I would like to tell you about my experiance with CarHop in Burnsville Summer 2008!
My fiance and I were intrigued and went in to our local CarHop hoping to find a larger vechicle as our family is growing in size with children. We didn't NEED a car but really wanted something bigger than what we currently have. We didnot plan to trade our wonderful car we already owned in thank goodness.
We started out with test driving. We had cars thrown us but nothing we wanted, nothing we could pick out. They asked us what's most important and we said low mileage, and the first car to test drive was 120,000 miles. They dragged out one beater after another. It got to be hilarious to the point we were so amused by the crap they had us test drive my 6 year old started singing about the "hooptie" cars. My daughter learned of her new vocabulary word from our salesman who told us they put their customers in hoopties, but the salesman admidted he drives a hooptie.
On one of our test drives My fiance went to close the car door of a vehicle we were test driving and the door panel fell off in his lap. I went to put the car from "park" to "drive" and it wasn't shifting right, then my daughter was trying to buckle herself up and the seatbelt was literally broken and not functional. I was under the understandings any carsdealer in MN has to to inspect cars for safety and I would think a seatbelt is a major safety concern atleast it is for me.
After test driving hoopties we told them they had nothing that interested us. I said I did like a certain mini van in the back of the lot and they said with more money down we could get into that. We test drove the mini van and loved it. It was one of the few cars in the lot that didn't have signifigant rust or body damage/blemishes. We noticed a few minor things wrong like the alignment and a high screeching noise and were promised repeatedly if we purchased the van they would write up a service agreement and have it fixed. Sounded great to us.
We went through the paperwork and didn't find out the actual costs or loan schedule until we were ready to sign. YES we were stupid and nieve and obviously weren't thinking clearly and signed the paperwork. So we then proceeded to take our new van and bring it to their own mechanic so we could have the few things fixed. This is where our problems started. The van was in shop 4 different times the first week. The mechanic kept claiming it was fixed and we kept saying it was no different.
CarHop promised repeatidly to take care of us and not keep us in the dark. The mgr. At CarHop Jill kept bragging to us how much money it was costing them to have our van fixed at the mechanic since they were flipping the bill... Like that was suppose to shut us up and make us feel better. We were told numerous it's a used car what do you expect. I've never had ANY car in the repair shop 4x in one week though. So onto week #2 of our new van.
While driving down the road our van died. Thankfully we were close to home and could push it a few blocks. We called CarHop and the service dept. Who said we could bring it to their mechanic once again but that we were solely responsible for the towing and the diagnostic if it wasn't covered under warranty. So we got the car to their mechanic who had it for 2 days and couldn't figure out the problem. Without our consent or any communication with us they towed our vehicle to a Ford Dealer. Which highly aggrevated us we didn't agree to that at all and were completely left in the dark on that one.
We were told our van was at the Apple Valley Ford. I needed my daughter's carseat and some other belongings so I went the dealership to get them out of the van. I went into the service center and noone could locate us in the computer, so a employee walked around the lot and we couldn't find our van anywhere they had no record of our van. I then drove straight to CarHop and talked to Jill again who immediately got an attitude with me and acted like I was out of line.
She went to her computer and read the notes and confirmed our van was at Apple Valley Ford. I said NO it's not I was just there if you don't know where it's at I'm going to report it stolen. This furiated Jill and she came out into the parking lot as I was leaving and got all over me and tried telling me to relax they'd locate our vehicle tomorrow.
Once again threw it in my face how much money they've already put into our van at the mechanic. After our cute lil screaming match I explained to her I'm high risk pregnant and I can't take this crap or this stress you can have your beeping van back. I went home and called the Burnsville Police and attempted to report our van as stolen since noone knew where it was and it wasn't where it was suppose to be.
The police told me to try and figure out which tow truck company towed it and see what their records indicated. After another hour or two on the phone I finally locate our van at the Ford dealership in Shakopee. Of course by this time the dealership was closed and we couldn't go get our belongings or carseat. So now this is where we stand we've had the van for 2 weeks and have been through one horrible nightmare.
We don't want the van, we don't care if it get's repossed and we have absolutely no intention now on trying to work any further with CarHop. I'm guessing tomorrow or next week they will have our van fixed and probaly try and charge us a arm and leg to fix their lemon. Screw them I'm not putting anymore money into this Hooptie.
We figure for the same amount of money we can rent a rental car from enterprise or somewhere and not worry about maintance, car repairs or insurance. This has been one of my worst experiances in my life. The customer service is absolutely horrible and they outright lie. This buisness should be shut down and they are taking advantage of the low income.
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