BATE, LIES, AND INCOMPETENCE from sales manager JASON BARR at the Lennox SD location. (LEMON - White 2012 Prius V Five - VIN JTDZN3EU8C3031943). Read on to hear our experience.
BATE - We worked with a nice salesman who was lovely. He even sent us nice places to eat in the area since we were from out of town. We drove 5 hours from the twin cities to look at a car that was a great deal for the year and miles. We were assured it was in great condition and that the salesman could not find anything wrong with it. He even sweetly offered a small discount because I am a teacher. I was excited to buy my wife a nice car.
LIES - upon arriving, I immediately noticed countless small rust spots along the entire passenger side of the car that did not appear in the photos. Not only on the passenger side, but also on the front, inside the doors etc. The nice salesman was clearly new and incompetent, so went to get his manager Jason Barr. Jason then proceeded to downplay the situation and tell us "all cars in Minnesota are like that" (not true), "clay bar" solution could fix it (temporarily), and that even our car had rust (ours has 200k miles with two dots, not the same). Basically all around sleazy sales tactics. Luckily I have a friend who owns an auto body shop, called him, and he told me to run as far away as I could. The salesman was clearly lying, it was always going to be an issue and would get worse.
INCOMPETENCE - After we clearly said, "no", all the pressure and lying stopped and Jason was suddenly very apologetic and kind. We had put $2500 down on our credit card as a down payment to hold it until the weekend when we could drive down. Instead of refunding our money, he instead put an additional $2500 on our credit card! It took half a week to get all our money back while they maxed out our credit card. He clearly wanted to avoid this negative review so he offered us gift cards to a place that was closed and to another that was only good in Sioux Falls. Smooth.
LESSON - they might have a car you want to buy. Get it checked out by a mechanic and don't trust ANYTHING they say. Also, they probably found a way to hide all the rust on this car so they can sucker someone else into buying it. I hope you read this post before you do. read more