Lone Star Cadillac

Lone Star Cadillac responded

Massey Cadillac participates in the DealerRater Certified Dealer Program. We are committed to providing high quality customer service, but based on your DealerRater review, you did not share that experience. That is very disappointing to us, and through this program we have the opportunity to work with you to resolve any issues with your experience at their dealership. Before you purchased the pre-owned vehicle, where you given the opportunity for a test drive and pre-delivery inspection by your mechanic?

motolove responded

I did test drive the vehicle. And I believe it was "inspected" I don't really remember.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

Thank you for your response and we want to resolve this issue so that you can rate us 5 stars across the board. We certianly understand you are frustrated with the mechanical issues. Do you feel Massey Cadillac was responsible for the car's mechanical issues?

motolove responded

Yes I really do. I feel like the issue was there when I bought my car(along with other issues like a motor mount bushing that i realized needed to be replaced about a week after I spent over 10,000 on that car.)I feel taken advantage of because I didn't know what to look for or what to listen for. I spent a lot of money and am a college student. I don't have the money to fix something that I think Massey Cadillac was responsible for fixing before they sold me a vehicle.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

We understand that purchasing a car should not be this frustrating and wish you have a better experience. We do a safety inspection before you take delivery of your vehicle. Vehicles with high mileage are more likely to have mechanical issues due to wear that cannot be foreseen by the dealer. We have no way to determine when mechanical issues are going to take place. Mechanical issues could start the minute you get home on the day of purchase or two years later. Also, if we restored the pre-owned vehicles with all new parts to prevent this, then the amount you pay for a pre-owned car would be a lot more. The price you pay is reflected by the age, condition, and miles without replacing all original parts with new parts. Massey Cadillac offers extended warranties and allows third party inspections before you purchase your car to allow you to inspect our work before purchase. However, mechanical issues due to wear can still arise even after a third party inspection and that is why we offer extended warranties. Were you offered an extended warranty in the business office? Did you take the opportunity to have a third party inspect our work?

motolove responded

I was not offered an extended warranty. I was told it was not offered with my vehicle. And the issue I have is that the noise has been there all along.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

Your vehicle does qualify for an extended warranty through our business department. The finance manager should have presented this to you along with a menu of other products available to protect your investment. Was the noise there during the test drive?

motolove responded

I was NOT offered an extended warranty and yes the noise was there all along.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

I'm sorry you were not offered an extended warranty on the car. If I am understanding correctly, the bushings are not the concern. You were aware of this and were going to fix. The other issues are of concern. Where are you having the work done on your Cadillac?

motolove responded

I already fixed the bushings. That happened three months ago, the week after I bought the car. I called and asked if you all would fix it, since I had just bought the car and I was told no. No one is working on my car. I don't have $2500 to fix it.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

Got it. Who quoted you $2,500? Was it Massey Cadillac?

motolove responded

Jim Gass, a mechanic I've gone to for work before told me that he has encountered that issue before. He said it will be a minimum of $2500 to repair. He also said that he cannot do the repair because it requires specialized tools that he does not have at his current shop.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

He's correct. It does require special tools. I am sorry you had this happen after the delivery. As you can see by our BBB rating of A+ and our positive online reviews, it is our expectations to give you the best overall customer experience. But pre-owned vehicles, unlike new ones, can have internal mechanical issues due to wear that we are unable to spot during insection and may arise after the new owner has taken delivery. Because we understand that pre-owned vehicles may have future mechanical issues, we offer extended warranty's so that you will not have to incur additional costs during ownership. However, since you were not offered an extended warranty when the vehicle qualified for one is very dissappointing and will be reviewed. Is your Cadillac still running?

motolove responded

I have not driven it since Wednesday, it was getting substantially worse, so I had to stop driving it.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you and I hate to hear that your vehicle is not running. You may contact Xavier Whorton at 972-840-4100 if you need to speak to someone concering this issue and to get resolution. I have copied him the messages we have been sending so that he knows exactly what is going on with your car.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

