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Caveat Emptor - Expo Motor Cars, Houston (long)

F

FlyNLow

Guest
Time to tell a tale - partly on myself - and partly on Expo Motor Cars, Houston, TX. We decided to buy a Corvette. :D Found a nice looking 2002 Coupe on ebay. Here's the link, but it will expire in a month or so:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2485636536#ebayphotohosting

I decided to call to talk to the seller first - we'd never purchased anything on ebay before and were concerned. The salesman told us it was a great car - super shape. Their ad on ebay said the same. Everything was working.

We purchased the car directly - ebay was by-passed, and yes, I've told ebay that they skipped paying them the fees on our deal by selling it outside their agreement. Turns out that the car was not a "one owner car from Texas", and a "trade-in vehicle at one of the largest Franchise Dealerships in North America", as stated on ebay, but was in fact, a repo - and was bought and sold by several dealers before Expo Motor Cars ended up with it. Didn't know that until the title showed up in the mail 3 weeks later.

I flew to Houston from Colorado to get the car. When I checked it out in person, I noticed there were electrical problems with the driver's door - no sound from the speakers and the driver's control for the passenger window would only lower it, not raise it. Their ad said "Electrical: All power options are working". I pointed these problems out to the sales representative (he was in the passenger's seat when I discovered it). He said to "get a quote" and he'd take care of it. ;)

The other issue I had was the rear brakes - but I didn't notice there was a problem until I got into the mountains in Colorado. Serious body shake, caused by the rear brakes. The local Chevy dealer said not to drive it further after they inspected the brakes because that would cause severe damage to the rotors - that's how bad they were. After $389.71, the brakes work great!

I spoke to the Expo Motor Cars sales rep who said send him the bill and they would cover it. Did that. No response. When I now call the sales rep, he hangs up or puts me on indefinite hold. I asked to speak to the manager, Lloyd Hudson. Busy, but he'll call me back, says the sweet receptionist. he never does, despite my repeated calls - he's always in a meeting with his other managers. They never answer their e-mail ("We get 150 a day, and don't have the time to reply" - convenient....but why publicize your e-mail address if you don't correspond with customers?) I sent letters - they don't answer them either. :hb

Well, I finally did what I should have done earlier - checked with the Better Business Bureau. :eek Sure enough, Expo Motor Cars has a nice little history if dissatisfied customers. The company pins its "attitude" on a small note on the "sold as is" statement you sign before you go look at the car, and before the sales rep says that they will fix problems you discover. That statement says, "the dealer assumes no responsibility for any repairs regardless of any oral statements about the vehicle". Yup - I'm stupid!!

SWEET! What a racket. What an escape clause! It was stupid of me not to realize that the sales representative wasn't going to cover anything, despite him looking me in the eyes and smiling, then later going back to his buddies and told them what a (another?) goofball I was. :gap

Oh well.....the BBB now has one more complaint to add to their lengthening file. Interestingly, the ebay feedback was one of the things I relied on - VERY few complaints registered out of thousands of testimonials. An interesting dichotomy.

To make matters more interesting, after I took the car and headed home - in the middle of Houston's rush hour, bumper to bumper 20 mph maximum traffic and was about 20 miles away - I discovered that they had put 42 pounds of air in the front tires, and WAY over 50 pounds in the right rear - the DIC wouldn't even register it, the pressure was so high. Combine that with a 12 PSI left rear - a screw was firmly embedded in the Goodyear EMT and I apparently drove home 1200 miles like that - no - the DIC didn't say it was low until AFTER I got home - and the handling/ride was "interesting", to say the least. And these guys sell Ferraris, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, and other exotic cars. ;shrug

Would I buy this car again?? Yes - I do enjoy the car, and we paid a fair price.

IMHO, the salesman was not forthcoming, and their preparation of the car was sorely lacking. Would I buy this car from this dealer again? No way.

Would I recommend this dealer to others? Not a chance. :hb

Caveat emptor, my friends, caveat emptor....yes, I was stupid to accept the dealer's word, after the handshake and check was cashed....but the car? Love it!

:v
 
Wow.

All I can say, is how do you maintain your cool after all that. I would be FLAMING, FIRE Spitting mad. Hats off to you. :cool

I guess at this point you just say "live and learn".

Thanks for the warning.
 
Hi Tammy,

Well, you've described my feelings pretty accurately. :mad At this point, the most I can hope for is to try to assist others in not making the same mistake I did.

