Purchased a CMV from Joyner Truck Sales in Forsyth GA in March. Agreement is lease purchase with term of 3 year payoff. Purchased a 2000 Freightliner Classic. At time of sale there were issues noted with the truck that we knew would have to be repaired but we accepted those as normal repairs. Did make the shop on site repair the blower that would not come on. They only repaired it to the point that 1 speed would work. We were not given the option to have the vehicle taken to another shop to have an inspection performed on the vehicle. We were given a pre designated (very short) test drive route to take while bobtail. This did not allow for testing of weight pull ability.
On the way to our business with the truck a service call was required to correct an issue where the fuel gauge read half tanks and no fuel was in tank. We called Joyner and reported the issue and they said there was nothing they would do since we purchased the truck "as is". (My understanding of reasonable business practice is that vehicle is in working saleable condition upon purchase - as this is what their contract reads.) Once to business location the list started to enlarge. Joyner did not make sure the vehicle was in DOT compliance before it was sold. Driver side steer tire had large chunk of rubber missing from center tread. New steer tires were required before vehicle could depart under DOT compliance. Upon inspection of vehicle before departure mulitple issues were sited. Air Dryer on vehicle was rigged to appear connected but was in fact bypassed and subverted and non functional. Fuel crossovers were corroded. Trash in fuel tanks that caused repeated service calls due to out of fuel issues with fuel in tanks.
List of repaired items since time of purchase: Please bear in mind that this truck was driven less than 40k since purchase and required all of these repairs.
Air compressor rebuild
Air Governor
Air lines had to be replaced due to dry rot.
Alternator
Alternator Belt
Fan Belts
Steer Tires
Drive Tires
Fuel Crossovers
Fuel tanks had to be dropped to clear trash
Fuel Gauge
Air Conditioner
Speed Sensor
2 injectors replaced
5 Rocker seats replaced due to breakage
Air Dash Module
Toggle Switches - broken or missing
Mirror Heat Switch that caused eletrical short in dash
S Cam on rear drive brake sheered resulting in brake fire when S Cam flipped
Brakes
Exhaust stack and Muffler rotted completely out
Sheered fuel filter bolts
Oil Filler tube due to rot from rub on internal surface
All Dash Bulbs
Low Voltage Box
Batteries - 2 required replaced replacement. No strapping of batteries led to one exploding in vehicle.
Steering Wheel
Pyrometer
Etc...
We tried to work with Joyner to receive either early trade in or repairs that could be included in on end of payment cycle and were told by Nathan Joyner, when asked how he could in good business practice sell a vehicle with such a litany of issues, " We dont sell trucks. People buy trucks."
Mr Joyner admitted that they have no knowledge of any history on the vehicles when they sell them so therefore knew nothing more than we did when purchasing.
The catastopic failure of the motor with 3 gallons of diesel into oil pan every 1000 miles has caused another small company, who operated under their own authority, to collapse and close doors. This truck was the "Money Pit".
If small businesses, such as ours, are not protected from this type of overt lack of business ethic and product safety and production, then the economy is subject to doom. Not only has our business been lost due to the shady business but our house is now subject to foreclosure due to inability to pay, stemming from the catch 22 where 11k in maintenance within 6 months and 8k in payments must be paid to try to continue to make the business capable of sustaining self.
We did not take any income from the business over the course of owning this truck. It was a direct loss due to the "We dont sell trucks, people buy trucks" mentality of Joyner Truck Sales.
We can only hope that this report aides your desicion in avoiding our fate.
0 comments