Our experience with MotorMax of GR (auto sales) has been very POOR.
On Monday March 5th my wife’s daughter needed a vehicle and went to MOTORMAX of GR LLC on 28th St.in Grand Rapids. She found a 2001 Acura TL with 120K miles. The NADA “Clean†condition retail value for this car is $6950. NADA’s definition for “clean†states that it’s: A vehicle with no mechanical defects and passes all necessary inspections with ease. MOTORMAX sold it to her for $7150. She traded in a Ford Taurus that was in rough condition and listed in NADA with a “rough trade-in†value of $1250. MOTOTMAX only gave her $300.00 for her Taurus…less than ¼ of what it is worth even in the condition it was in.
She does not know a lot about vehicles and we feel that she was ruthlessly taken advantage of. She had told the salesman that she wanted to get the car looked at and the salesman assured her that it wasn’t necessary because it had “already been thoroughly inspected†(as their ad on the internet claims).
Tuesday March 6th one day after she bought the Acura she called MOTORMAX because the brakes were grinding. She told MOTORMAX that she already had the parts and asked MOTORMAX to fix her brakes (she bought brake pads and rotors to fix the brakes on her Ford Taurus before she decided to trade it in, so she took them back and traded them for Acura brake parts). MOTORMAX did tell her that they would have the parts put on for her. Her mother told her to wait until we had a chance to go in and talk with the salesman who sold her the car. We did not feel that she should have to pay anything to fix the brakes, and had a bad feeling about the whole sales transaction.
On Friday March 9, my wife, her daughter, and I went to MOTORMAX to speak with the salesperson and his boss. We let them know that we felt that her daughter had been taken advantage of. I asked the salesman for a copy of the Kelley Blue Book value of the Acura and he got it for me. He pointed out that the retail value was $6825 (for a vehicle in excellent condition) and said that she had gotten a good deal. Kelley Blue Book defines a vehicle that is in “excellent†condition as one that is in excellent mechanical condition and needs no reconditioning. We asked what their CERTIMAX inspection and CQ1 seal actually meant. We asked them how they could honestly feel that the Acura that supposedly passed their “CERTIMAX†inspection and received their “CQ1 seal†could be safe when the rear brakes were shot (plus a week later we found that the front right wheel bearings were bad). We also questioned how we could be certain that there weren’t any more safety issues with this vehicle. Apparently the CQ1 seal doesn’t assure that the car is safe to sell or drive. What does it mean?
The salesman and his boss (part owner) for that MOTORMAX location responded that “we sold the vehicle to her not youâ€â€¦ pointing at my wife’s daughter. They also said that it’s a used vehicle and things will go wrong and they do not have any control over that. They said that she’s old enough to make her own decisions and that everything was explained to her (i.E. The warranty, etc.) and she signed all the papers.
Things got a little warm and after getting nowhere in our initial reasonably calm discussion we (my wife and I) did express ourselves using a few (literally only a few) swear words, which is when we were asked to leave. We asked for both of their business cards and the salesman told my wife to go get it herself (from his cubicle). The attitude and demeanor of the salesmen at this place (MOTORMAX of GR LLC on 28th St.) reinforces my stereotypical opinion of a lot of salesmen…not good!
What is perplexing to me is that the brakes did not make any grinding noise when she drove the car off the lot. Only one day later they were severely grinding. A mechanic told me that if a car had bad brakes and they were grinding, it is possible to back off the brake calipers to make it so the brakes wouldn’t grind…temporarily. The brake shoes would not immediately rub as hard and may not make the grinding sound until the car had been driven for awhile to allow the calipers to readjust. I cannot say that this is what happened but I also cannot get a logical explanation as to why after only one day they mysteriously start grinding … severely.
The brake pads (lack of pads), deep grooves in the rotors (which I saved both), and the front right wheel bearings that badly needed replacing are all conditions that at least in my mind raise serious safety concerns. One would think that a vehicle that (allegedly) went through “a complete CERTIMAX inspection†would be safe and free from such obvious and unsafe disrepairs, at least that’s what we are led to believe.
On their website they claim that “Every MOTORMAX vehicle goes through a CERTIMAX inspection. Only then (they say) will the MOTORMAX vehicle receive the CQ1 seal and be displayed on our lotâ€. When I asked what was inspected in a “MOTORMAX inspection†I never got a straight answer, apparently not brakes or wheel bearings. They also did not enlighten me about what their CQ1 seal signifies? Sounds impressive though.
I agree she is legally old enough to make her own decisions but in this case she was also an easy target and has hopefully learned from her mistake.
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