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On April 16th my fiancee and I walked onto the Evia lot looking for a minivan. We found a 2003 Windstar, and had the unfortunate bad luck of meeting Scott, the "Sales Manager."
While waiting for a test drive, I was asked by another salesman on the floor (Who I'll call Goatee) "So, do you plan on trading in anything?" I replied:
"I'm not interested in discussing financing until I get a firm offer on the car."
Goatee's response? "Whatever..."
Fast forward about an hour or so...I test drive the car, look under the hood and body, all seems well. It looks like a good prospect, but I need to leave for work. I leave my fiancee to negotiate the details of the purchase (my first mistake), and give her $2500.00 cash for the down payment(my second mistake.)
Evia prides itself on 100% Approval for all financing; so I felt confident that my fiancee would do alright. The asking price was $10, 999; I told her to negotiate between $7, 000-$8, 500. Scott opened the negotiation by stating that "he could go as low as $7, 499.00" Bingo! So, my fiancee tells him to go ahead and get her credit approved. He comes back with a financed amount of $5600 dollars, and a required down payment of $2500.00, so she hands over the cash (HUGE MISTAKE!)
He also tells her that a "2 Year 24, 000 mile warranty is REQUIRED by the bank" in order for the loan to be approved, to the tune of $1380.00 more. He quietly folds it into the loan payment, balloning it to $224 a month for 42 months.
I call from work to see what's going on, get the numbers to do the math, and see that somethings not right. Then she tells me about the Forced Warranty.
I flip, do some research on the Internet, and discover that this is an "unfair business practice" in the truest sense of the word. Basically, it's a total scam to let the car dealers pad their profits: you can buy your own private warranty for less that half the price of the Dealer's quote. AND...IT IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL!
We schedule a time to go back to the dealership to drop the (totally optional, but they'll never let you know that) warranty from the price, voice recorder hidden in our pocket, and see if they'll negotiate according to the quoted price of $7499.00. They wont. They whine and moan that they're not going to have enough to cover the cost of the van, etc. etc. while I'm thinking "If you wanted to make a profit so bad, why did you lowball the base price and try to pad it with a useless overpriced warranty? Could it be because a pretty young female was sitting across from you at the time?"
Long story short, I ask for my $2500.00 back. They claim that they can't pay it "because they don't have access to it..." Yeah, right. I ask them how they pay for cars at the Auction; then...Goatee whirls around in his chair and asks me:
"What's your ###IN' PROBLEM? You were an ### when you came in here a few days ago...are you always like this?"...As my voice recorder is rolling.
I inform him that I'm recording the conversation, and smugly watch as he ### his pants!
He claims it's "illegal" (It's not in New York, ) They tell us to leave, I say "not without my money", they call the Cops, we call the Cops, and they finally agree to "Send us a check on Tuesday." We'll see if it ever arrives.
Meanwhile, I've contacted all my TV News Bureaus, and two newspapers...and I'm lovin' it all.
Word to the wise: do a quick Google search for "Forced warranty scam" before you even consider walking onto a used car lot. Better yet, just get your own financing before you even consider letting the dealer "do you a favor."
These guys desperately need to be sued. Any takers out there?
are you serious i was going to get a suv from them before the winter hits ...thanks for the information that you posted...
We co borrowed a loan for my collage aged daughter.Within days she incurred major engine problems .The man you refer to as gottee man refused to look at car that was under warrenty.End result my daughter spent 3000. on car out of pocket before goatee man would do anything to save face.. on feb 4 th the car quit leaving my daughter stranded at the four way intersection in Glensfalls during rush hour traffic.car was towed to Evia.I as co borrower voiced concerns and was immdiatly attached by the sales manager who threatened to have me arrested if i didnt leave. I went out to my vehical to wait for my daughter at that point he told my daughter " your mother is a " fuc---- Bit-- " he then attempted to try and sell her another "real Lemon " for a high price . she still owes on this loan even though the car dosent run and has had major problems from day one .The manager often in past dealings in the past two years becomes defensive and uses abusive langauge as well as interprits there questionable warrenties to whatever suits them leaving car owners in a lurch .Be Aware !
