Rrg Salford Sales - Customer Service

August 10, 2011

We was in the process of purchasing my first Toyota car this week from RRG Salford, until the finance manager (Steve) came to clashes and threatened to take us to court if we were not to buy the vehicle after signing a vehicle order form and putting down a deposit to secure the vehicle.

The car is an ex-demo (pre-registered) Auris Hybrid which is 6mths old with 9,000 miles on the clock (not a brand new vehicle order)

Our previous vehicle purchases have been mainly European cars (e.g. VW, BMW, Renault, Vauxhall, Peugeot). However, having never owned a Toyota I was willing to give this brand a try and wanted a Hybrid vehicle due to the low-cost of ownership and free road tax, this ticked all the right boxes for the type of car we wanted.

As the vehicle was already available we was willing to buy the car to save us having to wait for order and delivery on a new vehicle. We agreed a price on the part-ex and a price for the Auris Hybrid (Saturday). However, after reviewing the finance RRG Salford offered to us over the weekend we decided that the repayments were too expensive, and did a few calculation based on the repayments to find out what the APR rate, this was 12.8% ...

Vehicle Finance:

£11500

Repayments:

£382.30 x 36 Months

We went back into the dealership Tuesday (approx 3 days from the first day we went in) and was greeted by Steve the Finance Business Manager who offered to recalculate our APR and repayment and told us that our sums were wrong, and that the APR was actually 6.6% (I was very suspicious at this point) to which he told us this was the best deal we could get and nobody else could offer what they're offering. I told them that I would like to cancel the purchase and would like to get my deposit back as I will not be able to afford the vehicle at the rate offered. To which the drama began, where the Finance Business Manager Steve decided to pull out a carbon copy of the order form stating that I will need to pay a 10% cancellation charge if I was to pull out from the order ... this really confused me, having personally contacted customer services at Toyota (GB) LTD I was told that dealerships get charged a cancellation fee if a customer cancels an order placed on a brand new vehicle only, to which the customer maybe liable for at the dealer's discretion.

After another long wait the Finance Business Manager decided to clear up any ambiguity he would print an official quotation of a full financial breakdown of the repayments and charges for the finance agreement, something I was not given when I put a deposit down for the vehicle. To my amazement, the APR on the quote stated 11.4% (not far from my calculated 12.8%) after he fiddled with the finance setup charges, stating that if I'd pay those charges and not spread them over 36 months I would lower my APR (at this point I'm scratching my head). Basically nothing was changed and I was wasting my time, to which he was not going to budge on giving me a better APR and repayment rate. I again requested to cancel my order for the vehicle and requested back my deposit, to which again he threatened me with a 10% cancellation charge and that if I didn't pay it on the spot I would be taken to court. Basically, the Finance Business Manager Steve stated I had to buy the vehicle or pay £2000 (10% of price of vehicle) cancellation charge or I will get taken to court ... Seriously, I don't know what types of business is being run by the RRG franchise but threatening a new customer with court action if they don't buy their ex-demo vehicle seems very amateurish and out-of-order.

I believe I am within my consumer rights to cancel purchasing a vehicle if I'm not comfortable with the financial repayments for the vehicle.

I also believe I am within consumer right of my cool-down period of 7-days to which I can cancel an order if I am not able sort out the finance for the vehicle.

An official complaint has been launch with Toyota (GB) Ltd., in which I will be looking for the return of my deposit.

After this whole experience I am unsure if I'm wanting to purchase a Toyota vehicle after being threatened with court action if the vehicle was not purchased from the RRG dealership. Currently my confidence in purchasing a Toyota car is at an all time low, and will be looking at alternative brands whose sales and customer reps who treat their customers with a little more respect, no matter of colour, race or creed. We're in financial times, and Toyota themselves have not had much positive publicity over they past two years, the last thing they need is to lose new potential customers.

Regards,

A new potential Toyota customer.

August 10, 2011

Mmm,interesting :unsure: .I don't know the rules and regs on this but I always thought there was some sort of cooling off period myself :huh:

August 10, 2011

Why did you sign a pre-order form for a second hand vehicle?

Better still why did the seller let you?

One of the golden rules when buying a car is never ever let the seller know how you are going to finance or sign any agreement until you've decided you can afford it.

August 10, 2011

Why did you sign a pre-order form for a second hand vehicle?
Better still why did the seller let you?
One of the golden rules when buying a car is never ever let the seller know how you are going to finance or sign any agreement until you've decided you can afford it.

The form was given to us as a receipt for the deposit of the vehicle, which also stated the part-ex, deposit and the amount we needed to pay.

We put our trust with them as we believed that dealing with a reputable Toyota dealer, they would of issued the correct paper work, which was not the case.

Thanks for the tip, I will remember this advice next time if we decide to purchase another car.

August 11, 2011

As you're in Lancashire go visit Parts King's dealership Lindop Brothers.... John is spot and i've not heard a bad thing said about his dealership :thumbsup: