Rating: Gay Pontiac in Dickenson, TX (Houston)

I just wanted to let everyone know about my recent car buying experience in case anyone was planning on buying a new Pontiac/GMC.

Okay, first off, Gay Pontiac offerd me the best deal on an '04 GTO of any other dealer in Houston. I had several dealers tell me that if i could get the car for that to jump on it cause they couldn't touch it. So, even though it wasn't the color I wanted we decided to get the Red GTO from Gay Pontiac. When we decided to get it they said they made a mistake, that the deal they quoted me was for a 12,000 mile lease not the 15,000 mile lease I asked for. Okay, fine, everyone is allowed one screw up. Then the next time I talked to them they said that the deal was 280/month instead of 268/month- they had screwed up again. Even though I had the deal in writing (via e-mail) they wouldn't honor it. well, it was still better than most of the dealers were willing to do so we agreed to it. In fact, the finace manager said that there was no way for the 268/month deal to even be possible at the set residual. Then, they tell me that they can't get me the interest rate I wanted, even with a co-signer (my credit may not be perfect, but it ain't THAT bad). So now the payment is up to like 330/month. My wife and I were so tired of dealing with these people that we said fine, just let us sign the paperwork and get it overwith! So we get there and they had added on another $500 down! So by now I was ready to walk out and the finance guy actually told me that if I wasn't happy with the deal that he would give me my down payment back and i could walk out of there. Being that we already sold my wife's car we reluctantly decided to go through with the deal.

So about a week and a half later I'm on LS1gto.com (TX page) basically telling this same story at about 4:00. At 8:30 on my way home from the gym I got a call from the finance manager of Gay Pontiac wanting to let me know that they had "found" a way to get my payments back down to the original 280/month. I don't know about you guys, but I have never heard of a dealer giving money back- if they owe it to youthey usually find a way to use it with aftermarket stuff or a warranty. it looks like people use that page on ls1gto.com to locate new GTO's in TX so it's possible someone from the dealership saw the post. I guess never underestimate the power of the net! I'm going to re-sign the paperwork tonight I'll let you know if they get me for any more cash. I'm still not 100% happy, I'm not at the original deal I was quoted, but I am a lot happier than I was 3 days ago. that $50/month covers the difference in insurance.

Sorry for the extremely long post, but I wanted anyone that might be buying a new car to know what the were getting into. Not all bad, but not all good either.

Sucker. Never, never, never except a deal from anyone that you do not like. This is combat, and they have all the big guns. Always go ready to walk, and do it, if you don't get what you want. If it's in writing they have to honor it. Tell them they'll here from your lawer, and then get one. If you don't want the hassle, take the deal to 4 or 5 other dealers. I'll bet one of them will match it. All this haggling is designed to do just what it did. Make you tired and just sign. Turn the tables on them, come in over several day with different deals, make them feel like they're taking food out of your mouth. They make money if they get you to finance with GMAC. So go get someone to write that they will give you X% financing, then tell the dealer that if they can match it you'll finance with them. You'll be suprised at how fast most will jump at it. After a deal is made, DO NOT accept any changes. This includes verbal deals, it's still a contract and can't be changed.
I repeat, most important, walk. If your being resonable they'll call you the next day. If not THEN you'll know, they can make the deal, so you can go somewhere else.

P.S. Gay has never had a rep. as a cheap dealer.

I ws gonna walk, but they pulled the card on me and offered to show me the door. I finally did the lease with the intention of refinancing through my credit union in 6 months. I we hadn't sold the mustang already it would have been a different story. Oh, and for the record only one dealer (out of 7) offered to meet that price initially (beck and Masten) and by the time they figured it the lowest they could get was 297/month.

I understand. Not really being critical, just bad attemt at some humor.
The important thing is you've got a great car you can enjoy.

Yea, I hate buying new cars, it's such a pain, but your exactly right, I did end up with a great car, and it would have been worth the higher payment, I hate to say it but it puts my Firehawk to shame.

the opposite happened to my parents why they bought a minivan like 10+ years ago. they handed them the paperwork they signed it and said ok. left and got a phone call the next day. the guy was saying how he was gonna lose his job and such. my dad told them: hey, you were too busy trying to screw me over, the paperwork is signed. i think they ended up getting it for like 1k less or something.

I dont know, i financed my wifes lexus signed at $339 a month, a few days later the dude called me back and said he found a new place for my loan that would bring it down to $301 a month. I thought it was pretty cool, Ive bought like 8 cars from the place in like a 18 months so they kinda try to be nice to me.

I dunno, the only person there that really knew what he was doing was the finance guy. The sales person kept getting the #'s on the deals confused cause we were looking at a couple cars.