Luxury Motors, Chicago Motorcars and me

RacerRick · 2008-12-24 19:56:21

I was recently part of a transaction involving Saab of Downers grove which is owned by Luxury Motors. I'm traded in my 2007 Lotus Exige S for a 2007 Chevrolet Z06 at Chicago Motorcars. I obtained financing from Capital One Auto Finance. Since Chicago Motorcars is not a franchise dealer, they can not cash the check so they asked me to do the deal at Saab of Downers Grove. I agreed. So we all took a ride over there. I have been to Luxury Motors before and am well aware of their reputation. Unfortunately, at this point in time of this story, I was not aware that Saab of Downers Grove was owned and operated by Luxury Motors. My friend and I arrive and we are lead to a back office where we meet two eastern european men who are dressed very casually. They reminded me of the techno twins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUfONVpMn4Q&fmt=18). As my friend and I sat there, they techno twins spoke in their native language and bantered back and forth while looking at the computer screen. The process was painfully slow. First, they entered in incorrect numbers for my trade in. The number was lower than the actual number that Chicago Motorcars and I had agreed to by about $1000. Finally, when we had all the numbers correct, one of the techno twins nonchalantly placed a piece of paper in front of me and asked me to fill out the form with my name, address and sign it. I read it and it was a loan application credit check approval form. I told him that I don't need financing and that I have financing from Capital One already. He proceeded to tell me that this was required by law. It is required because I might be a fugitive on the run and that everyone is required to fill out this form. Of course, I know that is completely false. So I told him I will call and ask my attorney. He left the room. My attorney was not in, so I proceeded to call another one. Techno Twin #1 (guy who tried to get me to sign credit app) came back in and said "OK, I talked to boss and he said it's ok. He not happy but it's OK. Let's do this.". Techno Twin #1 sat back down and proceeded to print out all the necessary forms. He signed everything and I counter-signed everything and the deal was done. Or so I thought. 2 weeks later, I receive a call from Capital One Auto Finance telling me that they will absolutely not deal with Saab of Downers Grove. I asked them why and they responded with: "For reasons that we legally cannot disclose.". I also find out later, from a friend that Saab Downers grove is actually owned by Luxury Motors. I am in shock. The list of reasons that a financing company would not deal with a car dealer is probably very small. I call Chicago Motorcars and notify them of the news. They tell me that Sebastien, the General Manager of Saab, has repeatedly told them that they are working it out with Capital One Auto Finance. Today, he even said that the deal has gone through. I decided to call Capital One to verify. Capital One informed me that the situation has not changed. So either Sebastien or Chicago Motorcars is lying. I doubt Chicago Motorcars would lie. They have no motive that I can think of. They need the title to the car I traded in and they probably want the funds from Capital One as well. And of course, I would like the title to the Z06. I recently talked to Parin, the owner of Chicago Motorcars, and he said that he has talked to Sebastien and that they will be refunding my personal check I wrote and reversing the deal. I asked Parin if he is sure about Luxury Motors refunding my money. He assured me that either I will get the check from Luxury Motorcars on Monday or that Chicago Motorcars will cover the cost (since CMC owes LM some money and can just even it out that way). Apparently, we will go to another dealership to handle the transaction. I will provide updates when the pending transactions have been completed.