Complaint Review: Tempe Dodge - Tempe Arizona

On reading the original report, I knew that there was no way any sane car dealer would turn away someone who supposedly had an M3 and a six figure income. That would be suicide in this economy. Something didn't smell right. Now that we learn that the OP is in debt well above his eyeballs, the story becomes clear. He's mad because the dealer or the financer refuse to dig his financial hole any deeper than it already is. I'd say the dealer did him a favor. Hey Jon, you should use some of that big six figure income to pay off the Beemer. The days of goofball lending are long gone.

Jon, I am sorry to hear that you were unhappy with your experience at our dealership. I spoke with both Jose and John about their dealings with you and both were surprised to hear about your comments. They both felt that they tried to help as much as they could. They told me that you were very interested in Stock # N9414, a Tor Red 2008 Dodge Charger R/T with under 100 miles. The original MSRP was $39,260 and our sale price was $26,987. As I understand it, the main issue was not with our vehicle, it was with how to deal with the outstanding loan balance of around $31,500 that you owed on your 2003 BMW M3. They tell me that you were fully aware that you owed your bank at least $10,000 - $12,500 more than the current market value based on the fact that Bill Luke was going to allow you $19,000 for the M3. I know that you feel that John seemed arrogant and rude and I apologize if that is how you felt. I have worked with John for over 10 years and I can honestly say that John is one of the first employees that will go out of his way to help any one of our customers. I have seen him take his time and go out of his way to make sure that everything is 100% satisfactory even when the customers purchased elsewhere. I know that he was only trying to help and explain the difficulty in getting a loan approved in this situation. The inequity is between $10,000 - $12,500 and after the down payment of $4,000, a negative equity of around $8,000 remains. I am sure that John was trying to explain that in today's tight credit market, it is unlikely that we could get a bank to approve a loan that is so out of balance. John says that after you left, you called back about the possibility of switching to a lower priced Charger as a solution to the problem. He says that it was at this time that you said that you felt that John had misled you because he did not offer to show you a lower priced vehicle during your first visit. You accused him of not wanting to show you a lower priced car because we would not make as much money if that is what you bought. John explained that even if we switch cars, we still have the problem of the huge inequity that will make a loan approval difficult. We could easily switch vehicles but the overall situation would remain the same unless you would put down a much larger cash down payment to offset your trade inequity. I am sure that you are aware that the banks have tightened credit on all kinds of loans recently. That includes lowering credit card limits, cancelling home equity credit lines and major restructuring of who they will lend to and placing strict limits on how much they will lend. As far as auto loans go, there are banks that would advance up to 130% of factory invoice or Kelley Blue Book in the past, but are now cutting the loan advances to a maximum of 80%. Many other banks and financial institutions have exited the automobile installment loan business altogether. Obviously, this makes structuring vehicle deals today more difficult than it has been for the past 10-15 years. The banks are requiring the consumers to put cash down and they are closely watching debt to income ratios, etc.. Jon, whether you want to purchase a $10,000 vehicle or a $30,000 we would love to have your business. Again, I apologize if John seemed rude. John is only one of 140 employees here at Tempe Dodge Chrysler Jeep. We have always prided ourselves because we do offer great customer service before, during and after the sale. We are and have been a Chrysler 5 Star dealership for over 15 years and we are highly rated by our customers on the Chrysler surveys. John was not telling you that he wanted you to go and buy at Bill Luke, he was merely stating that you said that they were going to sell you a 2009 for the same price as our 2008. As John and I have pointed out, whether you are buying a 2008 or 2009 in Tempe or at Luke, that doesn't change the amount of negative equity we have as part of the deal. I have been in the automobile business for 41 years and I can understand that occasionally a customer may not get along perfectly with one of our employees. It does bother me, however, that you have chosen something such as the RipOff Report to vent and, what's more, without waiting to see what response you would get from your original email. I do not think that we have received even one penny of your money, so the word Rip Off doesn't seem to apply to this situation. What's more, instead of focusing your displeasure toward John, you have now turned your wrath against more than 140 dealership employees who work hard to provide great service selling and servicing automobiles. I apologize that we were unable to provide satisfactory service to you at this time. Hopefully we will have another chance in the future. You can feel free to contact me at any time and I will do my best to help in any way possible. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Mike B GM Tempe Dodge Chrysler Jeep