I went to Don Davis Ford Lincoln to purchase a CPO (certified preowned) vehicle. The sales department was a positive experience, but the Finance Department was where the s*** hit the fan. I came into the dealership already approved for a car loan by a major bank. I already had a solid relationship with this bank and I also verified this bank does business with Don Davis. I applied the night before and by the morning of this purchase, I was approved and funds were set to send to the Don Davis dealership.
I get to the Finance Department and I let them know that I've already been approved by another bank and here are their instructions on how to pull up my application. The finance dude I was working with, Tony Pichardo, confirmed that this bank is one of their major lien holders (which means they do a lot of business with this bank). I was told to sit tight while Tony pecked away at his computer and left me a few times to consult with others. He came back to his desk, pulled out an application form with the header "Ford Credit" on type and proceeded to highlight several fields on the application he expected me to fill out. I waited till he was done and ask, "What's this for? I told you I've already applied and have been approved by my bank. You've confirmed you work with this bank. Why do I need to fill out an application for Ford credit?" Tony told me this is so they could find my application in their system. I knew this was complete BS (BS Point #1) but I had been at the dealership for hours at this point and wanted to go home. I went along with their scheme.
Tony left again and then I got pulled into someone else's office. It appeared this guy was either Tony's manager or a more seasoned loan officer. He told me that my application with my bank the he just inputted was still pending (BS Point #2: I had verifiable proof I was already approved before I stepped foot on their dealership lot. I even called the bank's auto loan department to verify if any of this activity by the dealership seemed normal and they told me no, this is not normal.) This guy attempted to sell me on using one of their lenders. He first told me my credit was great and I should use Ford Credit. I would qualify for their top tier rate. I told him thanks, but no thanks. I have a great relationship with my bank and even though my bank's rate is higher than Ford's, I would not have the loan for long. He then pushed and said there's another lender he's 98% sure he could get me approved for. This lender offers an even lower rate than Ford (BS point #3: Then why didn't you offer me this low-rate lender to start before you attempted to sell me on Ford's Credit?). I politely declined restating my reason earlier again. He says, "Well since your application with your bank is still pending, why don't we see what we you get from this other lender I have in mind?" For the third time, I decline and told them I'd wait for my bank's response.
General paperwork continues and at one point, I'm asked to sign a paper and initial 1-2 blank lines that talk about dealer incentives. I asked for more details and why I'm initialing two lines that are blank which allows you to fill them in later. He says it's for my SiriumXM subscription. I told him, that's not all this form says and if so, could you write that in before I initial a blank line? He said something that I forgot now but I told him I wasn't going to sign that document to which he replied, that's ok, and moved to the next set of documents (BS Point #4: WTF).
Yay, I was finally free to leave with the vehicle. Until the next bomb that happened the following day...
Something was different between the application that I filled out online with my bank and the application the dealership unnecessarily entered into the system. The dealership's finance guy, Tony, sends me a text message saying my bank needed some additional documentation to verify my address. I responded saying, ok, have my bank reach out to me. Tony insisted I send him the information. I told him I have several personal accounts, a personal credit card, two business accounts and a business credit card with this bank. They know how to reach me. We went back and forth in text for a bit until I received a phone call. I told them the same thing, please have my bank call me. I also told them that i don't trust their department. I got a credit alert that says that Don Davis pulled my credit which I did not authorize them to do. But because of that plus the questionable paperwork they were trying to get me to sign, I don't want to send you any additional information on me. Then they threatened to classify the loan as unfunded and to report the car as stolen. I immediately terminated the call and said I need to reach out to my lawyer now.
I eventually called my bank and they straightened everything out. I didn't have to submit any additional paperwork, as I had suspected. All threats were dropped by the dealer, but they were very unprofessional. read more