Welcome to CrappyCarDeals.com:
A Warning About My Experience With Crown Hyundai, Saint Petersburg, Florida

July 10, 2009: - The date I walked out on a purchase at Crown Hyundai in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was undoubtedly the WORST car buying experience I have ever had!

This gets a bit complicated, but I will try to relate it as quickly and accurately as possible.

I always work with an auto consultant, Tony Langenderfer of Expert Auto Consultants, when I get a new vehicle. I have purchased 6 cars with Tony's assistance. Tony reviews various makes and models with you, schedules all the test drives, and then negotiates the final price. It is a great service, as you usually can walk in, sign the paperwork and leave the dealership in under 20 minutes. Not only do I save money, I avoid all the hassle associated with buying a vehicle.

Tony shopped my trade-in, a 2003 BMW Z4, around to several dealers, getting the best price from Encore Motors in Sarasota, FL. (Encore happens to be where I originally purchased that car). Tony recommended that we give the car to Encore, which would in turn give me something called a draft that I could use at another dealership who would give me credit for the trade-in. This allows the price I am getting for the trade to be deducted from the purchase price of the new vehicle, saving me hundreds of dollars in sales tax. The trade-in would in effect be legally traded at the sale, with the draft serving to facilitate an immediate resale of the vehicle to a third party dealer. With the value of my trade established, Tony set about getting the best price on the vehicle I wanted, a 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe. The dealer who had a vehicle with all my preferred options, who agreed to the best price was Crown Hyundai in St. Petersburg, about 60 miles north of my home. Following is a chronological list of events that outline how poorly this sale was handled:

Tuesday July 7th
I chose to proceed with the purchase of the vehicle they had that fit my request. I had to call Crown with a credit card number to make a $500 deposit to hold the specific vehicle I was buying. The remainder of the day we heard nothing.

Wednesday July 8th
We finally got information from Crown on how to proceed with the credit application. I submitted my information online and faxed appropriate documents. While I was hoping to actually be able to get the car Wednesday, we heard nothing all afternoon. Tony made several calls to the finance person, Mark Israel, that went unreturned. When he finally got Mr. Israel just after 5:00, he was informed they had not even pulled my information off their server. Tony made inquiries as to the interest rate we could expect, and Mr. Israel refused to discuss my personal credit worthiness with him. (On the surface I can concede that point. However, Tony had already apprised them of my Beacon, or FICO score, so I do not see any harm in simply confirming what they had been told). When I got home after 6 that night, I found a message from Mark Israel asking me to call him. I'm not sure why he phoned just my home when I had also provided cell and office numbers, but I immediately returned the call and left a voice mail for him.

Thursday July 9th
By 3:00 that afternoon, Mark Israel had not yet returned my call. Tony finally had enough, and rattled someone's chain at Crown, prompting a call from (if memory serves) Carl Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell, who is apparently in Sales Mgmt and not Finance, simply began the conversation by saying, "What is it you need to know?" I told him I had absolutely NO information beyond the agreed upon sale price of the vehicle. I wanted to know if they could provide competitive financing, or if I should go to a bank? What would my interest rate be? What would the payment be? (Little things like that!). He told me that based on my credit score I would qualify for a 4.5% loan through GTE Federal Credit Union.. He noted that was the lender on my current vehicle, and asked if I wanted to remain there. (That is an important point to be revisited shortly) I informed him that I did not care, as long as the rate was good. I was very pleased with 4.5%. I also confirmed the status of the trade-in draft. I asked if I just needed the draft from Encore, and he said "yes", that is what had been set up. By this point it was clear that we could not consummate the deal, so we scheduled to pick up the car on Friday night at 6:00PM.

Friday July 10th - Midday
The salesman from Crown, Andrew Daniel, called to tell me that the credit union would require proof of income in order to approve the loan. I sent him a print out from my company payroll records, but I learned a couple hours later that would not be acceptable. I had to call my wife to get her to pull my most recent pay stub and bring it with her from the house. This was not a huge deal, but we'd had 3 days - why do I need to hassle with this two hours before we close?

