Automotive Cutting Edge

Review: I went to get an inspection on a truck before I signed a "as is" with no warranty contract from a local car dealer. I informed Automotive cutting edge of the situation and they said that they had time to do a compression test and the inspection on the truck. The mechanic said that the truck had a minor oil pan gasket leak and other than a tune up it was not going to need any major work. He said that the truck was in sound mechanical condition, so I bought the truck based on this inspection. The truck sat at home for a few weeks as I was moving and had another truck at the time. When I went to drive the truck I noticed that a noise coming from the clutch area. I also had a trailer plug that was not working, so I made a second appointment to have the clutch checked and the plug fixed, but again the mechanic said that there was nothing wrong with the clutch. Two days later the clutch went out while I was driving it and I had to have it towed. I went back and talked to the owner and he did not want to come to any agreement for my damages. He offered to give back my money for the inspection but I was out 3,152.00 for a new clutch as well as a leaking rear seal and front shocks. The mechanic should have checked the oil that was leaking to see what kind of oil it was and he did not. He only assumed that it was engine oil. He did not look through the inspection hole on the transmission to see if there was leaking fluid. He was negligent in his inspection and I had to pay the price for it. Because the truck was purchased "as is" I am stuck with it and can't get my money back from the dealer. However, the dealer said that if Automotive cutting edge were to pay me $500 for damages they would match it in good faith,but Automotive cutting edge refused to do this. The owner has refused to be responsible for the actions of his employees negligence and I thought he would be a bit more fare. It would be to his companies best interest to offer me some compensation other than that of the inspection cost due to the fact that he knows there is no "Lemon Law" in Montana and I had bought the truck based on his employees inaccurate inspection, and have suffered a major financial loss due to it. I had the truck re inspected by a shop here in town and they said that the inspection that was done was a poor job on whoever did it and that there were several items missed and miss diagnosed by Automotive Cutting Edge.Desired Settlement: I would like them to offer me the $500 dollars to compensate me for damages of the repairs of the vehicle.

Business

Response:

January 19, 2015

Mr. [redacted] initially came in for a used car inspection on

7/23/14. He was interested in purchasing

a 1998 Ford F-150 Pick-Up Truck from [redacted]’s Cars. We had explained to him at the

time that a used car inspection is a general visual inspection of all fluids,

belts, suspension and brake components.

When he arrived at our shop he agreed to the general inspection and

asked if we could perform a compression check on the engine. We did perform the inspection and compression

check. Everything looked good and in good mechanical shape. The only thing we did notice was a small oil

leak coming from the oil pan gasket. We

gave him an estimate and he went on his way.

On 8/27/14 Mr. [redacted] came in complaining of his trailer

lights not working and a rattling noise coming from under the truck. Our

mechanic found the trailer plug needed some electrical repair on the wiring

harness and the catalytic converter/exhaust shields were making the rattling

noise. We repaired the harness and referred

him over to Muffler Bandit to get his catalytic converter repaired. Mr. [redacted]

left our shop with his truck in good mechanical order and was happy with the

repairs.

In mid September Mr. [redacted] came to our shop and spoke with

the owner [redacted] about his truck clutch going out and demanded we pay

for the repairs that ended up costing him $3152.80. We politely told him that since he did not

bring the truck back to our shop for further inspection and diagnosis that we

were not going to pay for any repairs performed by another shop. We did offer him his $95 for the initial compression

check we performed. He declined and

threatened us with legal repercussions.

On November 18th we did receive a legal summons

from Justice Court. We responded and Mr. [redacted] settled for

$100. As of the settlement Mr. [redacted]

has slandered our business reputation by writing negative reviews of our

business on multiple internet sites.

Overall we could not have foreseen Mr. [redacted]’s clutch

giving out months after his general inspection.

And we do not feel liable or responsible for anything that happened

after the truck was at our shop. We

would like Mr. [redacted] to stop slandering our business and for the fact he has

already settled out of court for the sum of $100 we will not be paying Mr.

[redacted] an additional $500 because he did not bring the truck back to our shop

upon failure of the clutch. We truly

feel we could have prevented all of this if Mr. [redacted] would have brought his

truck to us initially. We are sorry this

happened but when purchasing a used vehicle with 142,000 miles there is always

a chance of mechanical failure.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Revdex.com,

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.] The owner new that I had the vehicle towed to a transmission shop for repairs. Why would I bring the vehicle to them after the poor job they did on the inspection. I have a right to take the vehicle to a specialist if I so desire.