Venting about a Local Dealership
06-15-2001, 01:25 PM
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Venting about a Local Dealership
I originally wasn't going to post until this whole situation was resolved, but right now I'm feeling the need to vent my frustration on everyone. 
On May 1, I purchased a Honda Certified Used S2k from a local dealership here in Phoenix (I'm not going to name yet, and you will see why later in the post). The next day, less than twenty-four hours later, I was involved in an accident with a big Ford Truck that had cut me off while I was pulling (very quickly) up to a light. At first I was destroyed to see my baby damaged and I couldn't figure out what had happened during the accident. After the initial shock of the collision wore off, the driver of the truck and I were discussing how unusually my tracks were for a car with ABS, noting that the tracks were long, straight (even when the wheel was turned) and consistantly dark without any variation.
After pondering the situation, reading up, and doing some personal investigation at the scene, I became convinced that indeed the ABS on the car was not operational. I explained this to the salesman and showed him pictures of the scene, to which they replied that the pictures showed nothing, and that the ABS had been working during the accident. After a short time, however, they offered to pay for the damages to my car as long as I agreed to pay at the first month as planned (since I had said I was unsure as to whether or not I should have to take the car due to the mechanical problems that existed when I drove it off the lot, considering it was a Honda Certified Used Car). I held off and gathered more research material, at which time the general manager became involved, and the downward spiral began.
The general manager called me one morning at work, and was absolutely unprofessional. He was as threatening and intimidating as he could make himself, and claimed that I was lying about everything. He made threats to repossess the car (which they technically could do, since I hadn't made a payment on the car yet), and it seemed that his favorite phrase was "you're lying", which he used with blatent disregard. Nothing was accomplished during the conversation, and they had only really suceeded in making me very angry.
The next day, I recieved another phonecall from the original salesman, who claimed that he was unaware of what the general manager was going to do. He then made a new offer, which included the other drivers car in the repair bill for their dealership. This was on the agreement, however, that I had the work done at their dealership, and that I took that car back after the repairs were complete. I decided that at this point I wasn't going to deal with them if they still denied the problem with the ABS, and decided it was in my best interest to get actual proof of my claim. So, I told the dealership I wouldn't deal with them anymore until I had evidence one way or the other.
At this point, I decided to hire a technical investigator that could proove the ABS had failed (or never worked) just from the tiremark evidence at the scene. Amusingly enough, the investigator told me, just from the pics of the scene, that the ABS could never have left marks of that nature. He also said that the accident would have been avoided, given what I was attempting to do during the skid, had the ABS been functioning - The driver of the truck had heard my tires screeching, and tried to get back out of the right lane into the left. I, on the other hand, was trying to maneuver the car to the right into the increasingly wide margin that existed between the truck and the curb of the right lane.
Anyhow, we also agreed that he (the investigator) should try and get pictures of the car and the tires for further evidence (although he felt that just the tracks by themselves were much more than adequate).
In the meantime, I had recieved one threat of repossession from the dealership (which was, oddly enough, postmarked the day they said they would repossess the car), and another from the dealerships law firm that was also trying to put pressure on about the repossession. Both letters claimed that I was making no attempt to solve the problem with them or my insurance company (both of which were untrue, since I told them I was going to hire the investigator to get to the truth, which seems to me to be the only way to really SOLVE the problem in the first place).
So, now I am to today. I called the investigator this morning, who told me that he had gone to the dealership to take photos and had been denied access to the car.
So, even though I don't need that evidence anyway, the dealership is playing every card they can to try and avoid the ABS situation and keep the pressure on me. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!
I am so frustrated, because all I really wanted was to drive the car again!! I LOVE the S2k, and now I have been without a car at all for almost two months, I've been stressed, the dealership has constantly badgered and (I feel) lied to me, and now they have probably repossessed the car, which means that in the end I will have to deal with that going onto my credit report as well. WHAT A PAIN IN MY A$$! Anyway, these guys have truely lived up to the "Used Car Salesmen" we all know through cliches and jokes, and have generally given me incredible grief. I just thought I would tell my story up to date so that I could vent some of my anger about the situation.
It seems to me that because the car had the Honda Certification, they don't want me to find that the ABS hadn't worked, as this would NOT look good for Honda, or their dealerships technicians in general. I also can't see any good reason why they would ever have offered to pay for the damages to the car if they really didn't think I might find anything wrong. So I think that after they realized I wasn't backing down, and was hiring somebody to investigate, they made sure to repossess the car ASAP so that they could repair the damage and remove any direct evidence. This last paragraph is only my speculation, but in ANY case I think the dealership has made some terrible judgement calls about the situation.
Well, wish me luck clearing this problem up. I am supposed to have the report sometime next week, and thats when I'll find out what the dealership is going to do.
GameDev
On May 1, I purchased a Honda Certified Used S2k from a local dealership here in Phoenix (I'm not going to name yet, and you will see why later in the post). The next day, less than twenty-four hours later, I was involved in an accident with a big Ford Truck that had cut me off while I was pulling (very quickly) up to a light. At first I was destroyed to see my baby damaged and I couldn't figure out what had happened during the accident. After the initial shock of the collision wore off, the driver of the truck and I were discussing how unusually my tracks were for a car with ABS, noting that the tracks were long, straight (even when the wheel was turned) and consistantly dark without any variation.
