ComplaintsforExclusive Auto Group, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  02/04/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I bought a truck from this business on October 16th, 2023.At that time,no disclosure was made about truck being involved in a major crash and totaled.On Jan 30,2024, steering wheel got stuck in neutral.I called ********* **** *****,and owner told me to bring to his shop which was a 30 minute-drive.Since it was not safe to drive truck to his shop, I pulled to ***** repair facility which was close by.There, they showed me ****** records showing truck was totaled on June 9,2023 after a major accident.At this point,I called ********* **** *****,but owner refused truck was totaled and was a salvage vehicle.According to Ohio laws,at time of a purchase of a vehicle,dealer must disclose any defect and/or extent of any previous damage and that such vehicle was previously titled as a salvage vehicle.Failure to disclose a “salvage title” is an Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (“CSPA”) violation.Overall, ********* **** ***** did not comply with Ohio laws about disclosure of a salvage vehicle.Purchase price was $10,600.At time of purchase,I did not pay whole amount and was making monthly payments.I never saw title or was given a copy of sale documents.Having found out truck was a salvage vehicle,I went to ********* **** ***** on February 2,2024 to get copies of sale documents,but I was told that documents were with Title company.I was told to sign a letter of request to Title company to get copies.They prepared a letter and I signed it.When I inspected letter later,I realized that it was stating I was requesting a copy of paperwork that was given to me previously for this truck,which is not true, as no disclosure about extensive crash history and fact that vehicle was a salvage vehicle was made to me.Title was given to me the same day (February 2,2024) for first time.I have been deceived by ********* **** ***** which did not disclose that this was a salvage vehicle at time of sale and thus violated Ohio laws.I demand the money I paid for the truck to be returned back to me.

  

  Business response

  02/07/2024

  To have a better understanding of this entire transaction, I think it would be better to talk about all parties involved during the buying process of this vehicle as well as the timeline of events, product and the whole story. This will be more beneficial to understand/acknowledge/remember what had happened exactly.
  

  First of all there are 2 people involved buying this vehicle. First person is ***** ****** (will be defined as **** ******, she and her), who paid for this vehicle. Second person is ***** ***** (will be defined as *** ****** he, him) who is an employee of **** ****** and the title holder for this vehicle. **** ****** called me personally in October stating that she needed a pickup truck that would be used for snow plowing and landscaping for her rental properties. **** ****** came into our shop with *** ***** on 10/11/2023 to see the pickup trucks that are available within her budget. We showed them 3 pickup trucks at our shop, all were parked side by side. All prices and details were given. We mentioned that trucks are rebuilt salvage title trucks, hence the prices were more reasonable compared to other vehicles. **** ****** and *** ***** decided to purchase a **** ********* ********* **** ** ******** *** * ***** ***** pickup truck with 8 Foot Long Bed. I personally informed them that this truck was involved in a collision prior; hence it has a rebuilt salvage title. **** ****** said she wants to purchase the vehicle with installment payments and she said she wants to the title into her Employee’s name, To ***** *****’s name. ***** ***** signed all the documents in our office such as bill of sale, odometer statement, rebuilt salvage disclosure form, buyer’s guide, delivery confirmation, test drive form as well as registration and other title transfer related documents. We did not charge any finance charge, any APR. **** ****** and *** ***** purchased a rebuilt salvage **** ********* ********* ** in as-is, where-is with no express or implied any warranties. **** ****** paid down payment for the vehicle and she continued to make 2 more payments for the following months.
  

  We got a phone call from ***** ***** and ***** ****** 2 weeks ago. They called me and saying that they have no usage for the truck and they said they wanted to sell it. We were told that it hasn’t snowed as much as they thought it would be and they said they didn’t drive the truck. Later on, we got a phone call from both the title owner, ***** *****, and the paying person, ***** ******, for the truck. They told us that the truck they purchased has a hard steering wheel. I told them to bring the truck in to our shop for service and I told them that I can’t fix the truck over the phone.
  

  Next day (on January 30th 2024) we got a phone call from ***** ******. She told me she took the car to a ***** Dealership to trade it in. They told her at the ***** dealership would give her $1500 for her truck. She called me over the phone yelling, calling names, accusing and claiming that she was overcharged for the vehicle. I tried explaining her over the phone that it’s because someone else offered them a lower trade in value; it doesn’t mean it is the actual value of her car. It is so obvious that when a vehicle being traded in obviously value wouldn’t be same as the purchase price, with that being said, $1500 wouldn’t even buy 4 tires of that car nor the 2 doors of it. It is very clear that the given trade in value is not the actual value of the truck but she was accusing us with overcharging her for the vehicle. I tried explaining her over the phone that it is not the value of the truck and she wasn’t over charged and she was informed about rebuilt salvage title. She did not let me talk over the phone and she continued to yell and accused us over the phone. **** ****** continued to threaten us via text messages and phone calls and asked for a return of the vehicle after almost 4 months of ownership. **** ****** also came into our shop on 1st of February into our office yelling, accusing us while we had 3 other customers on site. She said she is not talking to us and not communicating with us. She came to ask for the copies of the paperwork that was given to the titleholder, Halil Ozmen. She refused to communicate with me and she said she is not talking to me, she requested for the copies of paperwork. We asked her to leave our shop because she was yelling and not watching her mouth. She caused a big problem while we had other customers on site and she left our shop and said she would be calling police on us. We did not give her the copies of paperwork because she is not the title holder. Sorry we cannot share someone else’s personal information without consent of the other party. Next day, on February 2nd 2024, ***** ***** came into our office and he requested for the paperwork that was given to him the day he bought the car. We asked him to put it in writing and we told him that we will call him once ready.
  

