ComplaintsforSpecialty Auto Sales & Service

• Initial Complaint

  05/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased truck 02/17/2024. Was advised against getting the warranty (that fact is disputed) and noticed the day I got home there was a black substance flaking off the bottom of the truck. It was sprayed with something, assuming to hide rust. Check engine light came on within two months of owning, large leak in garage at that time. Truck is now in the shop with a $6800 bill. I'm hearing from multiple shops that this dealership is known for selling vehicles that are unsafe so that is my reason for reporting. The owner drove this vehicle for a little while before putting on the lot, and the dealership has their own shop. With that, I was told there is no way they sold this truck not knowing about at least some of these issues. Attached document contains all the problems found by the shop I have it at. I tried calling the dealership owner, and he laughed and said, "This is why we tell everyone to get the warranty." He would not give me the name of the attorney they work with. If I could be compensated for some of these repairs, that would be wonderful. But otherwise, I would be satisfied with BBB keeping an eye on this business or otherwise taking action as no business should be getting away with operating the way that they do. Thank you for your time.

  Business response

  05/23/2024

  Thank you for the letter, and the opportunity to respond. ******* purchased a 2011 Chevrolet Avalanche with over ******* miles on it in February. At the time of purchase, as we do with every person who purchases from us, we both offer as well as recommend our customers purchase a vehicle ********************** contract, or VSC. She elected to not purchase one, and she signed two forms regarding this. The first form was acknowledging that she was not purchasing a VSC, and the second acknowledging that the vehicle was being sold 'As-Is,' because she was not electing to purchase a VSC on her thirteen-year-old truck with over 150k miles on it. 

  Now, I drove this vehicle personally for months, and it operated in fine condition. ******* then took the vehicle into a service shop months after she purchased it to look at some issues, and the shop told her that it needed thousands of dollars worth of work. She called me, accusing us of bad business practices, and labeling us as a bad operator. Despite all this, I still offered for us to take a look at the vehicle to see what we could do with it. I told her we'd like to see what is allegedly wrong with the truck so we can figure out how we can help because we stand behind our vehicles. She declined our help. I explained that we needed to see the vehicle to determine what is actually needed because we aren't a shop that would be running up a bill and trying to sell her repairs, so we needed to get the truck at our shop. Again, she declined. She then called back thinking she was talking with the repair shop. She called me a jerk and said I was being unreasonable. When I mentioned that she was actually talking with the dealership, she apologized and said that she just didn't know what to do. I once again offered to get the vehicle here, even saying that we would be able to go get it, to which she once again declined.

  We offered to help her. We offered to take a look at it, and see what was wrong. But she declined each time. I told her we weren't going to just write a check for thousands of dollars without doing our own research. No business would do that. To think that we would offer the name of our legal counsel so she can ask what her legal options are against us is both laughable and absurd. However to be clear, at no point did I laugh at her. I offered our assistance multiple times, and she herself declined them each and every time. 

  To think this complaint is valid when one side is not willing to allow the other an opportunity to do their own due diligence is not acting in good faith. I stand by our offer to bring the truck here for us to take a look at. I even offered to tow it here at our expense. If ******* chooses to allow us the ability to take a look at her Avalanche, I would welcome the opportunity so we can make sure her experience here was one that she can be proud of. 

  Customer response

  05/24/2024

  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:
  
  First of all, my reason for asking for the name of the attorney the dealership is represented by was so this entire process could be avoided. My intentions were for my attorney to speak with the dealers attorney; not to acquire free legal advice. To make those assumptions and call any of this laughableis extremely unprofessional and offensive, as were both of my conversations with the dealership owner further explaining why I requested his attorneys contact information. Most businesses would prefer hostile parties to communicate through their attorneys; that should be common sense for any business owner.Especially one who didnt want to damage their reputation with their own unprofessional statements and behavior. It is also common sense to ask for the attorneys name to assure there is no conflict with the attorney I consult.

  
  I have uploaded additional photos of the defective parts on this vehicle. I think they speak for themselves.

  
  All different industries accept expert opinion from a qualified individual as evidence. This vehicle either left that lot with knowledge of the issues, or the technicians at the dealership missed them. It does not make sense to use those same techs to reassess the vehicle. Those individuals have personal interest in that they already approved inspection on a vehicle with faulty parts, and allowing the truck to be sold with those issues makes their opinion further untrustworthy. This shop who found the problems, their photos, and their expert opinion should be more than sufficient for this dealership to assume responsibility. Continuing to deny responsibility and accusing me of doing anything wrong here only further demonstrates their Bad Faith practices and that they do not have any intention on making things right. If they want to accuse this shop of lying to me, thats their prerogative. They have no evidence to support that.

  
  I will also restate that it was never discussed for the dealer to cover any of these repairs. They did offer to take a look at it,but my reasoning in the prior paragraph states why that wouldnt make sense. The dealer said he did not believe what the shop told me, not that hed assume responsibility if issues could be confirmed by his own inspection. He said because I didn't sign the warranty that he was not responsible. It was not a situation where I repeatedly refused assistance over and over.

