Sam's Auto Imports & Sales

On September 6, 2016, I was searching Craigslist for a used vehicle for my son. I found a vehicle in the private seller only section that was posted by Sam’s Auto Imports and Sales. I generally don’t do business with small lots because in my experience, they aren’t always reputable in their business practices. This vehicle had low miles and appeared from the ad to be in good shape and was priced at the top of the blue book. Breaking my own rule, I decided to go and check it out. Upon arrival, I checked the fluids and other aspects of the vehicle and all appeared to be in order. I took the vehicle for a test drive, albeit a short one since the gas tank was on empty. The engine was making a bit of a whining noise that I thought might be a belt issue. I mentioned it to the salesman and he said it was the serpentine belt and that he would replace it. I explained that I would be bringing my husband back that evening so he could look at it and he told me he would have the belt replaced by then. They said I would need to put down a deposit to hold the vehicle. I told them I had no problem doing so but if they were unable to resolve the issue causing the noise or if for any other reason my husband didn’t want to buy it, I’d need that check back. I was told there would be no problem. Upon returning that evening, they informed us they had changed the belt and flushed and replaced all the fluids. We pop the hood and find that the engine is hot, assuming it’s because they had been working on it. We can immediately see that the belt had not been replaced and the engine appeared to be smoking. We could tell it had been sprayed out so we thought maybe it was from the water and it was steam burning off the engine. With reservations we took it out for another test drive although again, the tank was still on empty (I have a feeling this place is shady enough that they aren’t even going to give you a half a tank of gas for buying a vehicle from them). During our test drive, my husband pulled over and was inspecting beneath the vehicle. He can see fluids leaking, reaches up and pulls his hand back, covered in transmission fluid. At this point, we aren’t sure if it has a leak or the person who replaced all the fluids was just really messy but there were too many red flags for us to feel comfortable buying this vehicle. As we’re heading back to the lot, we had rolled our windows down to listen to it run and when I attempted to roll mine back up, it wouldn’t budge, motor was clearly dead. We go back in the office and I mention the window. It seemed clear to me that he was aware of the situation before I enlightened him. At this point, I explain that we’re going to wait on the purchase. Things escalated to a pretty ugly scene very quickly. He refused to return my check and told me that he did “all this work” to this vehicle because I said I was going to buy it if he could make the noise go away. I replied that it was clear he hadn’t replaced the serpentine belt, we could see the wear on it and that it’s clearly got other problems. I tried to explain over all the yelling and cussing between my husband, the salesman and myself that he should be fixing those things anyway and that I’m not on the hook financially for them to make repairs to their vehicles. He refused to return my check and stated that if we put a stop payment on it, it would be considered a hot check. I owed this man absolutely nothing even if he had changed the belt and I certainly wouldn’t owe him $200 even if that were somehow a fair practice (which it clearly isn’t). Plain and simple, it's his attempt at theft, in my opinion, as it cost him absolutely nothing to hold that vehicle for a few hours. Trust me, there was no line of people waiting outside to buy up his stock. I signed nothing agreeing to purchase the vehicle or anything indicating I would lose my deposit if we didn't follow through with the purchase. We put a stop payment on the check and I’m praying he does take us to court over it. We have video of the belt showing wear, the smoke that was still coming off the engine and the fluids leaking from under the vehicle. I wouldn’t buy a Popsicle from this place, much less a car. They are the epitome of the type of people who give these small lots a bad name. Utterly and outrageously ridiculous.