Honda of Ocala

On 3-11-11, after waiting three years, I finally qualified for a Honda Fit! I really liked my orange Fit.

On 8-28-11, Ramy,my salesman, called and asked me to come to the car lot. When I arrived, he said "the fit had been recalled because of the tsunami in Japan." He showed me a CRV. I was asked to write a check for $3800 to be cashed 9-28. I told him I didn't have the money. Now I'm being intimidated. I do not have the money. They sold my orange Fit three days after I turned it in. I do like the CRV, but my payments have gone up more than I can really afford. I feel as I was used by someone else to buy my Fit!

I purchased a vehicle on June 5, 2009 which was on a Friday. On June 6th the Saturday, I started to hear some strange sounds. My husband took the the vehicle back to Honda of Ocala on Sunday, June 7th, but the service department was not open. So I took the vehicle back in the week that followed and was told that nothing was wrong with the vehicle. I continued to ride around with the vehicle, as I needed to work. However, I could not take it anymore and so I took the vehicle back to the dealership, I believe, on June 19, 2009 and explained to the sales people that something was definitely wrong with the vehicle due to the the loud sound that I would occasionally hear and that it had to be an engine issue.

While my car was still at the dealership, I anticipated a phone call at least the second day or so, but not one person called to update me on my vehicle. I had to make the phone call and asked what was happening and was told that they did not know what the problem was and that they needed was to contact the GMC dealership to figure out what was wrong. I picked my vehicle up on 6/25/09 and was told that they replaced the fan clutch. I was not happy with the service received and so met with the store manager, Tom, and shared with him my frustration and my experience with Honda. He apologized and I accepted his apology.

Back to the repair. If the fan clutch was the issue, why did my vehicle break down on January 14, 2010 with the same loud sound and the engine light appearing immediately thereafter? My vehicle was towed to Auto Masters and I was told that I needed a new engine, something that Honda of Ocala should have fixed before they even put the vehicle on the lot for sale. I was not shocked at all as I knew that was the issue from the very first weekend I had the vehicle in my possession. After I was told that a rebuild engine would cost $3000+, I immediately contacted the finance company and explained the matter to them and I was told that they could not do anything about, that I had to call the dealership.

So I contacted Honda of Ocala and spoke to Geraldine, the customer service manager and told her what was going on and asked what could they do to help me in the matter. She said that all the vehicles are thoroughly inspected before they are sold and basically blew me off and said that she could not locate any documents in the service department reporting that a repair was made. Several times, I asked to speak with the store manager, Tom, but was told that he was not in or available. My vehicle was picked up by Capital One on or about January 8, 2010 from Auto Masters. The vehicle was later sold and Capital One expects for me to pay the balance of $4010+.

I am asking for my $1000 downpayment and my trade in that was working perfectly fine from Honda. Do I have a case? Lastly, Honda of Ocala, misrepresented the condition of the vehicle in the first place. I do not have a vehicle and I still owe a balance. In reality, I did not even have my vehicle for a good six months. This is sad. I can not even get a job because I do not have a vehicle.