Hello all! I wake up this morning feeling like I got “Koon’d”. I was notified that my Sahara had landed last Friday, 8/19. I submitted credit app and other requested information on Wednesday, 8/24. Several emails back and forth between Koons and I after that. Even had them set me an appointment, advise what to bring, and quote me the payment. I even specifically asked to be sure there werent any issues with approval because I was wanting to avoid any last minute surprises. They assured all was good. All seemed to be on the up and up. I planned to make the trip solo, as my wife has no interest in cars. My credit rating came back as 799, and our household income is ~104k.
I booked my non-refundable flight from Louisville, KY to Ronald Reagan yesterday afternoon. All signs lead to this being a done deal…right?
Well I get a call from Koons at 6:40 last night. “Well we are having an issue getting the lease pushed thru, can you finance instead?” I expressed no interest in finance and explained if no lease, then no deal. They say they’ll call me back. I get the call back from someone else at Koons, stating that the deal is off without a co-signer.
Koons of course hits me with the ever so famous line “we’re not the bank” as if there’s no way to influence the deal and push it thru. So as it sits now, I am down $200 for a non-refundable plane ticket.
Lease Companion has been super cool though and has agreed to refund half of their fee. I used LC for another deal at the end of June with their other DC area dealer, and the deal was flawless. With that said, I can’t say enough good things about LC. Always VERY responsive and helpful in any way.
I have a hard time thinking that there weren’t other motives at work here for Koons to axe my approval and require a co-signer. My credit is essentially flawless and I’ve been able to get loans on any vehicle I wanted with no issues for the past 10 years. Frustrated at the deal, when I was talking to the person from finance, I accused the dealership of being happy the deal fell thru because they can now sell at or above MSRP. To which they replied “no sir, it is actually better for us if the customer who ordered is able to get the vehicle”.
Just a very frustrating deal with Koons…but again…LC IS AWESOME!!