Purchased a used car from A&M in December 2022 from out of state based on positive reviews. My experience wasn't so great. They are a small dad and son shop, I worked with the son Roger and the deal was made mostly through texts and emails, which was fine. One of the BIG downsides of purchasing from out of state is not being present to do your own inspections and negotiate a deal. There are LOTS of details, sounds and feel you just don't get by not being there, but I liked the fairly difficult to find car so I took a chance. Maybe not the best decision.
Photos online ALWAYS look better than in person so there's a lot more trust placed in who you're working with to be honest in assisting with as many details as possible. The dealership uses Auto Check instead of CARFAX, which shows less details. I purchased a CARFAX on my own as there were gaps in the service records I was curious about, which just means some services may not have been reported or completed through a designated shop, like self work or undocumented. CARFAX definitely showed more information and checked out clean. Not sure why they use Auto Check, it's a far more inferior service and not really any better of a deal for the dealership. I should have asked them to furnish a CARFAX.
PROBLEMS -- Roger was pleasant enough and friendly and did mention the rear bumper "scuffs" (although they were a bit worse than described and purposely were not shown in their online photos - Red Flag!). UNDISCLOSED DAMAGES: (1) No mention of the fact that all 4 fender flares were severely sun bleached with chipping paint. (2) The drivers and passenger window tint was bubbling and peeling. (3) Torn molding on the upper rear windows where a roof rack was previously installed. (4) Driver side floor mat pegs were torn out of the floor... All of these issues were very obvious on delivery but don't show up in photos. Hate to say, but I feel like he hid these details on purpose! Also no BLIS as advertised, which is a very integrated expensive option. Otherwise the car was in decent shape for being higher mileage and wasn't highly overpriced, so I kept interested. In retrospect compensation should have been adjusted for for these items.
PRE-INSPECTION -- I knew it was risky buying sight unseen and anticipated the car would probably need a few repairs. I hired a guy through Rhino Mobile Mechanics (they are essentially a dispatch broker) to do a used car pre-inspection to try and weed out a possible lemon. Unfortunately the pre-inspection by Badasci Mobile Auto Repair missed some very costly issues by not doing an under carriage body inspection. He's probably a fine mechanic, but he didn't even have a punch list to work from or forward as a completed receipt. Not entirely the dealerships fault, but I immediately ended up having to replace a cracked oil pan, CV boots/axles, worn alternator belt, and a severely worn rear motor mount. If I wouldn't have noticed the pooling oil after being parked repairs could have been much worse. My local mechanic let me look under the car on a lift and pointed out all this issues. Should my pre-inspection have called out all the major issues found after delivery I certainly would have passed on the car deal or asked for a much steeper discount. I do have to wonder if the dealership was aware of any of these issues from their auction purchase as some of the wear was quite obvious.
I used to work in the car business, and I know these auction cars in this lower price bracket still have at least $1500-$3000+ overhead room to play with regardless of what they claim, this deal should have been a mini, but I was trying to be fair even with having to pay transport costs. I should have been more thorough, hard and expensive lesson learned. To add insult to injury the dealership followed up by offering to help offset some of my losses, but then totally flaked out. I would not buy from here again or recommend this dealership. read more
