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Toyota of New Bern Sold me a wrecked Lexus for 44k! Unsafe and lied about car history New Bern North Carolina
I have been buying cars from Toyota of New Bern since 2004. I had a Lexus that I was taking to get repaired because I broke the driver's side mirror off. While I was there I saw another Lexus that I really liked. I purchased this 44k CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED Lexus. I asked if the car had been in an accident and Toyota said it had not. I have a copy of the retail installment contract where they signed that it had not been in a wreck. My airbag lights have been on for 2 years that I’ve owned the car. Toyota did 2 more safety inspections on the car (on my request) because the airbag light was always on all within the first year of me owning the car. Always came back on. Then the car had a recall with Lexus, so Johnson Lexus looks into car and says the wiring harness has been damaged due a wreck and it will be $3500 to repair. They also told me that this could cause the airbags to not deploy. Though the car was under warranty, they can't fix it under warranty because it was due to the wreck. Month or 2 goes by and I notice my headliner is sagging because humidity was getting in...That must be the wind noise I’ve been hearing the entire time I've owned this car! So, I was so over it that I decided to order a different car. I ordered a new Tesla and they were going to sell my Lexus for me. Tesla called me back and told me that they were having a hard time selling because no dealership wanted it since all the airbags had deployed in a wreck it was in. WHAT? They did 2 inspections on the safety of the car while I owned it. I called the attorney general and my attorney. They both told me to discuss with the dealership and give them a chance to make it right. Well, these guys just care about their bottom line and don't care about their customers. They offered me the same amount of money that Tesla was going to get me by selling to auction company. They acted like they were doing me a "favor" but that is the same offer that tesla got to send it to an auction. Toyota's excuse was that carfax reported the wreck after I owned it. I asked how they certified the car then. All they talked about was how undependable CarFax was, then why is that the only thing you used to sell me a “certified” pre-owned car? Carfax clearly states at the bottom that it is not always accurate or reported on time. Here is the CarFax disclosure:
https://www.carfax.com/phoenix/glossary.cfx
Accident / Damage Indicator —
CARFAX receives information about accidents in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Different information in a vehicle's history can indicate an accident or damage, such as: salvage auction, fire damage, police-reported accident, crash test vehicle, damage disclosure, collision repair facility and automotive recycler records. Not every accident or damage event is reported and not all reported are provided to CARFAX. Details about the accident or damage event when reported to CARFAX (e.g. severity, impact location, airbag deployment) are included on the Vehicle History Report. CARFAX recommends you obtain a vehicle inspection from your dealer or an independent mechanic.
Airbag Deployment —
Occurs when the driver, passenger or side airbag has been used or deployed during a crash or other incident. If an airbag has been deployed, it must be replaced by a qualified technician. Have this car inspected by a mechanic prior to purchase. Use CARFAX Airbag Tips to make sure this vehicle's airbag system is functional.
Why did they sell me something that was certified pre-owned if the only thing they used to certify it with was CARFAX? They blamed everything on carfax. Then they tried to blame it on the old partial owner of Toyota, Mark, because they knew he was my neighbor growing up. The manager, Paul McDonald, kept saying “Toyota didn’t sell you the wrecked car; Mark sold you the wrecked car.” It was the most disgusting pitiful thing I have ever seen. Mark worked at Toyota and TOYOTA sold me the car. The fact that they simply would not take responsibility for what they did blew me away. They also told me that if I came to them earlier they would have been able to return it to the auction, which just seems like a lie at face value. I am such a fair person. I only asked them to pay the balance on the car, which was around 26k, which is less than what the car would be worth if it wasn’t wrecked. I just said we will cut our losses and walk away. I have PLENTY of money or I wouldn’t have ordered a 100k car, but this was out of sheer principle. I can afford to pay off this car. What I can't stand is men trying to walk all over women, selling them an unsafe vehicle and not taking responsibility for their actions. You buy a certified pre-owned car from a dealership because you trust them. They do a serious inspection of this vehicle. I could go buy a car from a random person if I didn't expect a company to back it. In this case, they don't want to take responsibility because they don't want to "sell a wrecked car" on their lot. BUT THEY SOLD ME A WRECKED CAR FOR 44K. I’m not asking them to sell the car on their lot. I’m asking them to pay off my car, less than what it would be worth if it was not wrecked, and send it to an auction. We both lose money but at least we walk away from it. These guys don’t care about what they did. Any scenario of why this car was sold to me is just wrong. Either they knew the car was wrecked when they inspected it (after it returned from the auction), which is what made the most sense. The car had 2 inspections by Toyota and one was an electrical inspection, before Toyota sold it to me. They could have sold me a wrecked car, because they would have been out a ton of money, which is what makes the most sense. Or they lie when they say they inspect a car and give you a certified pre-owned car. Either way, it makes them pretty bad people to do business with. I will never do business with them again. I have called the news and I am finishing my submission to the attorney general to pursue them. After Toyota purchased this car, they did numerous "electrical inspections" before they put it for sale. After the way they treated me, I really do feel that they knew the car was wrecked. They would rather the customer lose money, then stick to their word. How did this miss your “certified” process, multiple inspections, and 2 safety inspections that I had them do? They didn’t care about my safety or making it right. They only care about making money off of people. They clearly just pull a "carfax" or so they claim. I have submitted this to WCTI. I was so nice with them to see if they were going to do the right thing. I will gladly pay this car off, but I will make sure that they lose at least the amount of money I lost in business by sharing my story with everyone I know. Rather than these guys saying "sorry, we didn't properly certify this car and we will make it right" all they did was keep telling me to call back so they could talk to the owner. When you think of a "used car salesman" these guys come to mind. They don't care about customer service or the safety of their customers. I truly feel that this happened for a reason and I'm so blessed that I never got in a wreck in which I needed airbags for. This car's resale value (if not wrecked) should be close to 34k. I can't get anyone to buy it for more than 20k because they think there is structural damage and due to the type of wreck it was in (not caused by me). I would agree, that something is very wrong with this car and unfortunately Toyota would rather me pay for their mistake. My mistake was ever doing business with these crooks.