Central Cadillac

The deal The sales rep. was fantastic involved from the start to the end of the transaction. I was able to follow is judgement and that helped. The sales rep. was fantastic involved from the start to the end of the transaction. I was able to follow is judgement and that helped. More

Buyer beware I purchased a certified pre-owned vehicle from Central Cadillac of Cleveland Ohio. I live in Maine and this transaction took place over the internet a I purchased a certified pre-owned vehicle from Central Cadillac of Cleveland Ohio. I live in Maine and this transaction took place over the internet and through mail service. This is approximately my 20th vehicle purchase in the past 15 years. The majority of them being used vehicles. This vehicle was a 2016 Cadillac ELR with approximately 12,000 miles. The vehicle came with the 172-point certified pre-owned inspection that’s required by Cadillac in order to be listed as certified pre-owned. Cadillac has set guidelines for a vehicle in order to be listed under Cadillac’s certified pre-owned program. The is called CADILLAC CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED (CPO) OPERATIONS GUIDE. Central Cadillac and its sales representatives provided me with the completed 172-point inspection showing that all areas of the vehicle had been inspected and pass all required inspection criteria. Cadillac also requires that the dealership provides a vehicle history report. In this case Central Cadillac provided a Carfax history report. This report indicated that the vehicle had been in one previous accident to the left front of the vehicle. This would be the driver’s side front of the vehicle. I questioned the sales representative about the previous accident and about damage or repairs to the vehicle. I was told by this representative that the vehicle was in “great condition” “very good condition” multiple times. He even went as far to say that the repairs may have been done in their body shop and would look into the repair history. Ultimately, he was not able to determine where the repairs occurred, but assured me that all repairs had been done correctly and again reiterated that the vehicle was in “very good condition”. I had looked through all the photos from the on-line listing and could see no damage or condition issues from those photos. The one thing I did notice is that the front grill had been replaced with an older model grill and didn’t match the rest of the vehicle. Central Cadillac replaced the front grill with the proper gill. After many reassurances from the sales representative that the vehicle was in “very good” to “great” condition I continued with the purchasing process. Financing had been approved and Central Cadillac mailed me the paperwork that needed to be signed and notarized. The 172-certified pre-owned inspection and the Carfax history report were included in these documents. My wife, the notary, and I reviewed the inspection in detail and everything had passed the inspection and not one area required any service. The oil had been changed and the tires had been rotated. The inspection was evident proof that the vehicle was in as good of condition as I had been led to believe. I also verified that the only accident reported on the Carfax was to the left front of the vehicle. I was reassured that this damage had been repaired and that there was no damage or condition issues with this vehicle. We signed the documents and returned them to the dealership via a pre-paid envelope provided by Central Cadillac. I left the country and went on Vacation while Central Cadillac organized shipping and transportation of the vehicle from Ohio to Maine. When I arrived back in Maine from vacation, I had a message on my home voice mail. It was the shipping company wanting to deliver the vehicle the day before. The vehicle was to be delivered the day I arrived back in Maine. I was concerned that the vehicle was on its way back to Ohio because it had arrived in Maine a day early. I called the phone number left by the delivery driver. The driver advised me that he could deliver the vehicle next week or I could pick it up today. I didn’t understand how I could pick it up that day if he could only deliver it the next week. The driver advised me that he had left the vehicle with a “friend”. His friend was holding the vehicle and keeping it secured. I immediately went to the address provided to pick up the vehicle. The vehicle was very dirty in the interior and exterior. This made it very problematic to conduct a thorough inspection of the vehicle. I picked up the vehicle and left the very awkward situation. I reported the delivery issues to Central Cadillac. They didn’t seem to care that much. The shipping company emailed me an invoice after the vehicle was delivered. In this invoice, there were pre-shipping inspection pictures. There was also a place for me to sign on the condition of the vehicle. I refused to sign and send in this paper work. One or two days went by and I started to notice condition and damage on the vehicle. I followed these condition issues and was able to trace large amounts of damage on the vehicle and discovered vast amount of failed vehicle repairs down the entire passenger side of the vehicle. I was dumbfounded at how bad the condition of the vehicle really was. I reported the issues to Central Cadillac. The representative insinuated that I did the damage and it would have been just between he and I if I had told him that I did the damage. I was appalled by this insinuation. I sent photos of the damage to Central Cadillac. Then I was told by the Central Cadillac representative that none of the damage was there before it left their facility and that the car had been inspected. The sales representative told me that if there was ANY damage or anything at all that needed repaired or corrected it would have been done. This is in conjunction with the Cadillac Certified Pre-owned inspection process. I denied doing any of the damage. Central Cadillac shifted blame to the shipping company. I took the listing photos, pre-shipping inspection photos, and the photos that I took of the vehicle and compared them side by side. I also sent the comparisons to Central Cadillac. Once you see the car in person you can easily pick out the damage that’s on the vehicle. The damage was on the vehicle before it was loaded on the delivery vehicle. This damage is interesting because it’s almost as if the listing photos were taken in an effort to cover up any perceived damage. The shipping photos are almost randomly taken and easily show the damage. Using the