AutoNation Honda Chandler

I rarely ever leave a review, but AutoNation Honda Chandler keeps sending me emails asking that I leave an honest review and this transaction will be costing me for a very long time. I apologize for the wordy this review, but I am hoping to properly capture my experience here for purchasing a Ram 1500 to hopefully save you the hassle. This really had the potential of being a good experience… With regards to the “one price”, they definitely stick to it with no negotiating at all. I found the truck on AutoTrader and it wasn’t the best deal I had found for what I was looking for, but it was a fair deal so I reached out to them since I figured buying local would simplify the transaction. When I asked if they could work on the price, I was told: “AutoNation is a National "One-Price" Pre-Owned Dealership network, & AutoNation makes it simple and easy by eliminating the hassle of back and forth negotiations. Every AutoNation dealership nationally (350+ Dealerships Nationwide) provide a "One-Price" Retail Experience, again, eliminating the hassle of haggling. We confirm the best price in the market for comparable models with similar mileage, which assures that you are receiving the best price possible for your purchase. Our posted online price is our best price, it is our corporate policy, we do not negotiate on PreOwned vehicles...” I can actually appreciate that as my bank valued the truck for more than what they had it listed for (based on all the added options that the truck had and was listed with which was confirmed with the original window sticker that Ram provides). The problem I had with this is that even though they were very detailed in ensuring that every option was selected when they did their “market research” to come up with the listing price, when it came to closing the deal, they didn’t select any of the added options for the truck to get the correct value, they processed it with the base selections… this increased my finance rate by 1.5%. As I mentioned, I went in knowing what my bank had valued this truck at (and what my rate for this truck would be), so I asked them what the value the finance team had for truck for the rate to be coming in so much higher than what I was expecting. They went on to tell me that the value was determined by my bank and that they don’t provided that information (this came from one of the initial finance members not the one I finalized the paperwork with. this guy may just have been misinformed, but if that is the case he shouldn't have answered without getting clarification). Aside from that, they initially came back to me with terms for 36 and 48 months. I obviously told them no to that and let them know I had already rec’d approval for 75 months (special credit union program) for this specific truck they were selling. They came back and told me that my bank came back to them with approval for this rate and these terms. My bank had closed for the day/weekend by the time this all took place so I wasn’t able to confirm anything with my bank representative. I told the finance team to just give me the purchase agreement and I would go to my bank and come back with a check. They agreed to this, but they later came back and said that they refreshed their program and had the approval for 72 months (at the same rate they had listed for 36 and 48 months) which I thought was odd, but my rep said the rate may be higher if they didn’t account for the program I was approved for and that part of it could be added later. I reluctantly agreed to complete the transaction the same day and figured I could just sort it out with my bank (this was a mistake on my part). When it came to completing the sale and signing my documents, I was nearly overwhelmed with pressure to buy gap insurance through them instead of through my bank. I had to say "no" to buying from them for well over 5 minutes. I had my paperwork from my bank rep with me which included the gap insurance info, and they came back and lowered their price to match what my bank had offered. Even after saying no, they kept looking for a way to negotiate with me and convince me to buy from them. They took advantage of the lack of knowledge that I would imagine most consumers have about the financing rate that is on their paperwork… He "offered" to buy down my rate to make my monthly payment "$1.00 more" as what it would be if I didn't buy from them(this nearly convinced me to buy from them), but even though he had offered me the gap for $450 minutes earlier, he had it entered at that lower rate but with the gap at the original $750. I had to tell him no again, even though I had already told him no before he started working his numbers. I later found out from one of their other finance guys that they submit the rate higher than what the approval comes in at to ensure that they are covered in case the approved rate comes back a bit higher once all is said and done. So clearly the "offer" to buy down the rate was a dishonest attempt to convince me to buy the gap insurance from them. Once my bank had opened I called my rep to purchase the gap insurance and update her on how everything went. When I mentioned that they claimed it was the bank who valued the truck and said that the bank doesn’t share that information, she informed me that the dealership is the one who sets the value. She was very disturbed by what I was told and checked the value and informed me that they valued it for way less than what it should be and said that there was nothing that my bank could do. She suggested I go back to the dealership and try and get them to correct it. I went back to the dealership right away to get this corrected and the finance rep I had worked with wasn’t there, but there was a different finance rep that was available and he was helpful in explaining their process and showing me how they value the vehicle. I went in with a printout of all of the options that my bank used to get the value, and when he showed me what they used we noticed that none of the options had been added, making the value $5,000 less than what it should have been. He fixed it and resubmitted the paperwork, (I imagine that my entire experience would have been great if I had been working with this guy the entire time). When I was getting ready to leave I called my bank rep and she confirmed that those changes were reflected on their end. I figured that everything was good at this point and decided I wouldn’t be returning the truck. However, I found out from my bank a week later that they submitted my application again after I had gone in to fix it and they again undervalued the truck by $5000. At this point there was nothing that could be done and I could no take advantage of the return policy as it had been more than 5 days. Save yourself some money and the headache…if you choose to buy a used vehicle from here, I would highly recommend that you finance elsewhere and just ask them to provide you with the purchase agreement. I wouldn’t do business with them any other way. I am wishing I would have just returned the truck while I still could.