e-man

Wow, wow, wow. One would think that a Lexus dealership would be above implementing used car dealership tactics. Apparently not. By the way, what is RSES (sorry, I'm visiting from the GS forum)? Are you okay with the fact that the car doesn't have it?

I don' t know if this will make you feel any better, but I had a similar bad experience a few years ago at my local Lexus dealership while negotiating the purchase of a pre-owned GS. They played the "let's hold him off" game -- not returning calls, making me chase them, etc. As a ploy, I had a close friend call to express interest in the car. He told them that he was looking at their car as well as a car on another Lexus lot nearby. They basically told him that they were close to closing the deal with another buyer, but that they were holding him (which was me) off for a while, and that if he ended up buying the other car, he should let them know because the value of their car would go up. Long story short, I wrote a letter to the GM of the dealership (I'm a lawyer also -- I don't know if that's a good thing or not), and copied the regional manager as well. The GM called me immediately, but he was more concerned about finding out which of his employees were responsible than making me happy. In the end, I didn't buy from them, and I never looked back. Sorry to hijack the thread, but I thought my story was relevant.

Here's the question you should ask yourself. If they step up to the plate and honor their original agreement (or something close to it), will you be satisfied? You're still forking over $45,000+ for a car, and the dealership that treated you so shabbily will be profiting from the transaction. Living 200 miles away, you'll probably never go back there, but will you feel good about it? I'd rather spend a little more money with a reputable place then give these crooks any money at all (even if it's a good deal). Just my .02.

e

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

e-man: RSES is "rear seat entertainment system"-basically the factory installed rear flip down dvd monitor with the wireless headphones.

JWS3-I've been reading your posts but couldn't offer any other resolutions. Good job on the letter too.

I would never go back to any dealer and give them your business who is already ripping you off.

I wonder if lexus corporate is reading this? Well, thank goodness for CL
Good luck JWS3.

JWS3

Well, I got Lexus corporate involved, who readily admits there is little they can do, but at least they are going to "try", whatever this means.

I've had several call from the dealership trying to resolve this. They are very apologetic (yeah-suuuurre......) and profess a "deep desire to work things out", to which I responded "well, if this is true then how about keeping your word". I strongly suspect that the main problem is that the sales mgr now thinks he made a bad deal and is trying to get out of it. lest he answer to someone else higher in the chain of command. My response to this is simple: Not relevant. He proposed the deal and I accepted it in writing. Contracts go both ways!

For those who care, the following is my most recent email to him. Its a bit long for posting, but I provide it for those who may GAS and are willing/able to comment. Again, thanks to all for their support & comments. I'll keep the gang here posted. Worse case scenario is that I learned of a good board & good people that I'll come back to in the future! Well, here is the email:

Mr. Bruno:

After our most recent conversation it occurred to me that there appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding as to what issue is most relevant. More specifically, I noted that you often used the phrase "what your car is worth", usually followed by data gleaned from area sources.

Allow me to be blunt: This is not relevant, either legally or ethically since its value has already been determined as is set forth in our written and binding purchase agreement. That fact that is may have changed in value over time was implicitly contemplated and allowed for when the contract was signed. The lack of any language or other qualifying terms underscores this fact, as does Nikki's affirmative and binding statements to me that problems of this nature would not arise. It is similarly not my fault that the vehicle took 3+ months to get here. In fact, your dealership knew this might happen as Nikki repeatedly told me that factory orders routinely take 90 days or so to complete. As is more fully set forth in my prior email, under general principles of contract law that which is agreed to in writing cannot be altered in the ways urged by your dealership. Ethically and logically this makes sense. There is no way I'd have driven 400 miles round trip, spent money on a hotel and committed to purchasing the GX from your dealership without firm and binding assurances as to all aspects of the transaction.

At this point we have the following options:


1) I accept your terms and pay the additional money you seek.

This I cannot and shall not do for the reasons set forth above. A contract is a contract and is binding. The dealership's subsequent dissatisfaction with the deal it proposed and accepted in writing is not dispositive.

2) You abide by that which we have legally agreed and we complete the deal as written with the exception of deleting the invoice cost of +/- $1,250 for the missing RSES DVD system.

I am obviously in favor of this as such is the good and proper thing to do.

3) I walk away and have you return my deposit.

This is always an option, but is not preferred.

4) We "go nuclear" and contemplate legal action, consumer affairs/media intervention and more.

Obviously nobody wants this, but it nevertheless remains an option. As a rule, whenever this happens nobody benefits but the lawyers. Of course, from my perspective, this isn't always a bad thing!

