A couple months ago, I embarked on the mission of finding myself a used car. This was my first time searching for a car of any sort, so I had no idea where to start. I looked at dealerships, I looked through newspapers, and eventually took the techie path and looked online.
Eventually I found a dealership that had a car I was interested in. The dealership happened to be about an hour and a half away from my house. So, I make the trip up to look at this car. We look it over, listen to the salesman’s spiel, then take it for a test drive. The car drove great, no noticeable problems. When we get back to the dealership, we start looking through the car to find problems with it, etc. We find out that the back seat which folds down is completely missing any kind of bolt to hold it in. A problem like this should have been my first inclination to walk away. If a dealer doesn’t notice that the back seat moves freely, what else didn’t he check, right? Also, we discovered the jack and tire iron for the spare were missing.
Unfortunately for me I have recently made an effort to become an optimist with certain aspects of my life. So we told the dealer about it, and he said he would fix it and give a call when the parts came in. I continued to look for other cars in the process. I didn’t hear from the dealer for a couple days, so I decided to give him a call. He gives me the, “Oh yeah, it’s ready, when do you want me to drop it off?” First of all, I live an hour and a half away, so I know there’s no way this guy is going to drop a car off at my house. So I say, “Do you even know who this is?” This was followed by silence. He had completely forgotten what vehicle I was interested in and who I was. This should have been sign number two to just walk away.
So, he fixed the stuff and I ended up liking the car and getting it. I have the car for about 2 days. I’m cruising, listening to the new Beck CD. Can’t go wrong with cruisin’ country roads listening to some Beck. I’m listening to Farewell Ride and suddenly the radio goes dead. No buttons or dials work, no time is displayed, defunct. So I call the dealer; he says that I can bring it in for him to send out, which will cost about $200, or he could send me a check for $200 and I can get it done myself. Well, that works for me, because I don’t want to drive out there.
I have no knowledge whatsoever about installing radios, cars, or any mixture of the two. However, I decided I’d get nasty and try to do an installation myself. I mean, it’s like being a networking guy, you’re just plugging stuff in, how hard can it be, right? So I get techie again and go online to find instructions on how to remove the radio, along with instructions for making the tool to remove the radio. I go to Circuit City, find a radio, find that they have free installation. Well, why not, you know? Then I found out they want an extra $80 bucks to install a custom-fit holder for the radio instead of just using spacers on top of and underneath the radio. So, I blow my nose at Circuit City, and I go home. I decided to just play around with the current radio, pretending I know what I’m doing. I came to the conclusion that the security panel comes loose and causes the problem. Since then, I haven’t had trouble with it. $200 bucks in my pocket, how sly am I?
Well, a little bit down the road, my car occasionally decides that it will lose engine power when I’m driving it and the check engine light will come on. It’s exciting me in ways I can’t describe. (By the by, this car was an ‘01 and had only 36,000 miles on it). So, I get ahold of the guy, he says to bring it up and he will get it fixed. Luckily, I was going out to the Erie County Fair nearby. (You know, the fair with the catchy radio jingle, “I’ll see you there, at the Erie County Fair.” No, I will never refer to it as “America’s Fair,” like they want everyone to now call it.) So I drop it off, get it back on the same day, and the car works fine, no problems.
Ok, now the 90 day / 4,000 mile warranty has run out. I discover that my backup lights don’t work. I’m never behind my car when I’m backing up, so I never thought to check. I look in the fuse panel and find out that the fuses for the backup lights just aren’t there. That means that whoever inspected the car just sort of threw the stickers on there, since backup lights are part of the mandatory legal inspection. I decided to use some of that free $200 to fix the problem instead of driving to get it repaired. Turns out that the switch to turn the lights on in the transmission didn’t work either. So I spent about $50 bucks at my local mechanic getting that problem fixed.
Recently I was making a trip, when once again, my engine lost power and the check engine light came on. I had now moved, so I was much farther from the dealer than before. I give the dealer a call and say, “I’m having the same problem that you said you fixed. I know I’m out of warranty, but what are you going to do for me?” He asks if I can bring it up Saturday because his guy will be there. Well, I have to drive it back and forth the whole week. It sounds like crap, runs like crap. Somehow I make it. I go up to the dealer. He forgets why I’m even there. He hooks up the computer and gets the error codes. Same problem as before, surprise surprise. So he says he’ll get the part I need but I’ll have to get it installed myself. His “guy” isn’t there, and he’s only a bullshit artist that gets people to buy his junk. I tell him about the backup lights not working, and he just kind of gives me a, “Huh, how ’bout that.” I ask why this problem happened again, and he says, “Well it could have been a faulty part or a used part.” Wait a minute… while my car was under warranty, your “guy” may have put a used part in instead of new? WTF mate?!
I was too upset for words at that point. I realized without legal action this guy isn’t going to do crap for me. So I take the part I have and go down to the corner store and get on the horn making some calls to find out what to do. Well, I’m no mechanic, and it’s a Saturday, and it’s the first day of archery season. No trustworthy mechanic I know is going to be around. Luckily I have a buddy that lived 30 minutes away who happens to have a dad who can tinker. We find out that the part is fine, it’s just the wiring going to it that’s bad. We call some auto-parts stores and find out it’s a dealer-only part. We call a dealer and find only one in the area that may have the part. Luckily they did, and luckily it was easy to install. It did cost me 30 bucks.
Now the car runs fine. Whether or not it will continue is another question altogether. The whole point of sharing this wonderful story with everyone is beware of any used car dealer. Do not be optimistic, it’s just not worth it. And to everyone in the Buffalo area, stay away from PatCo Motors in North Tonawanda.
I am passionate about cars, I buy cars, I sell cars, I source cars for people. However I am not passionate about the motor trade itself, and its probably because of dealers like this. Im in the UK and this seems to be the same the world over! I spend much of my time having to convince people I am not some kind of criminal who is out to rip them off. People treat you with contempt and suspicion from the moment they make first contact with you. Your comment “beware of any used car dealer” highlights this. Its also the only business I know where people resent you making money and customers will try to wring every last inch of profit out of the deal. This is due to the media fueling the dodgy dealer paranoia and telling people they can get huge discounts. I have in the past worked for dealers who do nothing to dispell this image and its only my undying passion for cars and my crusade to be a trustworthy motor trade contact for my many satisfied customers, that keeps me in this business. I have every sympathy for your story but there are some of us trying to change the way the trade is percieved by offering good one on one service to repeat customers. I dont work from a forecourt, I source cars to order for my customers so they get exactly what they want. I still get calls from customers who bought from me when I worked for a dealer because they were treated well and are scared to buy any where else. Im sure there must be others out there? Im now building a website so I can offer my services and advice to others, Im probably banging my head against a brick wall but you gotta start somewhere, right?
Best Regards
October 28th, 2005, at 10:28 am #