Suprised with this dealer, don't know what to do!

[aiham78]

Live in Indiana, purchased a used car from Fields Infiniti Glencoe in Illinois. I purchased the car 11/19/16, with temporary tags that expired 12/19/16.
The dealer has a policy that they have to register the car themselves and charged me $530 registration fess in addition to the car price, taxes and doc fees!
My biggest mistake of all time is that I agreed to that, I should have left immediately, lesson learned.

The dealership didn't send me title, registration or plates. I contacted them multiple times via email and phone, my emails and phone calls are rarely returned by the business office manager with "we don't know where is your registration" " we made a mistake with the paperwork so we have to do it again" or "despite that we made a mistake the first time, we made another mistake, so you have to wait more" and so on...

The car is parked in my garage, can't be driven since the temporary tags has expired. I'm totally lost on what to do, do I have to hire a lawyer now to sue them in order for them to work on my registration? Their business office manager Chris DiBenardo is like the laziest a** I have ever seen. Doesn't do anything at all when it comes to processing the registration, makes fake promises. He is very unorganized and I think this is why two separate mistakes happened to my documents. I can safely say that their business office is a huge mess thanks to Chris DiBenardo.

Another thing that surprised me with this dealership is the amount of hidden fees that they tucked in during the sale process, for example: they put $800 registration fees and I asked for the breakdown of the fees and I was amazed how they added bogus fees, so I was able to reduce it to $530. Then, there is the doc fees around $150. Then the tactic to sell me gap coverage for double the regular price and then saying this is my last chance to get it because they can't offer it later after the sale!! There are so many places to purchase the gap coverage for less, after the sale date! I have never had this experience with any other dealer in Indiana, Illinois or any other state.

I have purchased several cars from other states from smaller dealers but never had issues, I usually get the title in 10 to 14 days. Bought a Mercedes GL450 from St.Charles Motorcars in IL and 2011 M37 from Kingstowne Motorcars in VA, no problems at all. Can this Fields Infiniti Glencoe delay the title or registration like that? Very frustrating experience with them. Any suggestion on resolving the registration issue is appreciated. how can I push the dealership to work on my car documents?

[Rogue One]

Ok, first off most states, including Illinois, issue temp tags for 90 days not 30. If there was a temp tag already on the vehicle, it should have been removed as it wasn't valid for you to use. I'm not going to get into whether you were overcharged with hidden fees, etc. as that's the least of your concerns right now.

Your most effective recourse is to file a complaint against the dealership with the Consumer Protection Division of the Illinois Attorney General’s office.

You could try going to the DMV to title and register the car yourself, but then you'd have to try and get the title to have the vehicle transferred to you as owner, and try recoup the fees you've already paid to the dealership.

BTW, it can take up to 90 days (or longer) to get your car titled with the DMV if you go through the dealership, which is why most states issue 90 day temp tags.

[aiham78]

Thank you for the reply and the helpful info. I never realized that the dealership could have issues a 90 day permit, I was under the impression that 30 is the max. The tag is issued on the same date of purchase by the dealer (30 days), they probably wanted to spare couple of dollars by issuing the 30 day one vs the 90 despite the ton of money that I paid them.

As for the hidden fees, not worried about them, just a rant and a heads up to others if they face such a dealership. Their charges were super hidden and sketchy. I probably caught most of them and thus reduced the price of the total out of pocket. Think of it as a Comcast bill with all the crazy hidden fees.

I have used the provided link and submitted a complaint, just not sure how effective and fast the General's office. Hopefully they are not understaffed. I really don't want to keep the car parked in my garage for 90 days. Good that I have another car to use, what about others that only have one car and purchased a car from them... Uber everyday till the Fields Infiniti dealership have mercy on them and work on the title and registration.

Indiana would send me temporary tags as soon as they get the title docs from the dealership, the problem is that they are not getting any docs from yet. The business office manager is sending them with errors and they return them back to him "twice" and of course he is taking his sweet time in doing things. If I made a mistake, I would throw everything I have on my hand to fix it, not ignore it and get to it when I have the mood.

Again, thank you for the link , I used it and I also submitted a complaint via BBB. I wish if there was an entity that monitor and penalize dealer for such actions, like a dealer licensing agency or something similar.