Friday July 10th - 5:15PM - A Rough Start
My wife and I actually arrived early at Crown Hyundai of Saint Petersburg. I introduced myself to Andrew. He took my old registration and draft from Encore (payable to Crown), and told me they would be with us shortly. Over the next hour he checked in, telling us a couple times that they were still trying to get "everything sorted out". Eventually I was introduced to Andrews boss, who told me that they had a problem with the draft. He said they had clearly instructed Encore that they needed a certified check. Of course, Carl, who had confirmed the use of the draft, was no where to be found. They were trying to get hold of the General Sales Manager, Troy, to see if he could get approval to proceed.

Friday July 10th - 6:15PM - We get to meet "Troy"
The GSM, Troy, sits down with us, and explains that he can't accept the draft. After all, it is only a slip of paper, and "we don't know who these guys are". (Ten minutes later, Andrew, unaware of this exchange, tells me he has heard of Encore, because they have used them to get higher end Mercedes when a used car customer is looking for one. Interesting comment, since Encore is, in fact, well regarded here in Sarasota for their high end pre-owned German vehicles - but I digress....) Troy explains that he will need a check. He offers to complete all the paperwork and let me have the car, but he will need a check on Monday in order to actually record the sale. Through a flurry of phone calls between Tony, Encore and myself, Encore readily agrees to have the check available, and Crown will send Andrew down to get it.

After Troy leaves, Andrew then tells me he needs to know where the car will be Monday, so he can come by and swap out the dealer plate they were going to make me leave with. He said he would hold my current plate and then just swap them out. Problem was, the car would be at Tampa Airport, as I had business in New York. After a few minutes of wrangling he let me know that he would drive to Tampa and find my car to make the exchange. I was certainly at this point not a happy man, but being a reasonable person, thought we had cleared the hurdles (which should not have been there - we had 3 days for God's sake!) and wanted to finish up and go.

Friday July 10th - 6:45PM - Time to meet the Finance Guy; Keep your eye on the moving shells!
George was the finance person, and he immediately set down to business, having me sign a flurry of transfer papers, authorizations, and all the related work that goes into a Florida car sale. It was not until we reached the actual loan document that he paused, and asked "What were you told regarding the loan?" I relayed the 4.5%, and his grimaced response told me we were in trouble. He said "When Andrew told me they had told you that, I knew they should not have done that". He went on to explain how they look at a FICO score one way, but GTE Federal Credit looks at it another way. The resulting difference dropped my FICO 3 points, and my actual interest rate would be 6.24%. Another flurry of calls, and this time Tony came back saying "Troy says you requested GTE". George reveals that he had not even received my package until that morning. Still, they sat on that precious info all day, with no one saying a word until it was time to sign!

Friday July 10th - 7:00PM - I'm not falling for it. We are out of there
After consulting with my wife and Tony, we make the decision to walk. As we are leaving, George tells me he may be able to get me 5.5% with Bank of America. (What many do not realize is that the dealerships make money off these loans, and often try to steer customers to more expensive - and profitable - ones) Too little, too late. The most annoying and DISGUSTING auto experience of my life was done at that moment.

In Summary:
The following day, Tony and I reviewed the offers from other dealers. We found that one, Palm Hyundai of Punta Gorda, FL, while not having a vehicle with all the options I originally requested, had made a better discount offer by percentage than Crown. I told Tony to contact them and set the deal up. I wanted the car that day, if possible. It was 10:30 AM. By 3:00 I was at Palm Hyundai, buying a Hyundai Santa Fe, with financing set up at 4.90% (Did you hear that, George?). I have nothing but praise and compliments for the people at Palm Hyundai. It was a terrific experience. I wish I had tried them first.

In retrospect, I think the entire deal with Crown Hyundai of St. Petersburg, Florida was a complete farce. We negotiated several key points in good faith, and the bottom line is Crown Hyundai was at best, slow to respond and highly dysfunctional. At worst, they were outright dishonest. Dealing with this dealership was 4 days of needless frustration, capped off with their failure to honor key commitments in the agreement. Dave at Encore told us he was not told they needed a certified check, and I had been told that Crown was expecting a draft. I did not "request" financing through GTE Federal Credit Union. Lastly, I did not expect to engage in 4 days of delays only to find that ultimately NOTHING WAS AS IT APPEARED.

My personal opinion, if you are in the market for a new car, be very wary of promises made by the Crown Family of auto dealerships.

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