Ok, let's start off with these words: avoid at all costs
And before I rant: I'm a pretty competent mechanic. I've rebuilt a few GM small blocks, a few cars, and I have quite a lot of equipment from those experiences such as scanners, timing guns, etc. IF I didn't have this under my belt, I would of been screwed. Suzy home maker who goes here to buy a car would be devastated in repair costs by comparison.
This dealership, and the warranty they sell (Royal Warranty Services) are both a complete scam and both should be closed down. Don't believe me? The third most popular search under Google when you type "Royal Warranty" is "Royal Warranty BBB" - you know, the Better Business Bureau who does nothing about crooks like this.
Anyway,driving down to the lot, it looks as if the dealership belongs in a third world country. It's crummy looking and dirty, and the inside looks even worse. Very run down. I was extremely skeptical from the get go after looking at reviews on here and other sites, and hearing from people around town. However, I was looking for a specific car that is hard to find these days: a 2004 Grand Prix GTP with the 3800 Series III engine. These cars are TYPICALLY very reliable, and don't usually have many issues. The engines are practically flawless, and break 300k on average without a hitch. But enough about the car..
I bought the car in April of '13 and it was great for the first few weeks. They wouldn't let me negotiate in price, but I did get it dropped a little bit to stay in my budget and by the condition of the car I thought it was a good price. The brakes were in fairly good shape, and the tires had good tread on them. I didn't see any other issues, and did a pretty thorough inspection.
Thorough inspections do not warn you of electrical gremlins, however.
Within 2 weeks of driving the car, I got a Check Engine Light (CEL). I already knew what it was, but I figured I had enough projects and brought it down to them anyway. The code that came up was an EVAP code for a "large leak" in the emissions system - in these cars, 95% of the time it is caused by one of either two systems: The EVAP canister in the rear driver's side wheel well, or the EVAP purge valve on the engine. Both are cheap and fairly easy to replace. I brought it down to the dealership, they plugged it in and they got the same code. They decided that they should run a "smoke test" when I had just told them it was most likely the canister. They had my car for 3 days, and couldn't find the problem after the smoke test. I told them about the EVAP canister and the purge valve, and they told me that if it were those things that the warranty WOULD NOT cover those parts. I bought the "second tier" warranty, which is the second best and it clearly states electrical components.. but again, just look up how bad the warranty company is. They gave me an estimate over $300 just for those parts, told me to come back if I wanted it done (yeah, right) and then cleared the code, and gave my car back and didn't fix anything.
After another week of driving, the light came back up. This time, I used my scanner, and got the same code. I decided to then replace both units, (cost is like $50 for parts, but a stealership like this one will charge you easily close to $300.. which is about the cost of a fuel pump.. more on that later) and that fixed the problem entirely. I then went to get my wheels aligned & balanced in preperation for my trip to Virginia, and I was told my two back wheels were bent. Both of them. Now, how the HELL can both of my BACK WHEELS be bent when I just bought the car? I'll tell you how: abuse. It is nearly physically impossible to bend two wheels like that when they are in the back of the car. IF, however, the wheels were on the front and then damaged, and THEN swapped to the back it would make complete sense! Which, is the only explanation: they were swapped before I bought the car. This means, the dealership sold me the car with two ruined rims, a faulty gas gauge, and a dying fuel pump. Yippee. Oh yeah, the fuel pump..
A few weeks after that (we're now in the third week of June) and I'm my way home from Rhode Island. I had just delayed driving to Virginia to see a friend and decided against going there at the last second. Luckily for me, that was a very good decision as I don't currently have AAA for towing. On my way home from seeing a friend in RI, my car suddenly lost the accelerator and the car died on the highway near the Braintree, MA exit. I got it towed for $85, and then went home.
Got my car home, and after the complete bullshit I dealt with last time, I decided to not even contact the dealership. I checked the fuel rails for pressure, and realized I had plenty of spark but no fuel at all. So now, I'll be paying $300 to do the pump / filter MYSELF and I'm only 2 months into owning the car...
Unreal. read more