I purchased my 08 Toyota Prius from Karl Malone Toyota in April. Now, before you jump to conclusions let me explain the circumstances under which the purchase took place. I went there to trade my 08 Honda Civic for a four door vehicle with better or equal gas mileage. The vehicle, I was told was a Certified Pre-Owned vehicle, which means that the vehicle was thoroughly gone through and certified as having no major problems.in other words the vehicle was 100% A okay to be sold as certified.
The first thing that Karl Malone Toyota did was to tell me that my credit score was lower than it actually was. They told me my score was 668 through Experian, when I checked with my credit union I was told it was 731 and this was done through the same reporting agency. I argued with Ty who was in the finance office and he said, "it doesn't matter what you think the score is, this is the score I pulled up." I should have backed out at that point and not purchase the vehicle. Because of the credit score my percentage rate was placed at 8.9% instead of lower.
I told the sales person (who no longer works for Karl Malone Toyota) that the steering wheel on the vehicle was cocked to the left and he said that it would be taken care of after the purchase. The vehicle had 39,000 miles on it when I purchased it and it amazes me how a dealership could finance it for 84 months. It seems to me that the dealership is trying to approve people at higher percentage rates so they can get a kickback from the bank.
After the purchase was done I took delivery of the vehicle. The next day I was driving around the city and noticed a noise from the right front strut of the vehicle. Took it to the dealership and they said it had a bad strut and that they would have to order a new one for the vehicle. Needless to say i had to travel 12 hours to get home in Idaho and when I asked Tammy in service whether I could get it repaired at the dealership in Lewiston, Idaho and they could pay them for the repair, she replied that I had to bring the vehicle all the way back to them. So much for the thoroughly checked out vehicle.
Since then, the vehicle has had a plethora of problems from a bad inverter cooling pump to serious qwerks in the electrical system, in-tank gas tank bladder problems which make it difficult to fill the vehicle and sometimes causes the vehicle to gush fuel out of the filler nozzle, and also problems with the traction control system which everytime it comes on it stops the vehicle dead on its tracks. This particular problem can be very dangerous in heavy traffic.
The last problem the vehicle had was with the High Intensity Discharge lights or HID lights. Last holiday season I noticed that the right side headlight was out. I went to purchase a new one and I was told by the parts store that it would cost $150.00 for the bulb (this is not a mistype, it is the actual price). I took the vehicle to Karl Malone Toyota where I was told that it would cost $441.00 to replace the lights and they were not covered under the extended Toyota contract. I had them replaced and then later found out that Toyota Motor Corporation had put out a letter to reimburse the client for all replacement costs of replacing the lights; it really irks me that they did not say anything about it and took my money. Also one of the computers that controls the lights was also bad.
I have written letters to the BBB to no avail, because the BBB seems to be in bed with the dealerships. I wrote my story to the Lewiston tribune with no response. I asked Toyota to reimburse me for my purchase and to take their "accident waiting to happen" back. Finally, I went to Karl Malone Toyota to see if I could trade the vehicle without taking a huge loss. The dealership has refused to work with me. I spoke to one of the managers and told him that if Karl Malone Toyota was not willing to help, then I would be forced to take matters to the news media. The manager said he did not like being threatened and I said to him that I was merely stating the facts of what I would do next. He threw the keys at me and said "we're done here."
asty argument ensued and I was told by one of the salespeople to, "get out of here you loser, just because you are on fixed income doesn't mean we have to take a loss for you." The experience was very embarassing for me because I ususally stay very calm during such situations. As I drove away from the dealership I saw the salespeople jeering at me and calling me a loser.
Now I am searching for anyway to get rid of the vehicle before it breaks down again. I certainly would appreciate any advise from anyone who has dealt with this type of situation.
Sincerely,
Sam Z.
White Bird, Idaho
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