Buyer beware. - nessamarie
Buyer beware. As you can see from all the one star reviews. I rarely leave negative reviews, but I feel compelled to share my experience with West Coast Auto in Montclair, California.
I visited the dealership after seeing a vehicle advertised online and arrived with a pre-approval from one of the dealership’s preferred lenders. However, after the finance manager ran my credit, I was quoted an interest rate significantly higher than the rate from my pre-approval. In addition, all three credit bureaus were pulled, which I did not feel was necessary given that I already had financing in place and have excellent credit.
When I informed the dealership that I already had a pre-approval through one of their lenders, I was told they could not honor the rate because they “knew” the lender would ultimately return with a higher rate. That explanation did not make sense to me and immediately raised concerns about the transparency of the financing process.
After leaving the dealership, I contacted the lender directly and was informed that no application had ever been submitted on my behalf by West Coast Auto.
I then emailed the finance manager requesting copies of my credit application, clarification regarding how the quoted interest rate was determined, and confirmation of whether any financing applications had actually been submitted. I received no response. When I later called to follow up regarding the email and documentation request, I was unexpectedly hung up on by Christopher Amato (finance manager), which I found extremely rude and unprofessional.
After researching additional customer feedback online, I noticed similar complaints involving pricing discrepancies, unexpected add-on fees, misleading financing practices, and poor customer service. I also noted that the dealership is not BBB-accredited.
As a result of my experience, I have retained my emails and screenshots and will be submitting formal complaints to the Business Consumer Alliance (BCA), the California Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding what I believe to be discriminatory and deceptive financing practices and unfair business conduct.
I encourage anyone considering doing business with this dealership to carefully review all financing terms, verify lender submissions independently, and monitor their credit reports closely.
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