Interestingly, I'm sure that this all could have been avoided if they had simply chosen to communicate with me. Let's hope others can learn from my goofs.
:w
 
You e-mail is consistent with almost everything I read on these forums. eBAY is the dumping ground for a lot of stuff. One dealer is even selling his 2005s on there. One has had the undercarriage damaged according to another site. You'd think a dealer would at least be able to sell from his lot. I'd never buy anything without having an independent guy check it out. Even if I had to fly the guy with me to the dealership. These dealers do not look for repeat business.GM just doesn't seem to ever get it. I guess that's why there market share has fallen. It's like those thing you experienced are bred into these guys or they drink the cool aid.

wwr
 
What about a carfax check? Don't they list service problems or just crashes? :confused
 
koolaid117 said:
What about a carfax check? Don't they list service problems or just crashes? :confused
CarFax came back clean - I checked it before I bought the car. Service issues don't show up on CarFax. I checked GM's service on the car using the VIN, and it came back clean, minor issues, no major problems at all. :cool

I think that in the end, it comes down to one word: Integrity. You either have it or you don't. :pat

Thanks to great places like :CAC , others can learn and avoid incidents like this.
 
Make sure you fill out the Ebay feedback and file a complaint with Ebay. They do ban people from selling on there if the charges can be backed up. Document the BBB file with Ebay too.

Tom
 
Tom Bryant said:
Make sure you fill out the Ebay feedback and file a complaint with Ebay. They do ban people from selling on there if the charges can be backed up. Document the BBB file with Ebay too.

Tom
Thanks, Tom. I don't think I can post "feedback" since I didn't purchase it through ebay. I've gotten a note back from ebay that they are investigating it, as well as from the Houston BBB. We'll see what develops....

Cheers,

Joe
 
jrose7004 said:
Congrats man, you are a lot calmer than I would be!:mad
Thanks - well, I can't say that I'm actually "calm" about it all, but there comes a point in time when you realize you've been had, and it isn't worth investing any more emotions in it. Then you have a choice - help others, so that something "good" comes from a bad event, or wallow in self-pity. I chose to let other people know so they don't fall into the same trap, whether it be at this dealer, or another. If I can help someone else, that will take the edge off my less-than-wonderful experience with Expo Motor Cars.

Cheers
 
I"m quite cautious of these independent vette dealers or dealers in general. I had called one and never could pin them down for a viewing as the owner of the dearlership kept driving the car around. Many of these guys won't let you test drive a car unless you pre-approve financing. I got my vette from the place next door to me and made them line up the 4 cars I was considering outside and drove and inspected them each finally deciding on one. Eventhough I was happy with my deal and the car's condition, which was nothing less than immaculate, I would still be hesitant to refer anyone to them.

Richard.
 
On the other hand.....

The easiest way to avoid it is to go through a mechanic inspection service. They're pretty reliable and most of them guarantee their work so if they miss something they pay for it. It costs about 100 for a good inspection but if your finding a deal on Ebay (why else would you be there) then its worth it.

Also in defense of some private dealers I bought mine from a guy who sells cars mostly to dealers but occasionally sells them privately. I saw the car on ebay but it ended before I could put a serious bid on it. I called the guy, drove to NJ to see it and purchased it. It had one hiccup in that I discovered the passenger speaker was missing after I was home but that was only 100 to replace and considering its a 2001 with only 39k miles and I got it for 4000 under blue book value I have to say I'm very pleased. The deals are there just be careful and be patient.
 
You are a SAINT!...they are lucky you didnt go "Postal"...it could happen...hope things go well for you and your Vette...what a bunch of bastaches...
 
[QUOTE='04 Torch Red]You are a SAINT!...they are lucky you didnt go "Postal"...it could happen...hope things go well for you and your Vette...what a bunch of bastaches...[/QUOTE]Thanks, but I'm not sure my mom would completely agree. :D Thanks for the good wishes - we're happy with the car, despite the rocky start with the dealer.
 
e-bay purchase

I have had a positive experience with an e-bay Vette purchase, but I had a local club member check it out for me before purchase. You say that you love the car and the faults are minor, so I would fix the problems and enjoy the best Corvette yet. Thanks for sharing your experience with us on the forum.

Ron
 
ron said:
I have had a positive experience with an e-bay Vette purchase, but I had a local club member check it out for me before purchase. You say that you love the car and the faults are minor, so I would fix the problems and enjoy the best Corvette yet. Thanks for sharing your experience with us on the forum.

Ron
That's a great idea, Ron. Check it out first! I've already fixed all the issues with the car - and I'm happy from that perspective - when the dealer reneged on their agreement to reimburse, well, that's another matter.
 
I live about 5 miles from Expo. I've looked at several cars there through the years-all at good prices but 2 cars were lemon buy backs...you get what you pay for.
 
67 Fuelie said:
I live about 5 miles from Expo. I've looked at several cars there through the years-all at good prices but 2 cars were lemon buy backs...you get what you pay for.
I definitely agree. And, we got a very nice car at a reasonable price. The issue is, the dealer and staff made promises that they are now not keeping. Sleazy is the word that comes to mind.

:beer
 

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