Grab a coffee, this will be fun.
Tl;Dr:
Don't buy a car here unless you drive it first, and take it to a trusted mechanic. Zoom in on their pics. Not even kidding.
So I bought a 2016 Jaguar XJR in July 2021 for $54,000 plus $1500 shipping from Washington to Illinois. The online pics (attached) did not clearly reveal numerous issues with the car, nor, surprisingly, did the salesperson. When it arrived, I took it to the car wash, where a piece of the windshield cowl flew off and it had a conniption of proximity alerts. It was missing pieces of trim, there was broken glass in the trunk and the rear cameras were sunken in and malfunctioning. Some of the body panels were loose, and the rear door seals were detached, leaking and deteriorated beyond repair. There was glass embedded in the rear seats, and the front and rear window moldings didn't line up correctly. All of this was clearly indicative of an accident, though the vehicle report came up clean, which took me all of 10 minutes to deduce, and none of which came up in a few hours of conversation with the salesperson.
But by far the most egregious issue was the exhaust. There wasn't one. The muffler and catalytic converters had been deleted, replaced with straight pipes from the manifolds to the tips. It was so loud it could literally be heard from half a mile away (no joke, my wife and I measured while talking on the phone and using geo-location; she could hear the car from 0.62 mi away at 1500 rpm.) The sales person described the exhaust over the phone as "really turns heads!" A better description would have been "may cause bleeding from the ears" or "will frighten tow trucks".
So I got quotes and estimates from my local trusted mechanics and body shops; the cost for replacing and repairing just the exhaust came out to over $8,000. When I notified the sales person, I was told the sales manager, George, was on vacation for a week. That turned into two weeks, which eventually turned into two months, and a million voice mails and emails.
All my claims were "declined by the team". No real explanation as to why, just that the pics of the car were accurate and the salesperson couldn't have known the exhaust was modified, as he is not a mechanic.
"Did he not hear it????"
"Uh. I couldn't say. I don't know."
"How could you not? It wakes dead people."
George eventually offered to buy the car back (which took 10 more days, a million emails, voice mails, ad nauseum) and finally their offer was $40K buy back or $45k store credit. I would lose either $14,000 or $9,000 respectively. When I asked if he would accept that deal if he were me, he just sat quiet on the phone. Stymied.
By this point I had already made my first payment and the car was just sitting in the driveway (quietly at least), so I countered by offering not to ask for reimbursement of the cosmetic issues, just cover the items required by law, namely the Krakatoa exhaust (loudest recorded sound in human history, 172db, circled the globe four times; you're welcome). George felt the quote I got was too high and he could do better, which was fine, get a donor car and ship me the parts for all I care I just want to drive it. Please, man.
But of course his 2-3 day promise for a resolution turned into two weeks, so I just went out and paid for the repairs myself. I sent them an invoice for $3500, half the original quote, but they just stopped replying. I didn't even bother to invoice them for the trim, cameras and molding, another $6k.
I feel foolish and scammed, but the exhaust sounds great now at least.
Sticker price: $48,999.
Total out-of-pocket: $64,800
Don't buy here.
There's a reason the BBB gave them an F rating.
https://www.bbb.org/us/wa/ferndale/profile/used-car-dealers/mb-motors-llc-1296-22962160
Washington State law:
https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.70.180
see par(17)(a) read more