Complaint Review: Auto Max USA Tuscaloosa AL - Tuscaloosa Alabama

Back in January of 2004, I bought what I thought was a nice, used Cheverolet Camaro from then. I noticed that the price was a bit high for a used car, but they assured me that it was worth it bc it was a very, very good car, it was well-taken car of, and if there had been any problems with it, their mechanics had checked it out and fixed any and everything that may have been wrong with it, but as of when I bought it, they told me it should have been in tip-top shape. At the time, I was driving a 1995 Baretta. It actually ran great, had a CD player in it, the A/C works, I had had the car about 1 and a half to 2 years and when I bought it I only had paid about $1400 or $1500, which was a great deal. The only things that were wrong with it were VERY minor. My passenger-side door handle had just broken, which really wasn't a big deal, I could have gotten one off of a wrecked one for little or nothing and my husband at the time could have instaled it. I also had some kind of leak from the AC that was leaking inside the passenger side floor board, which my husband at the time could have easily fixed as well, but I had had the car a year or two and I felt like I had gotten my money's worth out of it and I really wanted a different car.

I took it in to Auto Max to use as a trade in. They assured me that my car was a piece of sh*t, the transmission was about to go out (which was NOT true, the engine and the transmission was excellent and I had NO problems with it), they said that my rods in my engine was knocking (and it was not..there was no knocking or banging or any problems I was experiencing). They assured me that I could only get about $500 to $1000 at best for a trade in value and that they would indead be doing me a favor by even giving me that much.  Right when I took the car home, my husband at the time (he and I have been divorced for a long time) told me that I needed to get two new tires on it. Since I JUST had gotten it, and it was supposed to be in great shape with nothing wrong with it, I should not have had to already replace 2 tires on it. I did this at Sears and immediately called them and complained about it. Anyway, I had also put like maybe $1000 to maybe $2000 down with it.

I had started having problems with the car a few weeks later and once one thing went wrong, then another went wrong and this went on for several months. I had paid several months worth of car payments over those months and I complained to them time and time again about all the money I had had to sink into the car from right off the bat until I got sick of dealing with it and gave it back to them about 4 months later. They had also put a price sticker on my car that they said wasn't worth sqaut for about $5900 or $6900. NOt only did they rip me off on the trade in value, but they were also going to rip somene else off who ended up purchasing it, bc on top of the already high price, they also charged like 22 to 24% interest on those cars, which would make the end total of the car by the time they paid it off being $10,000 or more, which was crazy, being that most of the cars they sale are anywhere from 4 to 15 years old. I ended up having motor problems, a bunch of little problems on the car. They credited back somewhere between $400 to $800 total on the car due to all the repairs I had to do (I had to buy the parts, some of the tools, and even a repair book on it so my husband at the time could do the repairs). I ended up spending between the money I put down, all the repairs and tools I had to pay for, the tires, and the payments (not to mention the car they had of mine that I lost) about anywhere from $4000 to $8000.

I tried reporting them to the BBB and the Attorney General and I talked to some lawyers..but, there was nothing that could be done...they ripped me off so bad and one day...they will get what is coming to them in the end. So, if you read this, PLEASE, PLEASE...never, never, never buy anything from Auto Max, USA in ANY state or city..esp Tuscaloosa and Northport, AL. If you have family and friends who are attempting to buy from them, don't let them do it. Thank you for your time.