red996

This is a good lesson for people trying to buy cars over the phone or internet.
I don't even bother asking the sales guy any questions on condition. Because I have found that most will tell you all sorts of b.s. They just want a sale.
I usually will call a high end body shop in the area and sweet talk the manager into having a quick look at the car I am considering. If I have to, I pay them a small inspection fee. Then I have the saleman take the car to the body shop for a look. If the car checks out I then go for the mechanical inspection. I will always fly to where the car is and close the deal in person, just to be sure that everything is OK. I have had to learn this the hard way. But the good thing for me is that all the lessons I have learned were in my starter sports car days.You know, Corvettes. So I wasn't risking large amounts. But a porsche. Well I try to be pretty on top of things.

Mfletch

Thanks Eric....it's the same car. At least now, thanks to you, I know how I missed the damage.
Red996, Your advice for future purchases is very sound. My wife's Range Rover I bought over the telephone about 4 years ago. It was almost too good to be true. It was at a used car dealership in LA called "The Car Factory". The car had just over 20,000 miles. The price was $23,500. It sold new for about $75,000. The original owner took it to a tuner called "Special Vehicle Concepts" and had $40,000 in modifications done (including a supercharger). The owner of the dealership, Nathan, told me it was in great shape except for a couple of small scratches. I paid him with a credit card over the phone. When I got there to pick it up, I was shocked...it looked like a new car. He had a detailer dye the interior and paint the scratches. I still can't find the scratches. I would buy a car from him again in a heartbeat.
I have also had incredibly positive experiences with my local Porsche dealer, "Niello Porsche". I would trust whatever they told me without a second thought. There are some trustworthy dealerships out there.....they are a very precious commodity.

TRWright

I had a similar experience a little while back with a range rover, bought on ebay, sight unseen. They played it up on the phone-- I asked MANY questions. I flew in, they picked me up at the airport. The car had been smoked in, was missing the front lower valance grill (was on in the pictures), no navi cds, some wear on the seats and door panels that was "just barely" left out in the pictures. I made them put the $500 deposit back on my credit card and give me a ride back to the airport.

An honest car dealer seems to be a rare find these days. I guess when you are honest it is a bit tougher to make money.

dave1200

post it here:

www.autodealercomplaints.com

Chuck Jones

Mark: If you look at the nicks, you can see that from a ballistics point of view, they come from the front, and deflect over the top and hit the trunk at an angle.....this sort of damage was probably done with the previous owners....who I'm sure would have LOST some trade in value because of the damage. It's also the type of damage that the PO would have seen or experienced first hand. If you can find the previous owners, I'm sure that any statement they might have would go a long way towards helping you prove that the dealership sold the car to you and represented it as "showroom" condition when they knew it was not. The PO's undoubtedly had some up front discussions with the dealership when they turned in the car. You just KNOW that the condition oft he paint was used to drive down the trade in value, then the dealer turned around and increased the profit margin by covering up the defects. Likely the PO's from the Santa Rosa or bay area and can be contacted. Was there any paperwork in the car that identifies the PO?

Mfletch

Thanks for the advice Chuck...I had the dealer print the Car-Fax report. I think it included the previous owner's info.

lowside67

Although I'm really sorry to see you're not happy with your new car, I find it hard to see how you can reasonably feel you got screwed. You picked up the car in person! The point is if it was color waxed and looked great, then do it again. I think you're in for a long, uphill battle, to return that car.

Mfletch

I have no desire to return the car and I have given up on getting the dealer to repair it. I just want to prevent someone else from having the same experience. I don't think anybody would be real happy if they bought a used car that was advertised as being in "showroom" condition and the first time they washed & waxed it, the paint came off.
The car was dirty when I purchased it. When I discovered the damage, I thought that I missed the damage because the car wasn't clean. I still didn't understand how I could have missed so much damage. I spent probably 10-15 minutes examining the exterior of the car for damage. It appeared almost perfect. Eric offered the only possible explanation as to how I did not detect the damage.
The car was not dirty to conceal the damage. It was dirty because if they had washed it, they would have had to pay the detailer to color wax it again. I wash all of my cars one or two times a week (yes I'm ****). I really can't see myself waxing the car every week, just so it looks presentable.

