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I think my car dealer has cheated me...

M

maximus maximus

Platinum Member
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This is my situation. I brought a Honda Civic a couple of months back from a dealer. The reason why I was so much attracted to this car, was because of extremely low miles it had on it. I took it to a firestone shop close to the dealers shop and got the car checked out. The mechanic gave me a verdict saying that the car was in excellent shape. I also checked out the carfax report (I had a carfax account) and the carfax report also came up fine.

Now since the last few days, I have been facing problems with my car (strange noises coming from the engine). So I took this car to a local mechanic. On inspection, the mechanic told me that the car had been in a wreck.

I think the firestone mechanic might be working for the dealer. I feel I have been cheated. Now what can I do?

One option that I see is going for a carfax buy back guarantee.

I am looking for advice from people who have had similar experiences, and anyone to throw light on any other options that I have.


Cliffs :
- Brought car from dealer few months back
- Mechanic and carfax claim car to be in good condition.
- Car started showing problems
- Realised car has been in a wreck
- What do I do now?
 
Not 100% sure on this, but I think the carfax buyback garuntee is only aplicable if the car had been totaled.
Check in to it, It cant hurt.
 
Try returning the vehicle...if not take advantage of the carfax buy back guarantee. That is what its there for, right?
 
not much you can do about it.

sorry.

As far as what you do now, you get the car fixed if there is something wrong with it.
 
Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Not 100% sure on this, but I think the carfax buyback garuntee is only aplicable if the car had been totaled.
Check in to it, It cant hurt.
Click to expand...

I thought it was good for any accident, but only if it was reported. This accident was probably not reported.
 
From Carfax:

[IF] The Report states that the Vehicle has a title history with no Branded Titles showing, but a Branded Title actually exists.

A "Branded Title" is a passenger motor vehicle ownership or registration document issued by any of the 50 states of the U.S. (or the District of Columbia) or a passenger motor vehicle registration document issued by any province of Canada which was issued with words or symbols signifying that the vehicle was: junked or salvaged; dismantled, rebuilt or reconstructed; flood damaged; fire damaged; hail damaged; bought back by its manufacturer ("Lemon Law" vehicle); odometer exceeds mechanical limits; odometer was not actual mileage; declared a total loss (Canada only); or which was issued with any other symbol or word signifying a similar Brand.
Click to expand...
 
Show up at the dealers on Saturdays with a sign saying The dealer sold me a wrecked car until they take it back
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
Not 100% sure on this, but I think the carfax buyback garuntee is only aplicable if the car had been totaled.
Check in to it, It cant hurt.
Click to expand...

I thought it was good for any accident, but only if it was reported. This accident was probably not reported.
Click to expand...

From Carfax's Garuntee Terms page...

The Report states that the Vehicle has a title history with no Branded Titles showing, but a Branded Title actually exists.

A "Branded Title" is a passenger motor vehicle ownership or registration document issued by any of the 50 states of the U.S. (or the District of Columbia) or a passenger motor vehicle registration document issued by any province of Canada which was issued with words or symbols signifying that the vehicle was: junked or salvaged; dismantled, rebuilt or reconstructed; flood damaged; fire damaged; hail damaged; bought back by its manufacturer ("Lemon Law" vehicle); odometer exceeds mechanical limits; odometer was not actual mileage; declared a total loss (Canada only); or which was issued with any other symbol or word signifying a similar Brand.

Specifically excluded from the definition of "Branded Title" are: titles originally issued without a Brand but later stamped with a Brand without being reissued; salvage titles issued due to theft; damage disclosure documents; and Branded Titles issued in error and later corrected.
Click to expand...

beaten to it by cjgallen
 
Do you have proof that the firestone guy OK'd everything?

Do you have proof it has been in a wreck?

I would try a couple things:

1. Call the dealer and try and get a refund, I think they have to disclose previous accidents, bring up the BBB, lemon law, any other crap that might scare them
2. Call the manager/owner of the firestone and explain what happened, bring up the BBB, etc
3. Call carfax and see if you have any options there

 
Tough break man, I won't waste your time reposting the great ideas others have already posted. Good luck.
 
for more help, contact your states attorney's office or the better busines bureau.

I went through something similar (except the car had a salvaged title)

I was told there is simply nothing you can do as the dealer didn't do anything illegal.
 
