Complaint Review: Superior Nissan Of Fremont - Fremont California

What ever happened to personal responsibility? Whose job is it to read your contract? It's not that hard! With all the pre disclosures you have to sign these days, you would have to be a fool to miss anythingAccept responsibility and stop blaming other people for your mistakes! Did you think you were so smart; you didn't need to read it when you signed it? And your excuse is the salesman said

I wish I would have seen this sooner, however I would have never expected to see myself on a website like RipoffReport.com. Tim is accurate about a few things. The 350z he purchased was a dealer trade ( meaning we had to locate his vehicle from another dealer's inventory, for those who are not in our industry), and there was a descrepancy on the color. HOWEVER, once Tim saw the new color, he liked it and that issue was resolved BEFORE he had even taken the vehicle off of the lot. Tim is also accurate in stating that he was given a trade-in value of $5000 for his 2005 VW BEETLE, and his payoff was $19500. Now, just a few things about how the law works in California: When signing a contract for vehicle purchase, there are numerous forms and disclosures a customer must sign before taking delivery of a vehicle. One of these forms is a 'OPTIONAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES' form, bound by Cal.Civil Cd2982.2. Onthis form, it COMPLETELY itemizes any aftermarket products sold, such as maintenance contracts (in this case $1895), extended service agreements ( in this case $2462), Gap inurance policies ( in this case $795), any alarms, navigation systems, vehicle recovery systems, or the like. This form is detailed to the point that it will not only intemize the price for each individual item, but it will also show you the difference in your monthly payment BEFORE the items, and AFTER the items, should you be financing the car. In addition, it will give a grand total of ALL of the OPTIONAL after market items, and require that the buyer signs the form. Also in california, we have a form called a 'NOTICE OF RELEASE OF LIABILITY , TRADE-IN / PAY-OFF ADJUSTMENT' form, which clearly states the selling price of the trade in ( thus the trade in value given by the dealer), AND the payoff amount. Finally, we have a 553 contract, which summarizes the entire transaction, complete with a FEDERAL TRUTH-IN-LENDING DISCLOSURE, agreed upon trade in values, prior vehicle payoff figures, down payment, selling price, after market products itemization, etc. TIM NEGLECTED TO READ ANY OF THESE FORMS, BUT RATHER DECIDED SINCE HE WAS IN A HURRY, THAT HE WOULD JUST "SIGN EVERYTHING AND READ IT LATER", even though I explained to him that it is my responsibility to ensure that he understands what he is signing. Now, beyond all of the legal jargon, getting down to brass tacks, Tim knows what happened. He went home and read his contract, called a few friends, they told him he got "ripped-off", so he felt embarrassed and came back to us to try to re-negotiate the deal. How do I know this? Because I was the finance manager he was referring to in his "complaint" on this website, and I was the one he came to see the next day with...guess who?? A FRIEND, who tried to help re-negotiate. Yes, I explained and sold him an extended warranty, maintenance, and gap policy, yes I could have sold it for less, yes I told him it was completely optional at the time of sale, YES, I AM THE ONE THAT CANCELLED ALL THE ITEMS FOR HIM WITHOUT HESITATION WHEN HE ASKED ME TO, and yes, we sent a salesman to follow him 30 miles away to collect a check for $15,000, because we just let him drive off our lot with a $32,000 CAR!!!! Hello???? Yeah, we choose not go rollerskate down the road of stupidity and ignorance and let someone leave our lot with brand new merchandise without providing us the lender-required down payment in the way of $15,000?!??!?! That's just common sense. In defense of Superior Nissan, we did nothing wrong, except I agree that we could have given him a much better trade-in value for his car. In our operation, the salesman, assistant sales manager, and sales managers negotiate the figures with the customer. Finance managers make it all official and put in writing in the way of legal contracts. I did my job by explaining to Tim the figures HE had negotiated. However, IT IS NOT our responsibility if we have a customer who isn't a saavy negotiator, who doesn't seem to know to ask basic simple questions like, "hey, I know you guys said you'd pay off my trade-in, but how much money I am I being offered for it? Will I have any negative equity, or carry-over balance?". Most consumers nowadays know that basic concept of auto financing. But beyond all of that, I STILL EXPLAINED TO HIM THAT HE WAS GIVEN $5000.00 FOR HIS TRADE, AND THAT HE HAD $14,500 OF NEGATIVE EQUITY WHICH WAS BEING OFFSET BY HIS $15,000 DOWN PAYMENT. Yes, we did put his trade in back on our lot for $17988, yes, we did end up WHOLESALING the car for $10,000 to the auction because our market didn't support a demand for his VW BEETLE, yes we made a profit of around $2800 in doing so (after our smog, safety, and shop bill), and YES, we are allowed to do that because we are a BUSINESS , and we are in business for profit. We entertain offers of all kinds and we accept offers of all kinds, ALL OF THE TIME, that are not profitable for us at all, but do so to put another Superior Nissan nameplate out on the street. We do treat our customers with respect, our regional CSI ( Customer Service Index) is always above Nissan's national standards, our finance department conducts its business in a very ethical, fair, and thorough manner; its just unfortunate that Tim decided to make a $32,000 purchase with the time-budget of a $32.00 purchase. You can't buy cars when you're late for work. You can't buy cars when you only have 30 minutes to spare. That was a decision that Tim made, not us. We were here, and he came to us. It is our job to sell cars, not manage people's time, and make huge financial decisions for them. Tim ripped himself off when he did that. Tim also named a person in this report that in fact was not an employee of the dealership at the time of his purchase. 'Abdul Muttalib' had left our dealership 5 months prior to Tim ever walking on our lot. I would like to say to Tim that before you try to slander someone, get your facts straight and name the right person. The person you named may still be in the industry and now his name is being thrown out there with a transaction he had absolutely nothing to do with. I know who Tim was trying to refer to, but of course I would not release his identity out of respect for his privacy. Also, I NEVER told Tim that he got ripped-off. I told him that had we negotiated further, we could have given him more for his trade. He still would have been upside down either way, because there is no way in West Hell that we would have given him FULL RETAIL for his trade in, which is what he apparently was expecting. Our general manager at the time was in the office with corporate executives, so he was not available; but he was NOT in any way trying to avoid Tim. But I understand from a consumer's perspective that it may seem that way. I am here to let him know that was not the case. NO, SUPERIOR NISSAN DIDN'T STEAL $10,000 DOLLARS FROM YOU...YOU'RE TIME SCHEDULE DID, TIM. In closing, this whole thing kinda pisses me off because Tim is a cool guy. He never really came across to me to be as upset as his report suggests. Im sort of offended that he wouldn't speak to me as a man, and instead just recklessly writes this report. But hey, what can I do at this point but just state the facts. I wanted to clear the air about what REALLY HAPPENED, not to try to clear our or my reputation, but simply because I hate when stories twisted to benefit the 'victim', when in this case the 'predator' and the 'victim' were the same person.. TIM. Paul Finance Manager Superior Nissan of Fremont Fremont, Ca

