5 Towns Drive

Review: I was interested in purchasing a vehicle from this company, a 2013 5 Series BMW 535i. I contacted them via phone after looking at their website several times throughout the week. They gave me information about the vehicle and its history. I was prepared to purchase a vehicle at the asking price and was arranging my schedule to travel to complete the transaction. The car I was interested is at the following link: [redacted] I have screenshots of the car and the details should this link become unavailable as you are reviewing this claim. I mentioned to the sales representative that I'd be traveling a few hours to get to the dealership, so I wanted to make sure that I had all the necessary forms, paperwork, and payment to complete the purchase. When I mentioned that I was interested in paying for the vehicle in one lump sum, the story surrounding the purchase completely changed. On their website, the disclaimer says that "price listed above reflects cash price" in addition to other standard disclaimers that I have seen previously when purchasing cars throughout my life. The customer service person who I was speaking to on the phone put me on hold and came to let me know that the price listed on their website was not the cash price of the vehicle, but rather the finance price. What this meant was that the price listed on the website was the remaining balance on the vehicle once a 35% down payment was made on the vehicle in cash. Thus, the vehicle that was listed for $22,499 was actually being sold for well over $30,000. Thus, this is a legitimate bait and switch scheme that this company is running. Would any person in their right mind assume that a car that is being listed for $22,499 was actually being sold for $30,000+ and that the advertised price was the remaining balance after 35% of the vehicle was paid for in cash? This is a ludicrous notion. I asked "John", whom I spoke with, about why they had this policy. He mentioned that the majority of their customers do not have enough money to pay for cars outright and that is who they usually sell their cars to. This, to mean, seems abusive to unaware consumers who might get lost in financial details of a car purchase. The listing price of their vehicles assumes that 35% of the vehicle has already been paid for! It is my impression that this company's objective is to deceive the public by advertising unrealistic prices and then backing into this ridiculous policy once people show up on their lot. I am outraged that such a business is allowed to operate under these practices.Desired Settlement: I would like the opportunity to purchase this specific vehicle, VIN number [redacted] for the actual listed price of $22,499 plus all standard fees that go with legally buying a car from a car dealership.

Business

Response:

Sorry for the misunderstanding with [redacted] and our sales associate. The prices online is the cash price plus fees. For financing add 35% of the asking price to guarantee approval. Once again we apologize for the inconvenience.For any questions please call me the assistant manager directly. I can be reached at ###-###-####

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I appreciate the prompt response to the Revdex.com complaint on behalf of the company. However, I still am not satisfied with the response because it does not address the issue at hand. First, the person who replied to this (an assistant manager that did not give his or her name to be contacted, just a phone number) said that the price listed online is the cash price plus fees. This is exactly what I was planning to do with this car purchase: issue the company a certified cashiers check for the full amount of the list price of the vehicle ($22,499) plus all normal fees and taxes associated with the purchase. I was not interested in financing the vehicle and therefore I do not understand why he or she noted in the response that "For financing add 35% of the asking price to guarantee approval." I was not requesting financing for this purchase. I wanted to pay cash. 5 Towns has since updated the price of the vehicle online, but I have attached the pdf file of the same vehicle that was listed online when I was interested in purchasing it on November [redacted]. Further, the assistant manager's response seems to indicate that managers are willing to speak with potential customers. This was not the cash last week when I wanted to purchase the vehicle. When I called on several occasions, I was told that managers were not available and would call me back. That never happened. I would also make the assumption that a manager responding to a complaint like this would be willing to give his or her name, not just a call back number. My name is [redacted] and I can be reached at ###-###-####.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Sorry for the misunderstanding, the car you are referring to is Sold already. I brought this matter to my manager attention, he has informed me that you never wanted to purchase this vehicle in cash. This is why everyone was explaining to you the financing process to guarantee approval. According to our disclaimer the dealership has the right to refuse any offer if we are not satisfied with your offer. You are welcome to come to discuss prices to get to a finial agreement. If you have any more questions or concerns you can feel free to contact me directly Stacey,@:###-###-####.

