When they say their vehicles are "AS IS" that's a bad sign.
0/10.
I trusted Jeff Henderson, he is a likeable guy. But you and your dealership misled me in September 2015 by boasting about how reliable a certain car was. A white Ford Focus sedan. He said he knew the previous owners and they took great care of the car. He also let me know that the car had been totaled not long after it was purchased around 20K miles. He was legally required to do so.
For this test drive, I invited my brother for his opinion. He drove 1 hour down to pick me up, and since I intended on purchasing this car. He drove us 1 more hour east to this dealership. 2 hour trip for him, one way.
I greatly appreciate Jeff encouraging me to take it on the highway, which I did. Not long into our journey, in fact just when we pulled down the ramp out of the dealership, we started hearing strange noises in the front end.
Once on the highway the steering wheel was shaking uncontrollably. This was not a safe car. On the way back, we slowed down to get to 1st gear, and sped up to test the transmission. It was slipping. When we took our on ramp back into town, and turned onto Washington? we heard a loud, very noticeable grinding on the passenger side.
We were not pleased. When we returned, we were polite and brought our concerns to Jeff. You see my brother is a Maintenance Lead at his work, he also works on vehicles as a hobby outside of work. He knows his stuff. This car was said to have passed inspection, but no one must have drove this lemon, or maybe they did. The repairs were going to be costly we were certain of that.
During our chat with Jeff, he continued to deny what we were saying as truth. In essence, calling us liars. We didn't like that much. Not once did Jeff look my brother in the eyes, in fact when confronted about these issues, his eyes darted towards the door, and stayed there. He ended our conversation with saying he had another couple that were interested in this lemon, despite us bringing up very major concerns, he probably tried to sell this piece of crap to them.
On our way to our car, someone from the service department ran out to us, and asked us about our concerns, my brother pointed out which parts were most likely going out and needed to be replaced and this guy had the balls to give us a sob story about well... we wouldn't make much scrapping it... soo...
Even before coming down to the dealership that day, there was red flags. I noticed 2 vehicles that were listed at $300 online. The dealership didn't list the condition they were in, but sure as hell polished them up to look great. Jeff himself said they were pieces of (censored).
I believe Jeff is a good man with a good heart. But do not EVER mislead and lie to people. Me and my brother are not stupid. That car needed major mechanical repairs, and I didn't feel safe even driving it home. Having unreliable vehicles like that on your lot really rubbed me the wrong way and I hope your General Manager has or will change his/her ways.
Since Jeff, you stated that you didn't agree with putting those $300 cars on the website, because you knew and had people driving several hours away to find cars that looked nothing like the pictures online, and were not reliable. You said that was a decision on the GM's part.
Whoever this person is, scrap the junk vehicles and don't try to sell us unsafe ones. You're lucky I didn't report your dealership to the State authorities and have your Vehicle Inspection license reviewed, because the vehicle I test drove, should not have passed. Don't tell me it otherwise. I've spoken to the State about Vehicle Inspections in the past.
Many dealerships, such as yours tend to 'overlook' things to pass inspections, and it's really a conflict of interest to inspect your own vehicles. I've had another dealership here in Missouri that inspected and passed State vehicle inspection on one of their vehicles when the brake pads were gone.
Buyer beware.
June 30, 2016
Unprompted review
