My wife needed a car. So I bought her one. And the head... - occupant
My wife needed a car. So I bought her one. And the head gaskets blew. So she insisted on picking out her own car and we headed out to find something she liked. She had seen and decided she liked a 1998 Ford Taurus the previous week and we tried to go to that dealer but they were closed at 6pm and it was 5 after. The dealer next door, All Pro Motors, had a 1999 Taurus in a darker shade of blue. We drove it, the check engine light was on, the front tires thumped, and the driver's seat was angled funny. But a CarFax report (and a background check on the plate) came back very clean on it (one owner, purchased and driven locally, older couple, never wrecked), and we could afford the down payment, so my wife signed for it and I hoped to fix the minor issues.
The problems started when they offered to inspect the car at no charge. They told us to come back in the morning and they would get the light reset and the emissions testing done so it could get an inspection sticker. So we left the car overnight (remember, we have NOT taken delivery yet, car hasn't left the lot) and returned by taxicab the next morning. They reset it and were "too busy" to drive it the 40 miles needed to reset all the computer monitors to "ready". So my wife and I drove the car around, intending on putting 40 miles on the clock, returning to the lot, and getting our sticker. No suck luck, as the check engine light came on 5 miles into our ride. This process repeated itself over and over again for the rest of the day. By this point I was ready to have her get the money back and we'd buy the '98 next door. But my wife REALLY loved the color. I hit my head against that brick wall for a couple more hours and they told us we'd have to take the car overnight and come back in the morning for them to try some more. *groan*
The next day was a repeat. Light kept coming on. We kept driving 5-10 miles at a time, all morning long. In the afternoon the lady at the lot said, "ok now, we're gonna take this to a mechanic". And I wanted to ask, "so what have you been doing the last 36 hours then? giving the car dirty looks and telling it to behave?" They did that, the car was allegedly fixed, but the inspection station was closed and we had to come back ANOTHER day later.
Inspection went off fine that time. We get home, check engine light on again. I was ready to strangle the lady at the car lot, and my wife was crying, thinking she'd have to give up her navy blue jellybean car.
The car is still not fixed after two months. The driver's seat failed one night when I farted. We have to prop ourselves up with pillows to drive. I can't find a matching seat in a junykyard to save my life. And on top of that, the starter failed a couple weeks back, and the car lot came to tow it to their mechanic, and their tow dolly ripped the front bumper up pretty good and also made the splash shield drag under the car. They made us come back on a Saturday morning to have it fixed, and they did a craptastic job of covering up their mistake. The car looks like an old taxicab now, and my wife still owes about six large on it. Not to mention the old fat lady wouldn't send her mechanic to go pick up the parts for the starter, and guess who got to go? Yes, ME, I got to WALK 2 miles in 90-degree heat to exchange the part at AutoZone.
DO NOT LET THEM SERVICE YOUR CAR. If you buy a car from them, have it checked out thoroughly by YOUR OWN mechanic. The guys that work there would be better suited to working in a car wash than a mechanic shop. And that fat lady is rude, especially if you tell her off. Which I have yet to have the pleasure of doing but my wife sure did. I can't wait until something else on the car breaks so I can give her a piece of my mind.
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