Novak Motors NY | Page 86

Its changed Novak Motors, still a hidden gem but…. Things have changed. My first time buying a car at Novak was an unexpected pleasure. Found them online claim Novak Motors, still a hidden gem but…. Things have changed. My first time buying a car at Novak was an unexpected pleasure. Found them online claiming a no-hassle pricing policy. Hmmm… So, I went in and met with a sales associate named Laura. Told her I was looking for a Santa Fe. She said ‘we have eight of them. Go look at them and if interested in one let me know’. I found one I liked and we sat down with the car fax. I asked what they could do on the price and she said ‘nothing, that’s the price’. Well, I had already done my homework. Their cars seemed to be priced all at the lower end of the Kelley Blue Book range. Fair enough I thought. I asked if I could have my mechanic look at the car and she said ‘sure and if you find anything wrong, since the car was still under warranty, it would be taken to the dealer and fixed prior to the purchase’. With that said and done I came in to buy the car a few days later. Ok, here comes Amy the finance person. I’m ready for all the usual stuff that you deal with at the dealership. But no, just a little paperwork and Amy had me out the door in about 30 minutes. Wow, I know where I’m going to buy my next car. So now let’s jump ahead about 5 years. Is Novak still a place to buy your car? Yes, but there are changes. Namely a man named Mike who is the sales manager. Now when I talked to a sales person they have to go to Mike. Then Mike comes to me. He’s a big guy and he’s playing that sales manager role we have all seen at dealerships. I asked him if he could do better on the price testing the waters. ‘I can come down $500’ he told me (so much for no haggle). Now I’ve already done my homework and Mike is being deceiving. The prices online were $500 lower than the sticker on the car. When I asked him about that he said ‘that they haven’t updated the stickers yet’. That was another lie. I had been in the showroom on and off for over a week and been looking at their website regularly. He also negotiated several times on what they would give me for my trade in. Telling me he was going to lose money when he sells it at auction. At the price he paid me he probably will. I’m sure in his mind he can offset the loss to corporate by claiming his sales numbers. I hope corporate isn’t that blind to his games. Now jumping ahead, I decided to buy the car and gave a deposit three days prior to month-end. Afterwards, Mike says to me that we need to close the deal by Saturday (last day of the month). I said ‘no problem assuming my credit union processes my loan, if not we can do it Monday’. With that he gave me attitude. I said Mike ‘I’ll do my best but either way I have given you a deposit and we have a signed binder’. His reply was ‘I don’t have to honor it and can pull out of the deal’. My response was ‘really Mike? What kind of dealership high pressure garbage you pulling here?’ So here are the main changes at Novak: Mike Mike Mike Seems whoever brought in Mike has made a mistake. Whether Mike sold them a bunch of crap about himself or it was a corporate decision, I don’t know. Mike has a past history of working at car dealership such as Ford from what he told me and has brought that atmosphere into Novak. He has changed my whole experience at Novak. Simply put, he’s a bully and likes to throw his obvious weight around. He walks and talks the bull that we’ve all have experienced at car dealerships when the salesman tells you the sales manager wants to say hi. You know the part that makes you want to walk out the door. I assume since he’s running the show there the following changes are his doing: Prices of the cars are now about $1000 higher within the Kelley Blue Book range. Obviously, giving Mike room to drop the prices which clearly violates their no haggle policy. He purposely prices the stickers higher than the website and then claims he hasn’t updated his floor stock yet. Bottom line, would I go back to Novak again? Yes, I would. They are owned by Fusion Leasing Company. The cars Novak sells are clean, single-owner lease returns. Out of hundreds of lease returns, Fusion gets to selectively choose which ones to sell thru Novak. They usually have new tires and brakes put on them and they are still under the manufacturer’s warranty. As far as pricing, they are still within KBB but as I said because of Mike they are higher and you have to negotiate some. One of the main reasons I would still choose Novak for my next car is because of the finance staff of Amy and Frank. When I came in to close the deal, Mike was out of the picture and I was in and out in 30 minutes without a problem. I was offered a reasonably priced extended warranty which in this case I did purchase but there was no hard sell like at a dealership. I hope Novak’s corporate office wakes up and gets rid of the dead weight that’s bringing them down, Mike. More