
Lying about rebuilt auto
Posted Mar 2, 2011 by anonymous | 225 views | 0 comments
This is in regards to Randy Fath of Blomkest, Minnesota. He is the owner of Randys Auto Sales. We saw a car that my wife liked the looks of in May of 2006. The car was still there in Late June or early July. We had stopped and looked at it in May and Randy told us that all of his cars have low mileage and the brakes squeaked from sitting a long time. In early July we saw the car on the lot again and I decided to buy it as my wife liked it so much. We drove it about 2 miles and liked it so we drove about 80 or 90 miles home and then called him and told him we would take it upon getting a loan. I asked him about a big hole in the drivers side carpet and he guessed a high heel caused it. The soft canvas top had some areas loose and he pushed them in to our satisfaction. The car is a 1995 Cutlass Supreme 4 door with 49,668 miles on it. He said he put in a new air conditioning unit. We paid $3762.50 for it. We didn't expect a new car or a perfect car. We had the car a few days or a week and noticed the air conditioning didn't work. The heating and air conditioning fan also made real loud noises on speeds # 3 and 4. We knew the fan was hitting something. I had to get it fixed so I took it to a friend of mine who works on cars at his home. He told me later that day that the car had been smashed in the front at one time because the fender well had been pounded out. He said that only 2 of the 3 screws that hold the fan into its hold were in place and there was not enough room to get the 3rd screw in because the floor had been damaged from an accident. He also pointed out the color difference on the right side of the car in front. This made me sick because I had never been told that this was a rebuilt car. I am not afraid of a rebuilt car because I have owned 2 of them. In both cases I knew they were rebuilt. I went home and got on the computer and ran a CARFAX check on it and found that it was sold as salvage on 7/14 2003 in the State of Maryland. It states that on 06/18/2003 salvage title/certificate # 28012005 by the Maryland Motor Vehicle Dept. York Haven, PA. Randy never told my wife or I this in the 2 or 3 times we talked with him. The air conditioner still leaks the freon out. My mechanic and I had to hammer the floor forward and use a puller so we could put in all three screws in the fan motor. I then had to use a mirror and grind out the damaged area with my dreml tool so the third fan blade would not hit the casing. I might have even been the 4th fan blade as my mechanic got them from the salvage yard and broke the 2nd one getting it in and I noticed the 3 one was broke as he had tried to get that one in also. My wife was vacuuming out the car in the last week of September and the carpet in the back window started crumbling and falling apart. She had to quit vacuuming there. She noticed that the 4 way flasher button was just hanging in the steering column and it was broken off. A few days later I came home from uptown and walked to the side of the car and noticed that anti-freeze was running out from under the car near the drivers side door. I looked under the car and it was running out quite fast from under the radiator on the drivers side of the car. I took it back to my mechanic and he said that the fan had hit the radiator at one time, probably from an accident and that damaged it so it started leaking. He put in a used radiator. I am the retired Chief of Police in St.James, Minnesota with 31 years as an officer there and 22 years of it as Chief. I have spent several hundred dollars on this car since buying it plus a lot of time. Consumer's Desired Resolution: I have not gotten the leak in the air conditioning repaired yet. I have the cost of a used radiator plus installation by my friend. The 4 way flashers are difficult to repair as the column has to be taken apart to repair. My time and the mechanics time for replacement and costs of the fans that we had to put in plus hammer and pull the floor forward. The cost of the CARFAX should also be included. Radiator replacement cost me $160.00 and that was cheap as it was done by my friend. All of the work was done by my mechanic friend and I and I expect we may have to have an air condtioner expert repair the leak in the air conditoner. I expect that the total costs will easily exceed $500.00. We have had a body man and 2 mechanics look at this car to give their opinions. I feel that I should be reimbursed a total of $500.00 and if it is more than that, I will foot the costs. When we first called Randy to tell him about the air conditioning and the broken fan blade and lack of having the 3rd screw in the fan motor, I told him that he should have told us that this was a rebuilt or salvaged car. He said 'I told you' I told him that he did not and I and my wife would have remembered if he had. 'I told you more than once!' he said. I told him that he did not tell us. He said 'I'm not going to argue with you over the phone'. That was the last contact we had with him.
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