My suggestion is to avoid them. I can't figure out if they are incompetent or dishonest but either way they don't deserve the label "dealer." Dealers are supposed to be specialists. They are supposed to add value to the transaction (which justifies the higher prices and their own profits). Their involvement is supposed to bring security and accountability to the purchasing process. That is, if they are competent and honest. Not what I found here. Here are the specifics:
Bought a 2001 dodge truck with a lot of body rust for 2,600. Wasn't told that the extent of the rust made the car un-inspectable without a fair amount of body work. The price should have reflected this. On the drive home the rear differential went, potentially a thousand dollar repair bill. I don't know that a mechanic's inspection would always be able to identify a problematic differential (say by the presence of metal in the fluid) but no mechanic ever went through this vehicle in the first place or made any effort to come up with an accurate figure for the true value of it. I know that because there was hardly any coolant in the radiator by the time I got home. In other words there was a well-advanced external coolant leak that either no one noticed or bothered to tell me about (in the heater core it turns out so it was not immediately apparent, another high labor repair bill nonetheless). Incompetence or dishonesty?
My impression is that these guys don't bother too much with the cost of mechanics when they are prepping vehicles for resale. Nor are they all that good at buying quality used vehicles that can justifiably be sold at the prices they charge. I did not petition them for any money back because I take fault in signing the contract. But when I told them that it was obvious I over-paid, that no mechanic ever even glanced at the truck and that I had to send the truck to auction and get only 575 dollars for it, I received a well rehearsed spiel from a guy I took to be a manager that he has cars he's bought blow up on him all the time and has to eat those costs as a matter of daily business (does this argue for competence?). "Poop happens" he literally said to me. Except, if you think about it for a second, it is not my job to buy and sell vehicles. It's his. If he were to perform his job as a true specialist then the risk of buying would be less for me. But as far as I can tell all he does is buy apparently decent vehicles on the cheap at auctions and offer book value prices without making any effort to determine the mechanical state of the vehicle, much less it's fair market value. These guys made a healthy profit off of me but took on none of the risk of their line of business that would have justified it. They hide behind the "as is" clause and they pretend to know what they are doing. No different than the business ethos of a securities trader in my book--buy low sell high no matter what your buying--let the suckers suss out value. Buyer's risk should not increase when dealing with a specialist but that is what you'll get here. read more
