I'm screwed...

[Mark Farnik]

I'm so depressed right now I can't even begin to describe how I'm feeling. As of right now, I will not be able to chase AT ALL for the remainder of the season. Here's the situation:
Back in December of 2005 my parents bought me a 1990 Mercedes 300TE 4MATIC wagon from a dealership called Master's Collection in Franktown, CO. It supposedly had 66k original miles and they wanted $7k for it. The dealership gave us a VIN number to run a Carfax report, and it showed no records, which we thought meant there were no problems (we later learned this meant the vehicle doesn't exist!) So thinking there were no problems and thinking that with only 66k it would last forever, we drove down to Franktown, took it on a test drive, and purchased it on December 21st.
After we brought the car home, I looked at the actual VIN # and the VIN # the dealership had given us and was shocked to find that the last FOUR digits of the VIN #'s were different!
We ran the actual VIN # through Carfax and discovered that the car had had 129k miles in June of 2005, and in November it suddenly had 62k miles!:eek: They had flat out lied about the miles on the car.:mad:
We called them the very next day, but they were closed for Christmas. We tried calling them after Christmas. Still no response. And then the heater motor, which they had supposedly replaced before we bought it, went out. That cost $650 to fix, and our independent mechanic told us the factory seal had never been broken. Another lie. When my dad finally got ahold of them last March, the manager denied everything and when my dad asked for our money back, he refused. My dad told him we would go to the Colorado AID (Auto Industry Division) and file a complaint with the Dealer Licensing Board, and he told us to go right ahead and file the f***ing complaint and hung up on my dad. So we finally filed a complaint against them last August. And do you know we finally get to go before the Dealer Licensing Board to have our case heard?
JULY 13TH!!!!! 11 FREAKIN' MONTHS AFTER WE FILED THE COMPLAINT!!!!
In the interim, the Mercedes has developed a transmission slip, and the car will freeze up at random intervals and you have to pull the car over and turn it off. You wait a few minutes, then start it up again and it's fine. And more than once the electronics system has gone bezerk, one time while returning from a chase last summer after dark. It's quite hair raising to be driving down a highway at ten at night and suddenly have no headlights.:eek: It's reliability is more than questionable, and so my parents don't let me drive it anymore. My parents won't let me chase in my mom's car or my dad's truck (both of which they are still making payments on) due to hail concerns. They're going to let me use my mom's car for going to and from my shoots (I own my own photography buisness), but not for chasing.
This effectively leaves me without a chase vehicle.
So until we get our money back from those sons of b****s, I have no car to chase in.
And by the time we get the money back in mid July, the chase season will be over.
There is no one else who chases in my neck of the woods, so I can't carpool with anyone.
So I'm basically completely screwed for chasing for the rest of this season. :(
What's even more frustrating is I just got a new laptop and video camera. I was really looking forward to getting to use them in the field. Guess that's not going to happen.
I mean, yeah, my parents let me chase on March 28th and I saw six tornadoes, got pictures of one and video of another so I should be grateful for that.
And yeah, I'm only 17, and have plenty of seasons left to chase in my life.
But still...
I'm totally bummed.
Can you blame me?

[Derek Weston]

Buy a beater for < 500, you can get them in good running order. (however, maybe driving a piece of crap is scary for you..)

Depending on how far you're willing to drive, there will be setups mid July and on, very likely, that will yield interesting weather.

[Chris Allington]

I don't get to chase a whole lot cause of my job... most of my shifts run from 3:30 pm to 2 am. If i'm ever out in that neck of the woods i'll let you know and I'd be glad to have you along. Otherwise we can always chat on aim or something. Sometimes it helps to be able to talk about setups and virtually chase, plus you can use the time to work on your forcasting skills.

[Lori Meyer]

I was also screwed by a skeezy used car dealer. I bought a car in February and it didn't even make it home. We test drove it twice and bought it. About 5 miles later it overheated and we pulled over. The dealer was a total jerk after that and didn't take our calls. In the end it took 1,800 dollars and one whole month to get running again. I have never been so mad in all my life. I can't believe people can be so shady. The mechanic actually said there was a temporary sealant used for the head gaskets and that it actaully ruined the radiator as well. He also said there was actually TAPE used in a couple of places under the hood- TAPE!!! What a jerk-off. Lesson learned I guess. I will never buy a used car without a thorough mechanical check up by a mechanic of my choosing first.

[Danny Neal]

What happened to the Ford F-150 you took to Kansas?? Must be still damaged from that tornado encounter?

