I usually don't file reports like this. If I feel like someone tried to rip me off, I usually just leave them be and get on with my life. This time, I felt different. And after doing some research, I found out I was not the only one.
My wife and I test drove a car that we liked at Auto Advantage. We have a 2007 Volvo XC90 V8 Sport that we were going to trade in for this vehicle. We knew what it's KBB value was and that the title was completely clean. The dealer asked to inspect our car so they could give us a proper estimate. We gave them the keys and waited.
Approximately 20 minutes later, the salesman came back. He told us that our car had been badly damaged at some point, and that the entire passenger side had been bondoed (spelled). I specifically asked the salesman "Are you telling me that from the front quarter panel to the rear quarter panel there is bondo on the car?" He replied yes. He said because of that damage he could only offer us $18k for the car. Suffice to say, we were shocked. At first I believed them. I thought our car had been wrecked by a previous owner. My wife said that this price was way off of what we were expecting. Out of the blue, the salesman said, "well would you take $20k?" A red flag popped up at that time. If the car was "so badly" damaged, why was he so quick to jump up to 20k?
At that point I said that I would have to investigate this more thoroughly before we made any decisions, and we left. I took our car to our local Volvo where we get the car serviced. I told them what we had been told. I had them check under the car and everywhere they mentioned the car had been damaged. They put it on the lift and got to work. A few minutes later, a mechanic came back and said that not only could he not find ANY sign of damage to the vehicle, but he also said that the passenger side was completely normal and all of the paint matched perfectly from panel to panel.
I then took the car to the showroom at the Volvo dealer and asked 3 different salesman what they would give us for this car for a trade in right now. They all came back with the same price, $22k. This is when I became very upset with Auto Advantage. I truly felt like they had tried to take advantage of us so they could make a higher profit on a luxury car being sold on their lot. I really felt like people needed to know that this is how our "small town, friendly used car lot" operates. I am happy that I am able to tell of my experience with this excuse of a used car lot.
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