Magnet Auto Sales

Review: I purchased a used vehicle from Magnet Auto Sales on 12/7/13. The vehicle was advertised and said to need nothing, that everything on it worked I still have a copy of the ad and an email from the company where I asked verifying the car needed no work. Within 40 miles (barely getting it home) the check engine light and 2 other warning lights came on the dash. It was taken to a mechanic right away and several codes came up showing sensors needing to be replaced. These were old codes that the dealer had cleared to get the lights to off long enough to get the vehicle sold. The following day it snowed and I got stuck in the vehicle in my driveway, this is when I found out the 4 wheel drive does not work. This vehicle was advertised to be 4 wheel drive and again everything was to be in working order when I purchased it. I again took it to my mechanic who while looking into the 4WD discovered that a stabilizer link was broken and the vehicle should have never passed state inspection (which was done right before I purchased the vehicle). My mechanic has already fixed the stabilizer link and the sensors that were causing the lights to be on the dash. Upon further inspection of the 4WD it was determined that just the part to fix it is $1200, not including labor. It has also been discovered that the radiator leaks, manifold leaks, and the rear windshield wiper does not work properly. We informed the dealer of all of these problems and asked for either a refund or to get the vehicle fixed to the condition it was said to be in when I purchased it. He has refused to help in any way. This vehicle needs well over $2000 worth of parts total, not including labor to get it in the condition it was advertised and stated to be in when I purchased it.Desired Settlement: I would be happy with being refunded what I have in the vehicle, or if the dealer would get the vehicle fixed into the condition it was said to have been in when I purchased it. I have owned the vehicle 12 days now, it has been at my mechanic's shop for 9 of those days, and I have put less than 200 miles on it at this point, most of which have been running it back and forth to the dealer to verify that it has the issues I have stated it has. All issues showed up in the first 50 miles I drove it

Business

Response:

We have received a complaint from [redacted], ID number [redacted]. The 2004 Toyota Sequoia was originally offered for sale at $10,995.00 with dealer limited warranty, but the customer

([redacted]) asked us if we can cut them some deal. We offered them $9,801-.00, and We told them if we drop anything from the price will have to do it "AS IS" sale. They decided to keep a deal of

$9,801.00 and take the risk. So the sale was "AS IS" and Magnet Auto Sales is not responsible for any repairs. We are including Paper work from the sale that customer signed for "AS IS" sale.

Sincerely,

Anatoliy Kozlov

Owner/Partner

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer 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.

The vehicle was falsely advertised as a 4wd vehicle. The 4wd does not work and is very costly to fix.

Regards,

Review: I purchased a vehicle from this dealership in February 2016. The transaction was completed with a trade-in of my current vehicle and a $2700 check for the difference. After having the vehicle inspected post-sale 2 days later, there was $928 of routine maintenance repairs that were required to have the vehicle up to safe standards. Likewise, there was found to be an after-market axle in place which had not been disclosed prior to the purchase, though the car was advertised as having a "clean" AutoCheck report with "no accidents". I confronted the dealer on the maintenance issues and undisclosed after-market axle, which he still could not tell me about. I asked for my original car to be returned, the difference I paid him to be returned, as well as funds towards the $928 worth of repairs. The dealer agreed to return my car and wrote me a check for $3000. However, the next business day, I went to deposit the check and found out that the dealer had placed a "stop payment" on the check that morning without notifying me. I called him notifying him of the issue and he said we would "talk about it later" when I came up there. I drove back to the dealership the next afternoon and he said that after writing me the check, he decided he did not want to refund me the first amount agreed upon ($3000) and said he would only refund me the amount I paid minus TWO processing fees ($200 a piece) to have the titles re-assigned to one another. Therefore, he only refunded me $2300 and I have lost money on repairs for a car I do not own anymore. All of his took place within 5 days, so no registration or other paperwork had been filed. The dealer also said he had no intention of notifying me of the stop payment on the check.Desired Settlement: I would like, at minimum, to be refunded the $928 cost of the repairs to the car. I would also like to be refunded the cost of the processing fees since no additional out of office paperwork had been completed. The original transaction took place on a Wednesday and the return took place the following Saturday. Overall, I would like to receive my $1300 total cost as the dealer was dishonest in his disclosure of the state of the vehicle and his issuing a "stop payment" on the $3000 check.

Business

Response:

It is unfortunate that this has gone this far, [redacted] had

bought a car from us on 2/17/2016. We gave her the opportunity to test drive

the vehicle, and when she returned she had said that “This vehicle is what I

have been looking for”. After the

trade-in and purchase was made, it seems that she went to her local Nissan

Dealership ([redacted] Nissan) and requested for the vehicle to be checked over

again after we had serviced the vehicle before the sale. All these services

were not required and where all under the request of [redacted] as it says on the

service receipt. The aftermarket axle that was worrying the safety of [redacted]

was not a used, but a brand new axle that was bought to replace the unsafe and

broken OEM axle. Between all of this time [redacted] never called us to tell us the

issues that she was having, but instead brought the car in to us and demanded

for us to return her vehicle. While she was in the office [redacted] was rude and

had scared off customers by making us seem like the bad guys. We tried to work

everything out. So we returned the vehicle to [redacted] in hopes of her

satisfaction. Later on in the day when we had more time to take a look at the

returned Nissan Rogue, the vehicle was in a bad condition and seemed to have

big problems, which was very suspicious to us. When we inspected the vehicle

more closely the check engine light had come on, it seemed to be misfiring, and

jerking. At that time we had no choice

but to cancel the $3,000 check that we wrote to [redacted] as the vehicle was in a

lot worse shape than we had sold it to her. We were going to contact [redacted]

about the cancelled check, but before we could she already had tried to cash it

and contacted us already frustrated. I asked her to stop by the office so we

could talk and renegotiate the situation. Next day she stopped by the office,

and I explained the situation to her and we settled on $2,300. After we had

talked everything out and seemed to have settled this unfortunate situation we

shook hands and left on good terms. We hope that we can help settle this situation

and make everything clear by seeing both sides of the story, as our ambition is

to satisfy customers and not to leave on bad terms.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted]. Though I do not find the business's response completely truthful or accurate, it appears that continuing to pursue this matter will be futile. I have no choice but to accept the dealer's response. My goal of bringing attention to his questionable business dealings has been accomplished, though, unfortunately, no funds could be recuperated. I will choose to take no further action against him.

Regards,