I bought a 2000 Saab 9.3 S from Coral Palm Auto Sales in Ft Myers FL. First off they had me do a deferred down payment by writing two checks. One for $1200.00 and the other for $3500.00. I was told checks would NOT be cashed, that I would bring cash into them. They deposited the first check and it bounced. As they were not suppose to cash. I brought them in $850.00 that day and the following Friday I brought them another $850.00 and did not get check back. I was given to the 25th of March to pay the rest. I ended up in the hospital for a bowel obstruction and they called me while I was there several times demanding payment. I told Stev the Sales man I was in hospital and I would be there on the 25th as that was the time I was given. On the the 19th I came home with my husband and parents in car and they were taking my car??? I called Coral Palm and they said I did not make my payment and they had called bank to cancel the loan. I told him what happened to the 25th? I said my husband was there and I had a paper SHOWING I had till the 25th. He asked me where the paper was? I said in my glove box of the car you now have. His(ADAM) comment was, guess you don't have that paper anymore do you. I told him I was going to call bank and the police as he stole my car. He was no longer the lein holder the bank was. His comment back was if you want to play dirty then I will turn you in to the States Attorney office for check fraud. I said, you were not suppose to even cash those checks, my husband was right there when this was said! Adam came back with, that is hear say. You have no proof and we had you sign a promisary note. I said fine keep the car and give me back my down payment. Adam said "NOPE!!! This is where we keep your down payment for time and effort of collecting it back.????? I went to google and pulled up Top 10 auto scams. It states on there deferred down payments are illegal. Also, back dating of contracts are illegal and they called my husband and I to come in two weeks after we had the car to resign contract. He said there was a problem with signatures and had us BACK DATE to Feb 22, 2010. Also, it says that dealers will have you write checks telling you they will not cah them and do and cause your obligation a lot of problems.
On Monday when I called the bank, they HAD NO IDEA the car dealer had taken my car and no it was not cancelled. I was told it was illegal for them to take my car nd it was illegal for them to do deferred down payments and that they would have never given loan if the down payment was not paid in full. Here we are two weeks later, no car, no down payment back and got the loan cancelled. Adam called me on the 25th asking me if I wanted to continue deal or cancel it. I told him I have an attorney and I would sue them. His comment back was WOULDNT BE THE FIRST TIME WE'VE BEEN SUED! Great..... What kind of dealer did I get involved with. Also when I got the car, it broke down 3 times and finally they took it to the shop and I had NO car for 3 days. The problem was that they didn't know how to fix it and changed a relay and the mechanic at the dealer told my husband, I don't know if it will happen again. I don't really know what was wrong and hopefully I got it right.(But wouldn't take it to the Saab dealer to make sure it was fixed right). It kept having problems!!!
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