I know there have been mixed reviews about them on here before. I bought a used car there for my college son to drive. I was actually going to come here and make a post about how good the experience was. But then I realized after the fact that they had slipped an extra $500 into the purchase price (not a fee, the just increased the price). I believe they did this intentionally because page 2 of the sales contract doesn't have a purchase price on the top. The first number is sales tax and then all the fees. When I signed it I obviously didn't calculate backward from the sales tax to confirm the purchase price and all the fees looked right. I called and spoke to them about it and the sales manager said if I am upset about $500 then I need to just bring the car back today and they will cancel the contract. And if I don't then he is going to report the car stolen. WTH is wrong with these people.

If you don't bring it back, you've still purchased the car. If reported stolen and the police arrest, I'm thinking that would be a huge lawsuit.

Call his bluff. I bet they don't undo the deal.

They are demanding that you return the car you bought? I don't understand.

Please post a screenshot

JB said:

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They are demanding that you return the car you bought? I don't understand.

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Yes, I'll try to unpack the full story here.

My son is a student at A&M and was in need of a new car as his was a piece of crap but we were trying to squeeze a bit more life out of it (it had already been totaled in last year's hail storm but we kept it but mechanical issues were starting to become too frequent).

I will say, while I was there, everyone at Allen Honda was very nice and helpful. They couldn't take the car on trade it but I had another offer for it. So they very nicely said I could hold back money from my down payment and then pay once I sold the car so I did. So keep in mind I still owed them a bit of money.

For the car I was buying we agreed on a sales price. Then of course tax, title, fees, etc. They were doing NO add ons which is great these days.

I go into the finance office to sign everything. Of course it's all on a screen now and not paper. The whole time the agreed upon sales price was at the top of the screen. Then comes the tax, fees, etc. I looked at all the fees to make sure nothing was added or unreasonably high. (I buy a lot of cars so I always know what title, doc fee etc should approximately be. Everything looked close enough so I signed. I also financed through them.

They gave me all the paperwork on a flash drive.

Once back in Houston I am getting ready to refinance through my credit union (for a MUCH lower rate of course) and I open up the pdf and start putting all the information into my own spreadsheet. I notice on the pdf that the sales price isn't on the top of the sales contract. The first number is sales tax. I do a bit of math and realize the tax is too high. Seems weird, then I realize they added $500 to the sales price. Not a fee down where all the fees are, the price was just $500 too high. Not really a big deal but enough to make me curious so I call.

The sales manager says he can't talk about the contract over the phone - I have to come in. I say I don't live there and I'm not planning to come into town anytime soon. He says we can figure it out later. I say, well remember I still owe you another check and if the amount is going to be different I want to know before I pay the rest of the down payment. He says ok, let me see what I can do.

Then he calls back about 10 minutes later and says nevermind we'll just cancel the contract. You've got to the end of today to bring the car back or we'll report it stolen. I'm shocked because I just wanted to talk about it. He then hangs up. I come here and make my first post above. Then I get the formal letter that says I have until COB to either pay the rest of the down payment or return the car. Important to note that my son and the car have left College Station for the weekend.

So, it was the fact that I still owed a bit of money that I guess they felt they could accuse me of being in breach and make demands.

I said screw it, I don't have time for this and went ahead and paid what I owed.

TLDR - Allen Honda sucks, snuck an extra $500 at the last minute.

Post the letter

Yikes. Can't talk about the contract over the phone. Sounds shady. Sorry this happened to you.

Definitely a shady dealer. Wouldn't even give someone I know a price without getting them into the finance office to sign paperwork. Already put the plates on the car to trick them into thinking they bought it.

Ended up buying from another dealer for thousands less. I would never shop at Allen.

They're shady as ****. I tried to buy my wife a car there one time, we negotiated a price and I thought we had a deal. The told me straight up that this was the out the door price. Similar to OP, once the paperwork comes out it was not the price we agreed on. They basically said "too bad, you can pay it or leave". I left, and will never set foot in that place again.

They have a terrible reputation in town and there was a big thread on the Aggieland board awhile back about them. Sorry they got you.

I called them one time to discuss a price on a new car. Told me their price was not negotiable and if I found it cheaper in Houston, then go buy it there. Amazing that you can stay in business talking that way to people.

They literally pay their service customers to leave positive google reviews to help hide all the 1 star sales reviews.

I will never buy a Honda or Acura because I would never set foot there for anything.

Their reputation is straight garbage here.
They should be embarrassed to show their faces. During covid they would sell a Civic for $20k over MSRP.

Definitely one of the shadiest experiences I've ever had. Plus it was absolutely crazy how fast we went from "Hey, I have a question" to "We're going to report the car stolen".

The next time a dealer forces me to sign all the finance docs electronically, i plan to hand them back the flash drive after they give it to me, and tell them to print it all out so I can review on the spot

The more I read about this the more I see it happens often as buyers are just in a hurry to GTFO. Actual paperwork does not reflect what is on the digital screen.

They are terrible, Crooks. Keating would buy them but can't figure out how to squeeze out anymore profit, as Allen is already nearing max rip off territory.

chap said:

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Definitely one of the shadiest experiences I've ever had. Plus it was absolutely crazy how fast we went from "Hey, I have a question" to "We're going to report the car stolen".

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I learned on the Outdoors board this would have been a civil issue and not criminal and the police wouldn't have done ***** Should have held your ground.

Pretty sure Jason is one of the ones I dealt with. ****ing tool, if so

The dealership committed fraud to the lending institution by misrepresenting your financial interest in the contract. That institution would love to know that. Both parties rely on an equitable relationship

I know TexAgs generally doesn't like Rusty Surette, but this seems like something he'd love to post about.

Allen Honda simply can't get enough bad publicity. You should get in touch with Rusty.