Do they have a good selection of cars there I wanted to go by and take a look.
I just wanted to tell you that I am glad that you did not buy that car. I use to work in the car industry for over a decade and most of the people are completely honest and just hard working people trying to take care of their families. That being said I am from the Chicago area and everyone is use to this particular franchise and they are nuts. I don't know if you were flying commercial or privately but if you fly privately I now work for Bluestar Jets and I would love to become your private broker to arrange your flights. You can reach me at [email protected] Again, that was the best thing you could have done was not buy a car from them. I know several people who worked for them and trust anytime you treat your sales people bad they will not treat the customers good.
Nothing new here...only they are being called on it. The obvious rule of thumb, nice cars are not cheap and cheap cars are not nice. Oh, and no PPI equals PP.
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.
Racer, Take the Lotus to LamboChicago/FVMC and trade it in and have them get you a Vette from Ogden Chevy. Same owner I know you will get far better service from the Nuccios than anyone at LM any day of the week.
Get your car and money back and RUN don't walk away from LM. I cannot believe that they haven't been incarcerated yet. Just my warm and fuzzy feelings for them.
I talked to a bunch of civil attorneys and one of them has heard that they are under investigation by the Attorney General. If this doesn't go smoothly, I will be filing a complaint with the Attorney General's office.
They've been under investigation and stuff for years now. Always been up to some shady stuff... I'd definatly go through Lambo of Chicago as Rick suggested, they're solid people.
Luxury Motors by O'Hare - I purchased a car in February this year (2008)........ Did not purchase solely on cheap price - in fact - price was HARDLY a factor, the car had the specific color/options/location/ I was interested in....... I had done plenty of research prior to focusing on this car, called on EVERY available one in country, and asked my salesman there a multitude of questions (I am out of state), having him look at everything on car down to all four tires, viewed carfax etc..... I had gone to my local MB dealer, had them run the VIN for VMI (vehicle master inquiry) which told me the previous registered owner's name (company car) so it was easy for me to track down this business (local). Placed a call and talked w prior owner of vehicle, he described to me anything prudent I would want to know (nothing really) including where the car was traded in at - another Chicago dealer - before LM ended up w it....... Placed C. Card deposit on Vehicle, drove the distance to LM O'Hare, myself and close friend examined vehicle thoroughly and drove it......./ we enjoyed walking around the building and spent a great deal of time looking at more exotic cars........ Had a few very minor issues after arrival (no front floormats and one key) - salesman mailed floormats to me about a week later, bought myself a key at wholesale/tax-free price......... Had ZERO issues w getting the title, my car was registered in ??maybe 30-45 days?? In short, I guess I got lucky?? /But I also feel I did plenty of research and spent a good deal of time w this..... I know they move high/HIGH numbers of units, and it's my experience that FEW people will comment online to a positive experience, but the MAJORITY of the population only complain on message boards about PROBLEMS - ..........on a Pontiac board about problems w something model-specific on Brand-new car ..........on F-chat about salvage/flood title from Lux Motors ..........on etc// Moving such high numbers could result in more dis-pleased customers, than selling five cars a month I agree some of their practices are shady and no excuse for not reporting to customer about branded titles and such/ Would I shop there again? Well it definately wouldn't be my first choice (heed others experience) and probably wouldn't buy unless I had exhausted all other means available. I have heard from friends/colleagues about less than ideal buying experiences from everywhere-you name it- and positive from many dealerships as well........ But I personally wouldn't rule Lux Motors out.... Do some homework !!!
You didn't get lucky, a majority of the people that purchase from Luxury Motors aren't going to get ripped off. You're absolutely right, you'll only see complaints, not praise, for a place..especially if there are more than a couple of people as they tend to be more vocal. Only truly superior dealerships will actually get praise, from our area LFSC and Continental, and in the US as a whole, FoCNJ.
Sorry and not trying to be glib, but you were forewarned. You have to do your homework before making a deal!
Regardless of how much research I actually did, I don't believe it negates federal law. But then again, I'm not an attorney. This is just my layman's opinion. Excerpt from: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf § 619. Obtaining information under false pretenses [15 U.S.C. § 1681q] Any person who knowingly and willfully obtains information on a consumer from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.
Thanks for all the advice and support I've received both here and in private messages. Just to be clear, I haven't had a problem with Chicago Motorcars. So far Chicago Motorcars has been pretty good. The problems and issues encountered are all due to Saab Downers Grove/Luxury Motors.
the only experience i had with LM was a negative. went in to buy an 04 350z and trade in my mustang. guy offered me 800 dollars because "similar ones are going for that on ebay" mine was a 2000, had 54000 miles and spotless outside and in. the ones going for 800 were 94s or so with over 120,000 miles and beat to sh*t. we said no and walked out. he stood behind the car and wouldnt let us leave while he talked to his manager and then came up to the window and offered us 950. we just drove off. went to the nissan dealer in bourbanais (sp...down 57 south) and got 9000 for the car and bought an 04 Z there. The guy from LM wouldn't stop calling either and saying how good of an offer we were getting with 950.
