At&t

[wavery]

Having worked in a couple of dealerships (as have you) I know how f'd up the whole used car/auction house routine is.  The absolute worst of the worst wind up sitting in the back of the dealer lots, and once a week, a crew of guys would come through, inspect, make offers and then haul them all away.....to the auction lots in Los Angeles, and to all those little corner used car lots that sell to the "we don't know any better hispanic population."  

The cars coming out of the Gulf states are 10 times worse.

The BBB is typically not of any help.  Membership to the BBB is voluntary and so there's nothing the BBB is going to do. They nothing but lip service.

Next time you need anything shipped, get ahold of me.  I've got a great resource for enclosed shipping and he's got an 8x50 triple axle trailer, so he can take anything.

You'll love these pics:
http://community.webshots.com/album/573617062EAKNhk

Now keep in mind.......this car only has 2100 miles on it and it's a 2008 that was only on the road for 4 months after delivery new.

[austinado16]

My guess would be that it's a theft recovery.

[wavery]

My guess would be that it's a theft recovery.

Nope.......it was a rental car. The car was in an accident on Dec 15, 2008 and the driver drove away from the accident with no water in the radiator. The engine seized up and the car was towed to Mike Shad Chrysler where it sat until Feb 16, 2009, when it was towed out. Their repair order simply says, "Engine over-heated due to accident, waiting fir insurance company".

On 4/27/09, the car was sold at auction and the damage was not disclosed at that auction. Evidently, some chop shop bought it, hacked it back together and took it back to the auction. On May 8th, Wyndermere Wholesalers saw it and ran a CarFax report on it and it came back clean (that's the CarFax report that they put in the eBay Auction). On May 10th, they purchased it at auction and that auction disclosed the vehicle as having "Unibody frame damage" as required by law. I bought the car on May 15 and on May 16, the auto auction disclosure was reported to AutoCheck (but evidently not CarFax).

I have a packet with 32 pages of documents and a CD of pictures that I will be sending to Florida Automobile Dealers Association, Florida DMV and Florida District Attorney. I'll bet that I don't hear back from any of them.

I sent all this documentation to Wyndermere Wholesalers along with the pictures, the latest AutoCheck report with the frame damage disclosure and the estimate for $4400 from our local Chrysler dealer to repair the engine (low compression on all 4 cylinders) and fix the body to factory standards. Wyndermere Wholesalers says that I'm making it all up and that there is "Nothing wrong with that car". He even stated, "I see nothing out of the ordinary in those pictures".

[austinado16]

Funny......so funny I forgot to laugh.  You stepped in a real pile of dog sh!t there didn't you buddy.

As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.  That's what you get for trying to help Ma'am Property Owner!

[wavery]

We actually have an amazing working relationship. We are more like family than anything else. It's like I own this building and she doesn't interfere one little bit. I make 100% of the decisions and she rewards me generously for what I do. She's owned this building for 20 years now and she's very happy with her return on investment.

Anyway........please share your impression when you look at those pictures. To me, they are extremely telling of the condition of this car (considering it has 2100 miles on it). However, I may be too close to the subject and I really don't know how those pics effect others. I am particularly interested in your opinion of pic "PT Delivery 012" and "PT engine problem 005". When you look at those pics, it's important to click on the pick, then on the pick, then click on "+ Full size".
http://rides.webshots.com/album/573617062EAKNhk

[austinado16]

Unfortunately, Webshots is now full of so much cr@p that it's difficult to use without getting hit with all of their spam and popups.  So I just glanced at the thumbnails.  When I tried to open a few, and use the slide show function, I started getting all their BS, so I just closed out.

Photobucket is where to host photos IMO.  It's what webshots started out as, only 10x better.

But based on what you've already told me, combined with my high regard for you, I know that thing is just a giant cheese log and needs to be in a wrecking yard.

[dkutz]

We actually have an amazing working relationship. We are more like family than anything else. It's like I own this building and she doesn't interfere one little bit. I make 100% of the decisions and she rewards me generously for what I do. She's owned this building for 20 years now and she's very happy with her return on investment.

