This dealer sold my daughter her first car after - jmichaeldonovan
This dealer sold my daughter her first car after graduating from college, a 2024 Corolla Hybrid with 2000 miles on it, which we thought was a NEW car until late in the selling process. During the three-hour plus selling/financing marathon, a price was agreed upon, but somehow, what the salesman called a service fee of just under $500 was mysteriously added into the contract she was asked to sign. Eventually, my daughter was handed the keys at the 5:00 pm closing time, and the salesman sent her on her way without one word of instruction about how the vehicle or its electronic or other features worked.
My daughter wanted to put $5000 down but the dealer would not permit her to put more than $2500 down, I suspect because of some incentive by Toyota Finance to maximize face value of the loan. But the troubles had just begun. About two weeks after bringing the car home, we discovered a six-inch slash in the sidewall of the left front tire. I called the dealer to ask that it be replaced, and the sales manager said, "Sorry, it is IMPOSSIBLE that the tire was slashed before you left, and you've had the car for two weeks, there's nothing we can do for you". For the record, the slash was not that easy to see, but when I offered to email a photo of the tire to him, he said, "You can, but it won't make any difference".
What I object to was the dealer's gross unwillingness to LISTEN or even LOOK at the tire. At this point, I drove to the dealership, quite unhappy, asked to speak to the general manager (the daughter of the owner, I believe), but before I could bring my daughter's car in to SHOW her the tire, the general manager called to tell me that all she would be willing to do would be to "help me get a price" for a new tire that I would have to purchase.
Maybe you have to be a car salesman to think that cheating a young woman buying her first car is fair game.
In any case, this transaction falls within the Lemon Law statute in New Hampshire, and this is where it will end.
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