Upsold a 100,000 Mile Warranty in Finance Office

It looks like many of you had the same experience I had.

Early last month I found a '17 TRD Sport with 5,000 miles that had everything I was looking for in it at a dealer that was 50 miles away from me. Test drove it and sat down with the salesman then with his manager and came up with a price with my '05 TRD in trade.

It was late in the day and I waited 1/2 hour to meet with the "Finance Manager". Once he got me in his lair, the dance began... Toyota financing (no mention of APR), Extended warranty only $20/month, GAP coverage only $10/month, remote start? (no price quoted). He put an electronic pad in front of me to sign.

They wanted me to take the truck that night (it was 7:30 and they closed at 6:00) and I said I'd be back tomorrow as I needed to clear my old one out. It was late and I left with no paperwork.

When I picked up the truck on Sunday, the salesman handed me an envelope with the paperwork and said to keep it in the glove box until you get the registration. When I got home I looked at the paperwork and noticed the "selling price" was much higher then what was agreed on. The sales tax was added to the selling price which masked the actual price. Plus the APR was 6.99% and no details of the sale!

I did a quick refinance through my credit union (3.99%) and dropped my payment by $45/mo and flied a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Two weeks later, I drove back to the dealers and spoke with the Finance manager I dealt with. He then printed out the "Purchase Contract" which detailed the sale (I never got a copy of that). The selling price was a little higher than what we agreed on. $2,612 for Extended warranty, $599 for GAP coverage, $695 for remote start, $499 for "Resistall", $699 for "Tire and Wheel Protection, and $479 for "Document Prep". I was never told the totals for those add-ons and never agreed to the wheel and tire. we filled out paperwork to cancel the warranty and tires. He said a check would be going to my CU in "about 3 weeks".

The dealers HR dept. responded to my BBB complaint a couple of days later and said they would be contacting me that day... Two weeks after that, I received a call from their Finance Director. Gave him the details of my complaint and he called back an hour later and said i would be getting a check for the full amount of the extended warranty and the tire coverage.

Toyota finance credited me the full amount for the GAP when I refinanced. A check for $2,612 came in two days later and I received one for the difference in the agreed price. I am still waiting for the check for tire protection.

It pisses me off that they got me with those hidden fees when I was tired when the financing was going on. But in the end, I was able to get back over $3,900 and also lower my payments. The BBB complaint seemed to speed up the process.

I later found out that another branch of that dealer did a similar thing to a neighbor.

 

Dealers suck big time, almost all of them.

We just bought a car from Toyota and they tried selling me the paint and upholstery protection for $1250. I said I don’t want it even if it was free, too much trouble to deal with. The guy said they don’t give it away for free, I said, “well, ain’t we both content?”

 

Good one. The "Resistall" just serves to be a dirt magnet.

 

Why would you blindly sign paperwork with $5500 in extra charges? Don’t blame an unscrupulous dealer for a situation that could have been entirely avoided with a little attention to detail. It’s a potential $30k to $40k investment and you didn’t even look at the paperwork. That’s more frightening than anything else. That’s on you.

 

I bought the warranty on purpose with my 2014. Turned out to be a blessing when lightning struck my truck at 60k miles and they replaced $4k worth of computers

 

It can be loads of fun making them squirm.

 

You signed for it. What’s Toyota got to do with it. Just say “no”.
Let’s blame Toyota, not your fault. Is that how it goes?
Amazing.

 

Let me rephrase that.

Toyota dealership’s finance office. Extremely pushy, several day process over GAP insurance and borderline illegal ways of saying “Toyota funded your loan with an aterisk because they want you to get and extended warranty”

So I signed for both, cancelled them both. My time for saying “no” for days and hours exceeds the cost of the warranty.

 

Finance manager here

So you signed but accept not responsibility ?

 

Some people don’t realize the cost of the warranty pays for itself on a few parts. We wouldn’t have 30 mechanics and service bays if cars didn’t break daily.

 

I agree, it totally was my fault. I should have walked away and came back the next day with a clear head.
I posted to point out what can happen when your thrown into a situation where you are tired and not thinking straight from so many things going on. Maybe it will make someone aware of that so they don't fall into the same trap.

Bottom line is; I let the finance guy take full advantage of me and it appears that I am not alone with that happening.

 

Oh please. Believe what you need to believe to satisfy your purchase of the warranty but to seem to say there's 30 mechanics and they're all working hard on broken Toyotas is a plain lie. Most mechanics aren't even working on things that are broken.
Fluid changes of every kind, 'service ' on this and that. Most things that were upsold to people who don't know any better and just came in for an oil change or a TSB or the recall notice on the airbags.

Service writer: "Mrs. Jones, your power steering fluid is dark."
Mrs. Jones: "Is that bad?"
Service writer: "Why yes, it's serious. Your power steering pump is very expensive. I recommend we change that fluid along with the oil and filter, the cabin filter, the coolant flush, the transmission fluid and the other things I mentioned. You don't want something to break in the middle of this winter, do you? I can do it all today and get your car right back to you while you wait in the lounge with our free coffee, soft drinks, and complimentary Wi-Fi."

 

Auto finance is the devil wrapped up in a suit with a smile. Plain and simple. You gotta treat them as such.

 

Auto loan officer here

I thought the same thing lol.

 

Wow, you totally missed the point of his post. But rock on man!

 

He accepted responsibility. What he is pissed off about is being lied to.

 

I totally agree on why he is pissed off. I deal with car salesman every day and I enjoy calling out their BS.

I tell people everyday do not rush the process because that is when shady stuff gets slipped in.

 

When I bought my Tacoma it was a dealer swap and they either failed to check the spec sheet or failed to charge me for the tube steps that came on it when we negotiated the sale. They noticed at delivery a few days later and decided not to charge me for them because it was their mistake.

I got the extended warranty pitch from the finance manager and thought about it for a few minutes but declined it without issue.

 

When I bought my Tacoma last year, right away I was asked the "How much do you want your monthly payments to be?", told them I've got an idea but ill keep that to myself. Then got hit with "Its required that you sign this form so we can check your credit.", (I was already pre-approved through my bank) and I said no it is not required, go get your manager. I hate how car-buying is an intimidation game.

 

If I go to a dealership during the daytime, I give the dealership about an hour to do the complete deal ... that includes the business office.
I never go on a busy day either.

When I go to a dealership I respect their time and they should respect mine.

However, the VERY best time is go late at night about an hour before closing and be prepared to stay all night with them when they want to go home. And make sure you have eaten beforehand too. A rainy, middle of the weekday is good. You can get a Toyota Platinum for $100.00 over cost.

The end of the month is good ... end of the quarter is better ... and the end of the year is even better.

Now, I only want a Toyota Corp. Platinum Warranty ... I will NOT do a dealership or Toyota Regional Warranty and NEVER an outside 3rd party warranty.