I traveled to Spanos Imports after several days of inquiring by phone and through email about one particular vehicle I found advertised on their main website (spanosimports.com) and Autotrader. I made the nearly 500 mile roundtrip on December 18, 2009.
As a result, I really think that I need to place reviews about Spanos Imports so that any other unsuspecting person won't have the same experience as I did of traveling nearly 500 miles round trip to find that someone there had not done their homework and I really sensed that the attitude of each of the employees was "oh well, we didn't know." I'm confident this mechanical problem with the car didn't just present itself when I drove it. Also, if Spanos is going to list a vehicle and accept dealer fees as quoted to me, Spanos is responsible for the quality of the product presented. I've really come to the conclusion that any sales staff who states that they don't know anything about the product presented is not to be taken seriously.
Also, it's interesting to me that the dealership was willing to charge dealer fees and taxes on a vehicle that the salesman then said belonged to someone who was a family member of the owner and that he didn't know anything about the car. Another interesting fact is that it is listed as a "Certified Carfax 1 Owner" vehicle which is not true. I ran the Carfax report and noted that there are two owners. This certification was listed after the second buyer purchased it in September 2009 who is a "family member" of the owner.
The problem with the car presented itself within one mile of the test drive. It began to lurch forward while braking and idle very badly while the check engine light blinked. When I returned to Spanos, the employees acted as if this was normal. They even stated that this could be explained by the fact that the car was on Empty as far as fuel. After adding fuel, it repeated it in the showroom under the same circumstances. I pressed the salesman to put it in gear and hold the brake down to see it hopping like a horse. He noticed it. Next the codes were taken from it and the technician, who thought that registering empty could cause this, stated that it was most likely a spark plug and wire issue.
I'm just thankful that the problem presented itself before I bought it. I was actually about to go to the bank and get the cash to pay for it.
I promise that this is not a vendetta etc but that I am prepared to provide highly ranked reviews online anywhere I can of my experience and will contact those I know to be sure that at least my story is heard and no one gets taken advantage of.
I'm so sorry that the product was not presented accurately nor care was given to let me know before I, in good faith and with cash for a purchase, made my trek to Spanos Imports.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Jimmy
Valdosta, Georgia, United States of America
Received a Kind Phone Call from Owner of Spanos Imports
#2Author of original report
Sun, December 20, 2009
Today, the day after my long trip to Spanos Imports, I received a phone call from one of the owners. He answered many of my questions in a way that made sense. Although I didn't buy a vehicle from him nor do I know the veracity of his statements, I'm grateful that he took responsibility enough to call and kindly apologize for the frustrations I experienced. He stated that they automobile is receiving a complete run through now and will be updated. I do agree that the vehicle was running smoothly and seemed very clean before the problem began. Actually, the only way I could really feel that the integrity of the owners is real would be to travel back there and re-test drive the car. For now, I'll just have to give the owners the benefit of the doubt.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Jimmy
Valdosta,Georgia,
United States of America
Received a Kind Phone Call from Owner of Spanos Imports
#2Author of original report
Sun, December 20, 2009
Today, the day after my long trip to Spanos Imports, I received a phone call from one of the owners. He answered many of my questions in a way that made sense. Although I didn't buy a vehicle from him nor do I know the veracity of his statements, I'm grateful that he took responsibility enough to call and kindly apologize for the frustrations I experienced. He stated that they automobile is receiving a complete run through now and will be updated. I do agree that the vehicle was running smoothly and seemed very clean before the problem began. Actually, the only way I could really feel that the integrity of the owners is real would be to travel back there and re-test drive the car. For now, I'll just have to give the owners the benefit of the doubt.