I understand that buying a used car involves a risk. A car should not have problems within an hour of driving it off the lot! I was sold a giant pile of junk and all I wanted was a refund or exchange for a different car on the lot. Apparently, one hour is one too many to ask them for help. Once you sign you're screwed!!! It is baffling to me that they would rather ignore what was happening than allow us to choose a different car or fix the one we bought and still have a sale and happy customers!
We looked at a VW Jetta at Das Autohaus that we found advertised on CarGurus. While test driving the air conditioning seemed slow to cool. I asked "Sam", the person who sold us the car, to have the mechanic look at it. We went back the next day and it was blowing cold. Sam said it was looked at and everything was ok. We asked about having an outside mechanic look over the car and Sam said, "Why? We have the best mechanic around for European cars and that it already had a 100 point inspection done". Sam repeatedly assured us that it had been thoroughly looked over prior to it going on the lot. Over and over he said, "You can trust us, read our CarGurus reviews", "we would never screw you like that", "all cars have a 100 point inspection and come with a warranty", "we have nothing to hide, all cars have a CarFax", "if anything happens just call me, we are here to help"... Unfortunately, we had to find out the hard way that none of his words mattered. I hope sharing this story saves others the aggravation and huge financial loss that we have suffered.
We decided to go ahead with the purchase after we were told the a/c was fixed. As we were sitting down with Christina doing the purchase contract I asked where the warranty information was. She said, "Oh, you want the warranty?". Well, yes... it is advertised as being part of the car purchase and "Sam" mentioned it at least a dozen times as one of the main selling points. A warranty is listed in every advertisement. So of course I want the free warranty. It was very slick of her to try to leave this off of the purchase documents.
One hour after driving the car home the ABS light came on. The next morning we noticed leaks in the driveway under the car. I called Sam right away and he said he would let Christina know. We never heard from her. I called her several days later. By this time the coolant light was on and the reservoir empty indicating a leak, as well as tons of oil leaking in our driveway. She said, let me check the board for the mechanic's schedule and I will call you back. Weeks passed and never heard from her. Called back and she said she did not call back because there are no mechanic openings for 2-3 weeks and she'd look again and get back to me. Never heard from her. My boyfriend then called Christina and asked why she could not return a call and re-iterated that we called less than 24 hours after buying the car. She said she would talk with the owners. Guess what, we never heard back from her or the owners....
A week or so after our last call to them the transmission goes. Not surprising given the condition of the rest of the car. I call the warranty company and they referred me to a nearby shop, not Das Autohaus. The mechanic found a cracked water pump & housing causing the coolant leak, crankshaft seal & timing cover gasket leaking oil and needing replacement, ABS has an internal defect and needs repair and it needs a new transmission! Repair quote approximately $5600 so far. I paid $6000 for the car! The "insurance" covers the transmission up to $2000, meaning there is a balance of $650 to have a used transmission put in. The car will still need the additional $3000+ of work which is not covered by the warranty.
I drove over and met with the owners. Margarete was making an effort to listen to what happened before her husband rushed in yelling. It was clear that Thomas has had many angry customers in front of him. He refused to listen or do anything. He kept saying the cars are AS IS and he cannot fix everyone's used car problems later. This was not the point. This is not about an AS-IS sale, this is about integrity and customer satisfaction in which they could care less about. We told them of the many issues less than 24 hours after the sale. We told Thomas of all the promises Sam made and he said, "What do you expect him to say, that the car has problems? He's trying to sell cars". Sam has been well trained to lie. Christina has been well trained to lie AND ignore customers. There is ZERO concern for customer satisfaction.
If you decide to buy here heed my warning - insist that an outside mechanic thoroughly inspect the car, since they clearly do not do this. Do not deal with "Sam" as he is a trained liar with no conscience. He promised my 18 year old son the world, with a smile on his face, as he stole all of the money my son saved up for a car for 18 years! I hope Karma finds Sam, Christine & Thomas. read more