5) We compromise and I agree to pay you the original sum of $4,000 PLUS the difference in the Galves wholesale cost we recently calculated in my recent email less the cost of the missing RSES. This nets out to about $5,250 +/-, or about $2,500 net more to you than the written contract calls for.

This may be the best solution and is the absolute farthest I am willing to go. Neither of us would get everything we want, yet we could still walk away intact and fairly consummate the transaction. You get the difference in wholesale value and I have to pay much more than I think I should. We both win and lose, so too speak. Best of all, I could then continue to recommend your dealership to others in the various automotive forums/boards I actively participate in.

Again, thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you in the hopes that we may salvage this and walk away to our mutual benefit. The GX should be here shortly, so we should obviously make every reasonable effort to quickly resolve these issues.

SilverLady

A very nicely written letter, and you are being more than fair. Good luck to you and I hope we will soon have a new GX owner when the smoke and mirrors clear.

JWS3

that somebody at the dealership doesn't like the deal they made and is trying to get out of it. I readily admit it is, or at least would be, a rather favorable transaction for me which is precisely why I travelled 200 miles to get it. Unfortunately, my more local dealers proved to be exceedingly slimy and amazingly ill informed about product knowledge.

At this point I am very tempted to just walk away, but can't do it just yet, perhaps out of pride, anger or a warped sense of justice. Maybe its that I just don't like to be taken advantage of. Worse case scenario is I keep the Benz for a few more years and then maybe we'll see a hybrid GX or something! I was only willing trade if the deal was good. If its not, then there is no point. Ah, well... it'll be interesting to see where this goes. Thanks to all for their encouragement and help.

e-man

I'm sure you know this, but things do happen for a reason. Like you said, maybe there's a hybrid in your future. It will be interesting to see their response, but if it were me, I'd walk away. I realize that it's the princpal (morally and legally) -- they offered, you accepted, consideration, etc., etc. But, at some point, you need to take a step back and figure out what's really important here. What is it that you want -- the car or the dealership to honor their promise? Maybe a little of both. It can become an all-consuming obsession. Believe me -- I've been there. I just wouldn't let it get that far. If they come back with anything less than the original deal or the modified deal (as proposed by you), I'd walk and let them know that their deed will not go unnoticed on the Internet forums.

JWS3

I've made my best offer and am willing to walk if need be. I just don't want to let them off all that easily! I was thinking about contacting local consumer affairs bureaus, media, etc...... It'll be interesting to see where this all goes.
Again, thanks to all for their good words and comments!

Jim

JWS3

Quite amazingly, I got a call from the sales manager today agreeing to my proposal that we take the original agreement and add the difference in wholesale cost from the Nov order to the present. This represents about $2500 more from me, but reflects the true wholesale drop in the value of my trade in the 4 1/2 month period it took to get the order in. Its also less than the $7500 or so they intially wanted. And, its still 4K over the "wholesale" value which is what we agreed to back in the begininning. In other words, I agreed to accept the drop in my car's valueover the preceeeding 4 1/2 months while they agreed to maintain their offer of 4K over book value.
Looks like this may be a go after all........

caha14

This is great to hear, JWS3. I hope everything will go smoothly for you at this point. It's sad that you had to go back and forth several times, write a letter, email them, etc., but I guess it's still better that they saw the light late instead of never.

e-man

Congrats!!! Keep us posted and let us know when the deal is finalized.

SilverLady

That sounds great! If the value of your trade dropped that much, the deal makes sense. It is too bad that they didn't deal on the square to begin with, as you seem willing to listen to reason.

Hopefully everthing will go smoothly from now on and you can start enjoying your GX!

JWS3

over the last 5 months, which I confirmed independently. Actually, it dropped more than that, but I said nothing.

I am still unsure if it was deliberate dishonesty on their part, or just plain 'ol stupidity. I tend to think they made an exceptionally good offer thinking they'd have a GX in a month or so and never thinking it would be a 5 month process. Little did any of us know....... But, I argued that such doesn't matter as it was THEY who suggested the deal. I just accepted it.

In the end, it is probably fair as I preserved the 4+K trade offer over "book" value, yet still allowed them to adjust the figure for half a year's depreciation.

Looks like things are OK- Got a printout from them with the VIN number and list of equipment. Should be a few weeks or so. Now all I have to do is order the HID kit, get a new laser jammer, prepare to install my Valentine radar detector and, most of all, get used to driving a truck, of all things. So much for 10 yrs of German sedans...... It'll be nice to have a vehicle that can actually carry something and scoff at the snow!