Splawn Construction, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2016/01/11) */
Please see attached
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 14, 2016/01/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I do not accept the K Auto Sales response as I do not believe it accurately reflects...

the businesses practices nor displays the service this business acts under. As mentioned in my initial complaint I purchased a vehicle on 11.1.15. I was provided an affidavit during the sale that indicated I would have the proper title and licensing information by 11/25/15 (see Affidavit 11.1.15 attachment). I contacted the business on 11/24/15 via phone (see initial call 11.24.15 attachment) and inquired about getting this paperwork. I was told over the phone that this paperwork would be provided to me by the due date and that any late fees associated with licensing the car would be taken care of by K Auto Sales. I waited until the holiday break had passed and before my temporary plate would expire on 12/4/15 to make yet another request for this information (see text message correspondence 12.2.15 attachment ). Through various phone calls and text messages I was assured that my car would be legal by the temporary plate's expiration date. As the other attached photos display it took an additional week for me to license this car and only after I threatened legal action with a certified letter, which this business refused to accept and was returned to me by the U.S. Postal Service (see attached certified letter refusal photo). It was only after this correspondence that Oscar from K Auto Sales would send me paperwork and with my constant probing for it via text and phone calls (see text message correspondence 12.4.15 and 12.9.15 attachments). This business is not organized or honest with its customers. I found the paperwork I received on my day of purchase to be misleading in the form of significant mileage differences from dealership to dealership which would have been provided had this paperwork been given in a timelier manner (see BMV title 12.11.15 attachment). I have since had to have several maintenance issues addressed to make this car both safe and drivable since its purchase. I would not recommend this business to future customers.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 16, 2016/01/21) */
Contact Name and Title: Oscar [redacted], Sales Agent
On 11/04/15 Mr. [redacted] came in my lot and was interested in the 2003 Chevy Avalanche. He was very thorough with his question about the vehicle. One of the questions he asked was if there was want warranty on the vehicle. to which I responded no, there wasn't, the vehicle will be sold AS IS. He purchased a used vehicle. Afterward he test drove the Avalanche for about 45 minutes. if you ask me that's a pretty decent time to evaluate if you like the vehicle and to see if its in the best convince to purchase said vehicle. when he returned he said that the only problem he found was the exhaust manifold was leaking. He asked me to discount him 200 dollars so HE would fix it. and I agreed to his condition. So he said he was very interested in buying it. I asked him to come to the office to fill out the paper work. He voluntarily Read and Signed all of the paper work, including the AS IS Form.
OFFER:
I'm sorry, the economy has been very bad lately so I cannot purchase the vehicle back from Mr. [redacted]. What I can do to help him is pay the late fee from BMV.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 18, 2016/01/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I do not accept K Auto Sales response. Mr. [redacted]'s remarks on 1.21.16 are not reflective of the actual experience and mislead potential buyers which are the very reasons for this complaint. When I went on 11.4.15 to look at the 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche I was as thorough as a car buyer can be in asking questions about a particular vehicle hoping for honesty. As I mentioned in my previous comments, K Auto Sales does not display honest behavior in their sales based on my experience. I came on 11.4.15 as Mr. [redacted] indicated but his claims about my inspection of the vehicle are grossly inaccurate. I test drove the truck between 20-30 minutes, it did take longer as I asked if I could drive on a highway to get it to a faster speed than driving in town would allow. I noticed a small noise that I believed could have been an exhaust leak based on other cars I had driven that day. Mr. [redacted] assigned a $200 evaluation on the repair and mentioned he had someone in town who could fix it for me. I explained that I had traveled from Indianapolis, rented a car to drive to Logansport for the potential purchase and would rather have a discount to have it repaired with my mechanic in my town if that was the case. I was unaware of the actual cost. I received several different quotes and neither was in the realm of $200. My lowest bid was at $600 and that was with a retired mechanic borrowing a shop to complete the work. I also mentioned that the Air Conditioning unit was not functioning properly and that it would need to be serviced as well, Mr. [redacted] indicated he could not reduce his price any further though. In addition to these issues, I was unaware of a recall on this vehicle. On my drive home the speedometer failed and upon further research found while driving more than 40 minutes the speedometer (or in some cases other gauges) will not be accurate. This is an additional $500 repair as the instrument cluster must be replaced through General motors directly. Although this was not in my initial complaint it should be noted for other buyers. Despite these issues which I have not sought more action on, it does not negate the documents provided previously that clearly shows K Auto Sales does not do business well. I was left without the ability to legally drive my car for nearly week because of Mr. [redacted]' untimely paperwork processing. I do not think his personal business situation should be the reason he cannot refund my money or compensate for some of these repairs if he claims to be an honest salesperson. I understand that a car is bought "As Is", it is why I overlooked the perceived exhaust leak and took the discount and why I did not pursue more on the air conditioning concern. However to sell a "one owner" car that has been shifted between car dealers for more than 40,000 miles between ownership and then when question after purchasing and told "dealers are not considered owners" is misleading to buyers. Paperwork displays this to buyers and I was not provided this information until a month later and upon threat of legal action.