After pondering the situation, reading up, and doing some personal investigation at the scene, I became convinced that indeed the ABS on the car was not operational. I explained this to the salesman and showed him pictures of the scene, to which they replied that the pictures showed nothing, and that the ABS had been working during the accident. After a short time, however, they offered to pay for the damages to my car as long as I agreed to pay at the first month as planned (since I had said I was unsure as to whether or not I should have to take the car due to the mechanical problems that existed when I drove it off the lot, considering it was a Honda Certified Used Car). I held off and gathered more research material, at which time the general manager became involved, and the downward spiral began.
The general manager called me one morning at work, and was absolutely unprofessional. He was as threatening and intimidating as he could make himself, and claimed that I was lying about everything. He made threats to repossess the car (which they technically could do, since I hadn't made a payment on the car yet), and it seemed that his favorite phrase was "you're lying", which he used with blatent disregard. Nothing was accomplished during the conversation, and they had only really suceeded in making me very angry.
The next day, I recieved another phonecall from the original salesman, who claimed that he was unaware of what the general manager was going to do. He then made a new offer, which included the other drivers car in the repair bill for their dealership. This was on the agreement, however, that I had the work done at their dealership, and that I took that car back after the repairs were complete. I decided that at this point I wasn't going to deal with them if they still denied the problem with the ABS, and decided it was in my best interest to get actual proof of my claim. So, I told the dealership I wouldn't deal with them anymore until I had evidence one way or the other.
At this point, I decided to hire a technical investigator that could proove the ABS had failed (or never worked) just from the tiremark evidence at the scene. Amusingly enough, the investigator told me, just from the pics of the scene, that the ABS could never have left marks of that nature. He also said that the accident would have been avoided, given what I was attempting to do during the skid, had the ABS been functioning - The driver of the truck had heard my tires screeching, and tried to get back out of the right lane into the left. I, on the other hand, was trying to maneuver the car to the right into the increasingly wide margin that existed between the truck and the curb of the right lane.
Anyhow, we also agreed that he (the investigator) should try and get pictures of the car and the tires for further evidence (although he felt that just the tracks by themselves were much more than adequate).
In the meantime, I had recieved one threat of repossession from the dealership (which was, oddly enough, postmarked the day they said they would repossess the car), and another from the dealerships law firm that was also trying to put pressure on about the repossession. Both letters claimed that I was making no attempt to solve the problem with them or my insurance company (both of which were untrue, since I told them I was going to hire the investigator to get to the truth, which seems to me to be the only way to really SOLVE the problem in the first place).
So, now I am to today. I called the investigator this morning, who told me that he had gone to the dealership to take photos and had been denied access to the car.
So, even though I don't need that evidence anyway, the dealership is playing every card they can to try and avoid the ABS situation and keep the pressure on me. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!I am so frustrated, because all I really wanted was to drive the car again!! I LOVE the S2k, and now I have been without a car at all for almost two months, I've been stressed, the dealership has constantly badgered and (I feel) lied to me, and now they have probably repossessed the car, which means that in the end I will have to deal with that going onto my credit report as well. WHAT A PAIN IN MY A$$! Anyway, these guys have truely lived up to the "Used Car Salesmen" we all know through cliches and jokes, and have generally given me incredible grief. I just thought I would tell my story up to date so that I could vent some of my anger about the situation.
It seems to me that because the car had the Honda Certification, they don't want me to find that the ABS hadn't worked, as this would NOT look good for Honda, or their dealerships technicians in general. I also can't see any good reason why they would ever have offered to pay for the damages to the car if they really didn't think I might find anything wrong. So I think that after they realized I wasn't backing down, and was hiring somebody to investigate, they made sure to repossess the car ASAP so that they could repair the damage and remove any direct evidence. This last paragraph is only my speculation, but in ANY case I think the dealership has made some terrible judgement calls about the situation.
Well, wish me luck clearing this problem up. I am supposed to have the report sometime next week, and thats when I'll find out what the dealership is going to do.
GameDev
06-15-2001, 02:23 PM
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Gamedev,
I feel for you, man. Don't let them get away with screwing with you or they will do it to the next guy, too. I don't understand why you didn't give us the dealership name, though.
Did your technical investigator get anything on paper from the dealership denying him access? This seems like an important point if/when you go to court over this.
Have you contacted a lawyer to try to force access to the car before any changes can be made? The attitude of the dealership will change quickly once they understand that you aren't going to be intimidated.
And don't worry too much about the repossession -- the finance company can have that removed from your credit report in a few minutes once you have a final agreement on the situation. (I paid off my last car a year early. I called the bank to get my final payment amount, and was given the wrong answer by $350. About 2 years later, I started getting turned down for credit, so I checked my credit report and found that I was in default on the car loan! After talking to the bank, I sent the $350 and the bank fixed my credit report while I was on the phone.)
Good luck and keep us updated.
Tanq
I feel for you, man. Don't let them get away with screwing with you or they will do it to the next guy, too. I don't understand why you didn't give us the dealership name, though.
Did your technical investigator get anything on paper from the dealership denying him access? This seems like an important point if/when you go to court over this.
Have you contacted a lawyer to try to force access to the car before any changes can be made? The attitude of the dealership will change quickly once they understand that you aren't going to be intimidated.
And don't worry too much about the repossession -- the finance company can have that removed from your credit report in a few minutes once you have a final agreement on the situation. (I paid off my last car a year early. I called the bank to get my final payment amount, and was given the wrong answer by $350. About 2 years later, I started getting turned down for credit, so I checked my credit report and found that I was in default on the car loan! After talking to the bank, I sent the $350 and the bank fixed my credit report while I was on the phone.)
Good luck and keep us updated.
Tanq
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