I purchased a 2004 Nissan Sentra from JD Byrider on 03/19/2011. I brought the car back to the dealership 26 days after the purchase complaining about it not starting properly and giving me problems. The store manager sent me to their auto body shop Send a Friend Auto Care on 04/04/12 who told me after 4 hours that they were unable to find anything wrong with the car, but they did make a note that I took it in within 30 days of purchase. I trusted that the car was okay like they said and left. I have continued to drive the car and make my biweekly payments on time.
On March 17, 2012, I took my car to O'Brien Toyota of Urbana for my oil change and and had the car checked over because it was having issues starting. O'Brien reported back to me that the check engine light bulb had been removed and the catalytic converter was bad. I immediately contacted Larry at JD Byrider and let him know what I was told. He was very apologetic and assured me that the issues would be addressed immediately by his store owner the next business day. I waited to hear a response back from the owner, Jay, on 3/19/12 but he never called me back. I then went in to speak to him in person. The owner, Jay, test drove my car for about 15 minutes assuring me the whole time that there was nothing wrong with this car and that if I agreed to have the car checked out by a guy he trusted, he would trade me into something I felt more safe in. He also stated numerous times he was going to fix the car up and put it right back on the lot because people love these cars that get low gas mileage. Jay told me I had to take the car into The Muffler Shop on 03/27/12 located at 1605 W Springfield ave. Champaign, IL, phone: 217-398-4070.
After keeping the car for 7.5 hours, the shop called me to tell me to pick the car up. I asked if he was able to figure anything out with the car and the technician told me he wasn't giving me any information about my car. Jay told him that he was not to tell me anything. I waited eight days after taking my car to The Muffler Shop for a response from Jay to one of my numerous phone calls. He did not respond to me so I went to see him in person on 04/04/12. I told Jay, the owner of the dealership, I was unhappy with the way I had been treated and that he illegally sold me a car that did not pass Illinois State Emission requirements and I wanted my money back. Jay told me the best he could do was pay for a new gauge cluster and half of the work for a new catalytic converter. I was willing to accept that solution considering the Nissan was not even salable to begin with.
I went back to The Muffler Shop on 04/05/12 with my Illinois vehicle registration card and driver's license telling them that I wanted the paperwork on my car from when he serviced it 03/27/12. He refused and said the only way he would give it to me was if I repaid him for all the time he spent on the car. I refused because he had already been paid by JD Byrider. The same day, 04/05/12, I went to to JD Byrider's auto shop, Send a Friend, to get see if they had any paperwork on the Nissan from when I brought it in in 2011. They gave me documentation that was not previously given to me stating that on 04/04/11, they had documented a PO420 code for catalyst efficiency low, DTC list for transmission say TPS and the service engine light soon does not work. These issues were never told to me or resolved. He also printed me out a work order for everything that was wrong with the car, and the receipt where nothing was done about it.
I unknowingly purchased a tampered with car, and the owner of the dealership illegally sold me the car. After letting the owner know on 04/05/12 that I no longer wanted to do business with him and either wanted my money back or the rest of the contract price forgiven, he said he was no longer going to argue with me about it, and then told my father and I to leave his store and that he would see me in court. I have since filed a consumer complaint with the Attorney General. Their response to the Attorney General was that they didn't know anything was wrong with the car, and it was my fault.



