Complaint Review: Grays Automotive - Palm Beach Florida

Gray's Automotive positioned a 1995 Jaguar XJ-6 4 door Black sedan with tan leather interior for sale late last year on EBAY.  By all written accounts and by all email and telephonic phone conversations I had with this so called gas station and auto repair shop in Florida prior to my purchase, the car was a plum one owner with a track record of basis maintenance and upkeep.  Gray's advised in their listing that the only flaw on the body was a baseball sized dent at the rear left tail lamp area, they also boasted about how the car had been meticulously maintained and they had all the records, which they in fact did.  But what they conveniently and fraudulently left out of all communications was what was wrong with the car at the time of sale.  And they knew, because they are in the business of fixing cars.  And in their own words, are in the business of fixing and maintaining high end cars like Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Jaguars, and a littany or other exotics.  So they clearly knew what they were selling when they dumped this painted pig on me.  They just did not advise in writing, or email or telephonically.

The fact of the matter is this car was doctored, and sold with nothing buy falsehoods by this ebay seller. 

The car arrived in the evening in January 2016, after I paid these unscruptulous opertators to store it for me.

Upon receiving the car, it had a strange and easily noticed pale of condensation in the entire inside that I had never seen prior in a car.  I wiped the windows down but to no avail.  It kept re occuring.  When I started the car it would not start unless I pumped the accelerator scores of times and then it would heave and moan and finally turn over.  I immediately noticed that the check air bag malfunction light came on and it obliterated all other dash board lights; so I could not see how many miles were actually on the odometer.  This is still an issue now but was only a precursor to more serious problems that were never noted by the seller of this painted PIG.   I took the car for a spin and noticed the brakes were very low.  Then I immediately noticed there was a load rattling sound coming from the rear left area of the car.  Sounded like the rear shocks were gone as it was really horrible.

I contacted Gray's about these initial problems and I was told that the condensation was probably from a rain storm when the car was transported from Florida to Georgia.  NOT!  The other two issues were treated as a non issue. 

I took the car to a 3rd party mechanic in Marietta who neither knew me, the car or the seller and asked them to do a full diagnostic of the car.  To my horror but not my surprise the following major issues were diagnosed.

1) rear bushings were completely shot and needed to be replaced

2) On board computer system was malfunctioning and in need of replacement

3) Radio system out of order and not working

4) car had been completely repainted and was not the color printed on the Florida state title; no mention of this in the listing for sale or any other time

5) Drive train suffering from serious malfunctions

6) Numerous computer board lights alerting mechanical and drive train issues, serious ones as well.

7) Air bag light was an indicator of much larger problems in the opinion of my 3rd party mechanic including but not limited to the shoulder harness system and would be a very costly issue to diagnose and repair

The mechanic advised that their initial inspection would have to be more in depth but they estimated at least $8k in repairs without delving deeper into the many systemic issues uncovered.

At this point I contacted Gray's with this new information and challenged them with my findings.  I wanted to return the car for a full refund, and they resisted.  I also called Amexco and this began a 7 month saga which ended up in a long battle with Gray's.  They not only mis represented the car I bought buy I was told that their listing on ebay may have been fraudulent as ebay advised me they thoughy it was a spoof listing.  Factually, you can not find a trace of the listing with the listing # that is related to the sale of this vehicle. 

The saga of this Painted Pig Jaguar actually got worse.  Over time with some limited driving the entire electrical system folded and does not work at all, the battery drains itself due to some alternator issue as it was explained to me.  And the engine is now so underpowered you can not drive the vehicle at all.

Essentially Gray's sold a car that was the epitome of a lemon. They positioned this PAINTED PIG as a one owner car, well maintained and in great used condition.  No, sorry!  This car was the antithesis of what you portrayed.  I have a painted pig for sale now, a car that is valueless. 

So my recommendation is to stay as far away from any car for sale offered by this fraud minded, seller of used "exotics" as possible.  My only conclusion is they are either the worst mechanics in the business OR more likely they knew exactly what they were dealing with when they sold this junk yard car to me.  I believe the latter, stay away from this entity cause you just might be subject to the headaches I was and am now.