La Mesa Auto & Tire Center

She understood processSorryHer car had NO problem AFTER OUR REPAIRSWE OWE HER

She understood process. Sorry. Her car had NO problem AFTER OUR REPAIRS. WE OWE HER 0.

Review: I purchased a used truck on the 24th of August from La Mesa auto and tire, which the business claims it was selling for a client. The mechanic I dealt with, [redacted], said that the motor was re-built by their place of business, La mesa auto and tire center, 3 years previously, but only had 2,000 miles on the motor since the re-build. Within 24 hours of leaving in the vehicle, it started to leak oil very badly, so I took it to my regular mechanic, who said they would start easy, replacing the valve cover gasket, a very quick an inexpensive fix, hoping it was a small leak problem. As soon as they re-started the motor, it started visibly leaking from what they concluded to be the head gasket, a very serious leak, and something that wouldn't be leaking after a re-build only 2,000 miles previous. I returned to La Mesa Auto and Tire upon my mechanics recommendation to have them repair the vehicle as "implied warranty" on an engine rebuild of only 2,000 miles ago should hold. They adamantly disagreed it was the head gasket, and kept it over night, telling me it was probably just a bad seal in the crankcase, which my mechanic had already checked. They claimed, they replaced this seal, and stopped the leak and then called me the next day to pick up the truck, and [redacted] gave me a very big guilt trip about how they were fixing this on their dime and I should not bring it back to them again, as there is no warranty on the work. Within in 3 days it was leaking again, coolant and oil, and then on day 5 the truck overheated. The radiator turned out to be clogged and not working at all, this in turn cracked the remaining seal on the head gaskets on cylinder 1 and 2 and the heads. My mechanic wanted 1850.00 to rebuild the engine again, after I just spent 2,200.00 buying the truck from La Mesa auto and tire. They recommended I just find a junk yard who could try and put another motor in, which I did for 1,350.00. My complaints is that the truck was either not rebuilt at all, my best guess, or that they did very poor quality work for the customer who sold it to them later. I would like half my money back, 1,100.00 for having to basically buy a "junker" and fix it up, which is what happened. They dishonestly sold me a "lemon" and said it was ready to go, and charged more than the blue book value which was only 1,900.00, citing that the new re-built engine was the value in it.Desired Settlement: Stated above - I would like 1,100.00 dollars back, for buying a" fixer-upper", not a "ready to go" truck.

Business

Response:

9-26-13

Dear [redacted],

There was no warranty. expressed or implied. [redacted] (our Mgr.) told Mr. [redacted] that this was a

vehicle we were selling for a costomer.

Mr [redacted] did call and said that he had an oil leak, we inturn told him to return it and we would

repair the leak. We found the front seal leaking and replaced the seal. I personally showed Mr.

[redacted] a running engine with no leaks! He agreed there was no longer a leak too!

Now he stated three days later it over heated and was leaking. We believe that his driving the

vehicle while it was OV'et heating was cause of the problem. When a vehicle is over heating you

must stop immediatally! ·

As far as his taking it to his mechanic, I doubt he did as the "valve cover gasket" replacement was

nothing more than a silicone sealant. As you can see by invoice's included warranty time has

expired on original repairs, and warranty is not transferable. Please find two (2) invoices on engine

rebuild and head gasket replacement.

I personaly drove this vehicle to my home and back several times I never experienced oil leaking or

overheating.

There will not be any teturn of money as this was an "AS IS" sale.

Sincerely.

If you have an questions please call me at ###-###-#### (shop).

Consumer

Response:

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

Regards,

As seen by the invoices odometer in/out readings at the top of each invoice there was only about 9,000 miles from the original "re-build" invoice in 2006, to the second major repair in 2009, which included the head gasket sets. Then there are only 2,500 miles until 2013 when I purchased the vehicle, where the head gaskets were completely bad again, along with the radiator, and cooling system altogether, which was allegedly repaired in the 2006 and 2009 invoices. This shows very poor workmanship, or actual lack of the supposed performed work. For these majors repairs to go bad in so short a number of miles, twice, is unbelievable. I have purchased many older used vehicles for our company and I have had repairs done, and have 10 times the amount of mileage and wear and tear on the vehicles and they still run fine. I still feel like La Mesa Auto repair was doing poor quality workmanship or not doing the work at all. As for the accusation that the truck broke because I drove it to overheating conditions, I am not naïve, I did not drive the vehicle after overheating, and I have pictures to prove that I towed it to the mechanic and then the junkyard to get a new motor installed. I bought a "fixer upper" and that's what I'd like it to be agreed as. As for the statement that [redacted] showed me the leak that they fixed, I did not approve of the work, [redacted] was very pushy in asking me to leave and not bring the truck back, and it was leaking by the end of that day as I stated. I would still like 1,000.00 dollars returned or I will be filing a small claims suit for the fiduciary responsibility that a mechanic shop like La mesa Auto and Tire should have when selling a vehicle that they claimed to have repaired twice, but failed to mention the history of major issues that the vehicle had. Claiming they re-built it (as [redacted] did) and saying it was good to go and worth the money, which was 300 dollars over the current market value for 1990 used third party Mazdas according to [redacted]. Thanks for your time in reading this. Waiting for your response.

Business

Response:

10/6/13

Re: ID 9702116

Dear [redacted],

Purchase date was 8/24/13.

The leak was repail'ed 3 - 5 days after purchase. No warranty was ever implied in any way on this

sale! Why? Because an AS IS SALE means just that!

This was an AS IS sale made perfectly clear to the buyer by [redacted] (our Mgr.) that he was purchasing

a truck from an individual (not our company)r

He did not pay for the repair of the leak (we could have charged him but we did not) no cost to Mr.

[redacted] no paper work exchanged hands for this repair.

It was done as a courtesy.

In fact I'm not sure if any of the things he said he had done to this truck by his mechanic/junk yard/

as we haV'e seen no invoices es I've shown to you previously on this auck. I don't even know if he

bad the truck towed. Has he shown you any repair receipts?

Thank You