[rgregoryb]

I would be wondering to myself "did the dealer actually pay the car off, and do they have the proper documents at all?"
On the next business day I would do like an above poster said and call the Illinois Consumer Protection folks.

[aiham78]

I will call, and it is surprising that all this is coming from an Infiniti dealership. My experience with this place is similar to the hassle you might find with some car private sellers on Craigslist "no offense to CR sellers".

[PapaSmurf2k3]

This happened to me once. I just called them up and the overnighted another temp tag to me.

[aiham78]

Same dealer "Fields Infiniti Glencoe"? I have been calling and emailing them: The business office manager (Chris), and the general manager (Tony) during the past two weeks. All I get "if they choose to get back to me" is that there was a mistake in the paperwork, we need another three weeks and so on. They mentioned they can't issue another temp tag "probably don't want to pay for it", and no I'm stuck with these scam artists.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Did you finance the car through them? If so, just stop paying and say there was a problem with the paperwork.

[darylzero]

That really sucks aiham78. Glad you let us know. From your story I would never go there if I was going to get an Infiniti.
It doesn't really help now but I have good things about the Clarendon Hills Infiniti dealership.

[Rogue One]

You should be able to go to your local DMV office with all your vehicle paperwork and the expired temp tag and pay them to issue another one. I ran into a few snags purchasing my last vehicle and had to go through three temp tags before getting my hard plate. Usually the cost for a 90 day temp tag is $20-$30. It sucks having to shell out more money, but if you keep a positive attitude you should be able to get a new temp tag so you can drive your car.

[aiham78]

I totally agree, I lost the positive attitude in this situation. Not because the paperwork and registration is delayed but because of their fail to care. If this was me in the dealership position, I would have called the customer before they even call me and assured them that I will do my best to get the matter expedited “especially that the dealership are the ones made the mistakes in the documents, not the customer”; instead they choose to ignore my calls and emails and show all the sloppiness in the world.

Didn’t know that I can get temp tags myself from the DMV especially that the title and the dealer are from Illinois while I live in Indiana. I will visit the IN DMV with the bill of sale and see what I can get from them. Not worried about the extra $20 and thank you for the advice, will try and regain my positivity.

[math]

Would be difficult to regain positivity. Look what they say on www.dmv.org
"3. Title & Registration
Generally, when you're buying a car from an out-of-state dealership, the dealer handles all title and registration paperwork for you. Of course, much of this paperwork will be temporary, given you'll need to title and register the vehicle in your home state upon returning."

Did you get a written statement indicating those $530 are covering the registration, title and plates in your state ?

[aiham78]

Yes, it is in the bill of sale.

The issue here is not fraud but rather negligence, inefficiency, bad performance and worse communication.

[aiham78]

Just wanted to give an update as I think my issue with the dealership is almost resolved “positivity is back”:

I have a friend that gave me the email address of the owner “Dan Fields” hence the name of the dealership Fields Infiniti, I emailed him explaining my situation and he immediately contacted me and the general manager. The general manager called me, extremely apologizing, took his time to give me detailed updates and explanation of the poor performance and communication of the business office and the process itself, at the same day, he made several phone calls to IN DMV, and to the titling company in order to fix the mistakes. He called me probably four times on the same day giving me updates and solutions. He assured me the Indiana will receive my paperwork by Friday of this week.

I want to thank everyone that presented solutions here; I did go by them. I did ask Tony if he was able to issue 90-day temp tag at the time of sale instead of the 30-day one that I was given, he explained he would have done that to everyone purchasing a car from them but it is not allowable. The dealers are capped by the 30-day permit.

I think The GM Tony did well in showing superior customer service, unlike the BOM Chris DiBenardo that didn’t do anything except mistakes, delaying my registration and not getting back to me. If the GM didn’t interfere and take responsibility of the process, I can assure you that Chris will take several months to do it. I don’t think he realized that we “customers” are paying for his salary, especially I’m only asking for the basics after a car sale “title/registration”.

I learned a lesson out of this situation; never buy an out of state vehicle unless the title is given at the time of payment. I can definitely register the car myself without any delay if I had the title. If a dealer tells me that they use a titling company to do the work then I will say Good for you, Good bye. Frankly, it is not worth the hassle and the headache to me.

[Rogue One]

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Well done!