  Now, let’s talk about the values, even though it wasn’t the case: Vehicle in question is a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT Extended Cab 4 Wheel Drive 8 Ft Long Bed. J.D. Power pricing and value shows Average price paid is $12,367 with a clean trade-in value $9475. Kelly Blue Book fair market range retail $13,405 and a average trade in value $8324. ****** VIN number specific valuation (with the accident/rebuilt salvage factored in) shows $10,600. When we also search nationwide **** ********* **** ** * ***** ***** **** * ***** with a long bed, we found only one other vehicle with 1*** ***** ** ************ ************* for the price of $14,495. So considering all these it is very easy to conclude the following statement for the price:
  

  1. Customer was not overcharged. Actually customer paid much less than average retail price
  2. This truck is not worth $1500 in trade value.
  

  We believe that **** ****** is trying to sell us her car back for the price she paid. She is stating that she wasn’t aware of title status of the vehicle but that is not the case. Also we offered her to take care of her vehicle’s mechanical issue, she refused our help and wanted to trade in her vehicle at a ***** store. Instead of communicating with us in a good manner, she chose to believe the trade value of her car is $1500 and she thinks that she was over charged. This is not the case. She paid for this truck much less than the average market price. That dealership could be saying another amount too or they could refuse to take the car as a trade, this doesn’t mean that it is the value of the car or it doesn’t mean she didn’t know about the title status.  We think that had she contacted us in a different manner, we could help her on goodwill to fix her car or a possible trade, but unfortunately after all false accusations and blames there is nothing we can do at this moment.
  

  As a result:
  

  The fact that this vehicle was sold as a rebuilt salvage was disclosed to ***** *****, the owner of the vehicle. The fact the vehicle was rebuilt salvage was disclosed verbally to both *** ****** and ***** ***** when they were looking at vehicles. It was again disclosed on the front of the bill of sale under “vehicle information.” Attached is a copy. Our dealership also provided a separate “Rebuilt Salvage Vehicle” disclosure statement to *** ***** which was signed at the time of sale. This fact was again disclosed on the retail installment contract signed by *** *****. In short, our dealership disclosed verbally and then again no less than three times during the purchase process. At no time during the sale or after signing paperwork did *** ***** raise any issue about the fact the vehicle was rebuilt salvage. Notwithstanding all of our disclosures, **** ****** did pay for the truck, but she is not the owner of the vehicle. Without being the owner of the vehicle, she lacks the appropriate authority to assert claims against me. Additionally, she explained that this vehicle would be used as a plow truck for use at rental properties which make the entire sale not a consumer transaction. As a result, **** ******’s claims for violations the Consumer Sales Practices Act are not well taken. At this time, we are not willing to do anything further for **** ******.

  Customer response

  02/12/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  The response of ********* **** ***** does not reflect the truth.  
  I am not an employee of any company.  I bought the truck myself and the sale document reflects that. So, the attempt of ********* **** ***** to make it sound as this was a sale to a business, so that they can remove themselves of the responsibility of not informing me about the fact that this was a salvage vehicle, is not justified.  I am also the one making the claim, but the whole response sent to my claim was directed at someone else whose name is not on the sale/title.   The bottom line is that, ********* **** ***** never explained to me that this was a salvage truck.  The claim that he verbally told me that this was a salvage truck is not true and I have a witness.  The whole response letter is aiming to cause distraction, but the claims about me getting informed about the fact that this was a salvage truck are not true.  The person claimed to be my employer is actually a friend who I asked to lend me money and come with me to the purchase to support me.  The ********* **** ***** claims that the sale document shows there is an “x” next to “Rebuilt” under “Vehicle information” and hence I was informed about the “salvage/rebuilt” condition at the time of sale.  First of all, they had me sign 10-15 documents that day and unless pointed out to you, it is not possible to spot every detail in the documents.  My English is not good and as I pointed in the original complaint letter, I did not even realize that they had me sign that I had received the sale documents before (which was not true), until I asked my friends to translate the letter to me (Letter attached).  In summary, ********* **** ***** is lying that they informed me verbally about the fact that this was a salvage/rebuilt vehicle at the time of purchase.  They violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act by committing a deceptive act in this car sale by also taking advantage of my inability to understand the English language of a sale contract.  Furthermore, in violation of the FTC Used Motor Vehicle Trade Regulation Rule, there was no used car window sticker on the truck at the time of the sale.  All of the details about another person’s interaction with them, that the value of the truck was higher than quoted by Honda, etc, does not address my complaint that they violated the OCSA and that they need to cover my losses.  
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** *****
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business response

  02/24/2024

  We have all the information/documents/proof for who owns the car, who paid and for what purpose this vehicle was bought; we are not going to get into details of that at least for now. We disclose all rebuilt title statuses verbally and written always. We also disclose ****** reports on our website for each unit.  I personally don’t think there’s another dealership in the area that works on rebuilt title cars and still disclosing ****** reports on the website. All deals are 100% transparent and we pass great savings to our customers.
  It was the value now playing the language card. You traded that car with your “limited” English.  Just FYI, the truck you traded is being for sale by 10x more than what you traded in for. You literally gave it away for nothing for the chump change, now you are trying to make us pay the difference. That doesn’t make sense! 
  While they currently claim they did not understand the English disclosures they have provided you a letter written by them in English. They cannot make the argument they cannot speak English and then demand I sign something they wrote in English. I am not willing to do anything more at this time. I made all of the necessary disclosures and they knew the vehicle had a rebuilt salvage title.  
  I am not willing to do anything more at this time. I made all of the necessary disclosures and they knew the vehicle had a rebuilt salvage title.

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