Luxury Motors, Chicago Motorcars and me
 

I was recently part of a transaction involving Saab of Downers grove which is owned by Luxury Motors. I'm traded in my 2007 Lotus Exige S for a 2007 Chevrolet Z06 at Chicago Motorcars. I obtained financing from Capital One Auto Finance. Since Chicago Motorcars is not a franchise dealer, they can not cash the check so they asked me to do the deal at Saab of Downers Grove. I agreed. So we all took a ride over there. I have been to Luxury Motors before and am well aware of their reputation. Unfortunately, at this point in time of this story, I was not aware that Saab of Downers Grove was owned and operated by Luxury Motors.

My friend and I arrive and we are lead to a back office where we meet two eastern european men who are dressed very casually. They reminded me of the techno twins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUfONVpMn4Q&fmt=18). As my friend and I sat there, they techno twins spoke in their native language and bantered back and forth while looking at the computer screen. The process was painfully slow. First, they entered in incorrect numbers for my trade in. The number was lower than the actual number that Chicago Motorcars and I had agreed to by about $1000. Finally, when we had all the numbers correct, one of the techno twins nonchalantly placed a piece of paper in front of me and asked me to fill out the form with my name, address and sign it. I read it and it was a loan application credit check approval form. I told him that I don't need financing and that I have financing from Capital One already. He proceeded to tell me that this was required by law. It is required because I might be a fugitive on the run and that everyone is required to fill out this form. Of course, I know that is completely false. So I told him I will call and ask my attorney. He left the room. My attorney was not in, so I proceeded to call another one. Techno Twin #1 (guy who tried to get me to sign credit app) came back in and said "OK, I talked to boss and he said it's ok. He not happy but it's OK. Let's do this.". Techno Twin #1 sat back down and proceeded to print out all the necessary forms. He signed everything and I counter-signed everything and the deal was done. Or so I thought.

2 weeks later, I receive a call from Capital One Auto Finance telling me that they will absolutely not deal with Saab of Downers Grove. I asked them why and they responded with: "For reasons that we legally cannot disclose.". I also find out later, from a friend that Saab Downers grove is actually owned by Luxury Motors. I am in shock. The list of reasons that a financing company would not deal with a car dealer is probably very small.

I call Chicago Motorcars and notify them of the news. They tell me that Sebastien, the General Manager of Saab, has repeatedly told them that they are working it out with Capital One Auto Finance. Today, he even said that the deal has gone through. I decided to call Capital One to verify. Capital One informed me that the situation has not changed. So either Sebastien or Chicago Motorcars is lying. I doubt Chicago Motorcars would lie. They have no motive that I can think of. They need the title to the car I traded in and they probably want the funds from Capital One as well. And of course, I would like the title to the Z06.

I recently talked to Parin, the owner of Chicago Motorcars, and he said that he has talked to Sebastien and that they will be refunding my personal check I wrote and reversing the deal. I asked Parin if he is sure about Luxury Motors refunding my money. He assured me that either I will get the check from Luxury Motorcars on Monday or that Chicago Motorcars will cover the cost (since CMC owes LM some money and can just even it out that way). Apparently, we will go to another dealership to handle the transaction.

I will provide updates when the pending transactions have been completed.

Yeah LM has alot of questionable Eastern Euro/Middle Eastern trash that work there. Can't stand the employees and the club environment they work in.

Sounds like a handfull. Ive looked a few cars CMC has and it's good to know that Cap 1 wont deal with them as I was planning on using Cap 1. I hope you get this all worked out!

Fair Credit Reporting Act
 

Excerpt from: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf

§ 619. Obtaining information under false pretenses [15 U.S.C. § 1681q]

Any person who knowingly and willfully obtains information on a consumer from a
consumer reporting agency under false pretenses shall be fined under title 18, United States
Code, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.

Good luck with everything. Keep us posted and I will keep an eye out for another Z.

Cheers,
Brendan

Sounds shady! Just get your money back..hopefully. I myself was gonna do business with LM, but backed out last minute......i didnt feel comfortable with them. TRY chicago car collection in morton grove. Ask for Jim or Pete cool guys. Tell J.R. with the siver c4 cab sent ya! Good luck!!!!

Thanks for all the advice and support I've received both here and in private messages.

Just to be clear, I haven't had a problem with Chicago Motorcars. So far Chicago Motorcars has been pretty good. The problems and issues encountered are all due to Saab Downers Grove/Luxury Motors.

I do not know how Luxury Motors stays in business. All I hear are horror stories, and even one of my own buddies bought a car there and they did not get him his title for almost 2 MONTHS!! They only got it to him that fast because he threatened to call the police and attorney generals office and since they had broken their contract and pretty much stolen his money since he was not able to drive the car without the title and registration and he has paid in full for the car. Finally those guys sent him the title. This was a couple of years ago, but evidently things have not changed there.

Capital one will only deal with franchise dealers as of April 1st this year, in good standing and without logs of complaints in there system, that fit a number of criteria. One I believe is not doing deals from outside sources to gain clearance on checks. Chances are they are just yanking your chain about capital one from the start, I went through this at the beginning of the year.

What happened to you in the beginning of the year? Can you give more details on your situation? I would like to know what to look for and what to expect.

Are you referring to Luxury Motors or Chicago Motorcars when you are talking about yanking my chain about Capital One? I'm sure that Luxury Motors knows that they have been blacklisted and I'm not sure why they would even go through the motions of pretending to do the deal. I don't understand why Chicago Motorcars would go through the motions just to "yank my chain". It's a huge waste of time, effort and money for all involved to do that and there is nothing to be gained. Plus, if the deal doesn't go through, they lose out on a sale on top of wasting time and effort. Well, perhaps I should just cancel the deal and go to franchise dealer where I won't have any of these issues to deal with.

Hey sorry to hear about your horror story at LM (Night at the roxbury.) I have heard several stories too, and though I went there to shop a few cars, the minute you pull in their driveway is a calling for a UTURN.

RE: CMC... looks like he was caught in the middle between your transaction. They have a pretty good rep, and I have had several good dealings with them, and knowing parin, he was probably just thinking positively and relaying info based on info he recieved from LM.

Shank

LOL at the video... thats literally how it is over there including the music....and its amazing how they all wear $20k 'romexes'. Ive dealt with them in the past and the best way I can describe it is... being in the twilight zone. One of my friends almost bought a car from them once and it didnt work out...weeks later he found out that they ran his credit like 10 times. He was rather pissed. Good luck!!

This is very interesting. A friend of mine has purchased his last 3 cars(X5, 330i, 545i) from LM without issue. He likes them. I never have been there myself. He DID tell me that you can't understand what most of the people are saying, ha.

Chicago Motor Cars
 

Nice information but Chicago Motor Cars in best way to choose. ;););)

Sorry to hear that. I'm always trying to stay away from small dealers. Why? Leason learned. Most of their cars [I'm not talking about lm ) been either in some kind of accident or never went thru inspection. All they do just clean the car inside out and they want to make quick buck. Stay away from any small dealers. If not make sure you inspect the car take it for a 30min drive go on a hway put the car on the lift and look for leaks. don't leave any deposits. Btw I like how you described techno twins lol