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We purchased a used Acura 3.2CL from Gatorland that we found through eBay. Ramon was exceptionally responsive by phone and Internet, negotiations were easy, and the car was pretty much as described (I don’t understand why all dealers leave our small details!).
I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from them again based on my experience. There was no pressure to buy, and they didn’t try to hard sell us on an extended warranty that we didn’t want.
Here is what happened to me: I was out Sunday looking for a used Mini Cooper. The dealership was closed, so Monday while at work I telephoned the dealership and said that I was interested in the used 2004 Cooper. Clarance told me how much the car cost and said that he would have it “pulled out and ready for me to look at” and drive. When I arrived at the dealership’s lot the car was ready to go. It was clean and in good shape. I enjoyed my test ride and was satisfied that the car was in sufficient condition to consider purchasing it from them. I had several questions about the car. They freely admitted that they did not know the answers to my questions as they were not familiar with the brand. For example, I questioned them about who the manufacturers of the motor in the 2004 Mini Copper were, knowing that several types of engines have been used in various configurations. They did not know that it was (as I have since learned on my own by going to a Mini Cooper forum) a Chrysler-based engine. They informed me at the time I asked them about the car that it was made by BMW, and they didn’t seem to know that there Mini Coopers are available with the supercharger. I remember feeling as though they were selling this particular standard Mini Cooper as the more powerful S version, hoping I wouldn’t notice. They just don’t seem to know very much about their used car product line-up, in at least as much as when it comes to the one or two Mini Coopers they almost always have in stock. All in all though, the car had low mileage on it, so that fact became to me a more impressive fact that that it was not a S version. I still think that they could have come down another $1000 on the final price–what with the car market being so precarious these days–but after offering me a long finance period and a decent amount for my trade-in I went it for the car and we worked out the details.
My credit it not great, but good enough to purchase an automobile. Clarence asked if he could run a credit check and I agreed that he could check it if it would help me get the Mini. Clarence said “it not bad…. it’s pretty good actually.”
After several minutes he came back and said that the dealership could sell me the car. He even credited me a few dollars lower price. He went away several times to work out my maximum per-month payment and we finally got it to be on the high side of what I felt good about. Payments at this dealership might creep up on you during your negotiations, so pay attention should you purchase an automobile from this dealership. I signed all the Contracts for my monthly payment amount, when my first payment was due, the regular date of my payments, that I had to get insurance, that I was trading in my old car and its agreed-upon trade-in credited to me against the total purchase of my Mini Cooper, and all the regular papers that you normally expect to see and sign for the purchase on time of a new or slightly used car. I had to return on Tuesday to give Clarence and the finance manager Ron the title to my trade-in. On about Friday I received a call from Ron asking me to come back to the dealership. I didn’t understand why he needed me to drive across Gainesville, but he said I needed to come in. I was reluctant to drive (even in my new Cooper) across town, so I asked him what it was that he needed from me. He said that he needed the VIN, so I asked why I could not read that number to him over the phone, which he agreed to let me do. The following Monday I make an inquiry into my checking account and find that the agreed upon down payment check had not been withdrawn from my account yet. Later that week, while out of town, I receive yet another call from both Clarence and Ron, both telling me that they need to see me and that I need to go to the dealership again. By now I have had the car for three weeks. I tell Ron that I can’t see him until I return home from my out-of-town business. After I return home I called Ron, and he says that he needs to see me and that it can’t wait any longer. I went to the dealership. I see Ron and sit down with him. He tells me that “the bank wants a down payment of $5000 dollars”, 4 thousand dollars more than what my contract says I should pay and am awaiting for the parties to withdraw from my checking account. I tell them that I will not give them more, as my agreement did not require it (I don’t believe had I gotten a lawyer in my situation that I would have to pay more). Ron says that they have to have the car back. They tell me they still have my trade-in.
I reluctantly returned the Mini keys and car to the dealership. They returned my trade-in to me. When asked about how this happed to me, the dealership representatives claimed that they were “going all out for me” doing “everything they could do to get my Mini Cooper financed” for me 3 weeks after I signed a contract for the car, signifying that the car was finianced with my down payment and trade-in car. They took away from me my time, decreased my credit score by running credit checks which amounted to an approval but no product, the car I thought I bought and my trust of them, and the hassle of having to get insurance for a car I will never own and having to change it back to my old car.