Chatham Auto Sales

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2016/02/23) */ [redacted] came into the Dealership to look at the Silverado that was priced at $19,995! After [redacted] had test drove the truck and spent hours looking over the truck, he brought to my attention that the Flywheel Clutch was going bad in the truck [redacted] had also mentioned a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhaust while test drivingAfter minutes of negotiating price due to the pre existing problems, we agreed on a price of $18,000! Discounted almost two thousand dollars! I never told [redacted] that the Warranty provided by the dealership of year or 15,miles provided on the Buyers Guide to him would cover these Preexisting Problems! I also have been in contact with [redacted] and his Mechanic shop back home! I never hung up on anyone and completed my conversation with this shop and received a fax from them of Repairs needed! I then had an estimate put together by my local shopAfter reviewing the documents I talked with [redacted] and tried to resolve this matter and his terms are just not going to work for me! [redacted] drove a truck and a hauler trailer here and then put his truck on the trailer and towed it home over miles with the truck purchased from our dealership! In our discussion trying to resolve this matter, I did offer to send a check of $1,in place of the warranty I provided so that he could do these repairs! I would like to make something very clear about the warranty as well! It is not and Extended Warranty provided by an outside party nor was [redacted] charged for a Warranty! We here at the dealership provided him with a Buyers Guide form from the Secf State that outlines coverage and terms! [redacted] then called me stating he was going to hire an attorney and I have not returned nor taken anymore of his phone calls! At that time I offered to give a full refund of $18,and we could not come to terms because he wanted much more! Over $for Diagnostic is way out of line and he came over miles away to buy a truck that he wanted! Once back home and realized the cost were going to be way more than expected he got buyers remorse and trying to put this back on me after I discounted the truck $2,and provided a $1,warranty to cover the truck for future not Pre Existing repairs! Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2016/02/26) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) To start, I have a photo showing an advertised asking price of $18,when I began discussions with the dealership about the truckI'm out of town for the next two weeks on business and don't have access to upload it, but I can when I return mid-March, if needed When I was first pointing out some aspects of the truck that [redacted] misrepresented when speaking & emailing with me prior to my visit (he claimed no rust, body damage, or mechanical problems when there's an above-average amount of rust underneath, many scrapes/gouges in the body that have been amateurishly covered with toupaint, and the engine problems discussed here as well as an inoperable emergency brake pointed out by [redacted] upon arrival, among other things discovered after the shop inspection), I never mentioned anything about the flywheel because my initial belief was that the engine shaking at idle was caused by an imbalanced crankshaft based on my discussion with a man more familiar than myself with this particular engineI also mentioned the white smoke was likely caused by either faulty head gaskets or faulty fuel injectorsThough the truck was capable of being driven without it falling apart or anything, these were major issues that needed to be corrected promptly, and I made that point clear Though I was admittedly disappointed for spending the time/money to come see this truck & find it in this condition, I was ready to walk away without it as I'd done two weeks prior with a different truck that needed more repairs than they would discount the price to accommodateThat was when [redacted] recommended purchasing a warranty through himHe spelled out the things it would cover using a third-party brochure, and I specifically asked him to confirm that it would at least cover the major repairs in question (crankshaft, head gaskets, and injectors) as soon as I returned home & could take it to a mechanic, and he confirmed that was trueHis employee, ***, and the man with the similar truck who advised me on the potential causes for the problems were both present & attentive for this discussionThis warranty was negotiated into the sales price (reduced to $17,for the truck due to cosmetics/rust & knowingly-requiring a full set of tires + $for the warranty), and with his assurance that the major engine problems would be corrected under the warranty, I decided to purchase the truck [redacted] failed to include any warranty documentation (brochure, contract, terms, limitations, etc) with the transaction paperwork - a requirement by U.S.Code § et seqregarding full disclosure for warrantiesIt specifically states a Buyer's Guide is insufficient for the detail required here My mechanic's inspection revealed a better-case cause for the shaking engine: a defective flywheel (another item covered under the warranty)They also traced the smoking problem to faulty fuel injectorsThey faxed these findings to [redacted] (among other items found to need repair such as fuel leaks) telling me they were very surprised the truck made it all the way back & recommended not driving it until those repairs were madeThe estimate for the flywheel & injector replacement alone was almost $Again, I don't have access to the estimate for upload I called [redacted] the next day to discuss how to claim my repairs for the warranty, and he started