I purchased a car here in the end of June 2012. A 2000 BMW M5, which I was told over the phone was…read morein immaculate condition and I checked the carfax report which looked good. I asked a few particular questions about the state of the rims, body, vanos system, etc.. Considering this was my dream car and it was within the range I wanted to spend I immediately jumped on it, put $1000 deposit down and headed out for a 2 hour dive the next day to pick up my car.
After arrival i found the car sitting out in the hot sun, cracked rear bumper, chipped rims, and oxidized headlights. All not clearly shown in the pictures, and up front lied to me when I asked over the phone about these particular things. I took the car for a test drive and immediately the check engine light popped on. The car drove great to be honest. After driving back to the lot the salesman told me that "their really good mechanic who knows all about BMW's" says it simply needs a new thermostat.
Considering the fact that I really wanted the car and somehow I had let them earn my trust and this is the first used car I had ever bought I went ahead with the deal and bought the car. The sales guy was shortly fired after this.
I brought the car back and got the thermostat fixed, on the way home the light came on again. Then I brought the car back again and had some hoses cleaned, on the way home the light came on again. Back again the next week to get something else de-carbed. All with no gas reimbursement or loaner vehicle. After leaving again the light came again on the way home. That was it, time to go to a real mechanic and spend my own money at a BMW dealership. The dealer comes back and says my clutch is just about gone, and I have a bunch of bad sensors.
I managed to get credit max to pick up my car and do the repair for only half cost on labor plus parts, gee thanks. $1600.00. Remember i just bought this car a month ago and already I have to replace a clutch with my own money. After getting back from vacation they called me and told me my car was ready. I was so excited but how would I get there with no car?
I hopped on the Greyhound and took it to Sacramento. When I got there I found I was about 6 miles from the dealership. So I gave them a call and they refused to pick me up because they were "busy with customers". So I hopped a taxi for $40 which took about 7 minutes, and when I walked in the door, a bunch of lazy ass salesman sitting around in the AC watching ice melt. I couldn't believe it, what shady ass people. A lot full of crappy ass cars, no customers and you make me take a taxi to come pick up my $20K car that I bought from you and just spent $1600 on getting a new clutch put in a month later!!!!!
That was it for me, I left there and never looked back. It was the worst buying experience I have ever dealt with. I didn't even go back for my free oil change which on this car costs about $250. When I later got the oil changed I found that the person who did it last over torqued the stainless steel oil pan and destroyed the threads on it. I gave CreditMax a call and what do you know they offered to cover HALF the cost. Wow your going to cover half the cost of damaged you caused?!! Thanks A##Wholes!!!!
I have had the car for 5 months now, so far I have replaced:
- 10 Hoses at $12 a piece
- 2 Mass Air Flow Sensors at $160 a piece
- 4 Tires, $1000 total
- Broken undercarriage pieces $100
- Control Arm Bushings $340
- Clutch and Flywheel $1600
- A few other leaking hoses, missing buttons, and mounts $300
- New headlights $400
- Buffed and reforged rims (which I was lied to over the phone about) $400
- Cracked rear bumper (also lied to about) $1000
Hmmm, almost $6000 in repairs that CreditMax's amazing mechanics just happened to miss, not counting all the gas and extra transportation I used to get back and forth. Hows that for an immaculate car from a company that aims to help people fix their credit and get a good car. I feel lucky for this car that I rescued it from them.
The way this place works is they buy crappy cars from a wholesale or auto auction. I have been to many of these and the cars range from totaled to running great but there is really no way to tell. They send some buyer over who thinks he knows something about cars and buys all the cheapest nicest looking cars they can. Then they bring 'em home, clean them up. Get a mechanic to slap some old tires, glue, tape, fix whatever they can for as cheap as they can make it look like it's running good and sell it. The buyer is the one who unfortunately looses out.
Bottom line, I'm not saying don't buy a car here. But don't expect to be treated like a human, get good customer service or have someone you can trust. If you are looking at a car on their lot, take it somewhere to get a full Pre Purchase Inspection by an outside mechanic first.
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