We went to Freeway Ford because it is advertised as a Christian business and we wanted to support their efforts. We believed that their "Christian" heritage would mean that they were honest and would do their best to give us a good, honest deal.
We were looking for a budget vehicle and chose a 1999 Lexus ES300. It had a lot of miles on it (160,000), but looked relatively clean and seemed to drive well when we test drove it. We got what we thought was a great deal, though the sales manager that we dealt with was rather rude (we paid $6,000 for the car and it booked at around $10,000). We finished up at the dealership around 10pm.
The next day we drove the car to Wyoming to attend a UW football game (GO POKES!). On the way there the check engine light came on. We also smelled burning oil. We reviewed our contract, which had a 24-hour return clause. We hurried back to Denver after the game and returned the car to the dealership, citing the problem and the clause in our contract.
The sales manager we had dealt with said that they would take a look at the car and fix it, but would not take the vehicle back. We got the vehicle back a few days later and were told that O2 sensors had been replaced, taking care of the problem. Less then a day later, the check engine light was on again.
We returned to the dealership and asked that we be refunded our money. We were then told that NO repairs had been made on the car, they had simply tripped the check engine light because they thought the problem was caused by the gas cap not being on tight enough. Again, they refused to take the car back and said they would fix the problem.
The car was returned to us a week later and we were told that the catalytic converter had been replaced. A little less then a month later the car started smelling like burning oil again and the brakes would not engage while driving. Once again, we returned to the dealership and asked that they take the car back and return our money.
Once again they said that they would have a mechanic look at it and would fix the problem. The following day the mechanic called us and said that the car had a massive oil leak that was present at the time that we bought the car. He said that the car should have never been sold to us and that a thicker grade of oil had been put in the engine to keep the car running well for a short period of time. He said that in order to fix the problem the engine would have to be replaced.
We were asked to come to the dealership to "discuss" the problem. When we got there, we were told that the dealership "would not pay for the replacement of the engine, " and that, "the problem that was originally presented had nothing to do with the problem we were currently experiencing." We were told that our only option was to upgrade to a more expensive vehicle, trade in the Lexus and roll the loan amount into the "newer" vehicle.
We were not happy, but were somewhat open to the possibility. We asked what they would give us on trade for the Lexus hoping that they would meet us in the middle due to the glaringly obvious fact that they deliberately sold us a lemon.instead, we were told that the amount that they would give on trade was dependent on the vehicle we chose to purchase. We made the point that the car was worth the same amount regardless of what we chose from the lot and were told that we should pay them to take it off our hands.
At that point we resolved to NEVER use Freeway Ford again and to tell everyone we knew to steer clear of them as well. We should have filed a report with the Better Business Bureau, but were under so much stress at the time that we chose not to. We looked online and found that the problem we were having was right in line with other cars of the same make and model and that it required the replacement of the cars computer and engine to resolve the problem. We did not feel that the car was worth $4,000 in repairs and did not want to cheat others as we had been cheated, so we received a measly $900 to trade it in.
Freeway Ford IS NOT a Christian business and is not ethical in their dealings. They supposedly do a 130 point inspection on their used vehicles. They may inspect them, but if so, it is only to provide cheap fixes that will not hold up in order to con honest people into buying their vehicles. Please do not be suckered into buying a vehicle from them, it may be low in price, but there is a GOOD reason.
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