Late Night Air Cooled

Review: contacting you about the business [redacted]'s Late Night and Cooled located in Chico, Ca. It is a VW Hot Rod's and Restoration company where I purchased my 1973 Kharman Ghia. The car was shown to my wife ([redacted]) and I by the owner of the business [redacted]. [redacted] and I test drove the vehicle and were pleased but, had some concerns. When we got back to Late Night and Cooled, we shared some of our concerns with [redacted] asking him if the vehicle had ever been into an accident, if there was any rust, and why the right rear tire was bouncing into the wheel well cause it looked like it was causing the paint to chip. He stated that it wasn't his vehicle so, he did not know about any accident. He also responded that he did check the Kharman Ghia out himself and there was absolutely no rust and the reason why the tires were bouncing into the wheel well was because the tires were too big and if it was his car he would have put on something smaller. [redacted] told us that everything was original. It even came with the original car cover. So, we decided to purchase the '73 Kharman Ghia and we tried to negotiate the price. [redacted] said it wasn't his vehicle so, he had to call the woman that owned it. That he had it on consignment for her. He did not make the phone call in front of us which we thought was odd. He walked into the garage and came back shortly after and told us her final answer when we didn't get to negotiate anything. My wife and I wanted the car so, we paid cash for it and he handed us the papers already signed. We were so excited that we got a new car that we paid no mind to the paperwork that he gave us. When we did go through the paperwork, we discovered that [redacted] was the sole owner of the car, the car has a Salvage Title and it was in a wreck, the shocks were bad, the front sway bar is disconnected on the right side which makes it unsafe to drive, the dust covers for the trans axel CV joints are rotted off and missing, has major electrical issues, the brakes went out 2 weeks after driving it, and the whole car has rust and Late Night and Cooled did a skuff-n-shoot on the vehicle to cover up the rust. [redacted] completely lied to us to make a sale. The paint on the vehicle is chipping off, the car doesn't have all the original parts, the trim fell off cause half the vehicle is made of bondo from being in a wreck and there are major rust holes rusting from underneath the car and inside the fenders. The Kharman Ghia is stationed in Chico, CA where it is garage kept. We live in LA and drive the vehicle when we are in town. Our friend in town who is a specialist checked the car out for us when our concerns enhanced. My wife and my frustrations are that we were lied to and that it's going to cost us a fortune to repair the Ghia.Desired Settlement: You simply asked me to write stating what we are asking from Late Night and Cooled and our answer is that we would like to get $2000.00 back from our purchase and the company to pay for the car to get fully fixed by the mechanic of our choice considering that we were lied to! We paid $4,200. 00 for the "73 Kharman Ghia and it's going to cost us thousands to restore a vehicle back to the condition that he mislead us into believing the car was in with a Salvage Title that was disclosed from our knowledge. The information that I provided is all that we have discovered to our knowledge. We don't even know if there is more damage to the vehicle or if that is it. My wife and I would have never purchased a vehicle that needed so much restoration. It's costly and timely

Business

Response:

We professionally restore aircooled VW's to show and magazine quality. Along with service and repair, we also offer brokering services to our clients. [redacted] and his wife came to test drive a 1973 Karmann Ghia that we had for sale as a brokered vehicle. They drove the car and it drove very well. They liked it. They had asked if the car had been in an accident or had rust. My response was "no accident to my knowledge" and that we checked the car for rust. There is absolutely no rust for a 41 year old VW. All cars have some rust but this is a Super nice car. We see rusty cars all the time and this is not one of them. There was also a question about the rear tires rubbing. The wheels and tires are after market and are too wide for the application. I told them if it were my car I would put stock wheels and tires back on the car. This will also bring more value and drive ability to the car. [redacted] and his wife made the decision to buy the car. They asked me to contact the owner of the car to see if she would take less than the asking price. I went out in the shop and called the lady I bought the car for (I'm her broker)to discuss her taking less than the asking price. Her answer was "NO" because she thought the asking price was too low already. I told [redacted] no and they bought the car for the asking price anyway. They got more car than they paid for, $4200.00 is a very fair price for a Karmann Ghia of this level. I gave them the papers to the car that had already been signed. (that how it works with a brokered vehicle). My name was on the paperwork because I was acting as the broker when the car was purchased. As a broker, we buy AND sell cars for our clients. If we had not sold the car to [redacted] it would have been signed over to my client. We bought the car with a salvage title because in the VW restoration world this means nothing. It does not affect the value of the car in the VW market, so we thought nothing of it. We did not hide it from him, it just had no relevance so it never came up. As to the worn boots, sway bar missing parts, and electrical issues, The car is 41 years old. None of these things make the car unsafe or undriveable. Brakes going out after a car starts getting driven again after it has sat is very common, again 41 years old vehicle. [redacted] states that we painted the car to cover up rust. WE DID NOT. We did NO paint work to that Karmann Ghia. If we had done paint work to the car the asking price would have been out of their price range. We bought the car, detailed it, and sold it to [redacted]. [redacted] says that he had the car checked by a specialist in Chico....? That would be me. I am the premier VW specialist from Sacramento to Portland Oregon and as far west as Colorado. These cars can not correctly be evaluated by any shop or person that has less than 30 plus years in the VW industry. It will cost a small fortune to fully restore the car but not to repair it. This car does not need restoration. This car looks and drives great, it turns heads everywhere it is driven. [redacted] lead me to believe that they needed a cute car to drive when they are in Chico and repair as needed. 41 year old VW's need constant repair and service to stay alive. We where NEVER contacted by [redacted] or his wife about ANY of these issues they where having. If we had been we would have had no problem at all helping them though the repair process at a discounted rate due to the fact that they would have been one of our local customers. VIP for buying from us. This whole thing about me being a lair to sell the Karmann Ghia is ridicules, due to the fact that I restore cars for a living. We are not car sales men. We want people to buy one of our cars and RETURN to us restore it, so it makes no since for me to lie plan and simple. All this being said we are willing to do better than they ask and buy the car back at full price they paid for it! ($4200.00)as long as it is in the same condition that it was in when we sold the car to them. I will have no problem reselling the car because it is so nice. Many people still call me to this day asking about buying that Karmann Ghia. Please have [redacted] contact us ASAP to get the car back.

Consumer

Response:

Please look over the following paper work that we are sending. Thank you for delaying our deadline. The mechanic that we use did a thorough investigation on our '73 Kharman Ghia. This report is the prove that our information is not an accusation just facts! We like [redacted]! He is a charismatic person with talent but , he lied to us! He clearly stated that there was no rust and the car had never been into an accident. You can't get a salvage title unless an insurance company denies you due to the damage that they refuse to cover and repair from and accident period! [redacted] has owned the car since June. If he's that great of a mechanic and he scuffed and shot the car with orange paint, then how did he not know of these issues? He lied to make a sale. He was the sole owner of the car who owns his own shop! His cars look fantastic due to his paint jobs... however, he messed up on ours! We will not be returning the car! We have already put a lot of time and money into the Ghia and we would appreciate compensation for false words that [redacted] led to roll off of his tongue. Please read over our report. We need to replace all of the inner fenders on both sides and the outer right rear fender which is all bondo over 1/4 inch thick as well as, repaint the car!