Bel Air Nissan Is Evil, Even For A Car Dealership

Being me, I researched my vehicle purchase A LOT. I did scads of internet research, narrowed down the list of vehicles, went and test drove several of each and finally decided on the Nissan XTerra. Then I researched some more, drove more of them, looked at available options and decided that I wanted a 2009 or 2010 XTerra with the off road package, a 6 speed, and oh yes, a dark color - preferably the Night Armor. THEN I spent over a year looking online, in the papers, and so on for my new vehicle.

Finally, late in September, I found a black one in Georgia and a night armor one in Maryland. Both were 2010 models with the off road package and a 6 speed. The 2011 models were out, and my Jeep was definitely feeling its age so I needed to act. The black one was used, but with less than 4000 miles on it. They were offering $27500 for it. I contacted the dealership (Jones Junction, aka Bel Air Nissan) in Maryland and told them that if they could beat the price on the black one, I'd be in the next weekend. Dave Himer, the internet sales guy, asked me to make an offer so I came back with $26000. He went off to talk to his sales manager, came back and said okay.

I arranged for a loan thru my bank but agreed to let them run the numbers to check what they could get me. Dave came back with paperwork thru Nissan that was for a better interest rate, so I said that I'd go thru them. He fedex'd the paperwork, but spelled my name wrong then told me they'd just reprint it at the dealership. When I called and asked about the mileage and whether a Garmin was included with the vehicle, he put me on hold for 10 minutes to go check and came back and gave me the mileage and said that the Garmin was included.

The first weekend in October, I drove from NC to pick up the vehicle. I told them several times that it would be registered in Ohio. My drivers license is from Ohio. My permanent address is in Ohio. The insurance is based in Ohio. When I arrived for the appointment, I was told that i'd have to wait since others had arrived before me. There was no Garmin in the car and when I questioned them, they said that it wasn't listed on the sticker on the car and they didn't have any in stock. Then they said there was a problem with the financing and the interest rate was going to be higher than what my bank could give me. Then they made me wait longer to talk to some female who tried to talk me into a manicure and spending an additional $1000 on some clear coat protective paint thing. Then I waited longer to deal with the finance guy (Ron) who kept hitting on me. We had several discussions about where their numbers came from since they didn't agree with my numbers.

I finally escaped from the dealership after 5 hours, dizzy and half starved, without a Garmin to find my way home, with a higher interest rate AND - I found out later while reviewing the papers - that they charged me nearly 4 times what they quoted for the extended warranty. But, I left with Petunia and I love her.

It is now 7 weeks later, and they are telling me that they didn't charge me enough tax to register the vehicle in Ohio and they expect me to pay an additional $800+ to them. I have been on the phone with Roxanne or Tracey or Steve or Chad damn near every day. Chad is useless - he never once returned a phone call. Ever. Roxanne is nice when you talk to her, but doesn't call back either. Actually, Steve is the only one who DID call when he said he would, and even then it wasn't every time.

They claimed to have the tags from Ohio. This week, I talked to people at the title place and the registration place - they have gotten NO paperwork from the dealership, even though Roxanne claimed to have sent it 2 weeks ago. When I called her on that, she said that there was one more form that she had to fed-ex out and they should have gotten it yesterday. One other thing that makes me believe that she hasn't done anything she said that she would - the sales tax in my county is 6.75%, not the 6% that they've been mentioning.

Today, I talked to the finance people because Ohio won't let you register the vehicle until they have the title. The finance lady (Doreen) told me that they didn't actually have the title yet and the dealership HAD to be the one to handle everything... and they have TWO months from the date of the first payment to get everything under control. This means that they don't have to get things organized until January 10.

Steve Zell is the one who I'm primarily dealing with now. I don't actually know his title, but I think it's "enforcer." I read a review on Edmunds.com that talked about how he made some woman cry from getting after her so badly. Last week, I told him that if they provided the garmin and the cradle that were supposed to be on the vehicle, I would pay the tax that they screwed up and didn't charge. He had to talk to the owner to get approval. Then he came back and said that the the deal had been approved but the garmin and cradle had been discontinued but he'd look on Amazon and take the price of the garmin out of the tax. I said no. He was supposed to call yesterday and SHOCK did not. I talked to him this morning, and he said he didn't call because their service manager said that he was going to call me.

I'm at my wit's end. I talked to someone from the Attorney General's Office in Maryland last week and they told me that I was probably going to need a lawyer, which will cost more than just paying the confounded tax. They said this because there are more than 15 pending cases currently open with their office against this dealership. I filed a report with the BBB, but they already have an F rating there. I talked to Nissan Corporate Customer Affairs, and Ryan told me that there was nothing he could do - the dealership is independently owned. He also said that he'd called the dealership and they told him that the issue had been resolved. So, they lie to corporate too.

I am moving from North Carolina NEXT WEEK. I NEED to have this handled NOW. And I have no idea what to do. So if you have any ideas, please share them... and DO NOT ever ever ever ever buy a car from this dealership!