My husband and I bought a 2013 Ford F-150 from here on 1/4/2020. I asked for the carfax, which revealed the car has previously reported rear end damage. This fact was never disclosed to my husband during their negotiations. The sales rep assured us "it was a minor rear end with no frame damage." Regardless, my husband liked the truck so we decided to purchase it.
We dealt with Billy, who was the finance manager. Everything went smoothly and we drove off in the car. The car had tags that expired November 2019, but we paid for another year when the car was financed. They gave us a temporary registration for the front windshield which was good for 90 days. Billy said we should expect to receive the new stickers in the mail in a week or two.
Six weeks passes by. Still no tags. So, I call the DMV and they indicated to me that a transaction had been started to transfer the vehicle into my name, but it was incomplete as fees were due. I called the dealership and spoke to a gentlemen who was extremely rude and said that it wasn't a big deal because we still had the temporary registration sticker. I gave it one more week. Still nothing. At this point I was calling the dealership once a week and every time I spoke with someone, they gave me the runaround as to where the tags were. They would say "we will call you tomorrow" "they should be here next week" "we are having our 'DMV' guy look into it."
I'm fed up at this point. Apparently these guys are my husbands friends so I'm trying to be compassionate and understanding to an extent. But, it's the end of March and we are driving around a car with tags that expired in November with no indication of when we would receive the current tags.
Yesterday, my husband called them as soon as they opened at 8am. I finally received a call back around 2pm from Ben, the "owner." In addition to being EXTREMELY RUDE, he gave me some runaround about how his finance manager, Billy, had submitted a payoff to the previous lender for the wrong vehicle and that they had not received the title from the previous owner, then continued to blame Billy for what had happened and said that he had been fired. He went on to explain that they use a "flooring" company to hold the money for vehicle payoffs and that the flooring company was closed due to the coronavirus so there was nothing that he could do. He explained that all he could do was issue a new temporary registration and that he was closing his dealership that day at 5pm indefinitely due to the coronavirus. At this point it's almost 3pm. My husband was working in San Bernardino. Ben then suggested that my husband come to the dealership by 5pm so that a new temporary registration could be issued. I told him that would be impossible as he was working until 5pm in San Bernardino. He then said there was no reason that he couldn't pick it up because he would pass the dealership on his way home. I explained that even if my husband was going home after work, he wouldn't be able to make it by 5pm, but that he wasn't going straight home after he got off (not his business in the first place). I suggested that the professional thing to do was to drop the registration off at my home (we only live a few miles from the dealership, and I have a newborn I can't just take out at the drop of a hat). I suggested he could leave it under my doormat or tape it to the front door. He said that he was not comfortable doing that because of the coronavirus. And then proceeded to tell me that he needed the vehicle there in order to process the new temporary registration. No other alternative was suggested. He then proceeded to say that we shouldn't judge his company because he are in unprecedented times. I can be understanding of that, but, we purchased the car on January 4. So, what happened and how many different people dropped the ball in all of January and all of February and most of March?
At this point, I told him how frustrated I was that we just wanted to give the car back and cancel the loan. He proceeded to laugh and said, "it doesn't work like that, but if you want to hire legal counsel, it will just go to arbitration and you will lose." Well, jokes on him. I don't need to hire legal counsel because I am an attorney. After that, he said "this conversation is over" and hung up the phone.
So now, Ben has closed his dealership indefinitely. We have temporary registration that expires on April 4. No current tags. And presumably no way to contact anyone at the dealership as they are closed indefinitely. No promise of a new temporary registration. So now after April 4, the car will not be operable as the temporary registration will have expired. Ben offered no alternate solutions, had horrible customer service and was extremely rude. This will not be the end of this.
Would NOT recommend. read more