This morning I saw an ad at Universal Hyundai for 0% down payment and 0% APR for new car purchases. Upon arriving, I got nothing but lies, deceit, manipulation, and the proverbial bait and switch.
Today my wife and I went to Universal Hyundai, 12751 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, FL 32837 and were shown a lovely 2009 Hyundai Sonata by a charming salesman.
Once we spent several hours test driving the cars we were to choose from and bickering with the salesman as to price, it seemed we were nearly ready to finalize our purchase.
But not until we were thrown a clever financial scam, attempting to defraud, and deceive we the car buyers. Upon coming to an agreement for a purchase price of $15,987, we then noticed how many additional fees – taxes, dealear fees, etc. added up to $18,099.59.
Upon stomaching these exorbitant fees and preparing to finalize the purchase, we agreed to make a $4,000 down payment, leaving us with a balance of $14,099.59 to finance.
The charming salesman first said we would get 6.9% APR on the interest rate. However once our social security numbers and credit report were run, we suddenly were informed our APR would be 9.9% APR. Being a bit willing to go a little further to get this car, we played along.
At this point the salesmen started to back off, going in and out of the inner glassed caged room to talk to the finance guys (most overweight and grumpy), who massaged and manipulated numbers in an attempt to greatly rip us off.
We were originally told by the Hyundai sales rep our monthly payments would be $219 a month if we made a $4,000 down payment. Doing some simple math I calculated the remaining amount owed $14,099.59 multiplied by (1 + .099 interest for the annual APR) equalling $15,495.45 to be divided over 72 month payments at $215.21.
Then the fun began when the lying financiers at Universal Hyundai began their deceptive financing and massaging the numbers to make hefty profits. They said we would have to make monthly payments of $262.95 for 72 months – which I multiplied through totalling a $18,932.40 + $4,000 down payment to arrive at a grand total of $22,932.40 for a car originally priced at $15,987 nearly a $7,000 mark up. The 0% APR and 0 down was a blatant lie, scam, and attempt to defraud.
Interestingly, the so called 9.9% APR promised ($14,099 divided by $15,495.45) in actuality turned out to be 34.276% APR with their new manipulated numbers at $22,932.40.
Don’t deal with Universal Hyundai. As I told them in front of all other prospective buyers on the sales showroom, “You guys are crooks!”
Paul F Davis – worldwide minister, consumer advocate, and author
