Approximately 5 weeks ago, I found (now) my 2000 Nissan Frontier at the AutoNation Nissan Dealership in Lewisville, TX: Trip 1) Went out, looked over the truck, opened the doors, sat in it, tried the windows, doors, checked the engine, under the carriage, all over. After about ten minutes, AND another minute standing out in the open waving my arms, nobody had come out to say even as much as “Hello.” Trip 2) 2 days later, this time I called ahead. Truck was gassed up and ready for me to take to my mechanic to look over. I noticed on the drive that the front suspension was wobbly. Mentioned it to the mechanic, he gave me a $500 quote to repair. I mentioned the potential safety issue to my sales person and requested the repairs cost off of the truck, to which she replied: “Our cars are sold As-Is, we don’t negotiate our prices.” I leave. Fast-forward a week, the truck is still listed, but the price comes down $100. Fast-forward another week, the truck is still listed and the price comes down $200. Fast-forward another week and I reached the point of not really caring any more. But, that week, I received a call from a sales person at the dealership who asked if I was still in the market for a truck. I replied, “Yes, in fact, I’m in the market for a little truck like and you guys wouldn’t work with me on it. I’m just waiting for the price to come down enough so it’d be repairable.” He states, “I’m sorry but that truck sold yesterday.” Oh well, done is done. Next day, I’m looking through listings and I see this same truck listed, only now as “new listing” and yet another $100 off. Now they’re finally at my price point, but I’m a little unclear why I was told the truck was “sold yesterday”. Turns out they had transferred the truck to their Honda dealership across the freeway. I began speaking with JJ that I was ready to buy. I reserved the truck for 3 days later, asking that he send me the dollar figure for my check so I could speed up the process. At 10:00 am the last day, he finally sent me my price. It seemed high, so I asked for a break-down which included a $150 documentation fee that I promptly refused to pay, as a cash buyer. I was informed that they could not alter/remove that fee. I bade them farewell. 10 Minutes later, I hear from the Sales Manager asking what the trouble is. I related everything prior in this review. He checked out the suspension and, long-story-short(er); several hours and another “farewell” later, he opted to cover the ‘potential safety concern’ suspension in lieu of dropping the documentation fee. Lesson 1) Always get your mechanic to look at the vehicle. In what appears (to me) to be an attempt at deferring liability, AutoNation (Nissan and/or Honda) of Lewisville never actually bothered driving the truck which is all it took to find the suspension issue. Finally found once the Sales Manager actually bothered to drive it. Lesson 2) Always know the fair market value of the vehicle you’re considering. The “1 Price“ policy appears simply to be how they justify a too-high price, as you’re more likely to be uninformed enough to follow Lesson 1 and/or know what the vehicle is actually worth. Lesson 3) Walk away. It’s worth more than you can possibly know. In the end, if I see a vehicle under the AutoNation Flag, I will not bother.
Richard Lee Ellis
Jul 24, 2017
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