BUYERS BEWARE — especially if purchasing sight unseen. - ethanb
BUYERS BEWARE — especially if purchasing sight unseen. Get an independent inspection before buying here. I purchased a 2017 F-150 sight unseen because of their positive reviews, salesperson videos, and website specifically promoting buying from home. Their website describes vehicles as “inspected, serviced and NEAG certified,” says they are “confident in every late model vehicle that we sell,” and describes their inventory as “INSPECTED, SERVICED, AUTOCHECK CERTIFIED HAND PICKED UNITS.” Based on those representations, I felt comfortable buying remotely. I quickly regretted it. Immediately upon delivery I heard a significant startup/timing-related rattle and grinding/ticking from the front wheel. I found an oil leak, the check-engine light came on after driving about 15 feet into my driveway, and the tire-pressure light was on by the next morning. The salesperson seemed genuinely shocked and said they were unaware of these problems. I asked to return the truck. The owner refused and repeatedly emphasized that it was AS-IS. When I mentioned potentially involving an attorney, he told me they have attorneys too and was very confident in their contracts. I paid a mobile mechanic who confirmed the oil leak and O2-sensor-related codes. To their credit, the dealership paid to transport the truck back. Once they had it, however, the owner adamantly denied the problems existed. He claimed there was no oil leak, check-engine light or concerning noise and told me he didn’t know what truck my pictures/videos were from, but it wasn’t this one. I asked if he was insinuating I fabricated the evidence. I told him how excited I had been about this truck and asked why I would make this up. His response: “I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist. I don’t know why people do these things.” The scanner pictured with the codes displayed this truck’s VIN, and I had photos of the oil in my driveway. After adamantly denying the oil leak existed, they ultimately replaced the oil pan/gasket to repair that same “nonexistent” leak. They also replaced one O2 sensor. I read their own website statements about vehicles being “inspected” and “serviced” directly to the owner. His repeated response was that nowhere does it say “thoroughly inspected.” When I tried reading the section saying customer satisfaction is their main goal and they’ll do everything possible to provide a positive shopping experience, he became angry and talked over me. He also told me that nowhere in his contract does he guarantee I’ll be happy with the vehicle — essentially, the contract says I’ll get a truck, and “you got a truck.” When I got the truck back, the oil leak was fixed, but the check-engine light returned on my FIRST drive. At highway speed the front end shook severely around 65 mph. A tire shop found significant irregular/cupped tire wear plus a nail in a front tire in a non-repairable location. Within my first few weeks of ownership, I’ve already replaced all four tires and now have to put the truck back in the shop for the recurring check-engine light, suspected vacuum-related front hub grinding, and a parking brake that doesn’t engage. I don’t expect a 2017 truck to be perfect. I DO expect obvious problems like an active oil leak, warning lights, bad tires, abnormal noises and a nonfunctional parking brake to be caught before a vehicle advertised to remote buyers as “inspected” and “serviced” is shipped. To be fair, they paid to transport it back, fixed the oil leak and attempted to address the CEL. I’ve intentionally acknowledged that because I’m sure it will be emphasized in their response. Getting that help, however, required repeated arguing, documentation and outside mechanics. Whatever rebuttal the owner posts below, please don’t let it make you dismiss this experience. I’ve attached screenshots of the dealership denying problems along with photos and diagnostic evidence documenting issues they said they couldn’t reproduce. Multiple independent mechanics have evaluated th
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