salespeople to get more money out of customers. I was a victim of payment packaging. I want to be heard so that this does not happen to other women or people of different races. We seem to be the prime targets for dealership scams.

I was forced to get GPA Insurance.

I was forced to get an Extended Warranty Bommarito Auto Dealer.

Finance Manager of the O'Fallon, MO dealership told me that I could not get the loan if I did not purchase both of these. That it was required by Capital One Auto Finance.

They also lied about my credit score. They did a credit report without my permission and while I was in the car doing a demo ride. The Finance Manager lied to me about my credit score, telling me it was really low, so you now have to pay a much higher car loan interest rate than you thought. At the car dealer four finance people came out after reviewing my
loan application with "concerned looks" and a paper that said "credit score" on it with the number 580 circled in red. They stated they could only get me financing at 19.75% APR and not the regular interest rate. I did not even know what this meant, since it was my first time buying a car.

They told tell me that I had to produce a $1000 down payment or my payments would go up. I was really rooked. And my friend, Leona, who got paid to bring me there, set me up knowing that I had never purchased a car in my life. I was an easy mark for all three of them. Her, the dealership and the finance company.

They kept negotiating with me on the car by monthly payment amount. They kept to shifting the APR up and down depending on whether I would get a warranty, insurance and VIN etching.

They kept their hands over the contract. They would read it to me. I was visibly ill and they took advantage of that.

I did not know that know that any of this was illegal. I just trusted them and did not know that they could even do such a thing to me.

They also did not give me the proper documents that I was by law suppose to have. A copy of the contract, a copy of the dealer invoice, a copy of the title, a copy of the state inspection, copy of the warranty and a copy of the insurance.

They also overcharged me on the price of the car itself with the allowable mark up protocols.

Upon later analysis, I, nor a CPA could back into their figures. We felt that they were lumped into one line on the contact.

I protested this and stopped paying on this car when the amount that it was suppose to be paid was paid.

I feel that Capital One should go after the dealership and not me for the balance of this vehicle and seeing that they have not, I feel that they were also involved in this scam.

I want to let the public know about this. They are doing this to many and it needs to be exposed. They took advantage of me with being a woman and with my race. I feel that my concerns should be heard and they should be exposed.

Car dealerships cause the greatest number of consumer complaints, and many consumers face misleading marketing tactics and even discriminatory lending from auto finance centers. 

Deceptive Lending
In a hidden practice known as the "dealer markup" car buyers who arrange financing through dealerships often get percentage points tacked on to their loan that can cost thousands of dollars above the market price of their car.

Lenders, who are complicit in this setup, kick back most of the markup to the dealer, while the customer remains unaware. A report by Consumer Federation of America estimated the markup impacts as many as 1 in 4 car buyers for whom dealers arrange financing, and that these overcharges cost consumers at least $1 billion annually.

But if you are Black, Native American or Hispanic, the tale of this rip-off is even worse. Industry data show that African-Americans and Hispanics pay on average higher markup fees than their marked-up White counterparts. For example, according to a Nation Consumer Law Center report on lending at the dealer by Honda finance shows that 66.7% of Whites were charged the markup, as compared to 72.9% of Hispanics, 86.7% of African-Americans and 100% for Native Americans. The average markup for a White Honda customer was a pricey $666.55, but the average markup paid by Hispanics is $857.63, for African-Americans it's a whopping $1,127.69 and for Native Americans 1,500.00 up to 3,000.00. I know it happened to me, a Native American at Bommarito Madaza in St. Peters, MO.

The auto loan markup results in customers paying arbitrary and hidden fees.

Even a markup of 2.5 percentagepoints (adopted by some dealers in anticipation of legal and legislative action) could still increase finance charges by more than $1,000 per loan beyond what a customer's credit score would warrant.

Dealers respond that they should be fairly compensated for their service in helping consumers arrange loans. But the fee for that service should not be hidden or arbitrarily tied to the size and the length of a loan and it certainly should not be
discriminatory.

Misleading Marketing
Many used car dealerships use the term "certified pre-owned vehicle" or "certified used" as a marketing ploy to convince consumers the car has passed a state sanctioned test or as justification for price markups over a normal used car price. Consumers are confused by the term because they are under the false assumption that it is a designation that comes when a used vehicle passes a set of industry-wide or government approved standards. But it is not.

The term "certified" is purely a marketing gimmick used by car dealers to make it seem like their cars meet a higher standard. In reality, there is no basis of comparison between car dealerships that claim to have "certified" cars. The term therefore, is meaningless. When a car dealer says one if its automobiles is "certified," this designation applies to a set of
guidelines that the car needs to fulfill.

However, each dealer independently sets these standards. There are no uniform industry-wide limits on the age of the car or its mileage at resale, there are no standards for a warranty, and when a dealer claims to have put each car through a multiple "points inspection," there is no universal description for what constitutes each "point." Since each
dealership has their own definition of "certified," it is impossible to compare cars between dealers.

I have looked at the ages and mileages of various cars being sold by Missouri dealerships under the label "certified." The ages of these cars ranged dramatically from a couple months to eight years, and similarly the mileages were at times as low as a few thousand miles and as high as ninety thousand miles.

I propose a Car Buyers Bill of Rights in Missouri so that this does not happen anymore to minorities.

The Car Buyers Bill of Rights would:

Cap Dealer Markups:
The bill would fairly compensate dealers by replacing the markup with a clearly disclosed reasonable fee of .5% of the loan amount or $150, whichever is lower.

Define Certified Used Car:
The bill sets minimum standard for the term "certified used car".

Establish a Cooling Off Period:
The bill establishes a 3-day "cooling off" period for buyers of used cars who after thought and review may decide to return the car without penalty.