I Paid Too Much For My 2024 Toyota RAV4 Because the Dealer Stung Me By Issuing a Verbally Undisclosed Credit Card For an Extra $1,500 Down Payment

Never had a problem with any of my several new car purchases at our local Toyota dealership in Welland, Ontario, Canada. Also a great experience buying at our local St. Catharines Hyundai dealership six weeks ago! The five grand government incentives ran out the day we went in to make the deal and the dealership was very apologetic about getting a letter that very morning regarding the Federal PHEV and EV credits were no longer available. The dealership gave us an extra two grand off the price to try and sweeten the deal and increased our trade in by seven hundred. We reluctantly signed on the dotted line licking our wounds. The next day we went back to discuss buying snow tires and rims (which were the best deal around so we bought them) and they told us Hyundai had decided to honor the five grand incentive till the end of the month so the redid our paperwork with a five grand reduction in price and still kept the two grand discount as well! More than fair!
I can't stand dealers that resort to tricks and adding premiums onto harder to get models! I and have simply walked away (Nissan dealer) and bought elsewhere from an honest dealership.

The same thing happened to me when we purchased a new Camry, except I did attempt to read everything before signing. I received a credit card with $5000 already charged to it by the dealership. The agreement was to pay the dealership $5000 in 6 months. Instead, I had to make huge monthly payments to the card. I realized there was nothing I could do, as I’m sure the agreement was tucked into all those papers somewhere!

Do you really think a WORKING MAN have time or the money to follow up on all this ? Since when the federal agencies keep following your complaints ? First answer was after 3months and no help since was assigned to someone with no experience. Also does attorney will help you ? Why ? Dealer pays more to close the case. Not worth the time and frustration. Switch the loan pay it fast and never ever stop by or talk about that dealership again

I have purchased multiple new vehicles, every dealer does this , aleast every dealer , that have purchased from, their job

Yea I got screwed by a car dealer, a Toyota dealer at that, but willingly went all in anyway . The Salesman swore to me my finance was going to be a 0% APR loan and after 4 hours of negotiating I was ready to sign. While looking over the contract I noticed I had a 1.9% APR. At this point of the process you have been done with the salesman and you are at the "money" guy's desk. You know him, his sole existence is to try and upsell whatever on the car. Trim, electronics, bells, whistles, and etc. before finalizing the contract. To he is who I complained to about the APR issue. While telling him what the salesman promised and what wasn't being delivered on the loan interest rate, the money guy attempted to reach out to the salesman for clarity. Conveniently the salesman couldn't be found, he had left the premises already 🙄, so communication with him had become shoddy even for the dealer, at that point. I threatened to call the whole deal off so they panicked and tried appeasing with 4 years of free oil changes. After 4 hours of negotiations , the shenanigans they pulled and what they used to appease, I decided to pull the trigger and sign anyway. I was tired and the free oil changes gave back something for the APR ruse. Plus, I needed the wheels pretty desperately, my old clunker was on its' last clunk. Now im not suggesting all to do this but, I've always gone to buy my cars at dealers, and I've always deliberated for hours, and I've found you gain the leverage of the deal once you've spent all of that time of theirs' and then threaten to walk, they become more appeasing especially if you catch them red handed on neferious behavior. Furthermore, hours of negotiating gives the buyer more incentive to look over that contract because, hey that was your time spent too. Hope this helps. Car salesman can be so unprincipled at times. Like Mr. Diaz's experience in this article, their selling tactics maybe car buying PTSD inducing. Thanks neighbor 🙄.

I brought a 2024 toyota camry and ended up the loan is upside-down. But I did not trade in a vehicle I made a down payment. I don't understand why it's upside-down.

Never trust a car dealer salesman, they are known for always screwing you over I think they would screw over their own mother.

I had the same thing happen to me. Salesman rushed me thru it,I got stuck with almost 700 payment. But I trusted him,never do that again. I will make them show on paper,instead of a computer. I had been a coustomer at the dealership for almost 20 yrs,but they don't care. It's all about a sale.

You can go ahead and report this to one of the agencies that no longer exist. The consumer protection agencies no longer exist and companies will be able to do whatever they want to with no oversight or repercussion. Just as an example, keep in mind that the $5 maximum overdraft fee that Biden signed in was removed by Trump meaning banks can go back to charging whatever they want to charge for overdraft fees. Good luck. #FAFO

Very disappointing to hear about your experience. I expect more from trusted companies like Toyota. But those days are over. I got conned too by a Mazda dealer in San Francisco when I purchased prepaid maintenance. Amazing how callous and greedy these salespeople are.

Just bought a rav 4.same problem.
They sold gap insurance. Didn't need it. My insurance company offers loan lease payoff.
Take my advice and decline their so called protection plan. You don't need it.Its not required to purchase a vehicle.
My $ 400/mo.turned into 500/mo .

It’s a horrible experience

Amazing to hear this. All my life I've gone through dealers where it takes hours to get a deal and sign a contract. They ready you like you're stupid and don't know how it works when they take numerous trips to get s better deal from the manager. At the end of last year, I decided to buy a Tesla. Everything was done online, I picked up the car and took 15 minutes to leave. What an amazing experience, no hassle, no time wasted. Don't fall for unscrupulous dealers.

Moral of this story is do not buy any cars in a "hurry".

This buyer made almost every mistake possible when buying a car. 1) No shopping around-If a dealer gets a whiff that you are not going to shop around, lots of bad things will follow 2) Being in a hurry- They love impatient buyers. It is easy to scam a guy in a hurry. It is amazing how much time people will spend preparing for a purchase costing $1000 but throw caution to the wind and spend almost no time preparing for spending $50,000 on a car. 3) Not doing any research- You cant spot a ripoff if you have no idea what a good deal looks like 4) Never let them make it about the payment-negotiate only the actual price, not the payment. A lot of crap (mystery credit cards, junk fees, accessories / extras you dont want, inflated doc fees etc.) can be hidden in the payment. Much harder to hide this shady stuff in an itemized price statement, Determine the payment later. If it is too high for your budget, use this to get the price down lower 5) Read Everything, question every fee, never just accept that any fees except sales tax, license and title fees from the state are required-they are not. They are just "dealership policy" that they can reduce or waive if the buyer insists. Often the "Doc Fee" is capped by the state but if you dont know what the cap is, they will often try to charge much more. If you are buying a very "in demand" vehicle, they might insist on a bad deal and lots of inflated fees, but at least you will know and accept that you are making a personal, free choice to accept bad deal !

I recently purchased a used 2021 Toyota Highlander. I bought it from Beach Cities Toyota in Westminster, Ca. I stupidly agreed to purchase the KARR Alarm System. I was told I was getting the system at “dealer price” which was $1295. When signing paperwork, the finance manager says “sign here, this is for the alarm system” so, I signed trusting it was for the price I was told. Low and behold, there was an additional $1995 more. The alarm system has a “2 year” contract (I really don’t know). I spoke to both the salesman and the finance manager and neither one could explain why the additional fee of $1995 was not disclosed. So disappointing that these people are slime bags and only nice and courteous when they are finalizing a sale. Shame on them for not being honest and transparent with their customers.

Car dealers own a lot of commercial property, and there is no way for anyone to know the true cost of a car. I think each state should make all car deals posted on a state website. But that would never happen. Back in 1979 a used car if you got to see the title it had what price the car was sold for previously, then later on the manufactures made deals with the states titles so that would be eliminated. Before you sign anthing, ask them to read everyword on the contract and explain it to you. Then don't sign it as you need to have this contract evaluated by an attorney. Ask why all those lengthly contracts, keep it simple and straight forward. Better yet draw up your own contract...