Buyer beware they say
That is the exact fact of things in this day and age, “buyer beware”! The good ole days of doing business by a hand shake and being as good as your word are not only long gone, but forgotten as well!
Recently my husband and I began lookin for a work vehicle that would get better gas mileage. you can read about that on my retired WordPress blog. We ran across a few colorful people in our search.
The first was a dealership.
We were the first to respond to a HHR they had posted on their site. It was a 2009 HHR, 2.4L, 133,000 Miles, Sunroof, Loaded. The salesman we dealt with went with us for a test drive. I noticed a clunking in the front end. We sat down to try and negotiate a price. The salesman asked that we wait until they run it through service, as they had just gotten it in on trade in. This way we would “know what we are dealing with” instead of “running back and forth”. He was supposed to call my husband within the next couple of days to keep us updated.
My husband stopped by the dealership a couple to times but couldn’t catch him. The next time we heard from the guy was a voicemail that he had sold the car to some people who were “really interested in it” and took it “as is”.
We continued our search
and ran into a pompous ass who would have sold his 2010 HHR panel wagon the day we finally got to look at it, BUT…. The first 75 mile trip we made the guy said he would rather not do it because he was having to get around for work. That was on us, as we just took a ride up there. So we asked the guy to set an appointment. He said the next day, AM.
We got around 7:30 in the morning, not knowing for sure what he considered AM. After waiting until 9:00am we decided to make another trip. Finally, after not hearing from him at 11:30am, I sent him a text saying “good morning, are you available?” he replied: “yes, the game just got over”.
He was in a different location that the ad implied so it took an extra half hour to reach him. When we arrived at the meeting place he wasn’t there. I sent a couple of text with no response from him. Then my husband sent a very curt text mentioning getting “jerked around”.
The man replied and said he was “10 minutes away”.
When he arrived 20 minutes later, he flew into the parking lot, right up to the front of the store. A woman started pointing out to him that he was parking in the handicap parking. He took no notice of her and started looking for us. My husband was approaching him and told him that he would have to move the car before we started looking at it. The guy did.
We got ready to buy the car, my husband started talking about giving him a rid home so he could clean it out. The man told us we could not have it, that it would take him until Monday. We said “No Thanks”. At that point it didn’t feel right to me or my husband.
Next another dealership lists
It was another new listing, just got it on trade in. Immediately I asked how this was going to work, telling the salesman the story of the previous dealer. He stated that was unfortunate and shouldn’t happen.
The car was a 2009 HHR, 2.2L, 63,000 miles leather interior, sunroof, “loaded” for $5603. We took it for a test drive. It drove ok and seemed sound. I asked how it came through service. The salesman said it came through ok. I asked about a best price: “already priced at the best price”.
It was listed with Onstar but it had no Onstar. When I inquired about this he said it wasn’t the dealership that listed it that way, it was the service they used. But it is the dealership that prices the vehicle as if it has all the amenities it is listed with, right?
I asked about bluetooth as that was important to me. he pointed to the emblem on the steering wheel and said “yes, it has bluetooth”. We bought the car as it was the best one we had looked at so far, even though it was above the price range we were functioning from.
Time for the safety check
as we do with all used cars we buy, we took the vehicle to a garage and asked that they thoroughly look it over. The call it a “Safety Check” and most do it for free. When they came back to us we a little surprised:
- out of alignment to the point it would have chewed up the tires within the first couple of hundred miles.
- back shocks were no good and leaking.
- breaks were out of round and needing replaced. There was still some life left in them, they would just pull and pulse at times when used.
- the serpentene belt was cracked and would need replaced before too long.
- the front struts were original equipment and were okay for now but would need replaced before too long.
Apparently, when it goes through the dealership’s service and they tell you it came out “OK”, all they did was slap a good, used set of tires on it – to mask the problems – THEN LIE THEIR ASS OFF!
AND, no bluetooth only radio control but I can live with it. Back seats cannot be latched in place. Emergency flashers will not stay on. The power mirror on the passenger side is broken. . . Buyer Beware
To their credit they gave us a 6 month, 6000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. It does not cover brakes, however, the salesman made that clear before we drove off the lot.
We didn’t call back to complain, because as he said throughout the whole process, people were standing in line to buy the car. We were the first to answer the ad.