The following is from the dealer's homepage....apparently this doesn't apply if you are buying a five year old used car.

Mercedes-Benz of Pleasanton has but one goal: your total and complete satisfaction. We strive to consistently surpass the expectations of not only our customers, but of ourselves.


"Give us a reasonable chance to satisfy your expectations, and we will!"


Sincerely,

Uwe Waizenegger
President/Owner

fast1

The car was not dirty to conceal the damage. It was dirty because if they had washed it, they would have had to pay the detailer to color wax it again. I wash all of my cars one or two times a week (yes I'm ****). I really can't see myself waxing the car every week, just so it looks presentable.

I've color waxed cars on many occassions, and it's a good way to minimize imperfections, but it certainly doesn't make them disappear. A close inspection should have revelaed the damage that you observed after the wash, unless the combination of dirt and very favorable Dealer lighting were able to hide them.

Your comment about the car being in "showroon condition" can be misleading, since I've seen many high end cars on Dealers' showrooms with swirl marks all over the cars. I cringe every time I'm at a Dealership, and I see some lot boy use a dirty cloth to wipe off the dust of some $100K+ Porsche 997.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear about your experiences, but personally I dismiss almost anything a salesman tells me about a car he's trying to sell.

Mfletch

fast1, whatever they did made the car good enought to display on their showroom as evidenced by the pictures. If you saw the car in person, you would be shocked at how bad it looks. There is no "favorable" lighting that could have covered it up. It was outside in daylight when I saw it. I actually have a little bit of experience with automotive restoration. I brought my 99 996 back from the dead (see pictures). They should not have been able to pull the wool over my eyes. I do appreciate your kind words.
I dealt directly with the used car manager (who no longer works there). He is a fellow german sports car enthusiast...his personal car was a 996. I was very specific in my pre-purchase discussions with him. I already owned a 99 SL600 that had a salvage title. It was a flood victim. I brought it back to life, but it wasn't perfect...it had several door dings and scratches. My wife liked the 99 SL so much that I wanted to buy her one that was perfect. (She really deserved it for tolerating my car addiction) I did not want to dump $10,000 into another salvaged titled vehicle to make it perfect. I explained this to the used car manager during our negotiations.
As a side note, I found a paintless dent guy locally that was able to get all of the door dings out of the 99 SL. I spent several hours with a buffer and various compounds working on it's paint. It looks far better then the paint on the 01 that I bought to replace it. It turned out so nice that I couldn't bear to part with it....I gave it to my dad, He loves it! (see attached before picture....flood victims are way easier to bring back to life then burn victims) My dad and I have bought three salvage titled cars from Silver Star Recycling (99 996, 99 SL600, and 2000 Jaguar XJR). I have nothing but good things to say about them....at least when I buy a car from them, I know what I'm getting.

2fas4u

it may take some doing but it can be done for less than 5k. don't you have friends who have friends.

lic265

Thanks for posting your problem here. I never realized that a color wax could hide such sins. I will be looking alot more closely at any used car i buy in the future

Mfletch

lic265, you are welcome. If I have prevented one person from going through the same experience, then posting this was worth the time. I think that the only way to detect the damage would have been to run my hand over the painted surfaces of the car. I probably would have been able to feel the imperfections. This was a huge high end dealership. They probably have close to 100 used cars. They only have space for five or six cars on their used car showroom. They featured this car in their showroom...I don't think they would have done so if the damage was visible (unless the picture of the car in the showroom was staged for the ad only).

rountreed

My guess is they pulled the car in, took a picture, pulled the car back out. Sorry about the car but screw the car I just hope you are recovering and wish you all the health in your future!

JC3D

I guess they are just as bas as autohaus west in irvine.

sorry had to put it.