This post is made to warn others(while reminding myself) of a vehicle purchase and what the dealers do to mess their customers up.
I recently bought an Accent 2010 model from Puentes Hill Hyundai in City of Industry. This is my fifth car. First one, 2001 Sonata, was more or less entirely paid off by my father. The Second one was a 1990 Jimmy, bought from my boss who was leaving the unit for a case of beer when I got to my duty station, Alpha Company 45STB 45SB, in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. After my then girlfriend crashed the car in an accident and totaled it, I got a 1995 Contour, which was absolutely the worst car I've driven. Fast forward past my discharge and my new work in civilian world, I got a 1995 Ford F350 modified into a moving center box truck, from UHaul which I got to put myself in case I needed to start a merchant work.
My first mistake was being a respectable person. My work schedule was hefty, and it was not easy to get a day off, hence I went there after work before the dealership shuts down. I did actually go there on my once-in-two weeks break on Sunday prior, but the dealer stood me up. Her name is Jenny Ahn of Puentes Hill Hyundai. So the second time I got there was a weekday night, and to my surprise she stood me up again. I called her twice on the way up there from Irvine to Industry, too. When I got there, the new 2010 Elantra that she promised me for 9500 did not exist. I had instead a 2010 Accent, an USED one. On top of that, the dealer herself was MIA. I would forgive being stood up the first time for anyone. The second time, though, hardly anyone in my shoes would. I was in the short end of stick since my apartment had been threatening me to tow away my box truck, and I thus needed to get rid of it. I reluctantly and against the better judgment, tolerated it and went ahead to deal.
I made many more mistakes stemming from that bad step. Since it was dark out when I got there at 7PM, even after inspection I failed to locate several paint scratches that I noticed a week later. Dealer's disgusting lie 1: "mint condition vehicle." This is less than a year old car. I count over 20 different scratches that cannot be patched. Speaking of a lie, here's another one: "recently serviced." Sounds ambiguous doesn't it? On a vehicle past 37,000 miles(how can that even happen with a car under a year old, anyway?), one under the excitement of buying a new car in a shiny place after traveling over forty miles to get that rare advertised price, could easily mistake that statement as what normal people mean, a 30,000 mile service. It's exactly what happened to me. The dealers only mean a Twenty Dollar oil change and nothing more when they say they serviced the vehicle. Two week later, I had a mysteriously noisy brakes and had to take the car to a local mechanic.
These mistakes net me so far over a grand, on a newly dogmad purchased vehicle. I'm not talking about a 10-year-old car from neiborhood gramps. "The Best Hyundai of Southern California" does this to their customers.
The car dealers operate on an entirely different thinking plane from the regular people. They like to make customers wait for a reason I could not comprehend. Here I was, ready to purchase a vehicle to them, they made me wait three hours doing absolutely nothing after I found the car. Seriously, after I gave the salesperson a clear message of what I want, how I can pay it, and what ever irrelevant personal information they got from me, they literally had me wait doing nothing. They were not processing documents, they were not handling another customer. They were surfing on the web and looking at me occasionally. Frankly I was a little offended and confused, since I had work to attend in less than 12 hours. What retail or service does this, besides a car dealership?
When they finally decided my 782-points credit was good enough, they sold me the car. Here's the catch, though. The customer must be ready to convince why he doesn't need options he knows won't need to the dealer. This was no easy battle. The dealership pushes four options: warranty on parts not covered by 'Hyundai's Best Warranty in the US'; a GPS; another confusing warranty that to me, sounded exactly the same as the first warranty, perhaps so customers not used to speak English fluently would buy both; and an option where they offered to restore any scratches for five years from purchase. It was an intense battle. My argument was that the warranty contradicts advertised advantages of "Certified Vehicles." When they're luring a customer to a car, they present Certificates, saying that the car is basically perfect and there won't be any worries buying a car used. However, when it's time to make payments, they remind the customer that after all, it is still a used car, so Certifications mean jack. The car that an hour ago, was perfect, now 'carries unknown risk, no one sees future.' Doesn't that seem like a contradiction to anyone else? I told him I got insurance, and the finance guy, Larry, was literally a bit flustered when I said that. He was trying hard to make sense of something that wasn't, because now he had to explain my own insurance that I hand-picked that I don't know what it covers. The car's price was 12000 USD, after trade-in it was 10000 plus tax. The warranty costs 2000 each, for 4000 extra total. I'm not a rich guy, I'm just a dude who works two MINIMUM PAYING jobs. These people who make living for selling three cars a month, try to argue that 4000 USD is not a big deal. Maybe to you, asshat, but not to everyone.
Then he explains the GPS. This one is funny. I am trained by U.S. Military in navigation skills. If you drop me off to an entirely unknown place, as long as I had the correct map and compass, I can get to where I need to. That skill, to the dealer, is now useless and I need to pay for 800-dollar GPS that doesn't even pay for my car when it gets stolen. It would provide a certain someone else besides me who I have no idea when they use the car an assurance. Right. I don't plan to share my car with anyone, especially someone neither you nor me knows. I showed him my four-dollar-compass and told him I'm straight. He glared at me to my surprise. He thought I wouldn't notice, but I myself worked in commission field. I know what the smiling "screw you" glare is, Larry the finance guy. Riiiight back atcha.
His remaining weapon was the "free" detailing. It costs one thousand dollars. One Thousand U.S. Dollars, to me, is saving up hard for three months, if not four. By saving up hard, I mean I do everything I fucking can, I am already pretty much at the lowest of the totem poll. That is not comprehended by these people who earn their entirety of their pay just by talking. It's not an easy money for me. It means working as hard physically and mentally draining if not harder as a fresh teenager at an age past 30 for me. For seventy hours a week, eating a lettuce and onion sandwich when my coworkers are feasting(and not even finishing on) their 12 Dollar Burger meals for four. months. straight.
When I was threatened to not get such a good deal on the car that I pretty much already secured, that the salesperson could give it to someone else, I had to give. The deal is that for twice a year, I can get the service. You know what though, I have to travel to the dealership, from Irvine where I live to City of Industry where the dealership is. That's four hours of my rare off day plus however much time it takes to work on the vehicle, on my gas, on my car. Only twice a year, so each time I go there, it's $200 per service. Has anyone seen an auto detail service that is $200 per visit? Not on a Hyundai Accent I have not. Let me know if anyone has. However, I was threatened to not make this deal, that someone else would have the car if I didn't get any options, that I had to sign it.
I hope the finance guy even knows what it is like to eat ramen for four months straight, passing off any cool new games/concerts/local amusement park reopenings during that time.
I left the dealership with a feeling not unlike that of muddy butt that day.
Fast forward three weeks, a bill came as agreed. Unlike as agreed though, I was not allowed to pay off my car. I tried online, cheque, and over-the phone. These greedy dealership wants the interest money, even if the customer has the money to do so! They charged me instead a "convenience fee" to make a payment more than the minimum.
Let that sink in for a second. The dealership punishes a customer to make on-time, earnest payments because they want to squeeze every interest money they can, and when insisted, adds a "convenience fee" since it's so inconvenient to bother the maintenance-free online computer to make the payment.
You really have to take extra grand out of me that badly, when you charged me a 14000 USD for a car that you promised me to sell at 9500 USD. I know I am not wrong in feeling rage in a such situation.
I outta notify this somehow other than my 5-visit-a-month weblog, honestly. The only reason to pull me back is they are Koreans. Then again, they are scamming their own people, so there you go. Please learn from my mistake, and avoid Puentes Hill Hyundai. They don't care about you.
