Confirmed Sales Customer
My wife Judy (Sue) and I walked into the showroom of Stingray Chevrolet, Bartow, Florida at 9:00am on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, and were immediately greeted by sales manager Kenneth Lopez. He invited us to his area and asked what brought us in? I pointed out the damage to our vehicle on the left front corner and said we were primarily there to obtain an estimate for repairs. Kenneth told us that the Bartow location no longer had a body shop and that we would have to go to their Plant City facility to get that done. I then asked if they had any 2024's in stock, white with the 4 cyl. Turbo engine? Kenneth looked and said yes, they had one. He then escorted Sue and I out to the sales lot to inspect the vehicle. We liked what we saw, And I noticed that the sticker price was $32,345. We then walked back inside to his area and I asked him to give us a price trading our car in; rather give two separate prices, one trading our car after full repairs were done and the second trading our car "as is" with the damage. He and I then walked out for him to assess the damage to the car. He began by telling me how much a headlamp replacement would cost and that the hood would have to be replaced as well as the bumper and the left front quarter panel. I said that the hood was not damaged in the wreck and he pointed out two small dents near the windshield in the center of the hood. I aid that was where a drunk threw his drink glass from a balcony onto our parked car in St. Augustine back in 2022.Kenneth said it would still need to be fixed and that he would estimate the total damage to be around $7,000. We then walked back into the sales room and Kenneth began to work up some numbers. He asked if I had car rental coverage in my insurance policy as it make take upwards of six weeks to make the repairs if the parts were available. He said the parts plant was on strike and parts might not be available. Well, I started doing the math and assuming car rental to cost $1,000 per week, I was really "between a rock and a hard place". As I had requested, Kenneth worked up two scenarios; one with me fixing the car prior to the trade and the other trading the car as is with the damage and all. Kenneth worked up two scenarios, printed them out and placed them on his desk for me to see. He then took a black felt pen and wrote two sets of numbers on each scenario indicating the interest rate and the payment amount based upon financing 60 months or 72 months. What I remember from that information was that the interest rates were below 7% and the payments were slightly above $400 per month. Kenneth then wrote on the one paper $399. I told him to go with the scenario of me trading "as is". At that time, I told him we had to leave to get home for a conference call with my insurance agent and the insurance adjuster and that we would be back at around 1:00pm. Unfortunately, I left those two scenarios on Kenneths desk and that was the last time I saw them, and that was the last time Kenneth discussed any pricing with us. Upon our return t approximately 1:15 pm, Kenneth and I and two service reps examined the hitch receiver on my car and discussed the removal. They asked if the muffler was removed to install the receiver. I told them that my son had done the work in my presence, and I didn't recall the muffler being removed. The service reps the took both vehicles to the service area. Kenneth then took Sue and I over to Rick Dubose and introduced him as the financial guy. Kenneth left us there and Rick said, "get ready to sign a lot of paperwork". He was correct, Sue and I signed form after for, sometimes 3 times per form. Rick told us what they were prior to our signing them, but there was no way we could read them in that time frame. When we were finished signing, we went back to Kenneth's area to wait for our new car. While we were waiting Kenneth brought a stapled set of seven documents and laid them in front of me. I quickly noticed that the first page contained the information which I need for the insurance company. I then promptly called them to get our coverage in place. Having finished with that, I looked at the second page stapled in the group. It was the first time I had seen that form. It was the LAW 553-FL-ARB-e 9/19 form. It did not have my signature but did have information which was new to me. First, I noticed the interest rate was 7.19%. neither Kenneth nor Rick had ever mentioned a 7.9% interest rate. Likewist the amount of credit was going to cost me a whopping $7,489.62. The total amount financed was to be $26,834.46. That was just $5,510.54 Kenneth was allowing for our 2019 Equinox.I then noticed the term of the loan was 84 months with a monthly payment of $408.62. That was the FIRST TIME I had either seen or heard any of those numbers. "BAIT AND SWITCH" By then they had the receiver installed and we were on our way. We never received any copies of papers we had signed.
Bradley R.
BARTOW,
FL
Business Response
Thank you for taking the time to leave us feedback about your experience with us. We'd like the opportunity to discuss this with you. Please reach out to us at (863) 578-4696 at your earliest convenience to discuss how we can turn your experience into a positive one.
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