[Robbie Cox]

Get A rental :)

[John Erwin]

And do you know we finally get to go before the Dealer Licensing Board to have our case heard?
JULY 13TH!!!!! 11 FREAKIN' MONTHS AFTER WE FILED THE COMPLAINT!!!!

I thought they had already ruled in your favor? Sorry to hear about all this Mark, I would be pretty bitter too. Hopefully that dealership gets hit hard with this.

[Matthew Havin]

Cut your losses and buy the oldest, cheapest running Subaru you can find....... you won't be disappointed! One of my friends has one that she does not maintain at all..... more than once she has drove it 3 1/2 quarts low on oil (leaving only a half quart in the engine!).... and it has a quarter million miles on it.

[Willie Dines]

Awe man, that really sucks, unfortunately I don't drive yet or have any knowledge of cars, as reguards good or not so good cars, but reguardless of what happens, I really hope that you can get something sorted and get back on the road for chasing again :)

Good luck buddy and try to keep your chin up, where there's a will, there's a way :)

Willie

[Bob Schafer]

Ahhh, to be young and impatient again...

Hey, Mark, I know this comes off as flippant and callous, but you need to mellow out, dude. You can't go through life angry. Well, you can, and many do, but what's the point of that?

Look, here's the very very very brief version of my recent life:

I lost my career of 29 years, my girlfriend of four years, and I've not been able to sell my house (after nearly two years).

I spent $35,000 on a new engine for my car. (yeah, just for the engine) It's been FOUR years since I ruined the old engine. I still don't have my car running... but I'm (once again) supposed to have it back, hopefully (again) fixed for good this time... in the next couple weeks. My mechanic seems to have found the real problem that caused several blow-ups.

Am I bitter? No. What's the point? I refuse to go through life angry and depressed, and I won't. You never know which sunset, which sup, will be your last. Carpe diem, bro. Happiness is a choice.

[Justin Teague]

$35,000 for an engine??? It better run 9s.

[fplowman]

Yep got the same problem.. Car issues.. For whatever ungodly reason Lincoln decided to put a plastic intake manifold on their 4.6 liter engines ( save 30$?? ).. well its cracked and spewing antifreeze.. 900$ to fix it. 210k miles on the engine I figure what's the use buy a new car. Of course that is a whole new set of challenges.. Trying to find a new car and Im upside down on what I owe for the Lincoln..

I feel screwed like you Mark. I have missed 2 possible chase days and maybe a couple more in the future weeks to come. I just changed out jobs and work straight commission so Im building my pipeline and will be broke barely getting by for the next month or two..

just got to roll with the punches man. Am I depressed? Yep..

Be glad your not drinking to mask your life issues.. lol

Leads to more problems

[Bob Schafer]

$35,000 for an engine??? It better run 9s.

No, 11's. But I also get 23 mpg. Between the times when it blows up.

[Justin Teague]

I have a car that's capable of 11's, and that's nothing to sneeze at. I'm not sure if I can pull the 23 mpg, though. I probably could, but I am tuned super rich to keep my cylinder temps down (prevent detonation). </hijack>

Mark, don't let these things get you down. My honest suggestion would be to stay away from Mercedes, 66,000 miles or not. I know 120,XXX miles sounds like alot, but I am driving a Toyota 4Runner with 236,000 miles and I still haven't had a problem with it. Don't take it from me about Mercedes, do some research and you will find that they are consistently at the bottom of the list for reliability. I didn't start buying Toyota's for no reason. I was a Chevy loving, muscle car guy until it was time for me to pay for my own car.

[Doug Lee]

At least you have a source of income. Save your pennies as much as possible and, unless you are a good mechanic, never pay less than $3K for a car, or $1K for a pickup.

That snake that sold you the car probably knew how backed up the system is, that's why he didn't seem worried about your complaint. He must have figured you would get tired of waiting and give up. I don't know if you read the papers, but you might start watching the legal notices and see if his name pops up. If it does, keep notes on what you see. It could help build up a record of misconduct on his part.

I recommend you surprise this guy. Get written documentation from all the mechanics you've had work on the car. See if the mechanics are willing to testfy on your behalf. Be sure to show up for your hearing. Not only be on time, be early. Be there before he gets there. Let him walk in and see you with your family and your LAWYER and your evidence. Don't let the ******* get away with it! My bet is the guy won''t show, and if he doesn't show, that will work in your favor. Also, you might consider taking him to small claims court for the repairs. You might not get any money out of that, but you could help to establish a legal track record on the guy for the next time he screws someone.

I could recommend some other things to do, but this isn't the place.

