This is exactly why people don't trust car salesmen. As a licensed realtor, I am especially frustrated as it's unlicensed non-fiduciaries like this who give sales people such a bad reputation.
Flew in from New Mexico to pick up a 2017 Volvo v90 Cross Country recently traded in. There were only a few photos of the car in the ad. 2 days before flying out, I requested a video call with the car and we agreed on a time. It was never received. Called again and asked. My salesperson, John Nash, agreed to shoot a video walk around, instead. However, I didn't receive that either. I had already booked the flight and couldn't wait.
When I arrived, John, gave me the key (supposed to be 2) and it looked like it had been fished out of an alligator's mouth. He asked if I'd seen the car when I was introduced to him. "Only briefly on my way in," I responded, "and it looks a lot better than this key!"
We took it for a test drive shortly after. There were bits of food particles in every little crevice and a piece of rolled cheese the size of a pea stuck to the climate screen facing the back seat. The wheel was covered in french fry grease. They made no effort to clean it. It had only 15,000 miles but the leather on the seats and steering wheel was badly worn out. None of the photos depicted the awful condition of the leather.
Looking up, during the very quick test drive they allotted me, I noticed that the roof rack had been removed. He tried to convince me there was to be no rack included. My mind was stuck on the rack so I didn't notice the other major flaws I discovered later. Once we went inside, I insisted he look through the very few photos posted and there was, indeed, was a roof rack in the photos. Apparently the previous owner came back for it and attempted to install it on his new Lexus but it was designed for the Volvo. The rack was with one of the service dept but guess what, no key! So now I had TWO missing keys.
Later, walking around the car, I began to see the absolutely terrible condition the paint was in. There were DEEP scratches throughout, passed the base coat. Even the Volvo emblem was destroyed. None of this had been disclosed to me prior to and the condition of both the leather AND paint appeared to be intentionally obscured by the person who took and uploaded the photos. I showed these flaws to John who assured me that he WOULD take care of these paint problems once I got home and would also agree to reimburse for a professional detailing to the inside.
The financial dept had neglected to tell me before flying out and sitting with them in person I couldn't use my debit card on such a large transaction and needed to wire the money. Great ... Luckily, my wife is a co-signer on my account and was able to get to the bank in the nick of time to complete the transaction, otherwise, I would have had to fly back as there are no branches on the east coast. Crisis averted, I was able to buy the car and added the most comprehensive extended warranty available (which included fixing damage to paint and rims).
Finally on the road, I noticed even the leather on the dash was actually coming apart! It was rippling in several areas and completely torn off in others. I was shocked they didn't think to tell me. Again, not one photo of the condition. I wrote them a LONG to-do list of these that they needed to pay for. They gave me a fair amount of push back.
1,600 miles and three days later, I brought it in to my local Volvo dealer to order a replacement key, schedule a cleaning and service. When I showed the service manager the condition of the leather, he explained that he would need to order an entire new dashboard to replace it as it comes as a complete piece and is a $6,000 which thankfully would covered by the manufacturer's warranty, something I wouldn't have purchased the car without and I was specifically told over the phone was still in place. (Remember that.)
But as far as the paint goes, damage was so extensive, It'd need it to go into their partnered body shop. And that estimate was (ahem) $8,000.
The next week, I brought it back in for the detailing, and after the manager ran the vin, he gave me a call to tell me that there was NO WARRANTY.
I looked through my docs and found the buyers warranty disclosure and they had checked "manufacturer's warranty STILL applies." I wrote them furious that they had lied to me and demanded they pay the $15,000 in repairs or take the car back.
"I never said anything about a warranty" he said, so I scanned and highlighted the part that said it was still under that warranty. They had now committed Misrepresentation. FRAUD!
John said some BS about there not being a "cool down period" on Georgia cars. I told him I don't give AF and was getting ready to file a civil AND CRIMINAL lawsuit against them. They finally decided to take back the v90 and reimbursed me for gas and flight but I paid to the hauling.
Wasn't worth 2 years of court over the $1,200 ... read more