Complaint Review: Vroom (Texas Direct Auto/Vroom.com) - Stafford Texas

I am writing as nobody will even speak to me without shutting me down instantly after the initial few calls - which went well until the actual day to buy back the car - (2014 Jaguar F-Type S VIN: SAJWA6FC8E8K01036) which had an issue with leaking coolant (known issue for this year/model and specifically engine -

Jaguar has a repair bulletin out about it that the coolant lines in the engine itself are inadequate and should be upgraded to heavier duty ones at next heavy maintenance/repair job or at first sign of leaking coolant - so I am of the opinion that it should have been more closely looked at during quality inspection as my mechanic even said that he not only believed it was an older issue and the car was leaking coolant when delivered to myself.)

It was delivered to me in the rain, and at the time was an incredibly modest leak it was only even noticeable as the leak's condensation would create steam from under the supercharger when engine was hot/driven for a while but before he had even identified the issue your limited-warranty company (Safeguard) seemed to know exactly what was wrong and that it was much more expensive and problematic than either I or the mechanic believed.

I instantly began leading the mechanic into speculating that I was being careless and driving it excessively while it was overheating (NOT true; I pulled over within mere seconds after the temperature gauge began to rise (never even got out of the middle into the lowest part of the red/danger high temp zone) and called a tow on side/shoulder of the 4-lane highway exactly as instructed.

I certainly did not continue to drive the vehicle knowing it was in a state of overheating; in fact I had only driven about 5 miles since the car was started from a cold start although it is a sports car so I suppose the engine block can heat up quicker than normal car.

The issue is that the vehicle's block is cracked right around the cylinder(s) so now that I paid for heavier coolant lines that do not leak the cylinders flood out/fill with coolant eliminating any spark and leaving the entire engine non-functional; the engine is at it's cheapest $15,000 brand new all the way up to $22,000 depending on which Jaguar dealership.

I had this car for only 6-days with it actually having this issue on the 6th day and being delivered on the 1st day so I truly had it for only 4 full days before it, in essence, became the lawn ornament it is today.

Now, the warranty company got my mechanic to speculate that I must've ran it hot for a while in order to crack the block, which is why they denied the repair, they say it must've been completely out of coolant which is what the temperature of is measured which is why it hadn't displayed yet that it was overheating yet still caused this damage.

Since I did not immediately pull over (I did, this is warranty company version of events) and call a tow but instead continued to drive it around after noticing it overheating causing this damage (again, I pulled over right on the shoulder of HWY and called a tow I didn't even risk driving it to the next exit maybe 1.5 miles away).

However this is false and the tow truck driver who picked it up in the flatbed tow truck (he didn't arrive for nearly 2 hours) will attest to it leaking a large amount of coolant on his flatbed truck (he said it definitely still had the majority of the coolant in the car when he arrived 1.5+ hours later and it also ran fine for him - as it did for me - driving it onto the flatbed tow truck - meaning he too was unaware of the more serious cracked block until the upgrade/repair exposed and exaggerated the issue.

Therefore it was certainly not out of coolant and also meaning the temp gauge was correct and it was not overheating (the warning just began it's first chime and temp gauge just began rising but still well within the white middle/safe temp zone) and the damage was likely pre-existing (I didn't cause this damage in just a few days of owning the vehicle!

Again I had only been driving for about 10 minutes from a dead cold start when this supposedly occurred) and only realized as a major "engine-killing" issue when the mechanic I towed it to had the heavier duty lines installed to stop the minor coolant leak which now forces the coolant to the cracked block, rather than out of the leaking coolant lines; flooding the cylinders and making the engine not-go "Vroom, Vroom"!

Anyways, long-story short, I called you guys at Vroom on day 6 (within the no-questions 7-day buyback window) and explained the issue; at this time I - with the advise of the mechanic - believed it to still be a minor issue, just a new coolant line, agreed with the Vroom representative that I called and spoke to that I would keep the car if the warranty company could get it fixed up quickly and cheaply as I do VERY much love this car and didn't want to wait another roughly 2 weeks on a replacement via the buyback;

I did however also make it clear that I was calling to make this complaint - inside the 7-day window - and when it turned out to be more severe ($21,000 on a car I just paid $36,000 for less than a week ago!) and the warranty company dodged repairs/paying ANY repair costs on a new engine due to their claim it was new damage caused by me driving the vehicle excessively hot for prolonged period of time with no coolant - which the tow truck driver can attest is untrue.

I then called customer service back at Vroom to initiate the buyback that I had originally called on inside that advertised 7-day buy back window (on the 6th day) and was told that since I did in fact call on the 6th day about the issue and the buyback program but agreed with the Vroom rep to instead first allow the warranty company to get repairs done as my plan was just to do the buyback and get another of the same vehicle this seemed the best route for all parties.

Both the customer service rep and manager there agreed that I had in fact initiated the buy-back on the 6th day and would honor the buy-back. I was put in touch with a claims person and ultimate within the next day or two told everything was ready to go and in 48 hours there would be a pickup scheduled and I would receive payments from the buyback;

we even went so far as to look at other cars I could buy from you guys with the buyback funds as I thought the experience so far, aside from faulty vehicle which is an honest mistake if a little careless to not look into, was great and planned on purchasing all future vehicles through Vroom.

Then on the morning of the buy back I awoke to an e-mail saying that after speaking to the warranty company the buyback would NOT be honored due to me recklessly destroying the engine (which is, again NOT TRUE!). I spent 2 days on the phone with people unwilling to budge or even pay me any mind/listen to my story; I then gave up and now have a Jaguar 2-months later I am still unable to repair into the fine sports car it was (it's a REALLY terrific car!).

Nobody at Vroom would acknowledge my argument that:

#1) I was sold a car with a cracked block, it wasn't and still isn't visible to the naked eye.

#2) it DOESN'T MATTER even if they are correct that I drove the vehicle hot and without fluid (which is incorrect) I still initiated the buy-back within the 7-day window (on the 6th day) which is advertised as a "for-any-reason" customer satisfaction buy-back guarantee.

So why was it now not being honored under some unrelated reason? That reason can be used to (wrongfully, I might add) get out of the warranty company paying for a new engine but it cannot be used for Vroom itself to get out of the 7-day buyback guarantee that is advertised as THE FEATURE that takes the risk out of buying a car online - site unseen - and that was originally going to be honored until someone decided they didn't want to buy back a car with an expensive fix (guess what, I don't want to buy a car with a $22,000 fix when I had it less than a week after paying $36,500 either! I'm sure it's more affordable for Vroom than me).

Needless to say I'm very sour about the whole thing and my next car will likely be purchased at Carvana unless the situation is rectified. There is NO REASON that Vroom should be able to void their 7-day buy back, I think it's very wrong you guys can simply stop fighting me as you have been for 2 months and just buy back the broken car you sold me as your advertised policy states that you will do!

Thank you so much for your time and reading all of that, just wanted to make sure all details were present I appreciate very much any attention you can give this matter I've been very busy with work but that doesn't mean I'm going to accept this non-resolution; I am entitled to my money back under the buyback guarantee which is the #1 reason I had felt comfortable buying a sports car online, site-unseen, in the first place.

Zachary P Linzmeier