Last year when gas prices rose so sharply, my fiance and I decided we needed to get rid of our big conversion van that had a V8 and purchase something that would do better on gas milage.
We both go to school in Inver Grove Heights and we happened to drive past the Carhop just off of Robert St at about 1pm.
A beautiful red Grand Am, 4 door (we have kids so it was a must!) with a sunroof caught our eye, so we decided to stop in and see what they were asking for it.
We went in and were greeted by a very nice (or so we thought) gentleman who explained that they don't give out the price of the cars until someone has been approved. Well, we thought, we'll see if we get approved and go from there.
After hours of paperwork, we were told that we needed cartain proofs, etc, etc... By that point in time, it was 4pm and we were told that they close at 6pm and that if we wanted the car, we could drive it to our home in Brooklyn Center, get the proofs we needed and come back and sign the paperwork and drive the car home that night.
The gentleman then proceeded to pull the car out of it's spot, which seemed to take him forever and first we thought maybe it was a manual transmission with the way it pulled out.
We hopped in the car and headed to our house. The interior was beautiful with no rips or stains. The first thing we noticed was that it was an automatic not a stick and that the sunroof didn't want to open all the way.
She seemed to run good and got awesome gas milage. We got back to the dealership at 6pm (traffic was horrible!) and thats when our nightmare seemed to begin.
First, they started really rushing us... It was after 6 and they wanted to close for the day. Our salesman took our van for a drive to give us an idea on what the trade in on it would be... He found several "problems" and said they could only give us 700 trade in value for it. (the week before, we had recieved an appraisal for 1000)
Being that neither of us had the greatest credit, we talked it over and decided to go ahead and trade it in anyway. After finishing the paperwork and telling us we were approved, we sat and watched an extremely boring video. Finally, at 730pm, we drove off the lot with our "new" car.
Two days later, after I had just finished grocery shopping, I went to pull out of a parking space and my car wouldn't go anywhere! It took me two times of putting it back in park and then shifting back to reverse to pull out. The next morning when I went to take my daughter to school it did it again! At that time, I noticed a small oil satin on our driveway.
Very concerned, I called Carhop and they directed me to call the service number. Luckily, my warranty covered the repairs! I was without my car for two after finding out that the transmission was shot and that the rear head gasket was also shot. The guys at the repair place commented that they see alot of cars from carhop have these problems.
So happily I go along, my car is fixed and I think "what a great warranty!"
One week later, driving down the highway, I start smelling what seems to be burning coolant and my windshield starts fogging up. I pull over and open the hood. I notice some steam and think maybe a hose has come undone or something. I walk around the side of my car to the trunk and thats when I notice coolant running down the side of the street! I call the service number and they say it isn't covered under my warranty. Grrrrrr I call my son to come rescue me, we fill the radiator with more fluid and get it to Pepboys as quickly as I can with out blowing the engine or cracking the block. 400 and sum dollars later, my heatercore is replaced.
I call carhop and leave several messages. Never a return call! I finally give up and go my merry way. Now, we're getting towards the end of the first month of owning this car and I realize that my temp tag is just about to expire and they haven't called me to let me know my plates were in. So, of course concerned, I call and call and leave several messages. Finally, after I state in one of the messages that if I get pulled over and get a ticket they were going to pay for it! He says that they can't renew my temp tag but that he was sure that my plates were in and that he'd check and call me back. So, for the next week, I call and call and call. Finally a week after my temp tag has expired, I get a call actually from the manager saying that my plates are in!
I'm thinking, finally! I don't have to deal with these people anymore!
During this time, my son decides he likes my car and goes to carhop also. He went there looking for an SUV, as he had a baby on the way, and instead gets talked into buying an Alero. He goes ahead with it, etc. Etc because he has a baby on the way and needs a safe car. Well, about a week later, he notices that the car kinda pulls to the right and shudders if he trys to go anywhere over 50mph. He calls carhop and they have him bring it in to one place that tells him it's one thing and that they can't get the parts to fix it. So, he calls service again and they send him to another mechanic... They tell him it's the tires... Carhop will not pay for the tires to be replaced. He ends up paying 500 dollars for new tires. Next thing he knows, he has all sorts os sensor lights coming on on the dash. He calls service, and they tell him to bring it in to yet another service place for a diagnostic because they don't know if they can cover whatever is going wrong. After all of that, he is told that his warranty will not cover most of whats wrong (mostly electrical stuff) even though the mechanic agrees that this has been a problem for a while in this car and that someone had used the computer to cancel the senor warnings!
So, now both my son and me are stuck with over priced cars that carhop won't fix. It's only been 6 mos since they "put in a new tranny" but it is leaking!
On top of that, due to illness, I had several financial setbacks and missed a car payment... And now feel as if I went to a loan shark to borrow money to buy the car! UAC constantly calls my friend and family... One even called my sister trying to trick her by telling her that I had applied for a job through them! What liars! I would Never work for either of these companies! I really don't understand how the BBB can give them an A rating.
If anyone does go ahead with a class action suit, please contact me as my son and I would love to be involved in it!
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