We purchased a vehicle from the Volunteers Of America car lot in Pontiac. We were told by the staff that it was a great running vehicle the only problem was that the gear shifter would sometimes stick when shifting out of park. Being V.O. A is a well known organization and is aimed to help families we fully trusted in them. Figuring by purchasing a vehicle from a charitable organization we were helping other families in need while meeting ours at the same time.
Shortly after leaving the car lot the truck broke down. We got it running again and drove back to the car lot.By this time there wasn't anybody there, so we got the vehicle home and called the lot first thing the following morning. We were instructed to take the vehicle to be diagnosed by our mechanic and call the lot on Monday morning.
Our mechanic looked over the truck and found several things wrong.including problems with the transmission, a bad transfer case that had been sealed with putty, steering column damage, stabilizer arm, lower ball joints and a few other issues. All in all totaling $5,000 in repairs just to make it safe to drive. He informed us this vehicle should have never been allowed to leave the car lot and that we are very lucky we made it home without harm.
We then contacted the car lot and told them what our mechanic had found wrong. They told us once a vehicle leaves the lot it was no longer in their hands. My husband asked if a women with 5 young children came to them for a vehicle would they sell her a bad car, the man replied "the same rules would apply". I then contacted the "higher ups" at V.O. A after 2 days and several phone calls I finally received a call from the director.
I explained to him the situation and was pretty much told the same thing. It was almost as though they have a standard print out of responses to read off. I wasn't asking for a cash refund I was willing to pay for the vehicle to be towed back to them (60 miles) simply to exchange for a vehicle that was safe for my family. Again I was "reminded" it was no longer their problem.
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