First, let me say that I was a real sucker in this transaction. I was too trusting (yeah I know, used car salesmen), and I didn't scrutinize the vehicle thoroughly enough. This happened about 2 years ago. I would have posted sooner, but I was not aware of this site.
I was looking for a used Toyota Tacoma 4x4 with a 5 speed manual transmission, model years 2000 - 2006. I went online and checked out AutoTrader.com. There were quite a few trucks meeting my requirments, but most of them were too expensive or had too many miles.
Finally, I found a 2002 that had what I wanted, and it only had 55,000 miles on it!!! The ad said that it had A/C, tilt steering, instrument group, alloy wheels and a CD player. I was really happy with this find, but it sounded a little too good to be true @ $11,500. I checked the Carfax report (which I've discovered is totally useless, don't pay to see one), and all it said was that there was only one owner in WV, and that the truck had been repossessed from him.
The ad was listed by Walker Toyota-Scion (now Walker Automotive Group), so I called them to see if they still had the truck, and they did.in all fairness, they did tell me that the truck did not have A/C. The dealer is about a 2 hr drive from my home, so my wife and I made the trip.
We arrived, and were greeted by Ken Riley, used vehicle salesman. He pointed out the truck, and from a distance it looked great. I went to check it out, and discovered right away that it did NOT have the instrument group or tilt steering. It had a CD player, but it was wedged into the radio space with a piece of wood. I should have turned around for home right then, but the low mileage kept me there.
I told the salesman what I had discovered, and he pulled the old "let me talk to my manager, to see what we could do for you." They knocked a $1000 off the price, and we decided to buy it. We said our goodbyes and headed for home.
The next day, I took another look at the truck and discovered that the "alloy wheels" were actually chrome wheel covers! I crawled under the truck and discovered that there was a "rust line", meaning that it was probably a flood vehicle. I also noticed that one end of the front bumper was closer to the body than the other, meaning it had probably been wrecked.
I was pretty pissed about all this, so I called the dealership and talked to the guy who sold me the truck. I told him about the wheel covers supposing to be alloy wheels, and he said "Well they're chrome alloy aren't they?" "Besides, the dealership is not responsible for the content that AutoTrader puts in our ad" I told him about the rest of the stuff, and that I wanted to to return the truck. He said that was not possible because the loan paperwork had been sent in.
I told him he was a crook and a liar and slammed the phone down. I found out later that I had been within a "cooling off period", and that they had to take the truck back.
There are quite a few honest car dealers out there... I've dealt with some of them. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. If you are looking for a car in the Dayton, OH area, I would steer clear of the Walker automotive Group!
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