complaining about how he not only hadn't submitted the warranty paperwork to the warranty company yet but he believed the estimate to be exorbitant (though I verified through other parts suppliers that the quote had accurate market prices & reasonable labor charges), and he claimed to have never agreed to repair anything except the flywheel (again, not even a suspected problem during the sale) and only offered $for that repair alone and proceeded to say it voided my warranty due to paying out more than the policy price within the first days - a limitation never printed on anything he gave me or previously discussedHe also mentioned having no interest in further discussions with my mechanic & initially offered to buy the truck back for a refund of the sale but then immediately changed his mind claiming the mileage from driving to SD & back would decrease the value too muchThat was when I told him I needed to have the legal office on my military base (who cannot represent us in civil matters) review the paperwork to see if I'd simply overlooked something or if he was in the wrongMeanwhile, I compared the truck's book values for the mileage at purchase (160,383) & 165,(3600mi above what I drove): the value was unchangedA few days later I stopped by the shop to see if they'd spoken with [redacted] any more about the repairs & the service manager informed me that the last time he'd tried to reach ***, someone hung up the phone on him Since then, I've sent multiple emails with options to resolve this out of court & left messages at the dealership with [redacted] for [redacted] to call me back - he hasn't responded to any of thoseMy original requests were as I mentioned earlier: either honor our sales contract, on which the Buyer's Guide states the dealer will repair engine, transmission, etc., under warranty for a $deductible; refund my purchase and we split the diagnostic fee & transport costs to ship the truck back; or take the case to court Since this situation has taken such a negative turn, I would only ask now that he refund my full purchase price and pay half the diagnostic & transport feesThough I'm still out the time & money wasted driving there and back for a misrepresented sales contract & vehicle, I'm still willing to meet him halfway on the costs to get the truck back to him and be done with his dealership The diagnostic fee was $primarily due to the amount of testing and specialized equipment required to gain access to and diagnose fuel injector problems on Duramax diesel enginesI drove such a distance due to the lack of local dealers having trucks with manual transmissionsMost are sold privately, but I wanted the "peace of mind" of buying from a dealershipI knew the engine repairs needed on this truck were substantial, so that's why I wouldn't have bought it without [redacted] specifically guaranteeing a warranty would cover those and other problemsFinally, even after the offer of partial-payment, neither the mechanic nor I have received any money from [redacted] for repairs

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/02/23) */
[redacted] came into the Dealership to look at the 2005 Silverado that was priced at $19,995! After [redacted] had test drove the truck and spent 4 hours looking over the truck, he brought to my attention that the Flywheel Clutch was going bad in the...

truck. [redacted] had also mentioned a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhaust while test driving. After 30 minutes of negotiating price due to the pre existing problems, we agreed on a price of $18,000! Discounted almost two thousand dollars! I never told [redacted] that the Warranty provided by the dealership of 1 year or 15,000 miles provided on the Buyers Guide to him would cover these Preexisting Problems! I also have been in contact with [redacted] and his Mechanic shop back home! I never hung up on anyone and completed my conversation with this shop and received a fax from them of Repairs needed! I then had an estimate put together by my local shop. After reviewing the documents I talked with [redacted] and tried to resolve this matter and his terms are just not going to work for me! [redacted] drove a truck and a hauler trailer here and then put his truck on the trailer and towed it home over 1000 miles with the truck purchased from our dealership! In our discussion trying to resolve this matter, I did offer to send a check of $1,800 in place of the warranty I provided so that he could do these repairs! I would like to make something very clear about the warranty as well! It is not and Extended Warranty provided by an outside party nor was [redacted] charged for a Warranty! We here at the dealership provided him with a Buyers Guide form from the Sec. f State that outlines coverage and terms! [redacted] then called me stating he was going to hire an attorney and I have not returned nor taken anymore of his phone calls! At that time I offered to give a full refund of $18,000 and we could not come to terms because he wanted much more! Over $600 for Diagnostic is way out of line and he came over 1000 miles away to buy a truck that he wanted! Once back home and realized the cost were going to be way more than expected he got buyers remorse and trying to put this back on me after I discounted the truck $2,000 and provided a $1,800 warranty to cover the truck for future not Pre Existing repairs!
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2016/02/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
To start, I have a photo showing an advertised asking price of $18,995 when I began discussions with the dealership about the truck. I'm out of town for the next two weeks on business and don't have access to upload it, but I can when I return mid-March, if needed.
