Village Pointe Toyota

Amazing salesman, but the fun ended there. For someone who once held a six-figure student loan debt and is still above the $80k mark, leveraging myself further by financing/buying a new car is For someone who once held a six-figure student loan debt and is still above the $80k mark, leveraging myself further by financing/buying a new car is kind of a big deal. It’s a slightly scary, nerve-wracking commitment that would have Dave Ramsey rolling over in his future grave. Forgive me Mr. Ramsey, I held out as long as I could, but I just couldn’t countenance the periodic costly repairs that accompany used vehicles. As a neophyte to new car purchases and dealership negotiations, I performed my due diligence and left no research stone unturned, hoping for the best come game time. What’s more, I had the great fortune of being referred to a salesman at Toyota that was a close friend of a respected colleague. As an alumnus of the Virginia Military Institute – with its stringent code of honor- I hold trust and integrity at a premium, especially in a situation like this. My affable and trustworthy salesman allayed long-standing fears stemming from horror stories of the stereotypical car salesperson. Highly allergic to duplicitous and manipulative people, I exhibited no symptoms with this fine lad. Enter the Senior Finance Manager (Mr. F&I) Many of you may know that once a purchase has been agreed upon and financing through the dealership is considered, customers are then handed off to the Finance and Insurance (F&I) Department. This can be one of the most stressful and frustrating experiences you will have at a dealership, so remember to “stand in your power” and refrain from acquiescing to anything you are not comfortable with. My hitherto positive experience took a nasty downward spiral not long after meeting Toyota’s F&I guy. With a friendly façade, Mr. F&I took me into his enclosed office and soon asked me if I would agree to video and audio surveillance of our discussions, pointing to a creepy Orwellian camera installed in the ceiling. I immediately reflected my desire to opt out of such invasive monitoring, to which he replied that if I did, we could not continue the process. He implied that the camera was basically there to protect both of us. I begrudgingly acquiesced. Integrity I informed Mr. F&I that I had an appointment afterwards and he assured me that we would be out of our meeting with enough time to spare. That was the first lie. Or maybe the second (I’m still not sure that had I opted out of surveillance, we would have had to stop the show). He handed me his business card which read “where respect and integrity come standard.” I later noticed Mr. F&I had a curious company domain name on his email address: “vtaig.com.” I later discovered this represented the Van Tuyl Group, a company apparently absorbed by Berkshire Hathaway, the parent company of this Toyota dealership, approximately two years prior. I highly recommend you research the reviews of the Van Tuyl Group on Glassdoor.com or Indeed.com. You will find many noteworthy comments about this company’s culture purportedly from the Group’s current and former employees. Respecting boundaries With no introduction to the next topic, Mr. F&I dove into colorful brochures and dazzled me with what I soon learned were extended warranty offers that I had no interest in. I immediately expressed to him that I was not interested and that I would like to move on. Nevertheless, he persisted. With my scheduled appointment in mind, I continued to tell him “NO” a few more times in the clearest language I could muster. Brushing off my rebuff, he insisted that he was “obligated” by the company to present me with extended warranty options and continued. Ok fine, but does that mean you’re obligated to persist beyond the comfort of the customer’s boundaries? The word “respect” was emblazoned on your name card for Pete’s sake! Hopped up on indignation, I finally stood up, faced the eye of Big Brother (i.e., the camera), and proclaimed “No means no!” a couple of times. At that point, Mr. F&I dialed back his quixotic but aggressive sales pitch and we turned to the issue of financing. Before we dove into the financing option, I asked Mr. F&I about a series of documents I had previously signed with the salesman (the salesman had previously told me that Mr. F&I had the documents and could make copies). Ok, great, except that Mr. F&I not only claimed he did not possess said documents, but that the salesman could make copies later (Unbeknownst to me at the time, the documents all the while were in a folder next to Mr. F&I). Mr. F&I then proceeded to downplay the importance of the documents I had previously signed with sales, stating that they didn’t hold as much legal and binding weight as the final documents I was about to sign with him. I’m sorry, but when you have a customer who wishes to retain copies of everything they sign, no matter the perceived or real level of importance, you never, ever gaslight the customer by dismissing the documents’ relevance. Looking at my watch, I noticed I had missed my appointment. Initially, I was interested in the zero percent financing option offered by Toyota, but my motivation for this soon soured due to the treatment I was receiving. Coincidentally, the credit rating agency Mr. F&I used (Equifax) could not confirm my identity despite entering the correct social security number and date of birth. As a result, Mr. F& I asked me to later submit my social security card via scanned email photo or fax. Mon dieu! At this point, I stated that I would not sign any more documents to complete the deal unless my identity could be confirmed and that I was not comfortable sending my social security card via fax/email to him. To my surprise, this statement somehow motivated Mr. F&I to suddenly reach for the folder next to him containing my signed documents. He stood up and explained that he would make copies for me. Lie number two, or three, was exposed. I had not yet secured full insurance for a vehicle and was thus unable to drive home with the new car that night. Mr. F&I tabled the meeting and I returned home in my old vehicle. Although it was my choice, I did not relish taking off work again which would cost me an additional $400-500 in lost income (there are no weekends or “evenings” in my current employment). I felt as though I was through the looking glass, suddenly immersed in a culture of broken integrity. Rattled, I felt physically ill and my trapezius muscles burned for hours from the stress. I slept poorly that night and would not eat for 24 hours until this ordeal concluded the following day. In the end, I chose not to finance through Toyota but through a credit union I belonged to since 1984. Despite the interest rate, the credit union could offer me something that Mr. F&I could not: Integrity and Respect. Integrity is one of the few things we get to take with us upon “checking out” of this interesting world. I was very close to walking away from this opportunity and from car dealerships in general. It is unfortunate that I was unable to avoid the finance department and finalize the deal solely through the salesman. However, I reminded myself not to attach this negative experience to a vehicle I will enjoy long after memories of that day fade into obscurity. Hopefully this review and admonishment will help steel you, dear reader in preparation to meet with finance departments whatever they be. It’s important that as consumers, we learn to empower ourselves from undue manipulation that contravenes our best interests. More