Complaint Review: Reb's Used Cars - North East Maryland

In May of 2008, my husband and I were expecting our first child, and we wanted a more reliable car than we were driving at the time.  We had little credit, so our best option was to go to a dealer that did a "buy here, pay here" program.  We chose to work with Reb's Used Cars in North East, MD.  We had just received our stimulus check, and sold our old car to obtain the down payment needed.

When we went to the dealership, a sales associate named Josh helped us.  He showed us various cars we could buy with the down payment we had.  We had decided on a 1998 Subaru Legacy Sport Wagon.  We could not test drive our car, which should have been the first red flag. Hindsight 20/20 I suppose.  Nevertheless, he assured us the car had passed inspection, and he himself had driven it 90 miles per hour on 95 to Baltimore and the car drove wonderfully.  Josh told us we had a 30 day, 1000 mile warranty if there were any problems and we could bring it right to them.  The girl who finalized our sale gave us the same guarantee.


We took the car home in the evening, and with nothing else to do, it sat in our driveway until the next morning when my husband left for work.  He drove the car from North East to the Hatem bridge in Perryville (15 minutes or less), when it started to smoke, and it would not accelerate.  My husband, with the help of a good samaritan, pushed the car to the side of the road, and when he got home he called Reb's.

We were told their tow truck couldn't pick it up right then, but we could have it towed ourselves, or they could get it the next day.  We told them it would be best for us if they would tow it.  The car sat on route 40 for 2 days before we just decided to try to get it to Reb's ourselves.  With our mother in law following us, we barely made it into the parking lot of Reb's.  As soon as we pulled into the lot, the engine had started to smoke, and the car once again would not accelerate.  The service technician was certain he knew what was wrong and would fix it.

3 days later, Josh from Reb's had called us and informed us the warranty would not cover the damage done to the car.  The engine had a cracked block, and it had to have been damage we inflicted on the car, so they would keep it at the shop and fix it anyway, but we would have to pay $750 for a new engine block.  My husband insisted that he either wanted his down payment back, or the car back, without them fixing it.  This was not an option.

With my husband then not having a car to get to work, he was terminated.  We had no car, no transportation, and I spent my day feverishly calling the dealership, where I was told more then 4 times someone would call me back.  No one ever called.  When my father in law came home from work that day, we went to Reb's, where our car mysteriously disappeared.  The people at Reb's told us to keep all our paperwork in the car "for identification purposes", so the only proof we had that we ever owned the car was our insurance card.

I was determined to get a copy of the bill of sale AT LEAST.  They promised for 3 days they would fax it.  We never recieved the fax.  I called the DMV who told me that since I had the car insured, I have every right to obtain said bill of sale.

ONE YEAR LATER, I still can't get them to fax me a copy of the bill of sale.
STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE.  They are scam artists, THIEVES.