Complaint Review: Singh Auto World - Allentown Pennsylvania

In August of 2006 I was on a tight deadline to purchase a car, and found a used 2000 Toyota Corolla on cars.com. The dealership in Allentown was relatively unknown and the staff informed me that the car was purchased at auction. This meant that neither the staff nor the buyer could know what impending problems the car might have, at least any of a severe nature. They offered a service contract good for one year at a reasonable price of $600, which I opted for.

The selling price was reasonable for a car made by a reliable company, and my previous Toyota, a '97 Camry, would have run for several more years had I not been rear-ended by a dump truck just before this purchase.

Within several months, during one of my return trips from Bloomsburg to Bangor, the check engine light came on. Since the Corolla was purchased at auction, the dealership had the carfax.com report to go on and not much more, but they did not have the car inspected before I drove it off the lot. I needed a car that weekend in order to return to college, so I gave them the benefit of doubt.

This proved a big mistake since when I returned with the car after several failed attempts to solve the matter over the phone, they sent me to "their mechanic." I was burning oil and losing power, and their chosen repair facility attempted to remedy this looming engine problem by simply cleaning the PCV valve. I drove the car back to college, as I had no other choice, and the check engine light remained on. When I finally had the leisure to go without a car for more than a day or two, over the summer, I took it to a repair shop in my hometown that specializes in engine work.

Their suspicions of a serious engine problem were confirmed when they looked into it, as the car had a cracked piston ring and it failed a valve clearance test. This would require either rebuilding or, more likely, replacing the motor. The service contract specifically stated that the engine was covered, but the company, independent of the dealership, insisted the engine be stripped down to ensure it was no good. Of course, I had to pay the labor fees for the stripping of the motor.

The process was dragged out over weeks and when the service contract company found a replacement motor, it had almost as many miles as the one that failed me. I instead had a virtually new motor (45,000 miles) installed instead of risking another motor failing, as my contract was set to run out just days after the installation would be complete. The total cost came to roughly 1200, which meant the 1500 talked off the original selling price was nearly negated.

When I called the dealership to ask them if they had any problems in the past with customers who bought service contracts from CARS Plus, they danced around the idea that there might have been major problems with the car that they didn't look into, and praised the service contract company.

Once all the costs were absorbed I figured, "at least I have a virtually new car." That was, until, the check engine light came on again. I took it to another garage in my area with a good reputation and they found an exhaust leak that had to be noticeable to the dealership had they examined the car before selling it. It had grown worse over time, so I paid to have that replaced for inspection purposes. The matter of the check engine light was ambiguous, so they had me drive to reset the computer. They later determined my catalytic converter was shot as well.

The lesson here is not to trust businesses like Singh that are new to used car sales and who just want to buy cars at auction and move them off the lot as quickly as possible without ensuring customer satisfaction or even full functionality. The other, perhaps equally important lesson, is that if a service contract sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Mike

Bangor, Pennsylvania

U.S.A.