09-13-2009 - 1999 Honda Civic - My story

CASE OF:
Public Motors
2114 East 1st Street
Santa Ana, CA 92705
1-800-731-2199

My wife and I went to Public Motors on 09-13-09, Sunday at 9am pst to look into buying a used car. This is a car auction and my wife and I’s first. An employee of Public Motors named Sandra showed us a few cars and my wife and I decided to do a silent bid on a 1999 Honda Civic. My wife and I made it clear to Sandra that $5,000.00 was our budget, had $1,000.00 in cash for a down payment, and monthly payments could be no more than $150-$200. My wife and I offered $4,500.00 for the 1999 Honda Civic and they returned with an offer of $5,295 + fees ($299.99 +3% bid amount & inspection of $55.00). The APR was never mentioned on this document of scribbled numbers. I request to take the car for a test drive, but Sandra says they aren't allowed to do that while the lot is open and then promises my wife and I that if anything happens to the car that she would pay out of her bonus money to have it fixed. The manager comes over and states that he is going to provide us with free GAP Insurance, because he supposedly cares about us, which we thank him for.

The manager leaves and Sandra asks if we have a down payment. My wife states that we have brought $1,000.00 cash as a down payment, which Sandra says her manager needs to see to make sure we have the money. So, my wife takes out the $1,000.00 in cash and Sandra takes the $1,000.00 and walks away with it, never returning it. Sandra returns and states that we will need $500.00 more for the down payment. I give Sandra my credit card, which she takes. They request I sign the white piece of paper with scribbles mentioning $5,275.00 + fees and monthly payment total of $200.00. Sandra rushes us to ring some bell, so she can be the first sale of the day and get her $150.00 bonus, as she stated, as well as get us on camera no doubt.

My wife and I are led into the Finance room and left with a man named Frank (Caucasian). Frank starts our finance and credit paperwork, and slides a document titled, “DISCLOSURE “, which had a break down of all the fees, payments, GAP insurance, taxes, etc. The NEW grand total is $7,180.20. APR was 16.99% and if paid off steadily, the total would be in the $8,000.00 range. My wife and I state that this is far above the amount previously mentioned on the white piece of paper and that it is out of our budget, so we state that we must decline on the deal. We are then informed that 25% of the total price of the car, + fees, and other stuff will be charged to us for backing out of the deal at this point in time, meaning the $1,500.00 down payment we just did was now Public Motors. Tears flowed from my wife and I attempted a discussion about the fact we hadn't even bought the car yet and how is it legal for them to keep our $1,500.00 if we were only in negotiations and also, what if we didn't want to buy the car and hadn't signed anything?? Sandra comes back in and tells Frank that the manager Richard said he’d provide the GAP insurance free, but Frank says that he never does that.

They show my wife and I an agreement we signed upon entering the Auction and they referenced the section, which states, "REFUND POLICY - You may within two (2) days of the Auction request a refund, in which case you will be responsible to pay a forfeiture fee in the amount of 25% of the total price of the car, plus auction fee, and any administrative and storage costs. Refunds will be made within 10 business days by company check." I still have all these documents.

I then ask the Manager how this "condition" or "term" applies to my wife and I, since we had not yet purchased the car, therefore couldn’t return something that wasn’t ours. The Manager Richard said that as soon as we started negotiating for the car the $1,500.00 down payment was legally the car dealers at that point. My wife and I hadn't signed anything up until then, our credit hadn't been run, or signed, and our finance papers not even written up. My wife and I expressed the final total of $7,180.20 for a 1999 Honda Civic with 92,000 miles was out of our budget and now what we had negotiated earlier. The manager said that we had two choices: 1) To leave the car and lose our $1,500.00 down payment, or 2) take the car and suck it up.

In tears, my wife and I are escorted out to our new car, which was forced upon us at this point and she opens the gate for us. I now crying as well drive towards the next gate, which is locked and we cannot leave ,or else the car would be reported stolen, as stated by one of the employees, as we requested someone let us out.
At this point I called the Police who arrived soon after, because my wife and I felt like hostages. Officer Alcantar mediated the dispute and we were left with a stalemate. The manager said that he would keep our $1,000.00 if we didn't sign, and I told him I would sign, but under protest. The manager said that he would rip up the contract, keep our money, and kick us off the lot if I did that. All of this discussion was held in front of the Officer Alcantar. My wife and I are escorted into a different Finance office with another man named Frank (Hispanic). Again, I express my concern to Frank regarding their REFUND POLICY and that, how does it pertain to our situation when we had not yet signed any contract. The white piece of paper with a price of $5,275 + fees was not the price on the DISCLOSURE form.

My wife tells this Frank, as well as the other before, that the GAP Insurance was also tacked onto the DISCLOSURE, despite the manager telling us that he would provide the GAP insurance for us if we bought the car. Frank said that they don’t ever provide GAP for free and we must of misunderstood. My wife and I had entered the auction at open, 9am pst, was the first sale of the day, and it was almost 3pm pst by this point and I signed every piece of paper Frank threw in front of me, mostly all with (under protest) next to my signature, because I didn’t want to lose my $1,500.00.

Frank leads us out to the car, for the second time that day and says his goodbyes. Frank opens the first gate and we pull up to the next gate, which never opens. After a few minutes of sitting and honking again, we realize no one is going to help us again. I get out of the car and walk all the way back into the Sales Office where I find the two Franks and the Manager, in their office having a good chuckle over something, which stirs my imagination. They finally open the gate for us and let us leave that illegally run used car auction.

I understand that state law requires you to return a vehicle within (2) days, however Public Motors added onto that “..and be charged 25%...” Again, the REFUND POLICY does not state anything regarding “Negotiations and down payments, before credit, or financing is even completed, are subject to seizure from Public Motors if you don’t go through with buying the car you are negotiating.” This sounds criminal, perhaps bait and switch regarding the pricing, before and after.

Also, after reviewing the countless reviews about Public Motors on the internet it appears that dozens if not hundreds of people have experience this the identical situation and in many cases worse. It is apparent that Public Motors is doing something not within the bounds of the law and has been financially raping people for a long time.

My wife and I were forced into signing the contract through entrapment, bait and switch, and through financial rape and I even wrote on each “sign here” = "Jeff Meints (under protest)," despite the threat the manager had made earlier about ripping up the contract, keeping the car, and our $1,500.00 down payment, all stated in front of Office Alcantar! Thank god the manager didn’t have the brass to see our sale through, otherwise he might have noticed I signed it like I did. I would even go as far as saying we were being held their against our will, combined with all my other claims.

After driving from Santa Ana all the way back home to Escondido, crying all the way and following close behind my wife’s car… we looked over each document we received; from the first white piece of paper, to the DISCLOSURE, and to the final BILL OF SALE…. We noticed that all documents have different amount totals and many discrepancies throughout. The internet shows that finding more people whom experienced this crime should be easy, because there was an abundance of negative reviews. The pattern dating months back, perhaps years is all there.
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09-16-2009

The 1999 Honda Civic has just broken down and doesn’t even turn on. Sighs.

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OCTOBER 2, 2009

Less than one month after the car breaks down.... $1,600.00 more has been spent to fix a car that I still owe around $8,000.00 on. To boot, there is a screw in the tire, there never was a thermostat in the engine, and the old block you could tell was salvaged.

It almost appears that they rebuilt this car with just enough scrap parts to get it running for maybe a week....

If anyone has encountered Public Motors in Santa Ana, CA... and dealt with these situations feel free to contact me through my email jeffaries281@hotmail.com and let's find some justice.