I’m from Ontario. I recently bought a used car from a HRM dealership. Why? Because finding a 2013 car is a tough thing to do these days. The car was listed as having specific features. Turns out, it was falsely advertised. Did the sales person care to mention this during negotiations or delivery of the vehicle? No. Has the dealership cared to respond to my repeated attempts to resolve the issue? No. Coincidentally, they pulled the ad from their website immediately after I brought the issue to their attention. Considering part of the stock number as listed on their site and part of my VIN number have a sequence of numbers that match exactly, there’s no mistake that the car I inquired about and subsequently purchased was the same car I took delivery of, but that they falsely advertised and then fraudulently sold as something other than what it actually is. Buyer beware. Seems car sales people really do live up to their bad reputations in that they’ll rip you off any way they can. —Dis-satisfied with Dealership
This article appears in Nov 14-20, 2013.
That applies in Ontario too
Oh, so you are from ‘Ontario’, so that should make a difference? Hmmmm, guess they realized they had a rube on the hook. It is always ‘buyer beware’ in just about any business transaction involving more money than the price of a coffee or a bag of chips, and even on those small items things can go sideways.
Question: Did you not look over the car before handing over the cheque?
What the flying fuck does your being from Ontario have to do with this other than to act as a distraction to the LTWWBers from the real candy of your Bitch? That being, you didn’t have your husband/wife tag along with make sure you didn’t get fucked, which you did. Obviously, you should not be trusted with large purchases on your own.
Didn’t anyone tell you Nova Scotian car dealership salespeople are trained to spot CFAs and rip-off you poor stupid puds? It’s us True Bluenosers who get the REAL deals…
I am from BARCELONA!
“Didn’t anyone tell you Nova Scotian car dealership salespeople are trained to spot CFAs and rip-off you poor stupid puds? “
Phhhht – silly bugger is right some lucky he didn’t wind up in our Wicker Man.
http://2013.sensoria.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
“Seems car sales people really do live up to their bad reputations in that they’ll rip you off any way they can.”
Hee! Yeah, they’ll do that! I’ve also heard rumours that some politicians lie, but I dunno ..
Maybe you shouldn’t have mentioned you were from Ontario. That was your first mistake.
Take it to the BBB. You’ll only get flack at the LTWWB.
So you came all the way to HRM to buy a used car? There are none in the all of Ontario? I’m lost at the “I’m from Ontario” start, maybe you should have some seaweed pie and go back to ONT.
Who doesn’t even test drive a car they plan on spending 4 figures for???
honestly…
As much as most on here love to defend against anything negative about anything to do with NS, it’s not all roses in here.
For reasons like the OP mentioned and even more, I just stopped going to car dealerships.
There are 2 major players in HRM and there’s no law that prevents them from 1. False advertisement, and 2. Selling you a faulty car. Fortunately I’ve never bought anything I wasn’t satisfied with since I go through a car with a fine toothed comb, but I took out a few cars for test drives. Well let’s just say they were unsafe to be on the road. I was even surprised they let me get on the road with one. The salesperson didn’t even have the guts to show his face when I returned once I discovered what was wrong with the car.
That’s for used cars. Let’s not mention how overpriced the cars here compared to other provinces!
For new cars, well I’ve had that happen to a friend of mine before. Same as what the OP mentioned, which most of you have failed to realize. When you buy a new car, you don’t receive the one you test drove. They usually deliver the car a few days after you agree to buy one. I have no idea why but you’d think it would be at the dealership! So he test drove one, liked it, came with all the options expected, agreed to purchase that model, but was delivered a different model with less options and somehow magically the paperwork changed and some was even lost to show proof that he bought the other model.
Luckily my friend had proof (when you’re sitting with the dealer agreeing on a price and they write it down on paper in front of you) Price and model of car were listed on that in the salesperson’s hand writing. Took a couple of weeks but after some fighting with them, he managed to return the car and get his money back in full.
It’s not all roses and paradise here. These things happen. There’s the good, the bad, and the ugly everywhere you go and NS is no exception.
I test drove another car. Was ok but wasn’t 100% sure about it and I knew where it was always maintained. So I went to the dealer and asked for maintenance and collision records. Not asking for any personal information. Just car records to see if mechanical was done in time and if there is anything major. Now I knew from test driving the car there were a couple of things that needed to be fixed. So I didn’t mention any of that. The dealership where the car was maintained refused to give me that information and said it was private information and they can’t give that out. I couldn’t understand the reason considering some of those records are available through Car Fax or sites like those. So I figured there’s more that they are hiding and decided not to buy the car. They can keep it. When I test drove it, I felt something was odd about the transmission (6 speed manual). The dealer refusing to release any mechanical information, which isn’t private at all, the dealer has to tell you that, lead me to believe that there’s something wrong with the transmission and they didn’t fix it when they took it on trade. This happened over the last couple of years and ever since I no longer buy from dealerships. Most cars I bought were private sales anyway. Most of the time they’re honest people. You can always tell if a person isn’t being honest. Usually they don’t respond to the add when you ask particular questions.
Much like politicians, ask a direct question, get every answer and run around except the direct answer to your question.
You bought a car on faith alone?
Dude….
Randomness, if the seller refuses to hand over any information about the car, this is when you DON’T buy it. Would you hire someone who refused to provide a resume or references? Would you buy a house that had no deed? I mean… People EVERYWHERE are going to lie to someone if they think they can get away with it.
So? You don’t let them get away with it. Let some other dupe deal with the fallout. Or report them. But you don’t BUY the damn thing!
Runwithscissors.
I didn’t buy the car. Of course I let it sit in the dealership as I mentioned 🙂
I ended up buying another through a private sale and couldn’t be happier 🙂
I got all records from the seller and got the car inspected professionally.
Never buy a car on good faith, especially at a dealership. Always always get it inspected before purchasing it. It costs but it’s money well spent. Saved you the headaches.