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Brown Buick

Richmond VA

Mary Ann of Glen Allen, VA, writes about her 1998 Buick Regal GS:
I purchased the car from the showroom floor with 7,300 miles on it and was told it was traded in by a repeat customer who happened to be a car salesman from a nearby dealership who had traded the car because he wanted a solid color Buick instead of the two-toned color on this car.

It was sold to me in perfect condition as an "almost new car" still under factory warranty with obviously low mileage, from a longtime customer. I traded a 95 Nissan 300ZX with low mileage and used the $6,000 difference as a downpayment to lower the amount financed on the Buick.

In the past two months, I began looking at other cars, deciding that I did not like several things about this car and wanted something smaller and sportier. I had already had to have the power window motor on the passanger side replaced, the windows unstuck where the weather stripping at the top seemed almost melted to them, and complained about a rattling noise in the driver's side door while playing the radio.

When I went to a local dealership near my office and test drove a new car and they kept my Buick to appraise it and work up some numbers, I returned after work and they treated me quite differently than when I had talked with them that afternoon saying the automobile had been in an accident and portions of it repainted and acted as if I was trying to hide this fact from them.

They offered me only $14,500 on any kind of a trade. I was insulted and calleed Mr. V, my Buick salesman, from my car phone while still in the dealership parking lot. I told him what had happened and he said that was not true and that that dealership did not have a good reputation.

A month os so later I went to CarMax and looked at a Saab convertible. While test driving this car, they appraised the Buick and again reported the same findings and offered me $14,500 in trade. I had the appraiser show me what he was talking about with the repainting.

I then went the next day to Brown Buick and showed this appraisal report to Mr. Ventura and the appraiser at Brown. The appraiser then said yes, it appeared that the car had been painted in some places and I should call the original owner. When I asked why he had not spotted this when they took the car back in on trade, he did not answer my question and turned and walked away.

I am now paying off a loan on this car which at today's payoff is more than $16,500 and can only trade this car for $14,500 or perhaps less. I believe that Brown either did not appraise this car properly when they took it in on trade or did not tell me the truth about the condition of the car and sold it to me as perfect with very low mileage.

They have not offered to do anything and when I asked about trading it back in on a new Passat, Mr. Ventura said perhaps he could gove me $18,500 but has failed to contact me with a firm deal as he said he would. This has been at least 45 days. I do not want to sell this car privately in order to recover my money or at least cover the loan as that would be fraud and passing off the original defect to someone else. Can you help?

Probably not. The oral representations from the Brown salesman about this being a one-owner car in perfect shape, blah blah are close to meaningless legally. They are truly dust in the wind.

It is only your sales contract that means anything and we will bet anything it makes no representations about the car. Lesson: Do not believe anything a car salesman tells you. Ever.

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