John
Dallas,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, August 20, 2004
Any vehicle sold by a new car franchised dealer that is certified has to pass a strict set of guidlines set by the manufacturer of this vehicle. If this car is sold as "pre-owned" by a dealer that does not carry this particular brand, then this is and cannot be declared a certified car as it is not registered with the manufacturer as having been ceritfied by a authorized dealer. These documents are filed electronically with the manufacturer and those warranties implied are only administered by that manufacturer at authorized dealership service departments. To make it simple, a Honda dealer cannot "cetify" a Toyota, or anything else but a Honda. Not even a Acura, which is a Honda product. This is a bad practice and in my professional opinion as a Honda Service Professional, legal recourse is the next step.
Stick
Phoenix,#3Consumer Comment
Wed, May 26, 2004
Courtney sorry as to how your car dealer took care of you. Many car dealers will do or say anything just to get you to sign and drive. It really gets me when I hear a car dealer say "it's a Certified Car" Yea Right! I feel they realy are saying is It's a USED car that we checked out" Car dealers do not like to use the word "USED CAR" When car dealer says "Certified Car" and that they checked it I say whoopee! Courtney contact your auto lender and ask for a copy of the credit app that they got from your car dealer. You might get a big surprise. Car dealers today like to play with the car Buyer's credit app before they send it to banks. This "Banking Fraud Game" they like to play makes it much easier for them to get car buyers financed. Want proof that they do this? Go to the below mentioned Rip Off Report and look at this car Buyer's credit application real good. Can you say Banking Fraud? http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff52158.htm Like to see the Federal Monronie law being broken? go to http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff38266.htm Going to the above Rip Off Report you will see many new cars with no MSRP's. That's breaking the law. But try to find someone in the government that will do something is a dream that will never come true. Nickin Dallas,Texas Don't be too fast to trust Carfax. I have see many cars that have had a Carfax ran on them and they came up clean. Yet they were wrecked and rebuilt cars. Many times I have seen rental cars come up clean and not be reported that they were rental cars. Think about it for a second. Say you see two nice looking cars on a car dealer's lot. Say you see two Ford Tarus's. One was owned by an older couple and the second was ran to hell and back by a s**t load of crazy people from a rental company. Which would you feel would have a better value if the truth be known? Would you want to know that the second car was a rental car? A"Certified Car" to me means nothing but an emotional thing that car dealers like to use to sucker a car buyer into signing a s**t load of documents to lock them into a deal. I feel that if you asked before you signed to buy the car to take it to an independent shop to have it inspected they would have said "No, baby "it's all good". We will take care of you." I love it when a car dealer makes the Rip Off Report because Rip Off Reports are never deleted. It is also cool when a car dealer makes the Rip Off Report because when you go to google.com and say you type in "Bill Heard Chevrolet" Rip Off Reports pop up on the first page. Trust me word gets out fast! Later Mubba!
Nick
Dallas,#4Consumer Suggestion
Tue, May 25, 2004
The very best thing to do when purchasing a used car, whether under factory warranty or not, is to have it checked by a good mechanic totally independent of the dealership you're purchasing the vehicle from. This, you will find, is even reccommended on most (if not all) "Buyers Guide" stickers that appear in the windows of cars on used car lots - yet another lesson in reading fine print. I believe the dealerships are required by law to allow you to do this before purchasing the vehicle. Another important thing to do is to get the dealership (or do it on your own) to provide you with a Carfax (Carfax.com) report, which outlines accident history and other issues in the car's history. If the vehicle is certified (I'm not totally familiar with how Honda dealerships certify Toyota vehicles in the first place), it entitles you to a number of different warranties. Those warranties, if applicable, might require Lute Riley to fix some of your problems or, if the warranty does apply to some/all of those problems, allow you to make a legal response to the dealership and force them to fix your problems. However, a salesman telling you the vehicle is certified and actually having paperwork on it are two different creatures - spoken contracts aren't binding. If the vehicle doesn't fall under factory warranty and the vehicle isn't certified (i.e. they sold it to you entirely "As-is"), everything that goes wrong with it as soon as you sign the paperwork and drive it off the lot is your problem. Some as-is vehicles can be great, but you have to check them out thoroughly before you buy - just like you should even for those certified and warrantied vehicles.