Review: On August **, 2015 I purchased a 2010 Infiniti G37x for $17,999 including taxes, title, and tags. At that time I was issued a 48 hour temporary plate from Arizona. After the two days, I was then issued a 20 day temporary plate. As my 20 days was coming to an end I went to the Virginia state dmv to check the process and status of my registration. There was nothing in the computer. I returned back to New York and was issed another temporary plate for 20 day travel which expired 09/2*/2015. That day I brought my vehicle back to the dealer, Mark. I had spoken to an employee, Trudy, previously and she had told me that if my plates and registration was not received from the dmv by 09/** they would pay for me to have a rental car for 2 days until the papers and plates arrive. It has been 9 days and everyday I call them I receive no response or they tell me that it should arrive the next day.Desired Settlement: I would like a full refund of the cost of the vehicle plus car payment, insurance and expenses

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: Please note: The only $$ we are out for this is travel money to get to and from the business. This complaint is for false advertising the price of a vehicle.

We have been looking for a Mazda Miata for about 1 year and found one on the internet site [redacted] the eve of July **, 2015. We found 2003 Mazda Miata for a "Price" of $5,999, VIN [redacted] Car ID [redacted], that was offered at this dealership - 5 Towns Drive. We looked googled the dealership to see if we could find more info. on the car, and found [redacted] - where the car was listed for the same $5,999. We live in upstate NY and on Weds., July **, 2015, we traveled to the dealership in Inwood, NY on Long Island. We were planning to look at 2 cars that day (one in Inwood, NY and one in Harrisburg, PA), and as we traveled, we did an online auto check of the car mentioned above via [redacted], like [redacted], and the car checked out (I have the report). We called the dealership to make sure it was there, and we're told by salesman "Mike" it was there and he'll take care of us when we get there.

We looked at the car and loved it, so we decided to test drive. They took a copy of our licenses for insurance I would imagine and Mike asked us to speak with the Sales Manager to go over financing. We explained we would be writing a check or paying via credit card, so basically it was a cash deal. But we would need to get it on the road to drive home. The sales manager came over and quoted us a total of somewhere around $9,500 (we unfortunately did not write down the exact amount), much to our surprise, we asked why so much on a $5,999 price? He told us that the "price" is after 35% down? What? He said this was on the website and we should have read the fine print, or asked when we called in, like everyone does this and we should have known; like it was our fault. We pulled up the .com site and he said something like, no - that was the wrong or the old site, even though the car was listed on it for $5,999 - and that we should have looked at the .net site. Everyone in the place seemed a bit shady, so we immediately left and went somewhere else to talk about it. We found the .net website and there to the car price was $5,999, with slightly different "fine print" that had something about thirty five percent, but it was very unclear/misleading. My husband, Randall, called to speak with Mike to see if he could help us understand what we could have missed, and he couldn't. He offered to have the general manager call us to talk about our concerns. The general manager called us and after a bit of back and forth, he agreed to sell us the car of $5,999 plus tax and dmv fees. We him to tell us what that total would be, and he said $8,500 +-. Again, we questioned why so high when it should have been $6,779 +- ($5,999 + 8% sales tax ([redacted]. rate where we live) and approx. $300 (which is high) in dmv fees for license plate, registration and title fee). He said we had to pay 8.75% in sales tax and the dealer fee was $1,400 - again, another hidden fee. When we questioned him regarding the sales tax and tried to explain it should be 8% for [redacted]unty, we mentioned the dmv fees would be closer to $100 for such a small/light car and asked about unknown dealers fee, he got irate and it quickly turned it to a shouting match. He was very rude and said he was recording our conversation like we were in the wrong, he accused us of wanting to pay only $100 in sales tax and said things like - was this the first time we bought a car, etc.

BTW: The first price we were quoted could not have included a $1400 dealers fee.

$5,999 x 135% = $8,099

+ 8.75% tax = $709

Total: $8,808 - and this does not include dmv fees, which we estimated high at $300

Total with $300 dmv: $9,180

Total with $1400 dealers fee: $10,508

They quoted us around $9,500 - seems a bit arbitrary to us?

How are dealers fees set? Can they make up any fee amount?

This is the disclaimer for this car's ad on [redacted]. It says nothing about the price being after 35% down nor a $1400 dealers fee:

Disclaimer

Price excludes registration and title fees and taxes.Desired Settlement: No more falsely advertising prices; state ALL fees and true prices of vehicles.

We will not be going back to this business, however - for others, esp. those who travel 7 hours to this business (like us):

This business needs to advertise the "true" price of their cars EVERYWHERE they list a car for-sale with a set price - the business's websites, auto trader, etc., and ANY WHERE else they have cars listed for sale, not 65% of the price with very unclear "fine print" that supposedly explains the price is after a 35% down payment.

Also - the dealers fee amount should be included/stated.