When I was first pointing out some aspects of the truck that [redacted] misrepresented when speaking & emailing with me prior to my visit (he claimed no rust, body damage, or mechanical problems when there's an above-average amount of rust underneath, many scrapes/gouges in the body that have been amateurishly covered with touch-up paint, and the engine problems discussed here as well as an inoperable emergency brake pointed out by [redacted] upon arrival, among other things discovered after the shop inspection), I never mentioned anything about the flywheel because my initial belief was that the engine shaking at idle was caused by an imbalanced crankshaft based on my discussion with a man more familiar than myself with this particular engine. I also mentioned the white smoke was likely caused by either faulty head gaskets or faulty fuel injectors. Though the truck was capable of being driven without it falling apart or anything, these were major issues that needed to be corrected promptly, and I made that point clear.
Though I was admittedly disappointed for spending the time/money to come see this truck & find it in this condition, I was ready to walk away without it as I'd done two weeks prior with a different truck that needed more repairs than they would discount the price to accommodate. That was when [redacted] recommended purchasing a warranty through him. He spelled out the things it would cover using a third-party brochure, and I specifically asked him to confirm that it would at least cover the major repairs in question (crankshaft, head gaskets, and injectors) as soon as I returned home & could take it to a mechanic, and he confirmed that was true. His employee, [redacted], and the man with the similar truck who advised me on the potential causes for the problems were both present & attentive for this discussion. This warranty was negotiated into the sales price (reduced to $17,100 for the truck due to cosmetics/rust & knowingly-requiring a full set of tires + $900 for the warranty), and with his assurance that the major engine problems would be corrected under the warranty, I decided to purchase the truck.
[redacted] failed to include any warranty documentation (brochure, contract, terms, limitations, etc) with the transaction paperwork - a requirement by U.S.Code § 2301 et seq. regarding full disclosure for warranties. It specifically states a Buyer's Guide is insufficient for the detail required here.
My mechanic's inspection revealed a better-case cause for the shaking engine: a defective flywheel (another item covered under the warranty). They also traced the smoking problem to faulty fuel injectors. They faxed these findings to [redacted] (among other items found to need repair such as fuel leaks) telling me they were very surprised the truck made it all the way back & recommended not driving it until those repairs were made. The estimate for the flywheel & injector replacement alone was almost $6000. Again, I don't have access to the estimate for upload.
I called [redacted] the next day to discuss how to claim my repairs for the warranty, and he started complaining about how he not only hadn't submitted the warranty paperwork to the warranty company yet but he believed the estimate to be exorbitant (though I verified through 2 other parts suppliers that the quote had accurate market prices & reasonable labor charges), and he claimed to have never agreed to repair anything except the flywheel (again, not even a suspected problem during the sale) and only offered $1800 for that repair alone and proceeded to say it voided my warranty due to paying out more than the policy price within the first 30 days - a limitation never printed on anything he gave me or previously discussed. He also mentioned having no interest in further discussions with my mechanic & initially offered to buy the truck back for a refund of the sale but then immediately changed his mind claiming the mileage from driving to SD & back would decrease the value too much. That was when I told him I needed to have the legal office on my military base (who cannot represent us in civil matters) review the paperwork to see if I'd simply overlooked something or if he was in the wrong. Meanwhile, I compared the truck's book values for the mileage at purchase (160,383) & 165,000 (3600mi above what I drove): the value was unchanged. A few days later I stopped by the shop to see if they'd spoken with [redacted] any more about the repairs & the service manager informed me that the last time he'd tried to reach [redacted], someone hung up the phone on him.
Since then, I've sent multiple emails with options to resolve this out of court & left messages at the dealership with [redacted] for [redacted] to call me back - he hasn't responded to any of those. My original requests were as I mentioned earlier: either honor our sales contract, on which the Buyer's Guide states the dealer will repair engine, transmission, etc., under warranty for a $100 deductible; refund my purchase and we split the diagnostic fee & transport costs to ship the truck back; or take the case to court.
Since this situation has taken such a negative turn, I would only ask now that he refund my full purchase price and pay half the diagnostic & transport fees. Though I'm still out the time & money wasted driving there and back for a misrepresented sales contract & vehicle, I'm still willing to meet him halfway on the costs to get the truck back to him and be done with his dealership.
The diagnostic fee was $650 primarily due to the amount of testing and specialized equipment required to gain access to and diagnose fuel injector problems on Duramax diesel engines. I drove such a distance due to the lack of local dealers having trucks with manual transmissions. Most are sold privately, but I wanted the "peace of mind" of buying from a dealership. I knew the engine repairs needed on this truck were substantial, so that's why I wouldn't have bought it without [redacted] specifically guaranteeing a warranty would cover those and other problems. Finally, even after the offer of partial-payment, neither the mechanic nor I have received any money from [redacted] for repairs.