Gateway Classic Cars of Tampa — Local services in Riverview

I was very unhappy with the way the whole situation was handled. One of the reps out of Orlando called and told me that for $295 they would to try to sell my car. I could bring it to one of their showrooms, they would take pictures, etc. So I asked, what their commission was, to which he said, "You give us YOUR bottom line, we try to sell it for more and take whatever the difference is." I confirmed with him over the phone SEVERAL times that this was correct, to which he assured me EVERY time that this was how it worked. After a few days, I arranged for a ride (~ 40 min each way) to drop off my vehicle. After the guy looked at the car and worked everything up, I go to sign the contract only to find that their commission is a minimum of 12%. I call my wife, who at that time was 6 months pregnant and really not wanting to deal with it, and having already arranged for my ride, I reluctantly signed the 90 day contract. In addition to the my bottom line, the salesman tacked on another 12% and then proceeded to add a couple more thousand to that number to give them "some room to work with". At this point I recognize that the car is grossly overpriced, and I mention it to the saleman who dismisses it basically saying we can make adjustments down the road if we need to. So I asked him what their general policy is if there is no or not enough activity on the car. He said they would call me in a couple weeks if there was no activity and we would go from there.

Needless to say, about 4 weeks go by and I never received a phone call. I call them for an update and after talking with the manager, he informed me that there had been no activity on the car. I asked him why I was never contacted, to which he apologizes. Then he proceeded to tell me (after a cursory internet search), that the car is "way overpriced". My response was, "I told you this a month ago, you guys were supposed to call me after 2 weeks if there was no activity. Now, a month later, I'm calling you and you're telling me there's no activity on my car because it's overpriced?" At this point, I drop my bottom line $3k, and with their 12% it was still overpriced. I ask the manager to call me once a week with an update, to which he agrees.

Two weeks go by, still no phone call. I called several times and spoke to him or his staff, asking for an update. Of course he was too busy to talk at the time and was promised a call back, which I never received. Approximately another week goes by before I finally call and catch him free. I asked him for an update, to which he responded, "there is no update". I said, "what do you mean there is no update?" To which he replies that there's been no activity on the car, so there is no update. At this point I started to get upset, I told him that I asked to call me every week to let me know what's going on, reminded him that he agreed to this and that I never received a call. I explained to him that "no activity" on the car IS an update for me and that I'm ready to get the car sold (they've had the car for almost 2 months at this point with no activity whatsoever). I asked him to update me TWICE a week from this point on, to which he agreed and I lowered my bottom line even more.

Of course, 2 more weeks go by and no phone call was ever made to me. I call Gateway Classic Cars to lower my price, now I'm $8k under my bottom line on a used car (just to make it competitive). I'm literally 2k above trade in value. I was extremely frustrated with them at this point, my wife was getting closer to her due date and we were originally selling the car in order to have room for the baby. I call the manager to see if I could get the car back a week early (because they originally extended the contract past 90 days to December 1, even though the contract originated on August 18). Apparently they were doing me a "favor" when I signed. But being so frustrated with how things were handled, and my wife nearly approaching her due date, I wanted to get the car after 90 days (to trade in), but they were unwilling to let it go even...

Recently purchased a 2007 Corvette from the Tampa showroom. Spoke to Jeff ,John and Dustin and was assured the car was in good working order. Went for a test drive and was only allowed to drive it up and down the parking lot. Then had it brought to Stingray Chevrolet who said it needed new rotors and pads. When we asked Dustin and Jeff what was going to be done about this they said nothing and that they worked fine and the car just needs to be driven because it was sitting. So we drove it back home 19 hours and brought it to get the inspection and come to find out that all the brakes need to be replaced, the radiator was ready to fall off, it needed two new front tires due to the alignment being off and to top it off the horn and heated seats do not work. When Dustin called me to check about getting updated paperwork that they messed up on I explained to him all of the issues and repairs that I have to get done to the car and he responded that he didn't like the sound of that and he would speak with his manager. I then called and emailed three times asking if he heard back about getting some sort of reimbursement and received no response other than he didn't get my emails and didn't have an answer yet. The final call- while waiting to speak to Dustin they first hung up and we had to call back. Dustin said that there was nothing they could do and that he and his manager know the car was in good working condition. Then to go back on what he said saying they don't check on the cars they just go off of what the sellers tell them and they are not responsible. They advertise on their hold music that they " know their cars inside and out" and when we questioned this they said they don't advertise that then he said he didn't know but that they don't, they just go off seller info. Confusion sets in as you start to wonder don't you care about your reputation at all? We then asked to speak to a manager and Dustin said there is no manager at the store and we could only email a gentleman named Brad but Brad conveniently does not have a phone number or last name. In addition to all this they wrote the wrong Vehicle Purchase agreement three times and we have not gotten the Title for...

On July 12th, 2018, purchased a 1986 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM convertible with just less than 13,000 miles. Buying at Gateway I thought I could trust their cars to be free of issues, and I was so wrong. The TA showed the mileage but first found out the air did not work when drove it. The staff had a hard time with opening up the hatch, where the top fits when down and to button the snaps when the top was up. When got it back to Englewood, I put down card board on garage floor, as it has a special paint on on the floor, and started seeing small drips from the left rear tire and small drops of oil up front under the engine. Had finally was able to make a appointment locally to have the air changed over to R134. I also made an appointment for the leaks and found out left rear caleber was leaking and so was the power steering pump. The garage showed me the power steering pump that was leaking and one of the bolts cross threaded, sticking out about an inch. Also, car was severly out of alignment, left front and when the Power Steering pump was pulled, it had dents in it and we started looking closer and appears this car had been in an accident and fixed, seen on drivers door, front fender. Also, there is over spray at bottom of front left fender. I even did a Auto check report that showed no accidents. Right now, this car has costs me another 1100-1200 dollars. If all Gate way Classic auto dealers are just selling classic cars based on a owners input, then I will never buy a classic car from them again. So from me to potential...