When my 14-year old Toyota
truck expired in February 2007, I went to Mossy
Toyota Pacific Beach, an established San Diego dealership that I had an existing
relationship with. Their mechanics had
done a good job servicing my old truck for over five years and I thought the
dealership had a solid reputation. They were having a “certified red tag sale,”
and I thought if I purchased a vehicle at that time, it would further guarantee the auto’s reliability.
I told the salesman that
I needed a car for work and was prepared to buy that day. After looking at the
two best-priced cars on the lot, I chose to test drive an $8000 2002 Ford
Escort with reasonable mileage that looked good both inside and out. It had
that new-car smell and what looked like brand new upholstery. I was given a
free Auto Check report showing the car had a clean vehicle history, so imagine
my surprise when I took it out on the road and quickly felt the car’s terrible
vibration. It was serious enough to make the steering wheel and dashboard
vibrate and the rear view mirrors shake.
My salesman
was completely unruffled by this, saying it was no big deal, the car’s idle
just needed a minor adjustment and that Mossy would fix it for me. He seemed familiar with the
problem and even knew how to handle it. Three times during the test drive, he
showed me how I could press gently on the accelerator with the car in park to stop
the shaking and rattling.
So I believed the
salesman’s explanation and his promise to repair my “certified” vehicle, but I
did tell him I wanted the car fixed before driving it off the lot. He said they could not give me an appointment
that day and that I would need to bring it back another day. Over the next few weeks, Mossy
tried to repair the car several times but could not and said that's the way it is. Then they ridiculed my
request to return the car.
An auto investigator only needed a single thorough check to learn what the underlying problem was: The Escort had been
completely submerged in water. They had sold me an unusable rusted-out flood
car. In addition to that, It had previously been in a rear end collision.
If that’s not bad enough,
Mossy’s sales contract included a clause that prevents me from suing them in
court. This business practice, binding
mandatory arbitration, is an anti-consumer scheme that
protects companies from financial liability for all sorts of bad outcomes. This is still in arbitration as of January 2010 nearly three years later.
Mossy's explanation for
all the rust damage is that the previous owner lived on an island off the East Coast and that's why it is rusted out, as if that justifies the damaged vehicle. That does not however explain silt deposits and mud debris...