We apologize for your frustration and wished that that your car buying experience could have been better. Massey Cadillac does clean, without the use of steam, the engine compartments of its pre-owned vehicles along with a full detail. We also dress the engine compartment with silicone spray. This is done before presenting the vehicle to the public for purchase and inspection, not to conceal leaks. Before we clean them, unless purchased beforehand, the vehicle is put into our shop for a safety check. If the vehicle does not pass a safety check, it is determined whether it will be fixed or wholesaled in a private auction. Pre-owned vehicles that are purchased by Massey Cadillac may have pre-existing conditions that may not be made aware to the dealership by the previous owner. We do not contact the previous owner because we take full responsibility for making the decision of purchasing the vehicle. We also take full responsibility to make sure the newly purchased pre-owned vehicle is safe before retailing to the public. This particular issue is not a safety concern, but an underlying mechanical issue. When we put the vehicle in the shop, internal engine components are not checked unless needed. A check engine light is a good indicator of a problem. However, if the light is not on during this inspection of the newly purchased pre-owned vehicle then it becomes pure speculation that we knew there was a pre-existing condition. Temporal adjustments to the engine that can cause the check engine light to come on do not last a week or two, but are nearly immediate when it concerns misfiring and leaks. Also, this dealership does not perform full restoration service to pre-owned vehicles, unless required by Cadillac on a pre-owned Certified Cadillac, so the pre-owned vehicles are priced according to miles, age, and condition. High mileage, older model vehicles with original components, like the Montero, will eventually need parts replaced due to age and wear. We understand this and price our pre-owned vehicles accordingly to help this cost. All of the pre-owned vehicles are available for inspection by third party companies. We do not prohibit this service. This inspection service can be helpful when purchasing older, high mileage vehicles without warranty if the customer does not feel comfortable with our inspection. The use of this service is determined and initiated by the customer before purchase. If you decline the third party inspection service, then paperwork is signed that states it is a used car without warranty and you are fully and legally responsible for the vehicle when it leaves the dealership. At this point, pre-inspection was made available, responsibility and ownership have legally transferred to you, and due diligence to avoid fraudulent claims based on speculation has been done. If mechanical issues should arise after leaving the dealership, you can certainly take advantage of our service department, another dealership’s, or automotive center of choice.

brettbaldwin responded

Why did Massey Cadillac clean and silicon spray the engine compartment and put the vehicle out for sale when the interior had not been cleaned (i.e. a full detail was not done before it was presented for sale to customers)? Why did your salesman Mr. Edwin Carter tell me that your company had not done anything yet to the vehicle (when the engine had already been cleaned and sprayed)? Why clean only the engine area and not the interior or exterior? Why did the Don Herring Mitsubishi service department state that there was a long-term engine leak that was causing the misfire in cylinder 1? What caused the rubber connector to swell to twice it's normal size? (I still have this part for proof) How did a long-term oil leak in cylinder 1 fail to cause a check engine light until a few days after we took the vehicle home? What could a dishonest service department do to hide a oil leak in cylinder 1? Can the check engine light be reset afterwards to hide this oil leak? I understand that mechanical issues happen eventually; however, Don Herring Mitsubishi service department stated factually that the oil leak in cylinder 1 was a long term problem that is proven by physical evidence of a swollen rubber connector on spark plug 1. I have a problem with your company because your company did something fraudulently to hid a check engine light problem. Which is illegal.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

Massey Cadillac participates in the DealerRater Certified Dealer Program. We are committed to providing high quality customer service, but based on your DealerRater review, you did not share that experience. That is very disappointing to us, and through this program we have the opportunity to work with you to resolve any issues with your experience at their dealership. Massey Cadillac had not ran the vehicle through the shop before delivery. So the vehicle had not had an inspection until after you had purchased the car. Massey Cadillac’s process for newly purchased pre-owned vehicles is to perform the inspection before the detail. You purchased the car without detail and inspection from Massey Cadillac and took delivery after the vehicle had been through the safety inspection and detail. We do not clean engine compartments before and after. This was done by the previous owner or at the expense of the previous owner before it was traded. But that is irrelevant since we took legal responsibility of ownership. Edwin Carter stated to you that Massey Cadillac did nothing to the vehicle, therefore disclaiming to you that no inspection or detail had been performed. A clean engine compartment coming directly from the previous customer does not constitute concealment of internal mechanical issues. There is no law that states the previous owner must tell me everything wrong with the car. It is my responsibility before I purchase the vehicle to inspect the vehicle. But no engine light was on during our appraisal. You drove the car before you purchased it and before it went through the shop and there was no engine light on or you would have brought it to our attention before you purchased the vehicle. So, the engine light came on a little over a week after you had taken delivery of the car. You took the vehicle to Don Herring Mitsubishi. Don Herring Mitsubishi did their job and diagnosed the problem by error code then determined that a long term oil leak had caused cylinder 1 to start misfiring. According to Don Herring Mitsubishi, they’re speculating that we not only knew about the problem, but concealed it with the intent to defraud you. This is based on their expert opinion which was triggered by a check engine light that was not on while we had the car nor when you drove the car. How can we resolve this issue?