Maybe you could take a tip from an old TV show, The Rockford Files. Jim Rockford, a former conman and PI, pulled a scam on someone who scammed a friend of his. At the end of the epsiode, when the law was about to nail the bad guy, Jim told him, "You might as well cheer up, it's only going to get worse!" I'm not saying you should scam the guy or do anything else illegal, just stay focused and nail his....

[Patrick Martin]

Call me crazy, but if I were in your shoes, I'd be a lot more worried about what's gonna happen on July 13th, if I'd get my $7,000 back or not, a heck of a lot more so than being out of a chase vehicle! At least you still have a mode of transportation for work, school, etc, and I'm sure others will agree that it's unlikely this will not be the last thing in your life that unexpectedly curtails your chasing, so like Fred & Bob said, you just gotta be able to roll with the punches and make the best of it.

[Jason Boggs]

I dont mean to be anti-USA, but get yourself a Nissan or Toyota. Maintain them and they will run forever. As Justin said, Toyota's are built to last and so are Nissan's. I have never owned anything but Nissan's, and that will probably never change. Let me break it down:

1st Nissan
Got it when it had 7,000 miles. Put 179,000 miles on it and the only thing I ever did was change the fuel pump. I wasn't too hip on maintenance then and I literally changed the oil and that's it. Not saying that's good but it still held up.

2nd Nissan
Bought new and put 78,000 miles on it and it ran perfect when I traded it in for a new one.

3rd Nissan
Bought new and put 67,000 miles on it and it ran perfect when I traded it in for a new one.

4th Nissan
Tired of trading in new trucks every 3 or 4 years, so I'm keeping this one for the long haul. I currently have 109,000 miles on it, and it still runs like the day I drove it off the lot. I plan on putting at least 200,000 miles on it. Hopefully when I get ready to buy another NISSAN, I will have at least 15-20,000 saved up for a sweet down payment. I have never had one single problem from this truck. Not even a small, minor problem. Just my opinion, but I LOVE NISSAN'S!!!

[David Drummond]

I might be wrong here...but I am pretty sure it's a FEDERAL CRIMINAL OFFENSE to roll back the odometer on a vehicle. Something you might look in to.

[Bill Tabor]

I might be wrong here...but I am pretty sure it's a FEDERAL CRIMINAL OFFENSE to roll back the odometer on a vehicle. Something you might look in to.

I think it is some type of offense for sure. Not sure about federal, etc.

Also, I believe contract law allows you to get out of any contract you sign within 3 days. That means you could have made it null and void if you returned after you brought it home and discovered it was tampered with.

Vehicles....everyone buying foreign...:D my 96 Chevy Tahoe has nearly 200K on it, and no sign of it slowing down yet - still going strong. It doesn't get great gas mileage but it sure surprised me as I owned a long line of foreign thinking they were superior. I hear the Tahoes and Suburbans are known for lasting long - up into the 350K+ range - though you might eventually have to swap out an engine.

[Tarmo Tanilsoo]

What a pity...

However, being not able to leave home is not always the end of the world. I have had many good storms without stepping an inch away from my home.

[Eric Flescher]

If you are going to buy something , don't take the dealers or person's word. Tell the person (you will buy from) that you want to take the car to a friendly mechanic someone you can trust and give them some money to look at it and go over it.
Another alternative is , try to find somone to chase with.

[Warren Faidley]

Get hold of the State Attorney General's office. File a criminal fraud complaint against the dealer. They will respond, given the severe penalties for fraud, if that is what occurred. If they did nothing wrong -- don't go that route as it could backfire on you. There are strict laws regarding the sales of used motor vehicles in Colorado. Many consumer fraud laws were designed around the used automobile industry. Trust me, this will get you results. It's one thing to complain to a dealer and talk about legal stuff, but the fear of criminal actions will get their attention. If you have to pay for a rental, then you can recover those costs as well. Best of luck. If you need more help, contact me off line. I went through something similar to this with a collector car.

