@FredfromArkansas offered a pleasant experience buying a used car at Value Motors in Boquete and after my experience with buying a new car at Ricardo Perez Toyota in David I will definitely try Value Motors if I need to buy another car.
I was not going to go into detail about Ricardo Perez because I’m sure someone will be offended by my negativity but I’m definitely not the only dissatisfied customer. You can check Google reviews if you don’t believe me.
Speaking of which, Google reviews has some good information on businesses in the area and I try to throw my 2 cents in from time to time. This is something I would encourage everyone to do, particularly when they find something they really like.
Unfortunately many businesses aren’t included, but you can submit your favorites for inclusion although it’s kind of a pain in the neck to do so.
Anyway, some of my complaints are about what is apparently standard practice here, and I KNOW someone is going to say “If you don’t like it go back to Long Island,” but I believe that there must be some entrepreneurs somewhere who care enough about your business to offer decent customer service.
Ricardo Perez would not be one of these. There used to be so many complaints on the Boquete Ning website that they deleted them, maybe because they were afraid of getting sued.
I have found a similar attitude at other long established businesses who believe that they have a near-monopoly and therefore they don’t care if they get your business or not. In fact, some of the employees would prefer not to be bothered with your business.
So first I went to the Kia dealer in David because I was renting a Kia from Alamo and I quite liked it. It was the smallest one and it was handy around town but could also handle the rough roads at Las Lajas where I was thinking about buying.
I was surprised when I went into the showroom and didn’t immediately get pounced on by a salesperson, but I appreciated the time to browse. I had plenty of time to examine every car in there, slam doors, kick tires, etc.
There were several people sitting around trying to look busy and finally I approached someone sitting behind a desk who looked like she might sell cars.
I said, “Quiero comprar un carro. Puedo hablar con alguien?”
She looked startled and rattled off something in Spanish that I didn’t understand. (As someone else remarked, some of us read and write quite well, speak more or less, and hear not so well, particularly at rapid speed.)
Eventually I understood that she was saying that the person I needed to talk to was not there. It was a few minutes before noon, and I know people need to eat lunch, but EVERYONE at the same time?
Skipping my fractured Spanish, I asked (slowly) when a salesperson might be available and she answered (rapidly) NO IDEA.
I thanked her and turned to leave but before I got through the door she called me back. A salesman had just arrived from somewhere in the back, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
I had to explain to this guy why I thought I needed a car, show him my rental, and explain that rather than pay about $2000 a month to rent, I would rather buy, and at that rate I could pay for a new clown car in 6-7 months.
He agreed and we discussed the details which worked out well because his English was slightly better than my Spanish and between the two of us we could manage. He wrote things out for me which I truly appreciated.
Basically I could purchase one of the display models and have the money wired directly to the company bank account. Sounded good to me. I picked out a nice red one and he started the paperwork.
Unfortunately my significant other, currently my wife, objected vehemently. She thought Kias were Korean junk and I should buy a Toyota, preferably a RAV4. Or at least a Honda.
I didn’t agree but WHATEVER. The next day I went to the Toyota dealer. Same deal. No high-pressure sales pitch....but no salesperson either. I saw the sticker price on a new RAV4 and nearly had an accident. I had recently bought one in Arkansas for $10,000 less.
The Yaris was more reasonably priced but still a lot more than the Kia.
While I was out I stopped at the Honda dealer. Similar lack of interest and the prices even higher.
So that weekend I convinced her to go with me to the Toyota dealer. Maybe I was doing something wrong.
Not really. We had to wait for an hour or more to see a salesman but eventually we did and managed to convince him that we really wanted to buy a car.
Then the fun began. He asked what color we wanted and I said Red. No problem. He went in the back while we waited for about 1/2 hour, he came back, we don’t have red. OK, blue. Wait again; they don’t have blue.
Now I’m learning. OK; what colors do you have? Disappear. Wait. “We have white.”
I’ll take white. OK; go talk to the cashier about how you’re going to pay for this. CERTAINLY you can make a downpayment with a credit card and have the rest wired to us.
The cashier disagreed. They want cash. You don’t have it? Why are you annoying me?
I was fairly unhappy by this point but my lover assured me that this is standard practice in Panama. I began to wonder about buying a horse.
This is becoming boring so I’ll summarize. It took nearly two months to get the car. When we finally secured financing, paid them, and paid for insurance, registration, etc. we learned that they didn’t actually have the car...but someone would drive one up from Panama City tomorrow.
Or maybe next week.
Then they allegedly had the car but it had to be cleaned and serviced. Maybe tomorrow.
Or maybe next week.
Then the car was ready and I could pick it up as soon as they got the “placa.”
I went to pick it up on a Friday afternoon. “Oh, sorry, it was too late to get the placa. Monday for sure.”
The placa office was closed Monday. Definitely tomorrow.
I called on Tuesday. No placa. OK, what is the excuse now? Someone finally decided to tell me the truth. The guy who sold me the car was supposed to get the placa but he went on vacation....
STEAMING. This BS has cost me almost $3000.
So when is he supposed to be back?
They have no idea and don’t particularly care.
OK: either I get the car tomorrow or you all can shove it up your ass.
OK, OK, if you’re going to be a dick about it you can pick it up tomorrow.
Or Friday. We still had to wait for two hours while they washed it even though I said I would rather wash it myself.
The final straw: I had emphatically told them that I did NOT want the nearly opaque window film that was on my rental car. I couldn’t see well during the day and not at all at night.
The windows looked like a movie star’s limo, but at that point I wasn’t able to object.
So that’s it for me and Ricardo Perez, right?
Wrong. About a month later, thanks in large part to the opaque window film, I turned in front of some poor guy on the Boquete highway and he couldn’t avoid hitting me. Major front end damage. Since the car was still under warranty the insurance company, despite my objections, insisted that the repairs had to be done at...you guessed it. Ricardo Perez.
It only took a little more than a month to fix it. Delay after delay and why not? They refused to do anything until I paid the deductible and the insurance company paid the maximum allowable. So they had the money, why do anything?
Once again the excuse was that they couldn’t turn the car over until it was thoroughly cleaned. I sat and waited, watching four employees playing grabass in the service area and ignoring my car for over an hour.
Finally the service manager informed me that they lacked one more piece of trim; maybe the car would be ready tomorrow.
I’M TAKING THE DAMN CAR NOW!
OK, OK check back with us next week and maybe we’ll have the part.
When I got home I found it under the front seat, still in the bubble wrap, and installed it myself.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL:
In December of last year, someone got into the parking lot at Cuesta del Sol condominiums where I had left the car while we went to the USA, smashed a window, and pried out the electronics on the dashboard. They cut all the wires and although we tried no other repair shop was able to obtain the wiring harness.
Ricardo Perez demanded $4500 up front and the insurance company was happy to oblige.
It only took a little over two months for them to finish the job this time.
I don’t know if any of the other new car dealers are any better — but I seriously doubt that they’re any worse.
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