We purchased a mini-van from Larue's Automotive in June. We were new to the area and were looking for a second work truck when Johnny Larue told us he was putting another engine in a mini-van and would sell it to us for 1200.00 with a good engine in it.
When the engine was in it, I asked him how the engine was and he told me it was in perfect shape, so we gave him the money but had to pick-up the van after he put a new battey in it. I then recieved a hand written receipt when I picked-it up the next day which then said as-is. We drove the van 12 miles and a rod went out of it.
He agreed to go back on the person that sold him the engine and make him stand behind it. We waited for one and a half months for the new new engine to arrive... It never came... However, we were told it was comming every day.
I finally went to Johnny Larue and told him I would pay for a new short block if he would install it. I Paid him for the short block and 3 weeks later we had the van back. However, for every two days we drove it, it spent 2.5 weeks in the shop while he fixed things he had forgot to do when building the engine. We finally got 200 miles on the engine and the rod went back out. At that time I wanted to go back on the person that sold the block and make him replace it but Johnny Larue, told me not to do it and not to worry because he was going to take care of all of it and I had no reason to worry.
Four months later we got the van back but it viberated so badly that I was worried about the engine going bad again, so it went back to Larue's Automotive. Johnny LaRue then told one lie after another for the next 4 months until, upon being pressed for the van, he told us he sold it as-is and he wasn't responsible for anything.
Since the beginning of the mini-van ordeal we have used LaRue's Automotive for other work on our main work van and have had problems with it (We were also left stranded in the van a few times) every time he and/or his machanics worked on it and had to take it back to LaRue's Automotive with the same problem that they were already supposed to have repaired. Over the last year we have learned that Larue's Automotive can't keep good mechanics and has problems with most of the work that Johhny LaRue's shop puts out.
As of this date, LaRue's Automotive still has the van taken apart. When we ask him when it will be done, he says that it will be done at his convenience or we can just hire a lawyer. Since purchasing the mini-van in June, we have had eleven days of driving it and ten months of waiting.
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