Defrauded by Mercedes-Benz of Danbury
My wife and I - mtadros
Defrauded by Mercedes-Benz of Danbury
My wife and I recently purchased a new car from Mercedes Benz of Danbury. We traded in a vehicle with about 80,000 miles on it. Our expectation, based on many previous trade-ins, was that we would receive the KBB median trade-in value since the car was in very good condition and it’s only real downside was the high milage. The salesman explained to us that, due to the high milage, the car could only be wholesaled and because of this they could only offer MMR price, which was about 15% less than KBB. The difference in price makes sense considering KBB is trade-in value assuming the trade-in can be sold at retail and MMR is auction and wholesale value because you are unable to sell the car at retail. Trusting that the salesman was telling the truth, that the car could not be sold at retail and could only be wholesaled, we accepted the 15% lower trade-in value. Today, my wife picks up her new car from the dealership after having some work done and to her surprise our trade-in is on the lot, and on their website, available for retail sale. I called the salesman to get an explanation and the conversation didn’t go well. After talking in circles and telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about and that they can do with the car whatever they want, I realized the conversation wasn’t going anywhere and asked for a manager to call me back which he promptly did. The manager, equally combative when presented with the facts, told me “then you shouldn’t have signed the contract”. Yes, it’s our fault for signing a contract based upon the assumption that salesman was telling us the truth. Shame on us. Negotiating a contract based upon misleading representations made by the dealership/salesman is textbook fraud. The combative reaction on the part of the salesman and manager tells me that they had no way of justifying their fraud. It’s seems clear to me that telling people that their trade-in is only worth so much because they can only wholesale it is just a negotiating tactic to drive down the price they are willing to pay for your trade-in. We tried to find an amicable resolution with both the salesman and the manager and were basically told to kick rocks so now we’re forced to report this unethical business practice to the CT DCP, the CT Attorney Generals Office and the BBB. I just wanted to share our experience so other consumers don’t get defrauded by Mercedes-Benz of Danbury like we did.
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