Complaint Review: High Q Auto

I saw a 1978 Corvette Pace Car on Craigslist that was advertised by this company.  I called and made arrangements to fly from Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale to inspect and buy the car.  I asked very specific questions about the automobile and they gave me very specific answers about the paint, interior and overall condition of the car.  They said that the car was in showroom condition.  What they didn't tell me was yes, the car was in the showroom and it was in less than perfect condition.  Prior to my departure I negotiated a fair price with them based on other similar cars that were available in Florida and flew in to the Ft. Lauderdale airport. 

I was picked up at the airport by an employee of the company.  When I saw the car, I noticed that there was some body damage on the driver's door, the carpet was stained, there were scratches in the paint, the windshield wipers didn't work, the back up lights didn't work, and the parking break didn't work.  They fixed the windshield wipers.  When their mechanic had the car up on the rack he failed to also mention to me that the heater was bypassed.  I didn't find out about that issue until I got the car home later.

I complained to the management while I was there that the car was misrepresented and wanted them to discount the price.  They dropped it slightly.  They said they couldn't fix the parking brake and the back-up lights and they wouldn't reduce the car price any further to compensate for the body work, and carpet condition.  They said I owed an additional $177 when the tags and registration came in and that it was my responsibility to pay for that.  I needed to get the car home so I drove it back to tampa starting at 3:00pm to miss the Ft. Lauderdale rush hour traffic.  

After arriving in Tampa, the starter went out.  I called my mechanic to fix the problem ($154.95) and that's when he noticed the heater was by-passed.  He gave me an estimate of $254.95 to fix the heater.

I recontaced High Q by email 3 times and asked them to offeset the started and heater expense by at least covering the tag and regestration fees.  I was ignored.  Finally yesterday (12/11/13) I received a call from the title clerk stating that the tags were in, I asked about the price offset again.  She transferred me to a Manager (Frank) and he refused to offset the repair expenses by buying the tags for me.  The starter I understand, but their mechanic knew about the bypassed heater and they covered it up.   He even said that because we were in Florida they typically don't fix bypassed heaters and just sell the cars that way.  Obviously, to unsuspecting buyers....

My advice is to make sure you have a mechanic inspect every car you're interested in.  That is the only way to stop thieves like these from taking advantage.  I do not intend to buy a car again from this dealership.