Centereach Hyundai

We went to this dealership two days in a row. The first day we had a small $5000 budget. There wasn't a lot in our price range even though there was a big flag on the side of the road that said $4995!!! Jo day we had a small $5000 budget. There wasn't a lot in our price range even though there was a big flag on the side of the road that said $4995!!! John and Ray were helpful and kind but consistently showed us cars in the $7000-8000 range. To be fair, these were the cars we were more interested in, but when asking about cars in our range, as advertised by their own signage, there was nothing to see. We got into a conversation about my husbands health issues, the reason we were buying the car, and both John and Ray were cancer survivors and seemed really caring and sympathetic. They talked about helping us out and getting us into a good car. They wanted to help us out and even said "sometimes it's not about selling a car, but helping people out when they need it." That all sounded great...we agreed to come back the next day and left feeling good. The next day was a totally different story. We came in with a much bigger budget, almost 4x the initial budget, in fact. You would think that would make them happy. Once we told them we would be financing through our own credit union and it became clear to them that we were not idiots and we couldn't be baited and switched, they pretty much checked out. They still seemed nice, but could barely pay attention to us at all. They tried several times to get us to try financing through them and we said it wasn't going to happen and they lost interest in us. They swapped back and forth, having us talk to both of them at different times. Every time we had a significant question they passed us off to the other and made us wait, until they came back and side tracked us with something else. We asked for prices on 3 different car numerous times and not once could we get a hard number from them. They just kept going "hmmmm, let me check on that for you" and "I think it's about...when we go inside I'll let you know." They would go away for a while and come back saying the car was "about" this much or that much. No hard figures. At one time we were waiting for a price on one car and we waited for a long while and for the life of me, I can't remember getting a price when he came back. It was the same when I asked about extended warranties. John kept saying it's "about" $1800 and he'd have to double check and added "I'm usually dead on about these things". Yet he ever got up to check. I don't care about usually or abouts when buying a car. I want a solid, unwavering number. We simply could not get one. John also kept talking about all these things he was going to do for us for free as a "gift"... Like certifying the used vehicle. Every other dealership we went to the cars on the lot were already certified and not once was there any talk about us having to pay for that. I can't remember the specific thing he said but he also mentioned throwing in some sort of service that should have been standard. We ended up going with a Toyota and all these add ons that John had mentioned giving us for free were just standard with the Toyota and not once were they even brought up as a fee we would normally pay or as if we were getting something for free. Lastly, Ray took my husband for a test drive and my husband said the car had a very noticeable vibration that was not normal. Ray mentioned the vibration at first, saying it was because the car had been sitting for a while, which makes no sense to me. Why was it sitting? If there was a vibration as a result, why wasn't it fixed? I owned an Elantra (the same car we wee teating) and it never once had a weird vibration, even after sitting for half a year when I was out of the country. He then kept telling my husband that the car drove great, which it didn't. When the test drive was over he told my husband to go talk to John and John didn't even look up from his computer to talk to him about it. We left saying no way would we buy a car from them. I'm not sure what happened from one day to the next but it was like we were dealing with totally different people. I am not sure why we went to Hyundai. I went to this same dealership to buy the Elantra I owned in 2001 and never had great experiences with them. It was never bad but not great. I lived all over the country though, and every other Hyundai dealership I went to was worse. I was lied to, cheated out of money, never given an extended warranty I paid for, paid for repairs that never got done, expensive repairs, that the next dealership would say was never done....over and over again. I know this is about a specific dealer, but my belief is that Hyundai in general has shady business practices and either encourages their dealers to behave this way or just doesn't care as long as they are making money. Do not go to this dealership. It's not worth it, even if you are looking for a budget car. Got better offers and real help getting a car in my budget at both Honda and Toyota dealerships, which are much more solid cars. The hyundais I looked at were in the same ballpark price wise. Maybe even more since I couldn't get a real number. I already own a Honda from Nardy Honda and they worked with me 3 years ago to get a car in my budget and they tried again this time too. We ended up buying this time from competition Toyota in middle island and they also pulled out all the stops to get us a car in our budget. In the end the car we got is a much higher value and more solid car than any used Hyundai they could have shown us. My point is, don't just go to Hyundai and skip places like Honda or Toyota because you are on a budget. Hyundai will try to max your budget out to get you in one of their cars, while Honda or Toyota will try to find you a car in your budget that is a good value that you can feel good about walking out the door. In the end you spend similar amounts. By the way, we bought a 2010 Prius with a clean carfax, fully loaded and in mint condition for only $772 more than the 2009 Elantra they showed us, which had rips in the back seat and that weird vibration. The gas savings alone make up for that difference in less than a year. Toyota knocked $1000 off the listed price and anouther $1200 off the extended warranty. Hyundai could barely tell me what the car cost and only talked about giving me things for free that should already be free. toyota also did not hassle us once about using out own bank. Don't assume you can't get a good car on a budget. More