This is an absolutely amazing story. What do you think happened to the $19,500 that you owed on the car? They said that they would "pay it off". This means exactly that. They would pay it off and tack $19,500 on the new car price. The resale value of the car means nothing to you since you owe more than the resale price. If you sold it privately for $16,600 you would still owe the balance of the $19,500 and would have to pay the car off before the lender would release the title. You would therefore end up with zero as a trade in value. If the dealer paid it off and then sold it for $10,000 then the balance of the difference between $10,000 and $19,500 has to come from somewhere and will be tacked onto your new car price. The dealer certainly isn't going to absorb this money as a good will gesture. The dealer isn't at fault at all. You are for trading a car in that you are "in the bucket" on (you owe more on the car than it is worth). Next time, sell your car privately for as much as you can get for it and read the contract before signing it. Next - don't believe the word of a salesman. Believe the contract and if is not to your liking, walk.

Tim, What was said by a salesperson, has absolutely no bearing on what was written, and what you signed. Robert is absolutely correct on this one. You agreed to the terms on that contract as soon as you signed it. It's a done deal. Maybe next time you will pull your head out and not be in such a big hurry. I hope you getting to work on time was worth $14,500 to you! You must make good money!

When you purchase a car the contract that is written up includes the price for the vehicle plus any options. It then will list the Trade-In value of the vehicle, any down payment and deduct that from the total. If on this purchase agreement/contract is says $5,000 for the Trade-In then you basically have no leverage or ground to stand on, as you signed the contract. Not understanding what you signed, or being in a rush is NOT a legal excuse. In this case it does not matter if they sold it for $200 or $200,000 once you signed the contract it is their car to do with what they want. Now, if the Trade-In value is listed on the contract as $19,500 then they MUST give you $19,500 for the trade in. However, in your case I have a feeling that they listed the Trade-In as $5,000 and then added $14,500 as negative equity to the new loan.