Blatant False Advertising – Worst Car Buying Experience - chandra.vaddamani
Blatant False Advertising – Worst Car Buying Experience in Decades
We found a used Mazda CX-5 listed at this dealership, advertised clearly as being equipped with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. We went for a test drive, liked the car, and trusted the listing. My daughter tried checking the feature on-site, but it didn’t work. We figured maybe we just didn’t know how to operate it and assumed it would work once we got familiar with it.
BIG MISTAKE.
Turns out, the car did NOT have Apple CarPlay at all. Zero. It was falsely advertised, plain and simple. My daughter had to move states within a week of purchase, so we had no time to bring it back. We went to the Mazda dealership to get it installed – $550 out of pocket. Add in the cost for replacing bad brake fluid and it totaled nearly $900 in expenses within 3 days of buying the car.
I went back to the dealership, showed them the listing, and directly asked them why they listed a feature that the vehicle didn’t have. I asked, “Isn’t this false advertising?” The response? A very calm, unapologetic “Yes, it is.”
No attempt to fix it. No compensation. No ownership of their lie.
Just an admission of guilt – and then a shrug.
This was intentional deception. They knew what they were doing: slap on a feature list to make the car more attractive and hope the buyer doesn’t catch it until it’s too late. And they have the audacity to hide behind “we’re not responsible after the sale.”
And then there was the financing nightmare. The finance guy tried to push a warranty down our throats, using scare tactics and saying “anything can go wrong” – the usual fear-mongering nonsense. When we resisted, he casually mentioned they make more money from repairs and service than from car sales. Think about that. This is an Alfa Romeo dealership basically admitting their real profit is from vehicles breaking down, not selling them.
I've been driving since 1997. This was hands-down the worst experience I've ever had at a dealership. They lied outright, admitted it, and still did nothing.
This was my daughter’s first car, and it was supposed to be a positive experience. Instead, it was a lesson in how shady and dishonest a dealership can be.
I will NEVER return to this place, and I strongly advise anyone reading this to stay away. There are plenty of honest dealerships out there. This is not one of them.
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