Am I the only one who would feel very funny about having to go to another Dealership (not even owned by the same people) to sign paperwork and take delivery of the car??? Maybe I'm wrong, but I would NEVER go for this...
Rick, I must say, you got what you asked for. There is a reason why Capital One refuses to do business with likes of Chicago Motor Cars and Luxury Motors. You tried to cheat the system, and you got caught. I wonder what would Capital One do if they found out that you tried to use their check to buy from an excluded dealer (Chicago Motor Cars)? Would they prosecute? Whatever fraud may have occured, it was definitely initiated by you and your pals at Chicago Motor Cars. So, quit crying. You walked in, tried to commit fraud against your finance company, and you got taken by some more experienced players. Man up
A matter of policy and outright refusal are two distinctly different things. Capital One's policy is not to deal with non-franchise car dealers such as Chicago MotorCars. CapitalOne absolutely refuses to deal with (Bentley, Lany business owned by Luxury Motors uxuryMotors, SAAB, etc, etc), even though they are franchise dealers, for reasons they cannot legally disclose. Personally to me, that smells like an out of court settlement and NDA. That coupled with LuxuryMotor's notorious reputation (see google and Better Business Bureau) is reason enough to be extremely wary of doing business with such an entity. Prosecute for what? There have been many times where I've walked into a dealership and told them exactly what I want. They go look at their inventory. If they don't find it, they try to buy it from another dealer. It happens all the time. I'm surprised you are in the car business and aren't aware of this common practice. I did not initiate nor did I intend to participate in any fraudulent deal. I was interested in a car that Chicago Motor Cars had and I told them that I had a CapitalOne check. They said they couldn't take it. But they told me they would sell it to SAAB Downer's Grove. I would then purchase a car from a franchise dealer (SAAB Downer's Grove, in this example) and finance a portion of the sale with a CapitalOne check. No where does it say that franchise dealers can not purchase cars from non-franchise dealers or other sources. And no where does it say that a franchise dealer cannot purchase my car and turn around and sell it to another non-franchise dealer. What happens between Luxury Motors and Chicago Motorcars is not my business nor does it concern me. Show me where I committed fraud. Show me a statute that specifically outlines any of my actions as being fraudulent or illegal in this transaction. I won't hold my breath. The only party that had questionable, if not fraudulent, actions in this transaction was the finance manager (aka Techno Twin #1) SAAB Downers Grove. He lied and tried to illegally obtain my credit information under false pretenses. And they did it in front of at least 4 witnesses no less. Not very smart, especially if those people are subpoenaed by the office of Lisa Madigan. They attempted to deposit the funds even though they knew that they were blacklisted by CapitalOne. CapitalOne informed me that they had black listed them months before. I'm not crying. I'm just more motivated than usual now. I eventually found the car I wanted and everything has gone through smoothly. While I'm waiting for spring so I can drive my car, I'm just gathering all the information I need and the testimony of any witnesses prior to filing my report/complaint with the Attorney General. I will also actively warn and recommend any friends or associates of mine to never deal with LuxuryMotors or any company owned by them.
If you called Cap One and told them that your intentions were just to run the paperwork through a franchised dealer's books, while in fact you were buying a car from Chicago Motor Cars, they would have told you to scratch. It's completely obvious you tried to withhold the truth about the true seller of the vehicle to your finance company, in order to get financed. You lied on your application, specifically the question regarding the seller (franchise dealer or not). Based on that lie, they sent you the blank check. Last time I checked, lying on credit app is fraud. Take them to court, and see what happens after the judge finds out how the whole thing started. Best of luck to you, champ!
Thanks Coach! You obviously don't know how Capital One works. You are not required to have a car preselected (and therefore not needed on application) prior to obtaining their check. I didn't even know what kind of car I wanted (let alone where I was going to buy it from) when I sent in the application or received the check. It's called a Blank Check for a reason. The idea is to have your financing secured so you don't have to deal with car dealers. The loan application is approved based primarily on your credit score. It might surprise you, but some car dealers have a reputation of questionable business practices. You might want to do a little research before providing an opinion on something you clearly know very little about. Otherwise, you could just end up sounding like an incompetent fool. Originally, I had thought you were one of the Techno Twins or one of their associates. Now I realize, that cannot be. It's quite clear that they know way more about financing and Capital One Autofinance than you do.