Nick
Dallas,#5Consumer Suggestion
Tue, May 25, 2004
The very best thing to do when purchasing a used car, whether under factory warranty or not, is to have it checked by a good mechanic totally independent of the dealership you're purchasing the vehicle from. This, you will find, is even reccommended on most (if not all) "Buyers Guide" stickers that appear in the windows of cars on used car lots - yet another lesson in reading fine print. I believe the dealerships are required by law to allow you to do this before purchasing the vehicle. Another important thing to do is to get the dealership (or do it on your own) to provide you with a Carfax (Carfax.com) report, which outlines accident history and other issues in the car's history. If the vehicle is certified (I'm not totally familiar with how Honda dealerships certify Toyota vehicles in the first place), it entitles you to a number of different warranties. Those warranties, if applicable, might require Lute Riley to fix some of your problems or, if the warranty does apply to some/all of those problems, allow you to make a legal response to the dealership and force them to fix your problems. However, a salesman telling you the vehicle is certified and actually having paperwork on it are two different creatures - spoken contracts aren't binding. If the vehicle doesn't fall under factory warranty and the vehicle isn't certified (i.e. they sold it to you entirely "As-is"), everything that goes wrong with it as soon as you sign the paperwork and drive it off the lot is your problem. Some as-is vehicles can be great, but you have to check them out thoroughly before you buy - just like you should even for those certified and warrantied vehicles.
Nick
Dallas,#6Consumer Suggestion
Tue, May 25, 2004
The very best thing to do when purchasing a used car, whether under factory warranty or not, is to have it checked by a good mechanic totally independent of the dealership you're purchasing the vehicle from. This, you will find, is even reccommended on most (if not all) "Buyers Guide" stickers that appear in the windows of cars on used car lots - yet another lesson in reading fine print. I believe the dealerships are required by law to allow you to do this before purchasing the vehicle. Another important thing to do is to get the dealership (or do it on your own) to provide you with a Carfax (Carfax.com) report, which outlines accident history and other issues in the car's history. If the vehicle is certified (I'm not totally familiar with how Honda dealerships certify Toyota vehicles in the first place), it entitles you to a number of different warranties. Those warranties, if applicable, might require Lute Riley to fix some of your problems or, if the warranty does apply to some/all of those problems, allow you to make a legal response to the dealership and force them to fix your problems. However, a salesman telling you the vehicle is certified and actually having paperwork on it are two different creatures - spoken contracts aren't binding. If the vehicle doesn't fall under factory warranty and the vehicle isn't certified (i.e. they sold it to you entirely "As-is"), everything that goes wrong with it as soon as you sign the paperwork and drive it off the lot is your problem. Some as-is vehicles can be great, but you have to check them out thoroughly before you buy - just like you should even for those certified and warrantied vehicles.
Nick
Dallas,#7Consumer Suggestion
Tue, May 25, 2004
The very best thing to do when purchasing a used car, whether under factory warranty or not, is to have it checked by a good mechanic totally independent of the dealership you're purchasing the vehicle from. This, you will find, is even reccommended on most (if not all) "Buyers Guide" stickers that appear in the windows of cars on used car lots - yet another lesson in reading fine print. I believe the dealerships are required by law to allow you to do this before purchasing the vehicle. Another important thing to do is to get the dealership (or do it on your own) to provide you with a Carfax (Carfax.com) report, which outlines accident history and other issues in the car's history. If the vehicle is certified (I'm not totally familiar with how Honda dealerships certify Toyota vehicles in the first place), it entitles you to a number of different warranties. Those warranties, if applicable, might require Lute Riley to fix some of your problems or, if the warranty does apply to some/all of those problems, allow you to make a legal response to the dealership and force them to fix your problems. However, a salesman telling you the vehicle is certified and actually having paperwork on it are two different creatures - spoken contracts aren't binding. If the vehicle doesn't fall under factory warranty and the vehicle isn't certified (i.e. they sold it to you entirely "As-is"), everything that goes wrong with it as soon as you sign the paperwork and drive it off the lot is your problem. Some as-is vehicles can be great, but you have to check them out thoroughly before you buy - just like you should even for those certified and warrantied vehicles.