Complaint Review: California Motors Direct

Beware!  My experience with these guys is that they are dishonest, unprofessional, lack any sense of morals and do not conduct business in good faith.  I had agreed to purchase a car from them for which I could not see in person do to me living 350 miles away.  I wanted assurance that the car was in like new condition especially considering I was paying over 50k.  I was given this multiple times by the salesperson including in a video he provided in which he states, “the car is beautiful and really shines with no scratches”.  With this, I agreed to make the trip and pick up the car.  After traveling 6 plus hours and being guaranteed the car would be ready when I arrived, I was excited to see it.  Shockingly, not only was the car not ready, it was covered in dirt with some sticky substance in various areas of the paint.  Worse was the fact that there were obvious runs in the paint on the front bumper.  To top it off, there was a screw sticking out of one of the back tires

With this, I spoke with one of the sales managers, Alex about a mutual agreement associated to the bumper.  Initially, he offered to do nothing and became immediately condescending.  I mentioned that you knew I was traveling a far distance and that I was assured by his salesperson that the car was like new.  Without hesitation, he throws his salesman under the bus and says well, “I never told you that”.  He then offered to have his guys fix it and I could come back in 4 days as if that were no big deal.  I offered to take the car to a shop where I live and get it fixed at dealer cost, he refused.  His next comment was to say, “how old are you, you are a grown man and made the choice to drive here” This was a condescending and provoking comment.  I responded by calling him unprofessional and who the F*** do you think you are.  With this, he began to escort me out the door.

Things got worse from there.  Once outside, he asked me if I was “some kind of tough guy”.  I took this as a threat and told him to bring it.  He began taking his jacket off.  At this same time, I was surrounded by at least 10 young Latino men all taking a threatening posture.  They were all employees.  Finally, one of them, I assume the boss, told me, “he got bad vibes from me the moment I walked in the door”.  He then instructed the others to go back inside.  At this point, we agreed that the best thing to do was for me to leave.

Should any customer believe that large runs in the paint were not known to them?  It was truly clear that they were dishonest and did not disclose the actual condition of the car.  This whole situation would have been avoided if not for their gross unprofessionalism and lack of morals.  I think that they believe a car purchase is emotional and most customers would overlook the issues.

I think A wise man would never believe that this was a one-off situation.  My opinion is, Be a wise man and take your business elsewhere.