Anyway........please share your impression when you look at those pictures. To me, they are extremely telling of the condition of this car (considering it has 2100 miles on it). However, I may be too close to the subject and I really don't know how those pics effect others. I am particularly interested in your opinion of pic "PT Delivery 012" and "PT engine problem 005". When you look at those pics, it's important to click on the pick, then on the pick, then click on "+ Full size".
http://rides.webshots.com/album/573617062EAKNhk

wow, my first question is how many miles does the motor that they put in it have on it?  Next how old is that damn battery??  Is it possible to look up the VIN on the engine block and figure out where it came from??

[wavery]

wow, my first question is how many miles does the motor that they put in it have on it?  Next how old is that damn battery??  Is it possible to look up the VIN on the engine block and figure out where it came from??

The serial# on the block is inconclusive. They used basically the same block (same # sequence) in 2006-2008. The car is assembled in Mexico and evidently they don't do a very organized job of rotating their engine stock or keeping track of numbers. The battery has a 2006 date code.

My suspicion is that the guy that hacked this car together bought an engine from a Katrina flood car (for probably $200). When they put it in, they may have found that the engine wouldn't run due to salt water intrusion (which is obvious from the salt water corrosion on the block). It looks like they disassembled the engine and got it running and put the engine back together with black silicone sealer (which is evident all over the engine). However, the valves don't seat properly (probably due to corrosion) and the engine has low compression because of it. The local Chrysler dealer suspects that the head is damaged and they wouldn't know if the lower end of the engine is damaged (like stuck piston rings or scored cylinder walls and damaged bearings) until they take the engine apart.

I pity the poor person that ends up with that car. There is NO DOUBT in my mind that the engine is trash and that someone is going to have to find a wrecked 2008 PT Cruiser with a good, low mileage engine, in order to have a decent car. That engine will cost someone about $1500 plus installation.

However, the car will never be covered under warranty because Chrysler service records show all of this history and the CarFax/AutoCheck reports show the "Unibody Frame Damage" report.

That car probably has a value of less than $5000.

It's a real shame because the outside of the car looks like brand new and the odometer shows 2100 miles.

[perterra]

Oh man, that stinks. I've been there before. Bought a Dodge Daytona in 87, 2000 miles, dealer said its a demo car. Two months later dealer goes bankrupt and car develops a front end rattle. Found a Dodge dealer who just happened to have a factory service guy in for training his mechanics. He said, the repair wasnt done correctly after the wreck you had. Me, wreck, its a new car. He said its a new car that has had the whole right side of the front end torn off.

Turns out the dealer I bought it from son had wrecked it. I looked into legal action but it was a defunct corp so it wasnt worth the effort.

[cjpoppin]

This "lemon" has nothing to do with my liking them or not.......it's all about me being 6'4" 225# and that car being built for little girls.....like you.....

I'll bet Jim doesn't drive that thing much....:p

Oh thank you for the little part........You are sooooooooo right Jim does his very best not to drive the car.....Hahaaaaaa
When I picked this car he knew I had my heart set on this type of car and after 17 yrs. of  not able to drive he wasn't going to say a thing about what car I picked.........
He does ride in it every M-W-F when we go to the pool and needs a shoe horn to slide his 6'5" into the seat......Way to funny at least we only have to go 5 miles....
I'm glad to hear you got most of your money back but sorry about all the grief and stress added to your life........
I also don't understand the problem with web-shots I had no trouble looking at all the pictures in you albums.......??

[OC Campers]

Wow.  I don't know the mechanical end of car very well but even I could see the rust and corrosion.  With only 2100 miles on it, the engine should look practically brand new.

I guess this goes to show that e-bay is not always what its cracked up to be.  It sounds like they are trying to make it right but you are sure having to deal with a lot of grief.  They messed with the wrong person.  I would be interested in hearing what happens thru all this.  Keep us posted Wayne

Jacqui

[mrsoreo57]

how did this post start ??  Oh yeah, i remember, at&t.......

bump......:d

[wavery]

You just did that to annoy me some more......didn't you....:p

[mrsoreo57]

Just doing a Dieter......

[wavery]

Just doing a Dieter......

Gee....thanks......with friends like you guys.....who needs enemies? :p