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City Auto Auction of Chicago

Harvey, IL

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Charles of Kankakee, IL January 26, 2009

City Auto Auction did not allow me to perform a complete inspection of the vehicles prior to the auction. I was given only an hour before the auction started to visually inspect vehicles. The cars were locked during the inspection period, prohibiting me from checking inside the car or under the hood. The City Auto Auction concealed numerous defects on the vehicle they sold to me (2002 Crystler Concord Limted) ei. bad brakes, bad altanator, bad struts and shocks and busted front end.

City Auto Auction misrepresented the price of their cars in their print and broadcast advertisements, including a 30-minute infomercial broadcast on CLTV, by takin my bid for 4000 and then charged me 5000 plus before i could take the car, then they bring me a dead car that they could'nt charge and left me to fend for myself. While City Auto Auction allegedly implies in its advertisements and fliers that consumers will pay what they bid, the consumers actually have to pay a higher amount than the bid because City Auto Auction adds an auction fee, and buyer's premium. The buyer's premium is a sliding scale percentage, ranging from 10 percent to more than 24 percent.(wich i didnt know bout till i had to pay.)

I believed i had purchased a vehicle for a certain price but, upon remitting the balance in full, discovered from the defendants that i owed more money. However, i was already locked into my purchase because the defendants required a 25 percent non-refundable cash deposit immediately following each winning bid. In all my car was junk, can you help me, i never knew what to do because no one would help me then.

i had to pay over 10,000 to keep the car running so i could provied for my family and continue going to school, but then the Kankakee City Police stole my car out my driveway while i was comming from school and then arrested me. The case was thrown out of court cause they took the car for no reason but then crush my car. I have a lawsuite in fed court now for that but my attorney (i beleive is working for the city and not for me.) Please i really need some ons help.

Linda of Michigan City, IN October 27, 2008

i bidded on a car at the auto auctio fro a 98 cadillac catera, and when i got it home it wouldnt start back up, they were very rude, them when i lloked on the websit they were selling the same car with my vin number, which is illegal , since them i had to get a new engine and a raditor which i havent paid for fully yet but i brought the car in sept 2007 and it is now oct 2008

i paid a total of almost 2900, when i won the bid for 2100, then i had to pay all these fees,

Jerry of Oak Forest, IL September 16, 2008

This decieteful Business is now called SOUTH CHICAGO AUTO AUCTION! CAR DEALERS BEWARE!

The company responds:
This complaint brought by our competitive business, and it is no true. We are completely different kind of business. We do not auction to the public. We kindly ask you remove this complaint and if you can submit to us the information about Mr. Jerry in order to take legal action against him because he is trying to ruin our reputation.

South Chicago Auto Auction
Khaldoon Shakir, Manager

Beverly of Milwaukee, WI May 12, 2008

April 19th 2008 on saturday me and my sister went to the auction it was our first time going there,we where told we had an hour to view the vehicles before they start the auction.The parking lot was loaded with vehicles of more than 200 cars and suv's also commercial work trucks.Most of the vehicles miles were not displayed because they needed to be cranked.The vehicles were so dirty and stinky they seemed uncleanable to me,I really was ready to go after seeing the condition of them.I came because I saw a late night commercial stating the cars are good I got me 3 from them and they all ran perfect,I have the commercial on a VHS tape.

I believe the vehicle was Bait And Switch because I remember seeing Gold 4x4 and Gold Grand Cherokee on the Jeep with a black ribbed bottom I asked my sister and she agrees with me plus she donot remember the interior being dirty and stinky.Once the down payment of 600.00 was taken in we finds out that you cannot get the vehicle until after the auction or maybe monday pick-up.The Bid was at 12:40pm and the auction ended at 4:00pm.

The vehicle was pick-up around something after 5:00pm on April 19th 2008,there were no (Prestone) in the raditor my sister asked for some several times they finally brings some out that has been mainly mixed with water.I had explained to the yard workers we are from Milwaukee and had became very sick from waiting around so long we both have chronic medical conditions.I feel like I am having a emotional break down because of this ordeal.

