Complaint Review: Stewart Toyota www.stewartauto.com - Lake Park Florida

I walked into Stewart Toyota with a pre-approved letter from a finance company who listed Stewart Toyota as one of their "approved" dealerships to shop for a car. After settling on a car, i was made the usual promises of what they were going to do for me, new tires, buff scratches, etc., went through signing all the paperwork, traded in my car and went on my way. Within a week i was receiving letters in the mail from several finance companies regarding my loan and come to find out Stewart was shopping my loan all over the place even though the deal was signed and over with. They were trying to make more money and shop a better interst rate so they could make even more money on the car that they had already over charged for!!! And whether or not it is legal (which i have my doubts considering truth in lending laws) i believe leads to the appearance of bottom feeding if you ask me. So when the finance company who loaned me the money found out they were not happy from what the salesman that worked at Stewart Toyota told me. That along with the fact that when I returned to have my work done (which was in the contract to be done), only one side of the car was done to remove the scratches and it looked worse than when they when they started because now it looked like someone took the wrong color paint and just slapped it on and when the were buffing it out they made bigger gouges in the paint. The salesman gave me a loaner car and the i think the owner's son or someone had a fit because i needed it to get back and forth to work in Boca Raton since they needed the car overnight. So, that was the icing on the cake. I didn't even bother to bring my car back after that to get the rest of it fixed (which i am sure they don't care) and i bring my car in for service in Delray and give them my money instead. I have given them $250.00 in maintenance money. i won't give stewart's another dime!!!!

We have attempted to assist this customer several times. The vehicle that was traded in was a 1984 model. It was not running and needed major work. The trade-in amount offered is always at wholesale and based on the condition of the vehicle and how much the dealer has to put into it to get it ready for resale. In this case, the vehicle was sent to auction because of the amount of work it would take to make it reasonably serviceable, which is well above the amount the customer felt they should have for it. To complicate matters, there was an outstanding loan, which we had to pay off in order to get them into the 1997 Nissan. A $500 deposit was credited to the down payment. The finance company set the interest rate at 18% due to the customers credit report and established 78 monthly payments, thus bringing the financed total to over $30,000. This total included the price of the Nissan at $15,900, tax, tag, title, extended warranty, GAP insurance, and interest on the loan. The extended warranty and GAP insurance has been cancelled at the customer's request and the refund applied to the balance of the loan. It is our policy that the customer may have anyone with him at the time of closing and financing. The complainant was never barred from the office and stated that she had to watch her small children who accompanied her. We have Spanish speaking employees who can translate on request should it be necessary. It is the consumer's responsibility to read the contracts and ask questions before signing. There is no "cooling Off" period on automobile sales, when the sale is consummated in the dealership, and once the contract has been funded by the finance company, the deal is complete and irrevocable. As to the allegation that his signature was forged, the credit report authorization was taken by phone and the customer agreed to it. He was asked to sign the document when he came into the dealership and did so. It is our understanding that the payments are a problem for the customer and that they want to get out of this deal, which was done in March of 2000. It is over two years later. Although we sympathize with the customer's situation, all we can do is attempt to trade them into a lower priced vehicle assuming the current payoff is not too high. The Kelley Blue Book shows a retail value of almost $10,000 on the Nissan. The customers would do better to sell it on their own, pay off the balance on the loan and start fresh. Stewart Toyota of North Palm Beach received Toyota's highest award, the President's Award, for the year 2001. This award is based in large part on complete customer satisfaction which is our number 1 priority. We're sorry that, in this case, there is nothing more that we can do.

Unfortunately, many car salespeople will do anything and everything that they can legally do to get their paycheck. Union Acceptance is not at fault in this deal. They finance cars for the sales price of the car (basically, whatever the dealer can talk you into paying), the tax, and any warranties or insurance that you purchase through the dealership.

Additionally they will finance the amount that is still owed on the previous car loan. You need to call UAC to find out the amount of the original loan and take a copy of the original loan papers from the dealership to a consumer advocate attorney.

Unfortunately, you will have absolutely NO RECOURSE unless you can prove that the car dealership committed an illegal act in the paperwork for the loan, such as fraud. UAC is in no way liable for your situation.

I know for a fact that UAC will do everything in their power to work through payment arrangements with you, and explain your alternatives (selling the car, having someone else assume the loan, trading the car in, etc.) but they will not accept a repossession unless the car is at least 120 days past due.

Even if the company ended up repossessing the car, you are still responsible to pay them for whatever the balance of the loan is. Unfortunately, anything the dealer is not responsible for anything they did that was unethical. They are only responsible for your situation if they committed an illegal act. I wish you the best of luck in your situation.

In addition to this scandalous rip off, my husband recalls that when the paper work was brought out that either Adam or Billie Waters had tried to forge my husbands name on one of the contracts and they told him dont worry about this that they were just trying to speed up the process.

I would like to also add that the whole time my husband myself and my two children were at Stewart toyota the sales people did not want me in the same room with my husband. They told me to wait either outside or in another room. This is because they were virtually taking advantage of my husband because he did not speak too good of english.

This is a crock of bull-___ because we were victims here and something definitely needs to be done about this.

Please help us solve this rip off and collect all the moniesthat have been paid on this nissan.