The salesman called and was very understanding of the credit situation. No problem, we have cars in all our lots that we can direct you to. Met with them, immediately was told that my credit was iffy. I had already told them that up front on the phone. I was expecting to see may 1-3 cars. There was only 1. And it was a "take it or leave it" attitude. And suddenly, it was only the car on this lot. NO! We can't direct to you to the other lots because they aren't related. I had no ride to leave nor options. I felt like I was already pressured into this.
The cost was way more than I had told them I wanted to pay but they did some fancy numbers on paper and given what the blue book said and what the dealer said the condition of the car was in. It seemed that getting screwed on a small scale was better than no car. Funny thing was the salesman, made a comment " now don't come back to us expecting us to fix things months from now". It was a warm day so it seemed that all the "bells & whistles" worked.
Of course I had to "interview" with Auto Acceptance. It really didn't matter, because they will finance anyone for 30%. If they lose the card paperwork and you are late, you still get the late interest added on. They will not worry about it. You don't pay, they send you a bright pink letter and you can expect the tow truck any day.
The following weeks showed the true problems of the car. 2000 Monte Carlo 2dr w/sunroof and power pkg.
Interior: The heated seats never worked. It was just the big butt of the salesman that had kept the seats warm. Also the toggle switches for this feature were always extremely hot in the center console area. A "magic marker" was used to cover the wear and tear on the push buttons in the dash and finally wore wore off. The CD stereo suddenly quit working after 2 months. The dash switch for air conditioning sometimes works and other times doesn't. The cruise control switch won't engage regularly. Can't count on the cruise control at all. The air intake button will not engage. The dash buttons have no light or the light won't shut off. Forget trying to make them work. The driver seat won't release half the time to be able to enter the back seats from that side. The passenger seat back release won't lock so that the passenger doesn't feel like the seat is floating.
Exterior: There was a dimple ripple in the outer right rear quarter panel that a great body man had hidden with the right amount of wax job just to get it off the lot. The tires kept going flat. When taken to the tire place, tech found that the rims had the chrome flaking off causing the tire seals to leak continually. Even after replacing 2 tires and having some sealant work to save the rest of the rims, they continue to leak. Also, the rims had a special key to remove them which was not included in the car. When the plastic covers are removed, there is a very large amount of rust in the axle sections. And the covers can't be replaced once removed because you need to add additional gaskets since the screw attachment points are broken off. None of this discovered until the initial flat tire and towing.
Engine: After 3 months of normal driving the transmission started to present difficulty driving uphill with any real power. Additionally, a slight grinding sound presented. Within another 2 months, the engine temp started to be consistently rising. The coolant system was not cooling. Within a 1 week period, the engine had redlined 2x per day, and had shut off the vehicle once. Replacing coolant did not solve the probem since no obvious leaks were presenting. Also, upon initially replacing the radiator cap, there was an obvious large amount of unknown product in the radiator that seems to specifically mask the coolant problems.
Research: Apparently, GM has had a problem with this model and year among others and refused for 7 yrs to acknowledge any claims. A class action lawsuit was settled as of october just a few months prior to my purchase of this vehicle. This and other serious problems, such as sudden fires from dash lighting, or the rack/pinion steering would go out have been identified in vehicles with as little as 50,000 miles on them. Google and you will be amazed that this vehicle didn't catch fire on the freeway with all its known problems.
I was sold a lemon with known problems that were disquised in order to make the sale. Additionally, false claims were made regarding the value and working order of this vehicle. The dealership essentially told me "as is". There is a limit and understanding with regard to some form of sincerity vs. Honesty that is completely missing in this dealership and their practices.
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