Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Smart Buy, My Butt!!!


It's a long one...

Back in September of 2005, I got divorced. I also bought a new car, which ended up being a big, big mistake. Here's the deal. Because my current car (that I hated & never wanted) was financed in both mine and my ex's name, I had to either refinance or buy a different car. Well, I chose to buy a different car. I had been waiting for quite a while for the 2006 Pontiac G6 to come out (the 2 door version) - I had LOVED GrandAm's and this was the replacement....


So, in September of '05, the 2 door G6 came out. I was divorced and had 30 days to refinance or find something else. The day before my birthday - Sept 19th - I signed on a 2006 G6. I was ecstatic. Something was finally going right for once (or so I thought). Well, I had many, many issues with the sunroof leaking SEVERAL times and ruining my carpet...which I had to beg and file a complaint before GM would replace it. During all these "issues" with the car, I dealt with one dealership and one dealership only - the place where I had bought the car. Their sales people were great (I thought that ONCE anyways) but their service people suck.it.up big time.


Moving on, I had many temper tantrums at said dealership... I was treated poorly and I'm just not a fan of being talked to/treated like I'm an idiot. It's just my thing - treat me with respect or I'll lose my temper, in a hurry. Anywho...I've wanted to get rid of this vehicle for quite some time now. I went to the dealership about a year ago and was told that I had bought under a "Smart Buy Program" - also known as a lease. Yes, a lease. How in the world did I not know this? I have no idea. But with said lease, there is a mileage restriction of 48,000 miles in 4 years. Now...I'm a commuter. I drive a total of 60 miles a day to and from work. You do the math. I'm now at 60,000 miles. Yes, 12,000 miles over my allowance.


So, let me just say that I've tried to get out of this "Smart Buy" for quite some time. I called yesterday (on a whim) to see if I qualified for their "Pull Ahead Program" - which lets me end my contract, return the vehicle, pay an awful amount, then pay my mileage crap. Well, I was told by 2 ladies yesterday that I DID qualify for the program, so hubs and I decided to hit the ground running and look for another vehicle. Let me just say we were thrilled that we would finally be getting rid of this vehicle.


Well, we went to a dealership last night who then called GMAC and found out that I do NOT qualify for said program. That, actually, I'm 3 days short of qualifying.. What does that mean? It means I have to wait till the next program start date - of April 1st - and that they can't even promise me that they will have another program... Seriously.


The kicker in all of this is... They say my contract ends on Oct 3rd. That's the day I'll return the car and pay mileage stuff or pay a huge balloon payment and keep the POS. Well, the program qualifying contract date (did you follow that?) is Sept 30th. Meaning, if my contracted ended Sept 30th or before, I'd be okay... Now, remember how I said I bought my car on Sept 19th - one day before my birthday? That's the day I signed all of the papers. That's the day that - legally and all that jazz - I bought my car. So tell me, why in the world does my contract start Oct 3rd? Well, because GMAC says so. That's why. Is that the date I made my first payment? According to them, no (and it's really not). So, why oh why is my contract date Oct 3rd and not Sept 19th? I dunno. But you can bet that I'll be calling them a 4th time and speaking to someone higher on the food chain.


Also, side note... I was quite embarrassed and didn't want to go back to the purchasing dealership (because of all the temper tantrums I had thrown) so we went to another dealership in town first...The sales guy said, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"... Me - "No...." ... Him - "Oh yeah, I know you from Crain." That's when I turned a shade of red and wanted to hide. This guy knew me from the other dealership...from my fits. Great. And then when we went back to "Crain" - everyone in that dealership looked at me and wouldn't make eye contact.


Also note, that this is not the first car I've bought. It's actually the 3rd AND my dad had even been there for part of the negotiations, but then left for me to take care of the rest.... Because the salesman called him "Un-American" for saying that maybe I should purchase a Honda... Boy, I wished I would've listened to my dad. I'll keep ya'll updated on the Car Woes and I'll try to keep my temper under control. I've already hung up on one GMAC rep today.

5 comments:

Well I Do Declare said...

That really, really sucks. I'm so sorry! Fingers crossed it gets worked out in a hurry!

Brandi said...

Wow girl that is a mess. I can't believe you are going through all of that. I don't know why they won't let you out of the lease if you are willing to pay the differences in mileage and what not. Makes no sense. I would try another dealership honestly and just try to trade it in. We did that with my Jetta. It was a lease but luckily I was under my mileage and I had no problems at all trading it in. I hate dealerships too. They always act like women don't know anything. I used to get soo mad about that! I'm like hey I did my research, I'm not stupid! Good luck girl and I hope you get it all worked out. (hint, hint go across the street here from work, they like the employees here so maybe your hubs would have some pull) :D we get great discounts around town.

Jenn said...

I really wanted a G6 too. The day I went to the dealership to test drive it, they told me they'd pull it around for me to drive. After 30 MINUTES...I began to get annoyed. So I walked out to the car..there were TWO men trying to PUSH the car. That's right...no engine sound, just pure manual labor. When they saw me coming they all turned white as a sheet & begain explaining the car was just cold & after pushing it then it would start. AND THIS WAS A BRAND NEW CAR! So, needless to say, I didn't buy the G6. Now I'm even more glad I didn't!

amy (metz) walker said...

Wow! That's horrible. I hope everything gets worked out - and soon!!! So sorry!

Bonnie said...

Girl, I totally feel your pain. But, my situation was a little different. My first marriage was really horrible. He really did me wrong & I thank God that he brought Jason (my husband now) into my life. But, before I had separated from my ex, I was an idiot and co-signed on a car for him. He eventually ended up running off in the car & never got tags, insurance & never made one payment. We could never find him to serve divorce papers, so we couldn't get the car situation settled. (I eventually put a public notice in the paper & was granted a divorce) But, I also ended up having to file bankruptcy b/c of that car & HIM. It was so frustrating & it makes me so angry when I think about it. But, I just tell myself that God was trying to teach me a lesson!

I hope everything works out Shannon. We all usually end up surviving these thangs!