brettbaldwin responded

Simple. I was told that this vehicle was a trade-in from a couple in Arkansas. Please send me a copy of the previous title showing who the owner was, and provide me with the name and phone number of the previous owner of the vehicle and I will call them and ask them if they had just cleaned the engine before they sold the vehicle to you. I will also ask them if they had recently had engine work done on vehicle (due to a check engine light coming on) before they traded the vehicle in to you. If they admit that they did both of the above, then I will believe you that your company didn't defraud me.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

Sonic Automotive, the parent company of Massey Cadillac, in order to comply with state and local laws, prohibits us from giving out personal information to anyone unless required by law. If the previous customers modified the vehicle to prevent a check engine light from turning on and cleaned the engine bay before the appraisal then the problem started with them. Unfortunately, the paperwork we signed transferred all responsibility to us. This leaves us without legal recourse. However, if we did decide to take your information and pursue them for fraud, our legal fees, as you probably know, would be more than the vehicle. For a highline dealership, such as Massey Cadillac, to sacrifice its nearly perfect on-line reputation by concealing a check engine light during inspection is not a logical business decision nor is it our standard operating procedure. The majority of the Massey Cadillac technicians are Master Technicians and do not have a record of malice with intent to defraud. If this were the case, we would have bad reviews all over the internet and would not have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. We have to give every customer the opportunity to have the pre-owned vehicle checked by their mechanic before they take ownership especially if the car is older and has high mileage. We also understand that your expectations when you purchased the vehicle did not include a mechanical issue shortly thereafter. If we had hindsight on the issue, we would not have sold you the vehicle. We hope you can understand that we have done nothing intentional or fraudulent, but may be victim based on the information you provided. It is our policy to take the high road and it is unfortunate you had this experience and apologize for the inconvenience.

brettbaldwin responded

So if I take you to small claims court and subpoena your company you will have to provide the name and phone number of the previous owners, yet you will not provide that same information to prevent a lawsuit. Clever. I have also filed a complainant with Better Business Bureau and am still waiting to hear back from them. The issue boils down to who (Massey Cadillac or the previous owners) attempted to cover up the oil leak. That is why, until I am provided the name and phone number of the previous owners, I think it was Massey Cadillac who did it. By stonewalling and not providing the name and phone number of the previous owners, it makes me think it was Massey Cadillac who covered up the oil leak (that caused the Check Engine Light). Since not all Massey Cadillac technicians are Master Technicians, did one of your non-Master Technicians work on this vehicle to try to fix the oil leak? Or did Massey Cadillac hire a third party to try to fix this oil leak? Do I need to subpoena Massey Cadillac financial records to determine if Massey Cadillac hires third parties to do any off premise "repairs" or "maintenance" or "detailing"? Your stonewalling on providing the name and phone number of the previous owners makes me think you are hiding something.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

Since you seem to be pursuing legal action against Massey Cadillac, a Sonic Automotive dealership, the company will no longer let me use Dealerrater as a forum for communicating with you instead it must be through our legal department.

brettbaldwin responded

I am not pursuing legal action against Massey Cadillac. I am trying to find out who hide the oil leak. All I need from your company is the name and phone number of the previous owners. I am also willing to schedule a conference call with the previous owners (where your company can call them directly from your office). If your company has done nothing wrong this should be agreeable.

Lone Star Cadillac responded

I was just told that you test drove the car without a check engine light on before it went into my shop. Is this true?