I went to Crown Honda and was literally badgered for my social security number before they would even let me look at the cars let alone test drive one!
My old Honda Accord was getting up there with the mileage as it had just passed 150,000 miles and I was beginning to look into replacing it with a newer model. So, I decided to stop by the local Honda dealership on Independence Blvd. here in Charlotte NC. It turned out that this was a big mistake as I was in for some of the rudest and craziest customer service I had ever seen.
The car dealership I am talking about was Crown Honda:
Crown Honda of Charlotte
7001 E Independence Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28227
1(877) 811-5701
The moment I got out of my car I was greeted by a chain-smoking salesperson that reeked of cigarette smoke. I told him that I wanted to look at some Honda Accords and the new Civics. He told me to come inside for just a second – I figured he was just going to get the keys to the cars and then we would then go out and look at them and maybe test drive some of them.
I was wrong. He had me sit at a desk and then started to fill out a piece of paper and asked me for my name, address, phone number, and social security number. I gave him the first three but I would not give him my social security number. I couldn’t see why he needed that to show me a car and maybe go on a test drive or two. I was not about to buy a car yet and could not see why he would need my personal information like my social security number.
The sales person left and then got their manager whom told me that they needed that information so that they could give me the best deals. I am not stupid. They wanted that information to see if I qualified for a loan so they could cram a car down my throat. They didn’t want to put a lot of time it is someone that couldn’t buy a car.
I take offense to this sort of treatment. I have an 805 credit score (I took the advice of Edmunds.com and pulled my credit score from all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) for $30. So, I easily qualify for any and all incentive or special rates.
I also have a credit union that I belong to (US Airways Employees Federal Credit Union) that gives me very low interest rate loans on car purchases. When I told them that I would prefer to use my credit union and that I hadn’t even looked at the cars yet nor was I ready to make a decision to buy right now they got disgusted with me.
I ended up leaving and going to the Honda dealership on South Blvd. (Hendrick Honda). I met a really nice and honest salesperson named Charlie Myers and he and his boss – a funny, nerdy looking guy named Gabe Dragel were very nice to me. They showed me several cars and let me test drive them without ever asking me for my social security number. I ended up buying a Honda Accord from them and got quite a good deal too!
I will never go back to Crown Honda in the future. I had heard some bad things about Crown Honda from some of my co-workers, but I decided to go down there myself and found them to be a nightmare. If you are in the market for a new Honda in the Charlotte area I would definitely have to say that you need to go and see Charlie Myers and Gabe Dragel at Hendrick Honda on South Blvd. instead.
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