- Car Dealer Horror Story -
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"I bought a 1996 Pontiac Grand Am SE with 47,000 miles on it with an extended warranty. Four months later the engine light came on and the dealer fixed it and said he put in a brand new catalytic converter. Five months passed and the same engine light came on, but now the car was undrivable. The mechanic said it was the #2 and #4 fuel injectors and distributor coil. He told me he replaced all those parts. Another five months went by and now the extended warranty has expired. My mechanic looked at it and said they never put in a new catalytic convertor and whoever fixed the fuel injectors did such a bad job that gas was going into all the wrong places in the engine so it totaled the engine! It was going to cost me four thousand dollars to fix it! So now I'm left with no car and two more years to pay on the loan and I'm left to buy a junk car for five hundred dollars that could be another nightmare!"
:: Auto dealer horror story by Steve, Virginia,
United States...
"My car dealer horror story pales in comparison to the ones I've read on this
site, but here it is...I found a nice older vehicle at a 'reputable' dealer here
in town. It looked good and rode well. While negotiating the price, I asked the
salesman if I could take it to my mechanic for a thorough evaluation. He offered
to have THEIR shop look at it but finally agreed to let me take it where I
wanted for a 3rd party evaluation. Finding an authorized dealer for that make, I
took the vehicle in. For $95 they would go over it from bumper-to-bumper. 4
hours later I get a phone call from the service department. The list of problems
filled two pages! To get things fixed would have cost me $3900.00....a little
less than half the asking price for the whole vehicle! I took the vehicle back
to the salesman and told him about all the problems. To his credit he didn't try
to minimize the severity of the situation, but merely said they would sell it at
auction. I drove by that dealership a few days later and the car was out
there... waiting for another sucker! Word to the wise: Pay to have someone OTHER
than the selling dealer evaluate any prospective purchase. It is money well
spent!"
MY RESPONSE TO THE PREVIOUS CAR DEALER HORROR STORY...
Like you said Steve,
your car dealer horror story might not be as bad as others, but had you not done
your due diligence then it would have been one of the worst! Yes absolutely, if
you aren't going to inspect the car yourself (see my section on how to buy a
used car) then ALWAYS use a third party to inspect the car! And how about that
place just putting the car back out on the lot?! Typical! Yeah, that is one car dealer horror story!
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