pre-shipping inspection photos, it’s very easy to see the damage. I was even told “I wish they didn’t send you those”. Once I had this evidence and proof that the vehicle was damaged before being loaded/shipped I reported it to the sales representative. Finally, it was acknowledged that the damage was pre-existing, though somehow, he didn’t see it. The statement was even made by the representative “how many accidents was this thing in” while looking through all the damage photos. The estimate from the Cadillac body shop in Maine was now at $4,600 to repair the exterior damage and fix the poor repairs. The damage and poor repair work are so blatant and so obvious that it seems impossible that any type of inspection was done on the vehicle. If and inspection was then Central Cadillac deliberately ignored the condition issues, the obvious damage, and additional accidents to this vehicle. I continued to find more damage so I continued to inspect the vehicle inside and out. Once again, this vehicle was sold to me in “great” and “very good” condition. The photos and information were sent to the “manager” for review. I spoke with the manager who blamed me for the damage. The manager also laughed on the phone when I expressed my expectation of Central Cadillac to pay for the repairs. The manager continued to belittle me on the phone and was extremely rude. He quoted requirements and allotments from the “CADILLAC CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED (CPO) OPERATIONS GUIDE”. These quotes included what was allowed for scratches, gouges, dents, and so on. It seemed clear he was very familiar with the CADILLAC CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED (CPO) OPERATIONS GUIDE. He stated that the vehicle is permitted to have minor issues. I asked if he had looked at any of the photos that related to the damage to this vehicle. He replied “no”. I was baffled by his response. This was allegedly turned over to management over a week earlier. He hadn’t reviewed any of the information at hand and was adamantly denying any damage or condition issues on this vehicle. I encouraged him to look at the photos. He tried to look through some photos and continued to insinuate that I did the damage and that I drove the car too hard. He noted that he could see dirt and snow on the vehicle. This was certainly a weird excuse for there being damage on the vehicle. It was clear that none of the information had been reviewed. I advised him that once you know the damage is there you can see it in almost every pre-shipping inspection photo as well as the online listing photos. He asked to see the pre-shipping photos, which I provided to him. This phone call ended. After hanging up, I sent him additional photos with the side by side comparison of all the photos so he could see the damage/accidents that were not disclosed. This damage is major damage and would have been seen during the inspection process. Once again, the inspection didn’t happen and it was filled out that it did or the items were ignored and deliberately covered up. The manager called me back with in a few minutes of receiving the photos. His tone was completely different. It was very clear he could see the condition issues and stated that he was going to look into what had happened. He advised he would call me that night. He never did. He left from work early the next day and then went on vacation. I was told by my sales representative that no one really knew he was going on vacation. I don’t believe he had any intention to take care of these issue in a timely manner. I want to reiterate this has been going on now for almost three weeks. It’s not as if I’m being impatient. The sales representative has acknowledged the damage prior to being shipped out. He claims that he didn’t see any of the problems. He states that is now irrelevant because it is very clear in the photos. The manager has also seen the damage and acknowledge the issues with the vehicle. The manager wanted to investigate what happened. This investigation is an internal problem with staff not with the consumer. Delaying a resolution with the consumer that was deliberately wronged has nothing to do with the internal failures of Central Cadillac. The manager just doesn’t seem interested in taking care of the issues. With all the damage NOT reported and all the faulty repairs to this vehicle this seems to be a deliberate attempt to deceive a consumer. After a final inspection of the interior and exterior of the vehicle by the Cadillac Body shop the total for repairs is $14,752.00. This is what would be required in order to get the vehicle to the condition that it was represented to me during the sale of the vehicle. There is blatant damage everywhere on this vehicle inside and outside. I was told by my sales representative. “Without being disrespectful, you bought a used car, what did you expect”? I expected a vehicle to arrive in the condition that was promised. I expected a vehicle to arrive that was in accordance to the CADILLAC CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED (CPO) OPERATIONS GUIDE. There were no condition issues or damage reported about this vehicle. The vehicle was sold to me and represented to me to be in ‘very good” and “great” condition with no damage. This vehicle has one accident reported in the Carfax history report. Any type of inspection to this vehicle can see that it has been in at least two additional accidents. One of those accidents being a major accident. I was told that they go by the Carfax and wouldn’t know about any other accidents. The problem with this thought process by Central Cadillac is that 172-point inspection. If this inspection was conducted in anyway the damage would have easily revealed itself to the inspector. The damage is on the exterior of the vehicle and can be seen in person by just walking around the vehicle. Either the known damage wasn’t disclosed and deliberately concealed or the 172-point inspection was a fraud and was never conducted. Once again, the total in damage and falsified condition issues is $14,752.00. Central Cadillac management has laughed it off as if they hold no responsibility to the consumer to sell them a product that was represented to them, “very good” and “great” condition. I have FULL documentation of the inspection report, Carfax report, and all photos needed to show anyone the damage that was not disclosed by the inspectors or managers at Central Cadillac. There is still the looming question. With the very very poor repair work, did Central Cadillac intentionally try to cover up an additional accident? More