Complaint Review: Universal Auto Plaza

This company sold me a car that they were aware had major safety concerns. Would not allow me to return the vehicle, and have refused to contact me. I purchased a car June 1, 2016.

I was online looking for cars and came across a couple cars I was interested in reviewing. They were being offered at the dealer in question. When I got there, the salesman stated that the cars I wanted to see were recently sold and offered to show me other cars on the lot.

One of the cars he showed me was the car I later purchased. During the personal review of the car, I had a few concerns such as the poor A/C, missing fob and dealer key and the warning light.

The salesman said that he would have the car detailed and inspected and also provide a 4k warranty. He also promised to allow me to take the car for $4,500 with 6 monthly payments of $180. He then claimed that he was normally in charge of moving the cars around the lot and was temporarily returning to sales to help with the lack of reps there that day.

He talked to his supervisor to finalize the deal and took the car to "detail". I then went to sign paperwork with another man and I noticed that the price the man was showing was not the price I was quoted. We then had sessions with increments of myself talking to the man that showed me the car, that young man talking to the man that I signed papers with, and myself with with guy I was signing papers with.

Finally we came to the agreement I made with the young man and continued signing. The car was waiting for me outside and I picked up the key.

As I'm leaving the lot, I noticed the wheel was extremely hard to turn. I turned back and asked the man to take a look at the car. After about 20 minutes of "looking" a guy from the back came and said that the power steering had a small leak and was not holding the fluid. I feel that they knew this was a huge problem with the car and had freshly filled up the power steering fluid so that I wouldn't notice that it was an issue.

I asked the man to fix it and he said that he would not fix it because it was not a safety hazard. I told him that the car not being able to turn is a safety and he offered to buy the part.

After the shady dealings, I asked for a promissory note so that I would be secure to collect the part. He said that he couldn't write a note and that I had to take his word for it. I declined and pushed for the note and was eventually pushed out the door by the employees there because it was past closing time.

I've been trying to contact them by phone and no one answers the phone. I can't even leave a voicemail message because their voicemail inbox is full.

The next day June 2, I decided to take the car for a full inspection to see what else is wrong with the car. After a full inspection, the agent at an Acura dealership told me that the parts alone to fix the issues with the car would be close to $6,000. That's more than I paid for the car. Not even including the cost of labor to install those parts.

I have a full list of problems with the car including a busted tire, bad brakes, shaky steering, bad oil pan, old and weathered parts, etc. I was given a list of the issues and concerns the manufacturer dealership gave to me after they inspected the car.