AVOID SPACE COAST HONDA IN COCOA, FLORIDA LIKE THE PLAGUE IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOUR WALLET!!!!!

Here's what happened: On 12/5/02, I went to Space Coast Honda to see Nick Muller because I had bought cars off him when he was at Holler Honda in Orlando. He had also called me about a month previously, told me he left Holler and was there now that Space Coast sells the S2000 for MSRP. He also said that Space Coast Honda was much better that Holler Honda.
I had a completely paid for 02 VIvid Yellow, fully loaded Miata LS. It's the color that had to be special ordered on the internet and they only made 249 total. I was going to sell it on my own while I waited for the S2000 but they high pressured me into signing it over to them that night for a trade-in of $16,000. They told me they had a Mazda dealership in Tampa who wanted it then and that the price would probably be lower if I waited 2 weeks till my car came in and hadn't sold my car yet. $8,000 was supposed to go towards the S2K and I was to get a check back for $8,000 as soon as they got the money from the Mazda dealership which I was led to believe would be about a week.
They told me that I was being leased the car at MSRP and the payments would be $355/month for 48 months w/15k miles per year. I accepted, but the only paperwork I was given was that info handwritten on a buyers order. They told me they couldn't print up any break down figures till the car came and I trusted them. A few days later I started thinking about it and again tried to get some more definite paperwork and they just talked me in circles.
I t has been almost a month since they got my trade and I still have not been given the $8,000 that is supposed to be returned to me from my trade. Now they are telling me that they can't return it until they deal has been done, they send the paperwork to Honda, and Honda sends the final documents back to them.
Both my salesman and the inventory manager told me that when my car came in, which I was told would be before Christmas or by the 30th at the absolute latest, they would not touch it until they called me and I got there. I had stressed to them that I did not want it in the showroom for people to climb all over.
New Years Day I was in Cocoa and went by their showroom which was closed. Right in the center, where I was told they "only put Brand New cars" and nobody abuses then there when I had stressed how I didn't want my car in the showroom, was sitting what looked like a brand new Suzuka blue. Especially since they claimed they only put new ones there. That's when I came home and made my original post about what I have said so far and about how mad I was. Last evening when I went there I found out it was actually a used 02. However, while I was there I found out they were trying to screw me over in a much worse way
New Years Day when I thought it was my car in the showroom, I really started doubting the deal they were offering me and started checking the lease calculators on Honda's web page and got some quotes from online lease companies using my credit score. According to Honda's calculator my payment should have been $290 per month plus tax and a few other things which I calculated to be $328 with what I was putting down. From the other lease companies I got quotes ranging from $320 to $326 total with my down payment. So why were they telling me it was $355??
Last night I went there and insisted that I be shown a breakdown of everything that I was being charged for the car and how my payment was being reached. When I finally was shown it they had the cost of the car at $37984!!!! A far cry from the MSRP I was originally told. They tried to talk me in circles and tell me that the number didn't mean anything. that I wasn't purchasing the car, so I didn't need to worry about the purchase price, and that lowering it wouldn't affect the payment. He said I agreed on a payment not a price. My friend who was with me last night and when the original deal was made said "NO they told him the payments were based on paying MSRP for the car". The finance guy YELLED "were you here when the deal was made?!" My friend said "yes I was" and that shut him up.
Next, he changed the purchase price but made sure it didn't change any of the other figures on the paper so I'd still have the same payment, so I'd still be paying just as much but now more of it would be figured into the money factor. I wasn't stupid enough to accept what he was telling me and after some more arguing, he said "you know I don't have to sell you the car". I said "good, give me my car back then or give me it's market value".
After this he started playing around on his calculator again and said "what would make you happy?". I told him I wanted my payment to match what the Honda page said my payment should be, so finally I ended up with MSRP as my lease price instead of the $37984, and $327.79 as my monthly payment with $8,000 down. Big difference from the $355 they told me couldn't be budged from just a short while before without putting a few more thousand down. After we came out of the office, my salesperson came up and said, "I had no idea they were charging you so much for the car. I really thought they were doing it at MSRP." I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but common sense keeps asking me how he could not have known what price they were charging me.
I still don't have my car though they swear it was supposed to be there 12/22, but now claim it will be there in 10 days or less. I'm just worried that now they will mess with it when it comes in and I won't find out until it's too late since they are mad that I told people about their shady price tactics. I also am no closer to getting my $8,000 back even though they got my car almost a month ago and led me to believe I'd have my refund in about a week after they took the car. They now insist they can't refund it until honda completes the lease paperwork on the S2K and sends it back to them.

Here is an update on what is going on as of 5:30 pm on 1/13/03.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SuzukaB
[B]

I was going to have my lawyer call them today, but I decided to have her wait until I spoke to them myself.

 

I'm glad you had an opportunity to vent. I know how frustrating it can be when you specifically ask for something to be done a certain way and folks go out of their way to disrespect your wishes.

Just remember this, it's a car. Just like the "crappy" Civic you've been driving, it was built in an assembly plant. And this is coming to you from a person who is known to be quite anal about things like this.

In the end, you'll see it's just not worth getting all bent out of shape over.

 

You have every right to be pissed, they lied to you and deliberately ignored your requests. I would back out of the deal unless they get you another car, you deserve to get what you want, the way you want it.

 

OH HELL NO!...tell them to take $5000 off, it's definitely used now

 

Easy, buddy. Just take your business elsewhere, but that car is fine. You don't have to have sex with it.

 

I'm surprised the car is even the color you want. They got you to hand over your miata, which pretty much forced you into the sale regardless of what happens. Now that they have your car, what would you have done if the car was, say, yellow or black, or two months late, or they decided to let everyone at the dealership do a burnout in it in front of you before handing it over?

My rule is to *never* give them anything or sign anything until the deal can be done right then and there to completion. Even deposits should be done via credit card, so you can cancel the charges if the deal goes south. I've heard horror stories of deposits done in cash that oh-my-gosh, the buyer wasn't able to get back later when the deal fell apart. I don't know about Florida, but in Texas, until the deal is done, you can legally back out at any time in full, even any deposits you've given them. Oh, and get outside financing if you can, as that's the #1 form of delaying and manipulation that the dealership can do from my experience, especially if your credit is shaky.

They wanted the miata early, too bad for them. Are they willing to give up a done-deal because you aren't willing to give them leverage (aka your car) a few days earlier? I've *never* heard of a dealership backing out of a sale, but I've heard many times of them backing down from something the buyer considered unacceptable.

Take it up the ladder, and complain. The only way to stop this devious behavior is to make it hurt for them, and American Honda (or whatever it's called) has done wonders before. You have a perfect right to be upset, and they (the dealership) should get some backlash for it, IMO.

 

I think you may be wiggin out a little to much about this...JMO

 

Are you sure it's your car? Maybe they got in 2 Suzuka Blues, when I went to get mine their was an identical one outside, which they told me was someone else's (RYANITV)...

 

You gotta remember most customers are not that anal and to a dealership, the s2000 is just another model. I am sure that nothing was done deliberately, but jeez -- CHILL OUT.

 

nope they've been saying all along that they only had 1 suzuka blue coming in, the only other one they have allotted is black.

They also owe me $8,000 ot the $16,000 from my trade-in that isn't getting put down. First the excuse was that I had to wait until they got the check from the other dealership for my car. Then it was that they had to wait for the check to clear. Now that it's been a month, the excuse is that they have to wait till the deal is completed before they refund my other $8,000.