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my fellow consumers/ anyone coming to this page to decide whether or not to go to russel toyota and/or russel automotive group (they have a dealership for almost every car mark within baltimore county) to buy a car, here ye! here ye! one and all:

from the top down, (meaning from the owner down to the managers) (the 'initial salespeople' don't really have anything to do with really making the final deal, so don't go by the initial salespeople. it's the managers and owner that are the key to assess. and the finance guy, the last step guy, is really the one you're buying the car from. if you're doing any financing) this dealership (russel toyota / russel automotive group) is covertly arrogant, unscrupulous, calculatedly corrupt, morally and ethically bankrupt and specialists in scheisterism. dirty, dirty, dirty shenanigans with this dealership. psychological profiling and smoke and mirrors.

my warning to anyone and everyone thinking of purchasing a car from russel toyota or any of the russel automotive group dealerships is unequivocally:

"do business with this dealership at your own risk!!!! you have been warned!!!" they have an unspoken institutional policy of: shaft the customer with the sale at any and all costs, whether they want the sale anymore or not, they will find any method, unlawful or not, to nail the sale on you and leave you holding the bag!

the finance manager / finance closers will also routinely try to get upcharges into the final paperwork, whether you realize it or not, until its too late.

i filed with the maryland attorney general office, as well as with the consumer protection division of the federal trade commission, and filed a police report with the catonsville precinct.

bottom line, people: buy through a private seller, but if you definitely wanna buy from a dealership, take the following precautions:

1. don't be seduced by 0% apr or low apr financing. don't finance through the dealership, period. instead, get a check/loan money from your credit union, or some other sound private source, and absolutely do not rely on financing through the dealership. trust me on that one. there's more to it then meets the eye, when you finance through a dealership.

2. don't buy on the first visit. no matter how much they pressure you, in order to lock in the best price. don't be pressured. don't buy on the initial visit. don't sign anything on the initial visit.

3. don't go alone. bring a level-headed friend or relative or lawyer friend you know or somebody with a good head on their shoulders. don't bring someone clueless or too social butterfly soft type.

4. before you sign any paperwork at all, have them give you a copy of any and all potential paperwork, and take it home with you, and tell them you need a few days to review the paperwork, or have it vetted by an attorney, before you come back and sign it. if they won't let you do that, then walk away. don't be pressured to sign any paperwork without being given the chance to take a copy home to go over with a fine tooth comb before signing.

5. get any and all pertinent correspondence relating to making a deal in writing. not in phone conversations. spoken conversation is useless if you may eventually need legal proof of what was said between the two parties. do all negotiations and communications between email or fax or snail mail. you have to have a written record of the conversations you have, as a safety measure, in case you need unequivocal evidence down the road. otherwise, the dealership can lie and it turns into 'he said, she said'.

6. you know what people?? i ended up finally getting my car through a listing on craigslist. if you're smart about vetting the details properly, you can actually safely purchase a car through a listing on craigslist. and save thousands of dollars from what you would pay at a dealership. but of course, you have to be smart about vetting everything out properly. for example: have a mechanic check out the car, before you decide to make the deal, etc., too many dealerships unfortunately live up to their scheisty swindling stereotypical reputation. from my experience, sussing out a car from a private seller (aka, a regular person just like you, who just wants to sell their car without a middleman) is the best way to go.

*** go to russel dealerships at your own risk!!! you have been warned!! it's like diving into a shark tank, believe it! i lived it!? and for two months it ruined my life upside down. in the end i got justice, but you dont have to go through it, if you heed this warning!

****and lastly, a postscript note: (this issue i'm gonna mention didn't really have to do with my incident, but i encountered many people believing, mistakenly, in this particular belief, so i want to set the record straight about it/debunk this commonly believed myth):

go to this link faq: http://www.oag.state.md.us/consumer/cpdfaq.htm

Location: Bethesda, Maryland

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Normarae1 is right on. My experience with them was atrocious. The sales manager lied through his teeth to me, then when I asked the general manager to make it right, he said, "the law is that we can tell you anything--if it's not written down, it doesn't matter. We could tell you the car was green when it's white. Nothing we say matters. It's what's written down that counts." He was so absurd that he wouldn't let me get my belongings out of my traded in car even though the salesperson had told me to leave my stuff till the next day; his reasoning was that it didn't say anywhere in writing that I was allowed to get my stuff out of my car. Eventually he called the police, but all the police did was make HIM behave and warn me not to do any business with this dealership. Both cops who showed up said they have had to put Mart Bukowski (the general manger) in his place many times before.

All in all, I was horrified with my experience. I was also flabbergasted to find out that this has been going on for years at many Russel dealerships. My co-teacher bought a Subaru from them a number of years ago and a month later was sent a bill for $3000 bc the dealership stated it had "miscalculated" the amount due at signing. I have heard tons of negative stories about this dealership family from close friends since my experience, but zero good ones. Shame on me for not checking out its reputation before attempting a transaction there.

Follow Normarae1's advice at ANY Russel family dealership (or just avoid the slimeballs altogether). This includes R&H Toyota and others that hide the Russel in their names. Frankly, Normarae's advice is good for any big transaction.

Good luck!

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