On May 21, my wife and I purchased a 2002 Honda Civic Ex, with a 1-year warranty, from Calvary Cars and Service, Inc.in Norfolk, Virginia.
Upon our initial inspection of the vehicle, we noticed that the air bag light was staying on, the rear passenger side power window was not working and the spare tire was missing. Our salesman, Donovan Walton offered to fix all the problems and we were issued a loaner car for the week that our car was being repaired.
In December of the military relocated me to Texas. It was at this time when we began packing the Honda up to move that we noticed broken glass when we pulled the back seats down. It appeared to us that the back windshield had been shattered and replaced, prior to our purchase of the vehicle.
Once we moved to Texas, we notified a local State Farm branch and transferred our insurance from Virginia to Texas. It was at this time that we learned from our insurance representative that the vehicle had a claim made on it in the amount of $12,619 on January 2. This news came as quite a surprise because we were never told that the vehicle had been wrecked prior. The claim made on this car is more than what the car is worth today.
I purchased a Carfax history report to try to get more details about this wreck. Unfortunately, the only information in the report about the wreck was that it sustained frame damage. Had I known about this wreck, I would not have purchased this vehicle. I feel that it was Calvary Cars' responsibility to tell us about this wreck. On this dealership's website, they claim All vehicles are state certified and inspected with our state of the art computer system we can view a vehicle's history in seconds! If this is true, why were we not told about this wreck?
After speaking with State Farm about the claim and purchasing a Carfax report, we felt that we had been taken advantage of and decided to file a complaint with the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Our complaint was handled by an investigator by the name of Bill Fennell. After receiving our complaint against Calvary Cars, Mr. Fennell sent us a notice stating that he had written the business, requesting that they investigate the complaint and keep both us and his office informed of their findings. We were told to contact Mr. Fennell if we did not hear anything from Calvary Cars after ten business days. The requested amount of time passed and we did not receive a response from the dealership, so I called Bill Fennell on Friday, May 5. He said he spoke with Tony Cerza, the owner of Calvary Cars and that he seemed very willing to resolve this situation.
I called Mr. Cerza on May 5 to discuss the situation. He was not at work so I left a message for him to call me back on Monday. Mr. Cerza did not call on Monday, so I called the dealership again and they said he was not in but would be back the next day. On Tuesday, May 9, I called and finally got in touch with him. Mr. Cerza said the only thing he could do for us was to trade our car in for a car on his lot. He suggested that we look on his website to find a different car of equal or lesser value. However, we would have to drive from Texas to Virginia, which would cost us money on gas and lodging. I told him several times that driving to Virginia was not an acceptable or realistic option, due to my military work schedule. I told him the amount of our 14-day pay off, which at the time was $11,094.38 and asked if he would be willing to give us that amount in exchange for the vehicle. He said he would call back after he figured out what prices they were buying Honda Civics for.
By Thursday, May 11, he still had not called back. I called him and had to remind him who I was. He refused to offer us our 14-day pay off amount in exchange for the vehicle, saying he could buy them cheaper at the auctions he goes to. He was absolutely unwilling to help me out and it was clear that he was blowing me off.
The investigator at the Consumer Affairs office in Virginia said Mr. Cerza sounded very pliable and very willing to help us to make the situation right. However, the response we received from Mr. Cerza was the complete opposite. He was difficult to get in touch with, he did not return our phone calls and his attitude about this situation was that it was our problem now and not his. Now we are stuck paying for this vehicle that will always have a blemish on it's history and that will never allow us to get full value, whether we sell it privately or trade it in to a dealership.
We feel that Calvary Cars has wronged us and has been unwilling to negotiate. The state of Virginia should protect its consumers by requiring used car dealerships to provide a detailed vehicle history report. If Calvary Cars' website says that they can view a vehicle history report in seconds, they should have the common courtesy and decency to inform potential buyers of any information obtained in the report.
Again, we would not have purchased this vehicle if we had known about this prior wreck. We are very disappointed with this dealership, with Mr. Cerza, with the vehicle we purchased and with the outcome of this situation.
Afterward, we filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, knowing that there was not much they could do to mediate this situation. We did not contact the BBB to come up with a solution but rather to put yet another stain on Calvary Cars' reputation. We hope that by filing complaints with the Consumer Affairs office, the BBB and this website, we will be educating other consumers about the unfair and malicious practices of this dealership.
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