this is what i wrote the attorney general:

on 11/29/2008 i purchased a 2005 mazda rx-8 from lincoln mercury of bellvue. the salesman who helped me was robert manyon. i needed full coverage insurance before the car could leave the lot, so robert called and aquired insurance for me from orion insurance group. i gave him $400 for the down payment and first months coverage. $200 i gave in cash, and $200 in a check which i have a photocopy of. on

around the 17th of december my car was damaged due to snow, so i dropped the car off at mazda of olympia. michael in the service department tells me that my warrenty will not cover the damage and that i should contact my insurance to file a claim with them.

a few days later i recived a letter from orion insurance group stating that i am not covered because they never recieved the down payment. i called robert at the dealership and ask him why i recieved this letter and he said it's because i didn't make the next months payment, and re-assured me that he did in fact give them my down payment. i called orion insurance and they tell me that they never recieved the money from robert. a few minutes later robert calls and tells me not to contact the person i had talked to at orion because i am going to get her fired, and if i have any problems to contact him and he will take care of things. shanna at orion calls me back and asks if everything is ok now, and that robert said i was mistaking which papers i was looking at.

the phone calls continue and robert is adamant about me not contacting orion insurance group, but because the $400 dollars i gave robert never made it to the insurance company i have no insurance and am stuck with reparing the car myself. for a minum of $6,500+tax.




i have filed a police report, and contacted an attorney. after a visit from bellvue PD my $400 i gave him is on it's way.

and if you're wondering about the damage. the first hard snow day a chunk of ice ripped off the bottom of my radiator and the coolant loss prevented the temp gauge from reading properly and i melted the coolant seals.

 

bad news man. so what now?

 

Why did you let the dealership take care of getting your insurance anyways? There are many different options you have when getting auto insurance and any reputable company is not going to charge you a "down payment" for insurance. It sounds like dealing with that insurance co. is going to be a huge hassle.

 

If you plan on making monthly payments, your first one is usually a bit more as the "down payment" is included. Regardless, that's a tough break. Good luck getting everything squared away.

 

not too many options at 9:00pm and i didn't want to drive from centralia to bellvue again.

and i won't be dealing with the insurance at all. they never recieved payment, so robert/lincoln mercury of bellvue will be covering the damages.

 

Alright I will be the first one here to say "STAY AWAY FROM Bellevue Lincoln Mercury" I happen to know someone who works there and he is not to be trusted. Oddly enough his name is Rob as well but not the same Rob you had to deal with.

What it sounds like to me is that you had a couple things working against you. 1 being a really bad dealership/salesman and 2 you went through them for insurance when in reality you can usually just ask them to use a computer with internet access and sign up to something like esurance. If nothing else it's enough to get you the coverage to drive off the lot until you have time to look for a better company!

Also you could have called them to use a creditcard or check via phone.

I really hope you get all your money back and I would also recommend you contact that dealership's head manager or maybe even the owner and let them know what happened. It sounds to me like you have all the documentation you need to file a formal complaint with the company which I will almost guarantee you they go out of their way to make things right.

That's not to say the people who actually work there should be trusted though. So if you can take care of this whole situation without having to talk to them, you will be much better off.

Sorry to hear about a fellow 8'er having to go through this. I hope it all works out!

 

well after getting a lawyer, the dealership is giving me a full refund and taking the car back.

works for me. i've got a 09 mazdaspeed3 on order right now the 8 isn't the kind of car i need right now, i'll be buying a REW'd first gen rx-7 after i get back from basic training.