  
  Ive already paid $15k to the dealer and now over $6800 to a shop for repairs. As I stated, if this dealer is not willing to take any responsibility for a vehicle they sold, Im perfectly happy with BBB maintaining my complaint along with the others that have been filed in regards to this dealer. Hopefully that will help protect the public from experiencing the same injustice that I and other individuals have with this business. If the dealer would be willing to compensate for a portion of the repairs, I would be amenable to retract this complaint as they would then be standing by their vehicles and  doing right by their customers as they claim to do. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************************

• Initial Complaint

  11/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased ************************** extended warranty ($2,749.33 total cost of extended warranty) on 2/27/2023 from Specialty Auto. Check engine light came on while test driving and was told that that would be resolved by time of purchase. Was told we have a 30-day warranty with Specialty Auto. The vehicle has been driven as normal and never in any situation that could cause it damage. Had check engine light and oil drip issues within 30 days of purchase. Contacted Specialty Auto to have them resolve. Was told they were booked for 2 months and to use the extended warranty coverage. Took two different repair shops to resolve check engine light issue (3/30/23 & 4/12/23). 3/30/23 was billed back to Specialty by that company. Broadway Automotive tried to use the extended warranty but was told that the $595.33 repair on 4/12/23 was not covered. Ongoing oil drip issue was not resolved until 9/8/23 and was told again the warranty did not cover it or any of that $2,528.09 repair. Contacted Truwarranty to understand why these repairs were not being covered as we can see in their brochure that they are covered. Truwarranty said our plan is TruMax High Mileage Plan which did not make sense to us as we never discussed a high milage plan during the purchase, only the ****************. We contacted Specialty 9/25/23 and met 9/27/23 in person with ********************* at Specialty Auto to understand why we have a high milage plan not the **************** as originally discussed. **** took copies of our repairs and said he would contact Truwarranty. We have followed up with **** many times by phone, leaving messages for him and emailing him and he has no answers, explanations, or resolutions. **** does not return our calls or emails; we only talk to him if he answers the phone when we call. 11/16/23 was the last time we tried to call **** and left a message for him to call us back. We have not heard back.

  Business response

  11/27/2023

  Thank you for reaching out. Specialty Auto is now under new ownership as of August 11th. The first we heard of any issues with the Passat was in mid-September when the customer came in asking for us to honor the 30 day warranty from when the bought the vehicle in February, six months after the warranty expired. Those warranties were valid with the old owner. I also personally reached out to the warranty provider (who we no longer use for this type of reason) to try to get some clarification or help with their claim. The warranty company was absolutely no help whatsoever so I mentioned to ******* that I can help her try to cancel her warranty. She did not get back in touch with me and instead filed this complaint. I understand the frustration, as this is why we choose not to use that warranty provider and instead use a company who I have personally worked with for over ten years. I can still help through the cancellation process. Our management has over fifty years of combined industry experience and we pride ourselves on doing the right thing. We have done that in this case and will continue to do so to whatever our scope allows. 

  Customer response

  11/27/2023

  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.
  
  We were in contact with Specialty Auto prior to the 30 day warranty expiration in March 2023 and was told that they were booked for over 2 months and was told to use the extended warranty.  We contacted Specialty Auto only 5 months after the expiration because the extended warranty did not cover any of the repairs a second time.  That is when we discovered that we some how have a High Mileage Extended Warranty not the  TRUVSC Powertrain Plus plan that we were told that we were purchasing which **** originally did the paperwork for.  **** has not offered any explanation for how that happened and only offered a prorated refund.  We feel that we are entitled to a full refund since the warranty is not what we were told that we were purchasing.  This claim was filed on 11/18/2023, **** did not let us know any information from the warranty company until 11/20/2023 after we filed this claim.  The only information from the warranty company that **** has shared with us is that the warranty company is not willing to help. We are not sure what that means as we are unaware of the details of ****'s communication with the warranty company.  
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** And *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  02/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I bought a 2015 f350 lariat with about ***** miles on it. He sold me a warranty for about $8000, on top of the truck being $53000. I fixed $5000-$6000 in repairs on the tires, tie rod starter battery, a couple of other 5hibgs on the front end. I figured fine regular wear and tear that's fine. Then I the transmission went less than 9 months after owning the vehicle. So I took it in and asked about this warranty I had purchased. The warranty company said they would only cover the *** due to a modified exhaust. I didn't know anything about this. I'm not a mechanic. I happen to buy a warranty for a modified vehicle. Thought I would be covered considering they sold it to me like this. They are refusing all forms of help thus far.

  Business response

  02/15/2023

  Hi. After ****** miles and almost a full year, we cannot perdict a transmission failure. We can only control how this vehicle performs in our possession. We'd be having a different conversation if you just bought it a month ago, but thats not the case. Unfortunately, the only thing we can really do is help you source the parts for a cheaper wholesale cost and try to save you some $ vs paying full retail. Let me know if that is an option for you and we can help you find parts that you'll need to ********************.

  Customer response

  02/16/2023

  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.
  

  I have had the truck for about 9 months. Already poured over $5000 into an over $50000 truck. And you think it's reasonable to pour another $10000 into it after I paid for a warranty that doesn't even cover anything? Anf paying $15000 on top of $50000 for a new truck is pretty normal right? 
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  02/16/2023

  We can find you a lower mileage used transmission pretty reasonable-$2500 or so. Typical labor cost for a transmission swap is around $1200 for something like this. So you could be all in under $5,000

• Initial Complaint

  08/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Bought a 2015 **** explorer, it overheated on way home. Took it to local shop to have him look at it. Fuse was missing for the fan to cool engine. He also found the frame was bent, the ac didn't work and the mixer for the heat and air conditioning didn't work.. had that all fixed. Now the air cooler that was damaged when we bought it caused the motor to blow up. That repair will be 9000$. We had the vehicle for 6 months and put ****** miles on it. I wouldn't advise any to buy anything from this place. He has junk vehicles that are half a** put back together

  Business response

  08/23/2022

  Sorry about your issues you're experiencing. This vehicle was sold many many months ago and the vehicle was sold and marked properly with existing structural damage and prior accident history. That is why the price was 25% lower than the market average at the time. We are unable to do any further resolution in this matter with it well outside our warranty period. 

  Customer response

  08/23/2022

  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.
  
  [Please type your response here.]
  It was not noted or I was not made aware of any structural damage when buying the vehicle. 
  Regards,
  
  *******************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