My Review Of BMW Concord:
I wasn't impressed by this dealership at all. We found a Subaru Impreza WRX on Autotrader at this dealership and called the sales guy to talk about the car. We spoke to Gary Boynton about it, and it sounded good and was the car we were looking for. We offered our Jeep as a trade, Gary said that they would give us $11,500 for it, which I was ok with, so he sent a purchase order to me so I could take it to the credit union to get financed. I get the check cut to pay for the car, and he requests the check be sent overnight by certified mail so that it can be deposited. I did not like this AT ALL because I was paying for a car I'd never seen. Gary explains that we would have wait for the check to be cleared before releasing the car to us, so even if we drove down there with the check right now, they WOULD NOT release the car to us. I asked Gary what happened if we got down there, and we decided we did not like the car. Gary said that they would cut us a check if that was the case.
I explained it was a cashiers check, which is good as cash, but he insisted I send the check and I wait 7-10 business days before coming down, so we could wait for the check to clear. I did not like this at all, so I fork out the 50 bucks to send it over night with signature confirmation. I do not get any sort of call to confirm that they had received the check, or that they had deposited it, or that it had made it to the dealership. I can see via online tracking that its made it, but no one had called me. So I called Gary and he verified that the check had made it there, but they had not deposited it. He assures me the check will be deposited and so I wait. During this time, we have the car serviced and new brakes put on, and even have it detailed. I continually call Gary every few days, because I have not received any kind of update from him, where we were at in the deal, NOTHING. I explain to Gary that I am still maintaining the car, and Gary says that he will try to get me 12,000 for the trade (previously 11,500) so that we can hopefully walk out with $500 in our pocket. After about a week, we finally get the OK that the check had cleared and we drive from Bend, OR to BMW Concord and arrive with our car. (mind you this is about 10 hours worth of drivetime)
We look at the car, its in good condition. The previous owners of the car must have had a white lab kind of dog because the detailer didn't do a terrific job and missed a bunch of hair. Gary asks for the keys to our car, so they can look at it. We test drive the Subaru and its what we want. When we get back to the dealership he immediately low balls us on the trade, saying there has been "paint work" done on the car... I've never crashed the car, nor did the owners before us crash the car, its got a clean carfax so I have no clue what he's talking about. He then says that its also the base model with a smaller motor, which I had already told him when giving him the information on the trade. Gary says that they would give us $10,000 for our Jeep. So there is now a $1,500 difference in the price of my trade from the original offer. I was expecting to walk in, sign the papers and walk out. I've already sent them the check and its cashed. Gary says he can get me $1000 but there would still be a difference of $500 which I would have to come up with.
Why not have me get a bigger loan then? I asked what the $500 is for. $190 for DMV, $7 for tire tax, (Blah, blah, blah) I told Gary that I would like to take care of DMV because I would need a VIN inspection since it would be going to a different state, and I wanted to transfer my current plates since they were special plates. Gary insists on me having to do the DMV there. I tell Gary that it is $61 dollars to have the plates transferred in Oregon and my credit union had already filled out the paperwork. Gary said that he would check on it for me and leaves and comes back and no one has ANY clue about Oregon DMV paperwork, or how it works, would not let me take care of it, and so Gary insisted on paying the $190 for DMV, because it has to leave the dealership with DMV paperwork done. I try explaining to Gary that I'm trying to avoid new plates being issued for the car, because that is what is likely going to happen if I let them handle it. Then I would be stuck with another fee to transfer the plates. Gary says that I can talk to Marta about it, who handles all the paperwork.
As we were filling out the paperwork, we come to the DMV section. Marta passes me the Oregon DMV form for Title and Registration. I tell Marta that my credit union has already prepared it so we can keep our plates and Marta says she still needs us to sign the new form. I asked Marta why. She said that its the form the dealership used so I show her that the form I had brought, is the same form the dealership uses. Marta was willing to take it, but still asked me to sign the new form which I simply said no to. I explained the I was already over paying for registration, so I wanted to make sure that I at least get the right plates on the car. Marta said that an outside agent from the dealership handles all the DMV paperwork, so they would verify it is the correct form and have her be in touch with me.
We had to pay $482.87 out of pocket after I had already sent them a check for the car, and it had been cleared.
We had the car delivered to Oregon to avoid paying sales tax. The driver, "Mo" was a sweet little 70ish year old lady and was very nice and pleasant to ride 6 hours with. She did stall my car while coming to a light because she forgot she was in a manual transmission car. Mo also raced us through a snow storm, to the point where both my wife and I felt very uncomfortable with her driving. And they didn't even fill up my car after they "delivered" it. We did leave the dealership with a full tank of gas in the morning, and Mo did stop and put $30 of gas in, but once we crossed state lines, and got to Ashland to meet the notary, we were left for 1/4 tank of gas. My thought was if I was going to be paying for the gas, could I have at least did a little sight seeing while I was down there?
So once we made it to Ashland and we were waiting for our notary, to have the paper signed they drove the car to California for us, little "mo" admitted, "That was my first time driving in snow..."
After we signed the form, Mo and the driver of the chase car left, and we were left with our car. We did not have any valid registration for the car. While signing the paperwork, I will admit that we acknowledged that they would not provide a temporary permit. I wish Gary, or SOMEONE at the dealership could have given us a heads up about it before leaving Oregon to come down so that I could have one lined up for once we returned on Sunday, since DMV was closed and Monday was a holiday.
A week after us having the car, I checked my bank account, and noticed a payment for the car I traded in came out. I called out credit union and they told me that BMW Concord had not paid off the loan yet. So now I made a payment on a car I no longer own. VERY FRUSTRATING.
I called BMW Concord and spoke with Marta again and she said that they had forgot to have me sign an authorization to pay off while doing my paperwork. She emailed me it, and I sent it back. She says that I will get the difference of the payoff amount and what they paid. I'm assuming that since they hadn't done anything with it, that I won't see any of that money back.
I asked her about the DMV paperwork and told her that no one had contacted me regarding it as they promised. Once she was off the phone, Tanya Reeves from Esquire Title immediately called me. Tanya was very apologetic for the mess I was in and said that she would make sure the DMV paperwork would get taken care of, and would even over night Fed-EX it to me, so that I could do it at the DMV office here. I was very thankful to hear that, but also frustrated that I just couldn't do it from the start.
A few days after the purchase we received a gift box from Gary with wine, cheese and crackers and some chocolate covered almonds. Is this what part of what that 482.87 payed for?
Bottom line is that I'm still out a bunch of money (the 482 plus another 400 due to payments, trip permits, fed ex fees) and It just seems as if I was just another hole to punch on the paperwork. I did not feel like a customer, just another someone to make money off of. I feel that no one ever really took care of us, everyone was interested in the 49ers game, and no one had questions to answers and it's just been a giant mess with this dealership. I don't know if I was treated differently because I wasn't buying a BMW but I don't think I will be buying a car from here ever again... I don't recommend that you do either.
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