Fabian of Chicago, IL May 7, 2008

I recently was laid-off from my job in the begging of the year, the company gave me 1600 dollars for severance pay, I figured to be alright for a while until I found another job, but then my car broke down a few days later, it was too expensive to fix so I decided to buy a used car, I say a commercial for city auto auction and liked the prices on the commercial, I went there and bidded 1600 on a 2002 cavalier,

I was pretty happy cause I thought I had gotten a good deal, after I won the bid, the rushed me in to an office and charged me 700 for the downpayment which was not soppose to be 700 in was soppose to be just 400 because they said that I have to give 25% downpayent, but I didn't say anything cause I had to give them the money anyway, I asked how much I owed them and they said just 900 hundred, I said ok where do I pick it up, they said I had to wait until the auctio was over,

I had to wait for about 5 hours until the auction was over, then after that I waited about 2 hours to go and pay for the car, when they called my name I went to the office, my dad went with me, but they didn't let him in the office or back to where the aution was he had to wait in the below zero wheather outside,

I went inside and the guy told me I had to pay 2500 almost 2600 , and I said there must be a mistake cause I only bid 1600 on it, but they said I had to pay license fees anf title fees, which I understood, but what I didn't understand is that they charged almost 500 dollars in aution and postage and some other fee's just for the hell of it, so I told them I dindt have the money cause I only came with 2000 dollars, they told me I had to come back on monday to pick up the car if not that they were gonna charge 50 dollars for each day that it was there,

I came back on monday to pick up the car,when I was paying for the car I asked that If the car had any warranty on it, and the said no, but I clearly saw on the commercial that they offered a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty on it, so on top of all the b.s that's going on in that place they are also false advertising, the car had no mirrors on it, the heater didn't work, and the turn signals didn't work, I decide to just cut my losses and I told the manager to keep the 700 down payment but to give me my 1800 dollars I gave them that day back, he said that I had to talk to the owner, which later I found out he was the owner,

I could go on and on about my story but I think you got the point what I want to do is do anything I can to shut this place down, or sue them or something I cannot believe that this is going on and that it will be keep going on if we don't do anything about it.

I had to borrow money from relatives for the first time in my life because of the unexpected fees.

Gomez of Chicago, IL April 29, 2008

I saw in the news paper an add about a city auction; so decided to check it out. I thought I could cut corners in buying an inexpensive car. The gate opened at 11:00 AM, and I was very excited to to see the cars. I found it odd that the cars were not turned on and that we were not able to take the cars for a test drive. I just thought all cars were checked out and the lemon law would take effect. Boy was I wrong. I saw a clean looking 96 Eagle Talon. They pulled it into a garage where all my patrons were getting to bid on their new lemons. Well my car came around and the bid was for 1,900 so I jumped on it. They told me that I had to pay a 600 down payment. So I did that, and then they told me that I had to wait untill the auction was over to take delivery of my car.

I had to sit there untill 4:00 PM to find out that the 1,900 car turned out to be 2,600 without transfering of title and temporary plates. On top of that they told me that I had to come back on monday to pick up my car. At that I realized there is no refunds on what I just bought. I went back on Monday to pick up my car. That is when my really headaches started. They pulled up the car for me and it kept on dying on them, so they decided to charge the battery for a longer period of time. They finally rought out the car to me and I noticed that the car smelled like it was burning oil and coolant.

As soon I drove off I ran out of gas so I had to push my lemon a quater mile to a gas station. I was mad but I said oh well. What can I do but grin and bare it. So I put in gas and put in oil and topped off my coolant. I started to drive then my car shut off. I tried to restart the car again and it would not start. I let it cool off for a couple of hours and the car started right up. So I statred to drive again, and then the car shut off again. So I waited for a couple more hours and drove it to a autoparts store. They told me that it could be my ignition coil, egr valve, or my crank positioning sensor. So I bought the parts that costed my about 1,300 for those parts and gas going from my house to Harvey,IL. I finally put all the parts in and I drove the car home, as soon I got off the express way my clutch slave cylinder went out. I had to push the car again. I had no money left for anything.

I also noticed that I was not getting heat through my vents, that means it the thermastat that went bad as. So I borrowed money from my mom to my parts. So I was excited to finally beable to drive my car. I drove my brother in law to his sisters work and the throttle cable was burned shut, so I had to ask my mom to loan me more money in order for me to get my car home from down town. So I ordered another throttle cable. I put it on and the same thing happened again; so I decided to bring it to a shop and they told be that I need to change my piston rings or the engine will cease. I don't have that kind of money to get this lemon to run.

I am out of a job because I don't have proper transportation. I am out of about 2,000 in parts alone. Luckily I didn't need to pay a mechanic because my brother in law did it for free. I just need a little help. I down on my luck. I also want to make sure that this auction to be shut down. They are decieving to many people. Thank you,

Antwan of Chicago, IL April 25, 2008

on 2/16/08 my wife and i purchased a car a 98 isuzu trooper for 2,854 we bid 1800 and paid 1054 in tacked on fees and finding that there was no extended warranty to purchase even though the commercials offer one they said we are not responsible for advertising hunh we left the lot after being jumped by one of their employee's and barely made it off of the lot before we knew something was wrong. the transmission was no good we made it home before completely went out and now on top of the other thousand dollars we spent in fees we now have to come up on another1,200 to fix it let alone feeling like a fool in my wifes eyes for going in the first place something truly needs to be done there a rip off

I fel like i been held up legaly at gun point i,ve paid over 2,800 for about thirty miles of hair raising driving plus now that its not running i'm starting to accummulate tickets on the car which is more money this is a nightmare

Angelia of Bourbonnais, IL April 9, 2008

My husband and I first called the City Auto Auction and asked exactly how the auction works. We asked about the prices and if there were any other things we would be charged for and we were told that whatever the bid price was is what we would pay. We decided to go to the Auction April 5th, 2008 and see what they had to offer.

