Extremely unprofessional; Refused to honor deal;
My Dad and I came here on the Friday before labor day to see a Hyundai Sante Fe that was listed on KSL for ~$9,775. We found a Santa Fe in the lot and were checking if we had found the right car when a man wearing ratty shorts and a threadbare shirt who started asking us questions about the car we were looking at. He was particularly interested in what the price was (We said we saw it online at around $9.7k). I thought we were talking to another curious customer. It was only when he got the keys that I realized we were talking to a salesman.
He gave us space, which I appreciated. We were learned the car at been at the lot for 3 weeks, even though the KSL listing was only a few hours old.
We test drove the car and liked it. However we were slightly concerned that the clock in the car was wrong (battery unplugged to clear check engine?) and the car had been fitted to tow big loads it wasn't rated for. We sat down in the folding chairs at the sales desk and talked price. He gave the final price, including taxes and fees, as just under $11k. I asked if he could get the final price down under $10k. The salesman called the owner, told him he was at the computer getting the final price, and explained the deal. I could hear the owner say something like "can you get them to do $10500 out the door?"
I agreed to the final price, but needed to talk to my bank and that I wanted to have an independent mechanic check out the car. I learned the salesman was named Kirk when I asked for his number.
We called the Kirk from the bank and he said he could take $9500 cash and put $1000 on a credit card. We said we would be back for it tomorrow.
Saturday my parents and I returned for the car. My Mom and I test drove the car down to the bank to withdraw $9500 while Dad stayed behind and try to find a mechanic. Kirk knew we were getting the money. Dad couldn't find a mechanic to see us that day, so Kirk offered to hold the car if we put down a cash deposit. My parents chatted with Kirk as I went to call a few other mechanics. I was deadset on buying the car that day but I will not buy a used car until it's been checked out. I thought everything would be fine.
I wanted to do the inspection and purchase that day, but agreed to put down the deposit when I couldn't work it out.
Kirk wouldn't take the deposit without the owner there. We went to lunch while we waited. On our way back when we got a call from Kirk saying that the out-the-door price that we had agreed upon was "a mistake" and that the LIST price for the vehicle was now $10,500 - not the $9.7k that it was actually listed at. This was nonsense since we had already negotiated and watched Kirk calculate taxes/fees and call the owner.
My dad called back to talk to the owner. He said the owner claimed that he would "lose $1000" if he sold the car to us at our agreed price (which was only a $400 discount under list price).
The insulting owner claimed we weren't serious about buying the car even though we were there CASH IN HAND.
The owner, also offensively said that, serious buyers put down the deposit before leaving... even though weren't allowed to.
But the owner was MOST concerned that we wanted a mechanic to inspect the Santa Fe - he wouldn't let it go. This is ABSURDLY SUSPICIOUS.
I truly think they are hiding a problem with the car. The bogus price issue felt like a lie to make the deal fall through and prevent a fair inspection. They said the car had already passed inspections, but I am suspicious that those test were probably fraudulent - otherwise why was he so upset?
The car is now listed $10,495. This is ~$750 higher than the original price... which is less than the $1,000 the owner claimed he would lose if he honored our deal. I think that price was bait and will go back down when the double-dealing owner realizes that my literal pile of cash and I will never be returning to his tiny, dirty lot of...
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