Warren

[Mark Farnik]

Aww... you guys are the best. Thanks for cheering me up somewhat.:)
But seriously, I'm really starting to get pissed off with the AID and if we can't get any satisfaction from them, I'm going straight to the state attorney general.
The biggest obstacle for all of this right now is money. My parents are, for all rights and purposes, broke right now. The five year drought here in Colorado has devastated our farm and our finances. My dad is on the brink of bankruptcy attm, so we can't even afford a couple thousand dollar beater.
I want to file a lawsuit for $100k against the dealership, but my parents had a bad experience years ago where somebody broke the law in a buisness deal with them and they lost the case because they had a crappy judge and wound up paying out $6k in legal costs, so they're extremely reluctant to sue based on that experience. However I've gone through the Colorado state laws regarding used vehicle sales and that dealership violated not one but TWO laws! They broke the law by falsely advertising the inaccurate miles and by selling us the vehicle knowing the miles were inaccurate, which is fraud any way you look at it. There is no way they can win when they've broken two state laws. The lady who has been handling our case at AID told us she thinks they broke the law as well, so it's not just us. I want to milk these bastards for all they're worth, because you would not believe the aggravation and hassle we've gone through with this situation...

[David Wagener]

Mark I've been down the whole road of litigation and legal nightmares before...be very careful about going in with a set dollar amount you want. Its not a way to make money, and can reallyhamper your efforts of winning. Best thing to do, get all costs that you and your folks have incurred personally. This is everything from the vehicle itself, repair costs, lost wages for missing out on any photo shoots or what not, etc. You can throw out $100K but if you can only legitimately claim say $20K...that won't look too good in front of the judge.

You may also want to contact the state bar association or someone that may be able to help refer a lawyer to review your case. They should be able to find one that can do that for free and hopefully take up the case for little or no cash up front.

[Aaron Kennedy]

Question... how do you know the person that sold them the car didn't turn back the odometer?

[Ryan McGinnis]

I was also screwed by a skeezy used car dealer. I bought a car in February and it didn't even make it home. We test drove it twice and bought it. About 5 miles later it overheated and we pulled over. The dealer was a total jerk after that and didn't take our calls. In the end it took 1,800 dollars and one whole month to get running again. I have never been so mad in all my life. I can't believe people can be so shady. The mechanic actually said there was a temporary sealant used for the head gaskets and that it actaully ruined the radiator as well. He also said there was actually TAPE used in a couple of places under the hood- TAPE!!! What a jerk-off. Lesson learned I guess. I will never buy a used car without a thorough mechanical check up by a mechanic of my choosing first.

Moral of the story: always have a mechanic that you hire look the car over before you buy it. It costs $100, maybe $150 tops and can save you thousands.

[Mark Farnik]

Well, everyone, yesterday I got some excellent news. The AID called us and told us that they have referred our case to the State Attorney General and he will be reviewing it within the next few days and deciding on what kind of fines and punishment Masters Collection will be facing.
He has the power to pull their dealer's license to sell vehicles in this state, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed... :cool:
So we may get our money back as early as the first week of June! And the AID said the dealership might have to pay us additional damages in addition to the $9k we've asked for! So I might be in a new (to me) car by the middle of next month. It's lookin' pretty good right about now! :D :D

[Justin Turcotte]

Good luck. In the future, always right down the VIN number and check it yourself. Never take a dealers word and as others have said get the vehicle inspected before closing the sale. Essentially the same procedure one would use prior to closing on a home sale. For what it's worth I try to avoid those local used car lots unless I need a temporary beater. A year and a half ago I picked up a 2005 Chevy Classic (Malibu) with 18k miles and two plus years of warrenty for $10k at a Chevy dealer. Practically a new car for half price with peace of mind on the warrenty.

[beaudodson]

Ahhh, to be young and impatient again...

Hey, Mark, I know this comes off as flippant and callous, but you need to mellow out, dude. You can't go through life angry. Well, you can, and many do, but what's the point of that?

Look, here's the very very very brief version of my recent life:

I lost my career of 29 years, my girlfriend of four years, and I've not been able to sell my house (after nearly two years).

I spent $35,000 on a new engine for my car. (yeah, just for the engine) It's been FOUR years since I ruined the old engine. I still don't have my car running... but I'm (once again) supposed to have it back, hopefully (again) fixed for good this time... in the next couple weeks. My mechanic seems to have found the real problem that caused several blow-ups.

Am I bitter? No. What's the point? I refuse to go through life angry and depressed, and I won't. You never know which sunset, which sup, will be your last. Carpe diem, bro. Happiness is a choice.


:D:cool::) all very true!

[joel ewing]

Bob...what in the heck do you drive...a Ferrari?
How could you possibly spend 35K for an engine??

[Bob Schafer]

Bob...what in the heck do you drive...a Ferrari?
How could you possibly spend 35K for an engine??

1994 Porsche 968

Sorry for the thread hijack.

[Joseph Spencer]

Mark I test drove a car from that very same place last year. The car was a hunk of junk and to be quite honest with you the owner seemed liked a real "winner". I hope all works out in your favor.