I stupidly purchased a vehicle on ebay and had it shipped from Florida to California. The 2002 Lexus IS300 was described as being in 'excellent condition' and 'A.S. E safety inspected.' It even had a clean CARFAX report.
When the vehicle arrived it looked as though it was in the condition the dealership described. I drove it for a few weeks until someone in my parking lot at work scraped the left rear tire area and I took it into the body shop for repair. The day after I dropped it off the dealership called and asked what happened to my car before the scrape in the parking lot and who repaired the damage. I didn't know what they were talking about and they had me come down to their shop. The left quarter panel had a quarter plus inch thick layer of bondo, the right rear control arm for the wheel was missing a screw that holds a very important bolt in place.in addition to that the roof was bent and the left rear frame rail was bent.
Also, the inner-support of the left quarter panel was put together using caulking with no welds. The frame is bent so badly you can obviously see it with the naked eye, not like it's a few millimters off or anything that minor. I told them I just bought the car and they said to take it back to the dealership. I contacted the dealership and they said the owner was out of town and wouldn't be in for about a week or so. I called back and someone in the office said I purchased the car 'as is' and that they were unaware of any previous damage. I took the car to a couple of body shops and when the bodymen looked at the car they could tell immediately it had major problems. I told the dealership I was going to sue them and I did.
The firm I hired dragged their feet and took forever to start the process of suing the dealership. Eventually the case went to court for a pre-trial hearing. Competition Motors hired an attorney and represented them in court. The dealership challenged the jurisdiction of the case and said it should take case in florida and the judge agreed.By the time that happened it had been a while since I purchased the car. I attempted to find an attorney in Florida to sue Competition Motors but no one replied to my requests for representation. I don't know if it was too late or what.
I tried arbitration with Competition Motors and they never responded. The car now sits in my driveway and I do not drive it. I'm still making payments and could never bring myself to sell the car to someone like myself. I might just try to sell it for parts, I don't know.
Competition Motors is still selling cars on ebay despite ebay being aware of what the dealership has done. I even emailed pictures to show them that I am not exaggerating. Competition Motors is also selling cars at and I emailed the people in charge of the website and they don't care either.
I was screwed and I'm now out of options. I think next I'm going to go to Florida, sit in front of the dealership and tell everyone who comes in what they did to me. Competition Motors is run by thieves.
Dkelly88
Long Beach, California
U.S.A.
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