Ahmad Haidariya | Page 7

Intro I hadn’t bought a car in about a decade so I wanted to share what I wish I would have known better before purchasing this new car. This review is broken into 2 parts: 1. Stuff you should know a wanted to share what I wish I would have known better before purchasing this new car. This review is broken into 2 parts: 1. Stuff you should know about buying a car 2. Our review on Southpoint Honda Stuff you should know: 1. Extended Warranty- Most of these are not worth it. The majority of companies will require you to pay to take the car apart to find the issue- then many times they try to find reasons it is not covered. Southpoint Honda uses a company called Total Warranty Services TWS if you want to do more research. If your car is still in the manufactures warranty you can apply for Honda Care and extend that warranty- price varies from dealer to dealer Saccucci 2. GAP Insurance- Your car is a depreciating asset meaning it is worth less each year. Many times we end up owing more than the car is worth. Gap insurance means if you sell the car or get in an accident you will never have to cover that difference- I would get the GAP insurance. 3. Loan Structure and Percentage- A 5 year fixed loan is pretty standard. Shop around to find the lowest interest rates. You don’t have to have an account at a bank to get a car loan. 4. More Research- Carfax, Kelly Bluebook, and AutoTrader.com are great resources. Our Experience with Southpoint Honda: We were not able to negotiate the price down (said they were losing money on it) but they would throw in floor mats and see if they could get a second key fob (there was only one). We agreed to purchase the vehicle and then sat and waited for almost 5 hours to see the finance manager. We later found out that this is a common practice to “soften” up customers to help them agree to things like extended warranty. Quincy the Finance Manager Our finance experience was rushed, uncomfortable, and frankly dishonest. Here are the highlights: 1. We were asked to sign paperwork multiple times before reading contract or discussing terms 2. We wanted to use our bank loan provider but were told we could not because they were closed (after waiting 5 hours at the dealer). Come to find out they have a 24 hour line (which Quincy remembered later and we used for our down payment). Quincy tried to force us into 8% loan but eventually matched 6.5 rate of our bank. 3. Were told plates could not transferred because they weren’t physically present- (later told by DMV they don’t need to be). 4. Extra Key- Car only came with one key and was told that we could get insurance on the lost key and file it later for $1200- Eventually agreed to throw in an extra key for free (found out it actually cost $300). We still have not received it 5 months later. 5. Extended Warranty- We were told that the car only had a few weeks left of the manufactures warranty (later found out it had 8 months left). We were given a hard sell for 90 min repeatedly saying we did not want the warranty. We should have walked out. But I agreed to purchase a $5000 policy knowing I could cancel it later. I started the process of canceling our extended warranty. I would call and follow up with an email (to multiple people) about 8 times over the next 3 months and received ZERO response. I ended up having to go in person 3 separate occasions, waiting over an hour each time, to finally cancel the warranty. I had to go a 4th time in person to eventually cancel my GAP insurance as well when we refinanced our loan. SouthPoint charged $1000 for GAP but my new bank only charged $400. We actually have to buy another car for my wife and I think we would be hard pressed to try this dealer a second time after our experience. We will be looking at one of the larger more established dealers in town. Hope this review is helpful! More

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