We arrived at 10:30am and waited til 11am when they opened. We waited in line, got our papers, and proceeded to the lot to look at some cars.Before we went out to the lot I read the auction paddle they gave us and asked for them to explain exactly what was on the paper. They said that the price you bid on the car is how much you get the vehicle for.

We went to the lot and majority of the cars were locked so we could only look through the windows. We couldn't thoroughly inspect the vehicles. Majority of the cars had windshield cracks and some damage but some cars looked good from the exterior. We did this til 12pm then went inside where the auction began. We bidded on a 2002 Chevy Cavalier for 2000. (1pm) They rushed me into the booth to pay my 20% (600) down payment fee and told us we had to wait til the auction was over (5pm) to pick up the car.

So we waited with nowhere to sit and the floors were wet and dirty. We were in pain and we also had our 5 yr old son with us which made the wait harder. We waited til 5pm, everyone was lined up to turn in their ticket to redeem their car and we were told we had to wait for another hour and a half. They called me in to pay the rest of the money and pick up the car. When I went into the office the man who waited on me gave me the ticket and told me the price was 3100. I was shocked. I asked him how the price came from 2000 to 3100. He just showed me the prices they charged and I told him what was told to me when I called and before I bid on the car. I asked for a pen and paper so I could add everything up myself and the man seemed to instantly get upset. I added everything up and the total they had on the paper was wrong. It didn't come to 2000 but it wasn't 3100 either. My husband and I were upset because we had realized that we were just scammed.

The City Auto Auction scammed my husband and I out of 600 the down payment from 2000 and were were betrayed twice. They falsely advertise and have very bad customer service. We were very sore the next day because of the long wait and we both were very stressed out because of our huge financial loss.

Zandra of Riverdale, IL March 24, 2008

I bid on a 2001 GrandAm Se for 2500.00. All the windows were working with 700.00 deposit. I picked the car up on 3/7/08 for a total purchase of 3575.00 and a window was broken. I went home to call around to get the window replaced before I had to go to work. Which cost 60.00 and once the window was fixed my car wouldn't start. I called triple A to come and tow me to a auto shop in BlueIsland (Interstate) but, I was told by them that they wouldn't be able to look at the car until Monday.

So after I heard form them I called the auction and spoke with a Erica who stated find out what's wrong with the car and they'll see what they can do. I called her back the next day to tell her that so far the shop said that it's electrical and she states that I have to get that fixed myself, not their responsibility for that. When I called her back on Tuesday to let her know that it was also some engine work needed, I was told someone would call me back and this has been going on since 3/11/08. I even spoke with a Melissa there. I have paid Interstate auto shop 1300.00 for my car and it still doesn't work. Now Interstate is telling me I have to pay a tow truck to get the car back to them after the owner told me that he also has a tow service which I have to pay for but, I am going to need another diagnostic test which I have already paid him for two of them. Now I out of 5000.00 dollars and I feel like no one cares if my children and I have to walk a mile and a half to the bus stop. Or if I have to still pay someone to bring me home from work at night.

I am out of 5000.00 dollars. I now feel as if the auto shop and the auction both got over on me because I still don't have a car to take my children to school or to get back and forth to work. The car is still sitting in front of my house.

Euandre of Oswego, IL March 6, 2008

I was sold a 2000 Oldsmobile Silhouette. I was not able to inspect the vehicle to even find out the miles or anything. Come to find out about the vehicle: it is a total lemon. It cut off on me when they drove it out the auction yard. The driver window and passenger window do not come down; the car has major electrical problems and God knows whatever else. Something seriously needs to be done about this and the many others who have been deceived. I was told lies about this vehicle--that it was a very nice car, ran great, and with very  low mileage.

Please contact me asap so we can stop these people once and for all on deceiving people out of their money. They even threatened to take me to jail if I didn't leave their office. I had paid them my money, and they did not even give me my title to this vehicle. I was told that it would be mailed to me. I believe this was because I did not want to purchase their plates.

The vehicle doesn't run as of right now, and my family and I have suffered a major set back economically because we spent all of our money on this worthless vehicle.

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