Although car dealers have a reputation of being a bit shady, Insiders Auto gave me one of the worst pre-buying experiences I've had for any product I can think of. During a call I made to inquire about the status and buying options for a vehicle that I found online, I was forwarded to communicate with two individuals for pre-approval including a credit check and clarification of what my monthly payment would be. After the basic credit check and I was pre-approved, they set an appointment with me to come up the next day from DC which was about a 45 min drive with no traffic, and up to 2 hours or more with rush hour traffic. I clearly expressed that I wanted to have all details clarified over the phone first before I drove all the way from DC to Insider Auto, so that I wouldn't be wasting my time or have to make an additional unnecessary trip, and if I liked the car after the test drive I would purchase it that day.
The first major issue I have with these guys is that after I asked what my credit was (because I wasn't 100 percent sure), I was told "around 685", which surprised me, because I was expecting higher. Once off the phone I checked my score with my credit monitoring service and all three bureaus showed my score over 730. I called back and asked for clarification of the lower score and was told that they pull from different types of credit for auto, which is something that I never heard before. So I got the feeling that I was being lied to.
The second issue that bothered me is when I texted them and called them requesting firm clarification on whether or not they thought that a deal could be worked out around a particular monthly amount that was in my budget, they never got back to me, although I had the appointment set with them for the next day (with potentially over an hour of driving each way). When they didn't get back to me, luckily I was smart enough to figure that they were blowing me off and I decided not to make the appointment the next day. However, I called the next day around the time of the appointment, and one of the guys said "oh.,. I was just about to call you sir, we just sold the car, the person just drove it off the lot...". Now imagine how pissed I would have been if I drove all the way from DC to hear that in person... right? And if these guys can be that disrespectful and inconsiderate prior to a purchase, imagine what assholes they could be after you spend your money?
I wouldn't waste my time with them and risk the potential frustration. read more