A 19-year-old friend of the family who saved $3,000 by working in a pizza joint for $7.50 an hour saved and bought a car from this small dealership. Within 2 hours of leaving the dealership, the car was on the side of the road dead, literally, over 100 miles from home.
It only took 40 miles for the car to begin to spit, sputter, smoke, and eventually die along the interstate. It was diagnosed as having a blown head gasket.
The only disclosure made about the car was the gas gauge was off, however, the speedometer was also broken. It would jump around between 60-100 mph when driven at speeds over 60/65. On test driving the car, it was never driven over 55, so the problem was not obvious until after leaving with the car.
The owner (Bill) was your typical smug salesman, and this girl should have walked away after several rude comments. When asked if the stereo worked, he said, "I don't know, I sell cars, not stereos." Excuse me, but if you sell a car, you should know if everything is operational, including the stereo.
When the 19-year-old made him a slightly lower offer than his sticker price, he was obviously offended and shuffled her over to a computer in the office and showed her similar vehicles on the internet that were slightly higher priced than his and then said, "So, how much MORE than the sticker price would you like to pay me?" Hey, as a car salesman, if you are offended by people making you a lower offer... You are in the wrong business!!!
Then, after completing the paperwork for the sale, he made the comment, "I buy lots of cars with problems and sell them on the internet." We said, great to know this after you've just sold us a vehicle!
He also pulled a fast one. He knew that we were driving nearly 200 miles to look at his vehicles and told him the ones we were interested in, which were 2-3. The evening before I called to make sure the vehicles of interest were still available, and they were. He opens at 11:00 A.M. And when I called him shortly after 11:00 the next morning to tell him we would be there shortly, he told me he had just sold one of the vehicles we were interested in. However, it was sitting behind his place of business when we arrived. He had mentioned the evening before that he was driving this particular vehicle as a personal vehicle, and it is my suspicion that he still wanted to keep it as his personal vehicle and didn't want to risk us buying it, so he made up a story. If I were thinking clearly, I would have asked for proof of the sale.
When he was called about the car to tell him it was dead along side the road, his comment was, "Well, it's yours now, you bought it." No apology what so ever and didn't deny knowing the engine had a problem but didn't readily admit it either. So, our suspicion is that he knew this car had mechanical problems and did not disclose this.
Go ahead and buy a car from Auto Audits, just know that he doesn't offer ANY warranty what so ever, even if it dies within a foot of his driveway, and be prepared for a heafty towing and repair bill because he admittedly told us he buys cars with "lots of problems."
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