Grieco Toyota responded to my KBB inquiry for trading a - MikeDB52
Grieco Toyota responded to my KBB inquiry for trading a new car. They promised 20 percent above KBB.
I got the true KBB on my 2012 Prius V. Condition was represented accurately as was mileage. Car quote came back as what a dealer would pay. Car recently underwent a RI state inspection yesterday and passed. The KBB value came back as $6,502.
I also had been negotiating on a 2026 RAV 4 XLE Hybrid with another dealership. Even though the car is in demand, I got a quote from another dealer for $2,000 off MSRP. Unfortunately, they did not have the color I wanted. An online search, though showed that Grieco did.
Based on that, as we as information from several emails and texts from Grieco stating that they would bear KBB, I decided to take a ride over to your East Providence dealership. I figured this could be a scam but decided to drive over there anyway.
At first, they gushed over the trade. Appraiser loved it. They even agreed to the $2,000 off MSRP on the new Toyota. When the quote came, however, they only wanted to give me $3,500 for my trade. They tried to pay it off on a scratch on the bumper (which was identified in the provided KBB info, and started nitpicking common things that would be present in a 15 year old car. This was the prep for the bad news to come. Now I figured the 20 percent above KBB was a gimmick but I never figured they would deliberately undervalue my vehicle. I mean, if they didn’t want it in the first place, why not tell me so?
I then told the salesman I was taking my car to Grieco Honda in Johnston as they also expressed interest in it. Grieco Honda appraised it and agreed to purchase it outright for KKB value of $6,500. They also gushed over how well taken care of the vehicle was. Impressed by their honesty, I told them I was going back to Grieco to purchase the car because they had it in my desired color and I would then bring Grieco Honda the title to my Prius as they asked me to get it to them today. That never happened and here is why:
Grieco Toyota tried to disguise the fact that they were giving me a $2,000 discount on my vehicle but then devalued the trade, a common scam in the automobile world. On top of that, the total discount would only amount to $5,500, a far cry from KBB of 6,500. How do I know this? Because they refused to sell me the vehicle at the agreed upon price but without the trade. (Nowhere in my printed quote does it say that the price was dependent on the trade.) I then had to call Grieco Honda to inform them that Grieco Toyota reneged on the price so we could not conclude the transaction.
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