So Sheepie has been wanting and looking for a Jeep Wrangler for an year now. So when he saw a decent offer at the Hyundai Dealership in Maple Ridge for a used one, we decided to go check it out. He was only planning to take a look at it, but he gave in and decided to buy it, lol.
It was a 2014 model, so fairly new with not a whole lot of mileage on it (14,000 km), though compared to mine which was just short of 3000km after starting to drive my 2014 Yaris in Sept of that year, it seemed a lot to me.
The dealership had coffee and tea – which most places have, but this one had popcorn to indulge in as we waited during the different process! Hee hee~
When we started the financial phase, the sales guy kept talking about the monthly payments and such, never telling us the interest rate. We both asked about it a few times, and never got a number. The financial guy did the same thing. He kept dodging questions and replying with different wording that didn’t really clear up anything. It was not until the end when Sheepie was supposed to sign all the papers, that I noted to him that it was a whopping 7.2%. That meant that to take 7 years to pay it off, there would be over $9,000 of just interest!! Crazy! One could buy a smaller used car for that money!
There were additional costs that were not mentioned until the final papers – admin, delivery (when there isn’t any – it’s already at the lot) $2000 and the taxes that would not have been added if we had bought it from a private owner. There was this tire insurance thing for $600. I asked the financial guy TWICE if this was absolute mandatory/required, and he replied that “It’s done on all of our cars.” That did not answer the question! There was also this life insurance thing another $600. These 2 insurance things were never added when I bought my Yaris from Toyota. These came out to be an additional $8000!!!
Going into the insurance department wasn’t any better, in fact, it was worse. The lady was super grumpy as if it was detention camp. She never smiled once, or talk in a friendly way. Not a person you want to deal with when you are already dealing with insurance – something most of us don’t like nor can wrap their minds around, especially when you’re being bombarded with so much information just from the purchase of the vehicle.
We had arrived at the dealership around 2pm, but we ended up being there till closing at 6pm. Everything throughout was all wishy-washy until bam! The bill with hidden fees finally showed it’s ugly face. As Sheepie excitedly drove out of the dealership, he remembered that the ad on Craigslist had mentioned that it came with a soft top as well. We turned around and went back, just as the sales guy was leaving. “Oh, remember that I told you that there wasn’t the soft top because I had mistaken the bags in the trunk as the soft top…but they weren’t.” Sheepie was devastated. I do recall him saying something on that lines when we were busy cleaning out the old trade in car and putting everything into the wrangler. We were both preoccupied, so the quick notice didn’t register. For me, I didn’t understand what he was talking about at the time. He didn’t explain or take effort to make sure Sheepie understood. Soft tops are anywhere from $800-$2000.
So false advertising! AND, when we got home, I asked Sheepie if he’d received the second pair of keys (yes, it helps to have someone like me to stay focused and checkup…like a mother, lol). He called the sales guy, and they couriered him the keys. The sales guy and financial guy were nice, but I guess that’s what kept me on my toes. We felt like we have been deceived.
Sheepie has since called the sales guy many times only to be rerouted to his voicemail. Sheepie has gotten more impatient and left a message saying he would take further actions if needed. To that, he called back saying the soft top would come soon. It still hasn’t…Terrible! It’s been 7 weeks since buying the Wrangler…and nothing…Sheepie has been super disappointed (and somewhat traumatized) by the car buying experience. He says it’s better in Germany.
But for now with my new Yaris and Sheepie with his fairly new Wrangler, hopefully, we now wont have to buy any more new cars for a very, very long time!
We happened to be in Maple Ridge, and wanted to grab a bite for lunch. It was around 1pm, and saw Sushiro. The interior was actually pretty decent and was about half full. The prices seemed similar to what you’d find in the Vancouver/Burnaby area.
When we ordered, the kind server repeated our order, and I thought I heard the correct orders. However, she brought out the Tempura Don, instead of the Tempura Udon $7.95 that I thought I had said. But the ‘don’ and ‘udon’ is so similar, I can understand the mistake. The don was quite small in portion, so I don’t think I’d ever order it. Anyways, she took it back right away, and corrected my dish. Since the tempura is still the same, just need to get the noodles cooked.