Look elsewhere and do your homework before buying a vehicle here. For the most part, it does appear they offer fair prices but the vehicles (the ones I would consider) were all essentially polished turds.
I am in the market for a tow vehicle/daily driving truck. I am in an outside sales/management position. And vehicle appearance is important to me.
I reached out to Mike via car gurus last week, inquiring about a 2009 GMC Sierra Denali he had on his lot. I asked a few questions (were there any trouble codes, and if the AC worked) preliminarily. After some dialog via email I asked him for a price. He asked me to come look at the truck and we could further discuss it. I am an 8 hr drive round trip from his dealership. I called the next day. My primary questions were if the truck was safe, if it had mechanical issues, etc etc. I got him to tell me the price (he didn't budge off of sticker). I called my bank to make arrangements for financing and then started the next round of questions.
The photos ALWAYS make a vehicle look better than it actually does, and unfortunately I forgot that rule. The photographs made the truck look very nice, and free of rust forming on the body panels. We had a conversation on the phone regarding rust in the fender wells. He said they were rust free, but in reality they were, but sanded and touched up with matching paint. Same with the lower door seams and bed at the tailgate area. I know I didn't ask every question that would have convinced me this wasn't the truck for me, but I feel like I made it apparent I wanted something nice, which he claimed it was. I agreed to give him a $500 deposit to hold the truck for me until Saturday (today) when I could drive down and get it. Now, he did not tell me this wasn't refundable until the next day, when he said he had turned someone away that wanted the truck. Also at this point I found out their was infact a trouble code for an airbag light.
Upon arrival and seeing it, I had a very unsettling feeling. A piece of bumper trim was hanging on the passenger side, the chrome wheels were peeling, and once I got close enough I could see the covered up rust on the passenger side.
I meet mike. We shake hands and go for a quick drive up and down the strip in front of his dealership. Not what I was expecting, I thought that I would be given an opportunity to drive the truck on my own, since I had already proven my interest in purchasing it by agreeing on a price and giving him a deposit. Nope. I maybe put a mile on it. Found a crack in the dash, passenger seat cushion was not attached, passenger power mirror did not articulate fully, driver mirror was cracked, center console not really attached to the dash where it should be. It was obvious that no one gave a shit about this truck, and was far from "nice" despite how many times mike said it was. Oh yeah, front rotors were very warped and he stated that sometimes they vibrate after the truck sits for a while. Weird that he drove the truck just the day prior.
I asked for some time to plug in a snap on scanner to read any engine codes. He said sure and sent inside.
Voltage/communication issue (code I had never seen before)
Driver's side impact sensor for airbag wasn't found
One of the tires tpms sensors wasn't reading properly.
Historic codes, I have the numbers saved if anyone is curious.
I also monitored a few parameters and found cylinders 1 and 7 missing on occasion at idle.
Given that I wasn't able to drive the truck very far, I felt like more would surface as I kept digging. Decided it wasn't the truck for me (reluctantly) and went inside to tell him so.
I ask for half of my deposit back, as there were a number of things that concerned me about the truck. He refused. I got some BS dialog on how he has to relist the truck ads now, and they were not going anymore since I said I wanted the truck. He said he lost a sale because of me, claiming he didn't keep that person's information in case I backed out of the deal. Bullshit. These people are sharks. Tread carefully. read more