You need to be more descriptive. Besides the car "looking" like it was in an accident, what else is wrong with it?
 
Originally posted by: ScottFern
You need to be more descriptive. Besides the car "looking" like it was in an accident, what else is wrong with it?
Click to expand...

True.

Did the second mechanic give you a specific reason for the strange noises? You really don't have an arguement at all unless you can actually prove there is a problem with the car beyond strange noises.
 
You made the mistake of taking your car to Firestone. All the ones around here have numerous bbb complaints. The ones around here are the biggest crooks and conmen around. I doubt they really even too closely looked at your car.

As for this second mechanic, how well do you know him/her? Do you trust them? Did they try to convince you to have expensive repairs made?
 
Originally posted by: maximus maximus

Now since the last few days, I have been facing problems with my car (strange noises coming from the engine). So I took this car to a local mechanic. On inspection, the mechanic told me that the car had been in a wreck.

I think the firestone mechanic might be working for the dealer. I feel I have been cheated. Now what can I do?

One option that I see is going for a carfax buy back guarantee.

I am looking for advice from people who have had similar experiences, and anyone to throw light on any other options that I have.


Cliffs :
- Brought car from dealer few months back
- Mechanic and carfax claim car to be in good condition.
- Car started showing problems
- Realised car has been in a wreck
- What do I do now?
Click to expand...


Sorry, but you have no options.

First of all, if it has been a few months that you've owned the car, it is way past the time when you would have had any reasonable recourse. (I think in some states you have 3 days, others POSSIBLY as long as 30 days)

Second, good luck getting one mechanic to put their word up against another's. More importantly (sorry mechanics), most mechanics are really pretty incompetant unless they happen to specialize in one particular make/model of car. Dealer mechanics have an edge becuase they tend to see the same cars/problems over and over (and even they are usually pretty bad) but an independant mechanic checking out a car for a couple hours has almost no chance of finding anything but the most obvious problems.

Third, you are assuming the dealer deliberately misled you. While car dealers are certainly dishonest, they are also incompetant. Even if the car HAD been in a wreck, there is only a 50% chance that the dealer would have realized it.

Fourth, there is no conspiracy here. The firestone mechanic certainly isn't in cahoots with the dealer, unless the dealer specifically said "oh, take this car to the firestone down the street and ask for bob to check it out" in which case it was your own fault for taking it there. And as someone else mentioned - never go to a place like that to have real work done unless you have SOLID references for them.

Fifth, you still haven't provided any evidence that the car has been in a wreck. What made someone say this?

And last but not least - what kind of wreck do you think the car was in that would make "strange noises come from the engine" ? And there is no other obvious physical damage to anything else?

I understand that you are frustrated and upset, but honestly this is just part of buying a used car. You DID do all the right things in your research ahead of time, but none of those are foolproof. At this point you should be focusing on what is actually wrong with the car, and dealing with that. This is just the way things are, it is really in your best interest to let the other stuff go and just work through the issue at hand.

PS: If you read the fine print on the carfax guarantee, it basically says that carfax will refund you $x dollars if there was some horrific clerical error on their end, and you bought a car that was previously totalled in some state, when they claimed it was not. There's almost no chance of ever collecting that $.

PPS: We hvae some good mechanics here on Anandtech... have you explained your problems and symptoms in detail?

Edit: You did in fact post last week that your check engine light came on, and everyone told you exactly what to do, go to autozone and ask them to read the code (free) and report back here for what it was, and you never did.
 
Time to go get a third opinion. Do you have proof that it was in a wreck, or did the mechanic just say it was.

Did the mechanic fix the "strange noises"? Did he say what was causing them?

 
If there is nothing majorly wrong with the car except for engine problems that could be no realtion at all to the accident - dont worry about it...
 
Contact click and clack at cartalk.com. They are very knowledgable when it comes to the car business. They may be able to offer some other suggetions not posted here. If anything, maybe evan a good mechanic in your area that can give you a good honest report on your car. Give them a try, really!
 
so the carfax "guarantee" is a marketing ploy, not an actual benefit to the customer


what a surprise
 
Where did you buy the car? Was it a Honda certified from a Honda dealership? If so, there should be some sort of warranty.
 
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