Scott Allan’s World

I had a bad week last week.

• The Patriots lost.
• Mitt Romney dropped out of the race.
• I think I broke a rib sneezing. If not, something else very painful happened.
• My client ended my consulting assignment retroactively to the day before due to budget problems.

Those are the big things. There were other silly things but it’s safe to say things were not going my way.

Just when I thought my luck would get worse, it got better. It took ALOT of hard work to break the curse though.

It’s a long story so for those who are pressed for time or have ADD, here is a brief synopsis.

• Looking to trade lease for cheaper used car
• Learned you can trade a lease and that the lease finance company has a SUPER-SECRET dealer payoff amount
• Car Max always gives you the largest amount to buy used cars
• When dealing with car companies, do your homework and be persistent and unrelenting.
• Curses can be broken by sheer force of will

Full Story:

I leased a Toyota Tundra three years ago and the lease was coming due May 1. I started to explore my options about how to replace my car. I wanted to downgrade my payment which meant downgrading my car. I figured I had at least $1000 worth of damage I was going to have to pay for when returning my truck. Most of it was a dent in my bumper.

I started out at Drivers Way on 280 to look at used cars. A guy there named Alan was really great. He told me that it is possible to trade a leased car which I was not aware of. This would be great if it worked out because I could skip my last 3 payments and avoid any damage charges. I didn’t have the truck with me at the time so Alan told me to bring the truck back for an appraisal. I brought the truck back with my last bill showing my payoff amount was $22,000 which I expected was far more than I thought the truck was worth. Alan called the finance company Southeast Toyota Finance (World Omni) and received a fax from showing a SUPER-SECRET dealer payoff amount of $17,987. There was a built in dealer payoff reduction of $3200. Who would’ve thought that dealers would get some secret deal to buy a leased car? He also told me that if you trade in the lease, you don’t have to pay any taxes. Alan was such a nice guy, he actually gave me the fax World Omni sent him. Unfortunately, Drivers Way appraised my truck for $16,000 straight up or $16,500 on a trade. They had calculated $2000 worth of damage and reduced their offer by that much. Whether I traded the car to them or returned it to the lease company, I would have been out the same amount of money, $1500-$2000. So like a good consumer, I decided to shop my truck around for a better deal. I had really wished Driver’s Way had made me a better deal. I really wanted to do business with them for giving me such good information.

Next stop, Edwards Chevrolet, right across the street. Here I ran into Dennis. I told Dennis my story so far, without sharing the amount Driver’s Way offered me. They offered me $17,000 for my truck but promised me positive equity if I got a trade. We took a ride downtown to pick up a 2005 Ford Taurus for about $11,000. This was about type of car and price I was looking for. On the way back to the 280 dealer, I noticed THE CAR HAD NO CD PLAYER! Well that’s a deal breaker. I never would have expected a 2005 car to have a cassette player. That’s just plain dumb. So when we got back, Dennis showed me a 2005 Chevy Malibu for $12,599. It only had about 27,000 miles and had a 100,000 mile warranty. Very appealing. It was roomy and drove quite well for a four cylinder car. It had some pep and handled great. The biggest drawback was that they hadn’t taken the time to clean out the inside. I could look past it, but details are important. I told Dennis I was interested, but I needed to know what it would cost. I also told him I was going to make one more stop at Car Max before deciding. I had sold cars to Car Max before leasing my truck and they gave me a fantastic deal outbidding all other dealers by over $2000. I had my eye on the Malibu, but I wanted to make sure I was getting the best deal on the truck. Dennis made a big mistake by letting me go without making me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He asked me to go to Car Max and then come back before giving me his best offer.

So off to Car Max. Car Max is a no haggle shop.  The price they give you for your car does not depend on whether you buy something.  Also the sticker price on a used car is non-negotiable.  This is why I saved them for last.  Here I met Ken. Ken was a nice guy who was recently retired and started working there about a month ago part time. While they were appraising my car, we started looking at cars similar to the Taurus and the Malibu. I finally stumbled across a 2005 Mercury Sable. $12,599, 26,600 miles, leather seats, cd player, fake wood dash paneling. It looked brand new. Exactly what I was looking for. My parents had quite a few Sables growing up so I was quite familiar with them. It was Motortrend’s Car of the Year in about 1986 or so. My dad always bought the car of the year.

I told Ken, it all came down to the appraisal. Car Max offered me $18,000. This was exactly $13 more than my fax said the dealer would have to pay for my truck. At this point, Dennis had been forgotten. I showed Ken the fax and said he just needed to confirm this amount. Since it was a weekend, we had to wait until Monday. I thought everything was going great, but the next day, the Patriots lost and started my bad week.

The next day Ken told me that they had confirmed the number and to come down after work. When I get there, they said the payoff was confirmed at $22,000. Apparently when Ken confirmed the amount, he forgot to ask the person in the business office what the amount was. I was flustered. They insisted they called three times and got the same answer each time. I repeatedly kept showing them the fax with the SUPER-SECRET dealer payoff amount. They threw their hands up in the air and didn’t know what to tell me. Of course the finance company closed at 5:00PM and there was no way to contact them. I said, either the Driver’s Way guy gave me the wrong amount and was I was going to get hit with a $4000 bill after the fact, or Car Max was trying to soak me for $4000. I kept asking them to show me the fax they should have gotten from World Omni showing me the payoff amount but they just ignored me. I was pretty sure Car Max wasn’t trying to pull a fast one because it just wouldn’t make any sense for me to give them $4000 to take my truck when I could just return the truck to the leasing company and pay for the damage which would cost me far less. Unless of course they thought I was just gullible. I told them I would call the leasing company myself the next day.

I must have called them 5 times at least. Each time I was reassured by World Omni that the amount was $17,974. For various reasons Car Max had trouble reaching the finance company throughout the day. Around 4 pm I got a call from Ken that they had indeed confirmed the amount but then said I needed to add my February payment to the payoff amount which was another $288. I called World Omni another 4-5 times to confirm that I did not owe another payment on top of the SUPER-SECRET payoff amount. Would my bad luck ever end? It just didn’t make any sense. I decided to get in my truck and go do battle down at Car Max while the lease finance company was still open. I just knew with my bad luck this week, that I was going to get in an accident on the way there and screw up the whole deal.

I arrived unscathed and got World Omni on speaker phone in front of the Ken and his Sales Manager. Finally everyone was in agreement about the amount, but they needed a fax from the finance company directly in writing. We had to call 4 more times before the business office finally received the fax with the correct amount. Finally I got the deal I was entitled to. I got rid of my lease three payments early without paying a dime in damage. Three hours after I arrived, I left with my new Sable. The curse had been broken. And later in the week, my consulting assignment had been reinstated.

Things are looking up. This stupid Giants helmet comes off my blog tomorrow. Coincidence? I think not.