5th Jan 2012, 19:53
"Now they want me to trade the car in after my transmission job, and offered to give me $1200 towards a new trade... WTF!!!"
So much for business ethics...
7th Jan 2012, 12:00
I think you would be foolish to listen to another word that this dealer says. It's time to stop being a victim and take control of your life. Get the priorities straight, that is, going to college. Cars are just anonymous junk boxes that will come and go, every one of them. There is not a single car ever made that is worth taking the fork in the road away from college. There should not be a moment's hesitation about whether to fix a car or pay tuition. The car is nothing. It means nothing, it is nothing. Instead of dwelling on how everybody else ruined your life, filing lawsuits and the like, think about how you can take personal responsibility for making things happen for you. The dealer screwed you. Learning how to recognize and avoid people who will hurt you is a part of life. Move on, go to college, and get back on course. Let the car go, junk it, sell it, whatever, college students don't need cars unless it's to get to work.
5th Jan 2012, 08:54
You bought a 7 year old Focus with 91K miles on it for $10K?!?! Wow, you should have booked that car out before making any offers on it. If you book a 7 year old top of the line Focus right now, it is around $8K as a starting point. That is also assuming excellent condition, which is an impossibility according to any dealer, so the actual value would be around $7K. I am sorry you got so taken on this deal by a lousy dealer with no morals. I actually bought my brand new loaded up Focus SEL in 2009, and I only paid around $16K for it. It took hours of negotiating as we were over $3K apart when I started, but I left with the car, paying the price I came in with.
You really do have to research things very thoroughly. Dealers just love to steal people's money. I worked at a couple of them, and couldn't believe the crap going on behind the scenes. Don't be taken again. You have to research the prices and go in aggressively with a deal. I would never step foot in that dealer again though. Make sure you go elsewhere, and even if the lawsuit never goes anywhere, do what you can to report them to the BBB and spread the word. It is a tough thing to prove any dealer is negligent, so you have a hard road ahead of you there. If you can, find others in the same situation so you can get together on it.
Good luck with it!