Yes Big Lew, Thats the dirrection were headed, After writing this my daughter contacted the owner of evia through his facebook. he sent goatee guy a copy of the message . goatee guy called my daughter irate ! shouting i didnt call you mother a fing bi--- i called her a psycho ...My daughter said yes you called her an F_b and thank you for reminding me about calling her a psycho too ! He intructed her to come get her car before fu--ing noon or her would have her fu--- car fu---- towed to storage and she would pay 50 dollars a day ...she got a towe truck went before noon . As she got out of my car to give to towe truck driver the keys to her car Gottee man came out in a plow truck, plow down going closer and closer to my daughter . Yes i guess you can say im done with the game . I wont be intimadated bye anyone who uses bulling aproaches nor do i want other pepole to go throught the long very bad journey we have been through with Evia auto sales .To top matters off my daughter transports severly handicapped children in her vehical a young wheelchair bound boy was with her on one occassion that her car broke down . On febuary 4 th when we brought the car via flatbed and gottee man was swearing and getting dirrectly in my face my six year old autistic son was with me . Thanks gottee man .If my lil boy understands one thing in life now . its not all pepole are trustworthy or kind some pepole are down right scarey and rotten to the core !
I think filing harassment charges with a request for an Order of Protection against this "Goatee" might be a good next step; additionally I wonder if you might approach the Consumer Protection Board or the NYS AG with this information.
Contact me at throwaway email address: M8R-3xbwjb@mailinator.com, and we can speak further.
Last night I went over to an elderly friends house to help her figure out why she was having problems with balancing her checkbook. When I was looking at the check register I noticed that she was paying $79/month to American Auto Shield for "Basic Powertrain Coverage". I asked her why she was paying for breakdown coverage on her car and she said that someone had called her and told her that she needed it.
Well, I told her that her 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass, that has only 29, 888 miles on it, has a resale value of $477 and that no-one should be selling her coverage that will cost her $2, 015 over a two year period, she became upset. She realized that she had been taken advantage of by a smooth talking sales person (Joshua Hampton) and was thankful that I had looked at her checkbook.
Personally, I can't believe that her car, which she has put less than 30, 000 miles on in 18 years, will ever need to be repaired. She puts an average of 1667 miles/year on her car, and the 4 years of coverage that she was sold for $2, 015 will only cover her for about 6, 667 miles (given that she will not drive it more than she has in the past). The only driving she does is to the doctors office and back home. Since she purchased this policy on 10/5/2010 (3 months ago), she has put less than 200 miles on it.
I will be contacting American Auto Shield in the morning to see if they will give her all of her money back, or if I need to initiate a legal proceeding against them for cheating an elderly woman out of her money. I can't wait to take this to court and sue them not only for the money they stole from her, but also to sue them for damages.
I will keep you posted on the outcome of this travesty.
me and my wife are on ssd we were seeking a vehicle after my wife got her back pay from ssd we got a dodge caravan with no power steering racks which we were told we would have to wait a month to get it put in but first we had 2 wait a month before they would give us the van we would complain to them about the steering problems and we found out that there was no cap on the reservoir which we were rudely told to go to a junk yard for it wasn't their responsibility to hand out and has anyone else noticed the girl they have working there if a guys coming in she wheres tight clothing and trys flirting with the men to sell the cars me and my wife are currently filing a law suit and hopefully credit acceptance realizes they are dealing dirt bags oh yeah the van was worth 5000 in good condition evia sold it to us for 11000 so do the math on how much debt were in since the van broke down they refused to fix it so we told the bank to come get it
Hey...if you're looking for someone to join on the lawsuit, I'm the posted who spoke about the forced warranty...did they try to have you buy a warranty and say it was "required" by the bank too? If so, email me at nadachance@mailinator.com and we can speak further...perhaps this could become a Class Action suit. Please post your complaint on [redacted] as well, so that even more people learn about these guys and their unfair dealings.
Jay
My sister bought a blazer from here paid 6000 dollars bought the great warranty which was explained as advertised to cover absolutely everything ..Not ...The blazer begins making noises they tell her well if it isnt broke yet just malfunctioning and still working we dont fix it lol ...She is told well if the motor does go before a certain time we will fix it..She gets stranded for three hours on the interstate she tows on her dime .Contacts Evia they say well replace this that and the other thing on your own and if it isnt running then we will look at it you get it here and if it isnt the motor you pay all.. My brother inlaw kindly tells him this is not the warranty they were sold the guy says were not having this conversation and hangs up.. Stay away from this place investigation needs to be done here...
me and my wife are on ssd we were seeking a vehicle after my wife got her back pay from ssd we got a dodge caravan with no power steering racks which we were told we would have to wait a month to get it put in but first we had 2 wait a month before they would give us the van we would complain to them about the steering problems and we found out that there was no cap on the reservoir which we were rudely told to go to a junk yard for it wasn't their responsibility to hand out and has anyone else noticed the girl they have working there if a guys coming in she wheres tight clothing and trys flirting with the men to sell the cars me and my wife are currently filing a law suit and hopefully credit acceptance realizes they are dealing dirt bags oh yeah the van was worth 5000 in good condition evia sold it to us for 11000 so do the math on how much debt were in since the van broke down they refused to fix it so we told the bank to come get it