Complaint Review: Car Credit City

In december, 2008 my mother and I went to Car Credit City in St. Louis, MO to purchase a car for myself. My mother was leaving the country for several months the VERY NEXT DAY and I needed a car. It is important for you to have that information so you will understand why I didnt have time to do my homework on the vehicle I purchased.

The salesman was very helpful and very courteous in the selection of my 2002 Lincoln LS with 115,000 miles. Our credit app. was approved within minutes. The price tag on the vehicle was $12,995 which broke our payments down to $400.00 dollars per month. At the time, I was working and that payment was affordable within my budget.

A few days went by and I thought Id check out the blue book value on my car for the heck of it. Come to find out the blue book value on my car in its current condition with the current millage was $8495! Naturally, i was enraged, but felt it was MY FAULT for not doing the research before signing my name. So I said nothing.

Here's where it gets good. Within my 30 day WARRANTEE the car began to have mechanical issues. The check engine light was blinking and I was unable to accelerate sometimes. I took it in to CAR CREDIT CITY'S SERVICE DEPARTMENT where i was told there was NOTHING WRONG WITH MY CAR and that they were unable to get the vehicle to demonstrate the issues I was claiming it to have. I said fine, but I wanted it noted on my account that I reported a problem with my car DURING THE WARANTEE PERIOD. They agreed.

Two months went by with continue acceleration issues when my car finally broke down. This time I took it into a service department of MY choice where I was told that the cause of my break down was due to the  spark plugs in my engine. They were the original spark plugs from when the car was BRAND NEW. They had NEVER been replaced. The cost of the repair was around $900 bucks. I contacted CCC and explained that I expected THEM to cover the costs since I reported this problem during my warrantee period and also because they had extremely OVER CHARGED me in the sale of the vehicle. They then told me that they WOULD NOT cover any repair costs because the vehicle was OUT OF WARRANTEE and that i have put roughly 2,000 miles on the vehicle since the date of purchase. It was MY responsibilty to handle the repairs they stated. They offered to finance the repair's and add it into my loan. I had no choice so I agreed.

Since then I have been laid off from work and can no longer afford the payments on the car. The vehicle is now in repossession status and I was told that CCC would take the car, auction it off, and I would be responsible for the deficit.

I feel this is EXTREMELY UNFAIR and advise EVERYONE NOT TO DO BUSINESS WITH CAR CREDIT CITY IN ST. LOUIS MO.