My wife and I went to Duke Automotive to look at used cars because they appeared to be low mileage clean cars. We were introduced to a 1999 metallic blue Toyota Camary with 67,000 original miles and test drove it. After the test drive we were told it was a one owner car from Florida and everything was original except for the tires and fluids. Also they told us the car went through a 101 point inspection.
Tim Duke offerd us a CARFAX report that showed that it was a one owner car with no crashes or major repairs. We were convinced that this car was perfect and all was original and bought it for $8,900, top dollar for a car 8 years old.
A week after the purchase engine sensors started to fail and small amounts of smoke started to appear after starting the car. I changed the oil thinking that the dealer used inferrior oil. Upon taking off the oil filter I noticed that the engine VIN # plate on the engine had black silicone smeared on it to match the color of the engine. I peeled it off and compared the number to the chassis number and they did not match. I ran a CARFAX report on the engine number and found that the engine was out of a junkyard Toyota Celica with over 200,000 miles on it.
When I confronted Tim Duke with the problem and requested my money back he replied "There is no way in hell I would refund your money". We took him to court and lost because we bought the car as is. Tim Duke told the judge an old lady used to own the car but in fact Tim Duke bought it from and auction house in Florida.
I've since learned that dealers remove newer engines and replace with junkyard engines and sell the newer engines on Ebay for thousands.
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