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Open Road Honda

Edison, NJ

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Lindsay of Blackwood, NJ August 26, 2009

On August 17th, 2009 my husband and I walked into Open Road Honda in Edison, NJ. We had already done all of our research regarding the new car we wished to purchase. We went through their internet sales department because of their no hassle special pricing. Over the phone, we made sure they had the exact car that we wanted, that they were participating in the C.A.R.S. government clunker program and that they would take my 2007 Honda Civic EX as a trade. This dealership was over an hour away from our house, so it wasn't a convenient trip.

When we got there, we were introduced to W. Rauf, who was an internet salesman. They researched my husband's 98 Ford Explorer and saw that it was eligible for the 4500 government incentive. Then they took my trade to have it appraised. Our salesman came back 45 minutes later with a paper that had 10,700 circled on it from the appraisal department. He did not show us this paper, my husband just happened to see it. He walked over to the manager's desk with that paper and came back to us with the offer of 9500!

This was the fourth dealership we had been to and every one of them had offered us 11,500! We argued and they said that that was what they valued my car at. We couldn't believe it. They were 1000 less in their no-hassle asking price which got us in the door, but offered 2000 less for my trade!

After going back and forth many times between us and one of the sales managers and not being able to get the trade value increased to 10,700, we asked to see the appraisal sheet. They both acted like they didn't know what we were talking about. They got up and involved J. Vasco a sales manager. They came back; apologized stating they never saw the sheet until now and said they would give us 10,700! With that, the deal was done.

We signed a purchase order with the VIN number to our new car and left a 500 deposit. We were told there was no rush to bring in our clunker and we could do so when we picked up our new vehicle. Our car was in transit to the dealership and would not be there for about 12 days. We were unable to speak with the finance manager that night since it was 11pm before we were ready for him. We were told we could do so when we picked up the car.

I was uncomfortable with that, so the next day I called the dealership to get an exact APR and payment for the car. W. Rauf called me back with another approximate APR and said my husband was unable to be on the loan because of his credit. I told him that he had to be to be eligible for the government incentive. The clunker was in his name only and that is what the program required. The following day, he called me back with an exact APR but again without my husband on. I stated that we would be getting a loan from another bank for the vehicle and that we would be dropping off our clunker the next day.

While we were on our way to the dealership, we received a phone call from W. Rauf. He stated that the government was out of money for the program and it was over. We called the government's hotline for this program and they said that was not true. We continued on our way there to dispute this. We had a signed purchase order with the Cash for Clunkers accepted on it and it was signed before the program ended. Later, we found out that the government was ending the program on Monday August 24th at midnight.

The dealership was unable to rob us for thousands on the cost of this vehicle or make money off of the financing, so they chose to not accept the binding contract! We spoke with J. Vasco again. He told us they would not honor the C.A.R.S. deduction. We went above him to the general manager, S. Park, who also said he would not honor the agreement.

We contacted the police and had them document what was happening. One officer actually told the manager that this was not right. We also called the government hotline again and another dealership we had been to. Both stated that both parties signed a binding contract and they had taken a deposit on the car. They advised us to get a lawyer and take them to court. We were told that because C.A.R.S. 4500 was written on the contract, that we had a leg to stand on.

On our way home from the dealership, I made numerous phone calls to the dealerships we had recently visited. Some of which still participated in the program, so we had to make a hasty decision. We purchased another vehicle we are not totally happy with just so we could take advantage of the government incentive. This would not have been the case if this dealership did not back out of the original contract they signed with us or if they never signed one to begin with!

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