Summary of Events for Najay Parker
This program participant came to us mid April of 2021 seeking help to get a vehicle.
Our advising team spent several hours with this participant going over her budget and situation. This program participant had really bad credit and was not able to qualify for a vehicle purchase anywhere else. We were able to help her secure transportation with a 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander. This Outlander had very low mileage and had no issues while it was in our possession.
The program participant drove the vehicle as well did our staff prior to doing the paperwork. The vehicle performed flawlessly. She was very happy and even wrote a positive review on Google.
A few days passed and she contacted us saying that the vehicle was having an issue that had caused her to spin out on the highway. We told her to bring it to our technical team ASAP. A few days later, she brought it in for us to inspect.
Upon inspecting the vehicle our mechanic was able to determine that the Stabilizer Links were not performing properly. These are the rods that go between the stabilizer bar and the lower control arm. The stabilizer links affects the suspension of the vehicle by firming up the way the vehicle responds to the road. If these links do not operate properly, the result is the vehicle responds to the motion of the vehicle more dramatically. This could cause a driver to feel as though the vehicle is swaying more and when turning the vehicle will lean in or out more than usual.
The mechanic reported to management that these links were loose or malfunctioning and needed to be serviced or replaced. We ordered the parts and completed the repair.
After repairing the stabilizer links... our mechanic test drove the vehicle and noticed that it was running rough at idle. We spent over $500 replacing spark plugs and coil packs, completing a tune-up, which failed to resolve the rough idle issue.
When the tune-up failed to resolve the rough idle, the mechanic felt like the issue was most likely deep in the engine and had something to do with the engine valves or pistons. The mechanic said it would have to go the Manufacture's dealership shop for further diagnostics and/or repairs, that it was too big of a job for our team.
We contacted the program participant and explained that the vehicle most likely needed extensive major engine repairs and suggested to her that it would be less expensive to find a different vehicle and that we should take the vehicle to the auction. We offered to waive her responsibility to pay for the costs for these repairs if she went into a different vehicle.
We have a service agreement with the all program participants. You can read the last 2 pages of the RTO Agreement ( click here) and you can see how our service plan works. The program participant is responsible for parts and labor.
When a vehicle leaves our location, we have no way of knowing what a person actually does to the vehicle. We've had numerous scenarios where a consumer purchases a vehicle and through their own actions causes the vehicle to have mechanical issues. In many cases they cause the problem and bring it back to us trying to force us to repair it, even though there was nothing wrong with the vehicle when it left our location. We've caught several people in other scenarios where they allow a friend or family member to drive the vehicle or do something to it which ends up causing mechanical issues. We've also experienced situations where a person buys a vehicle, drives it over something and damages it and then goes to a mechanic that sabotages it so they can get more money from that person to fix it.
We just don't have any way to know what happens to a vehicle when it leaves our location. This is why offering a "Warranty" is not possible. Instead, we offer an affordable service plan, again the last two pages of the RTO agreement explains this plan.
Our advising team spent several hours with this participant going over her budget and situation. This program participant had really bad credit and was not able to qualify for a vehicle purchase anywhere else. We were able to help her secure transportation with a 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander. This Outlander had very low mileage and had no issues while it was in our possession.
The program participant drove the vehicle as well did our staff prior to doing the paperwork. The vehicle performed flawlessly. She was very happy and even wrote a positive review on Google.
A few days passed and she contacted us saying that the vehicle was having an issue that had caused her to spin out on the highway. We told her to bring it to our technical team ASAP. A few days later, she brought it in for us to inspect.
Upon inspecting the vehicle our mechanic was able to determine that the Stabilizer Links were not performing properly. These are the rods that go between the stabilizer bar and the lower control arm. The stabilizer links affects the suspension of the vehicle by firming up the way the vehicle responds to the road. If these links do not operate properly, the result is the vehicle responds to the motion of the vehicle more dramatically. This could cause a driver to feel as though the vehicle is swaying more and when turning the vehicle will lean in or out more than usual.
The mechanic reported to management that these links were loose or malfunctioning and needed to be serviced or replaced. We ordered the parts and completed the repair.
After repairing the stabilizer links... our mechanic test drove the vehicle and noticed that it was running rough at idle. We spent over $500 replacing spark plugs and coil packs, completing a tune-up, which failed to resolve the rough idle issue.
When the tune-up failed to resolve the rough idle, the mechanic felt like the issue was most likely deep in the engine and had something to do with the engine valves or pistons. The mechanic said it would have to go the Manufacture's dealership shop for further diagnostics and/or repairs, that it was too big of a job for our team.
We contacted the program participant and explained that the vehicle most likely needed extensive major engine repairs and suggested to her that it would be less expensive to find a different vehicle and that we should take the vehicle to the auction. We offered to waive her responsibility to pay for the costs for these repairs if she went into a different vehicle.
We have a service agreement with the all program participants. You can read the last 2 pages of the RTO Agreement ( click here) and you can see how our service plan works. The program participant is responsible for parts and labor.
When a vehicle leaves our location, we have no way of knowing what a person actually does to the vehicle. We've had numerous scenarios where a consumer purchases a vehicle and through their own actions causes the vehicle to have mechanical issues. In many cases they cause the problem and bring it back to us trying to force us to repair it, even though there was nothing wrong with the vehicle when it left our location. We've caught several people in other scenarios where they allow a friend or family member to drive the vehicle or do something to it which ends up causing mechanical issues. We've also experienced situations where a person buys a vehicle, drives it over something and damages it and then goes to a mechanic that sabotages it so they can get more money from that person to fix it.
We just don't have any way to know what happens to a vehicle when it leaves our location. This is why offering a "Warranty" is not possible. Instead, we offer an affordable service plan, again the last two pages of the RTO agreement explains this plan.
Complaint Specifics
- Their is no such thing as a trac rod. The initial issue was the stabilizer links. Stabilizer links that are failing or not operating properly could not have caused the vehicle to "spin-out". The program participant is exaggerating her story to justify her claims.
- We did fix the stabilizer links, and did additional repairs at no cost to the participant. We got to a point where it was determined that additional repairs would be needed, and the cost would be substantial. We figured the participant couldn't afford this option, so we offered her a better more affordable option.
- The participants viewpoint on selling the vehicle at auction is based on the assumption that we would make profit on it. We took a loss on the vehicle because what we owed on it and the repairs we already did, were more than what we received at the auction sale.
- It is highly unlikely that this participant will be filing anything in "small-claims-court". Her contract clearly states that she is responsible for the repairs, and anybody who reads the contract and her complaint will quickly come to the conclusion that she has no basis to ask for her money back.
- She admits to seeing another mechanic in the last sentence of her complaint. It is likely that she took the vehicle to someone to have it serviced, breaking the service agreement/plan terms. She could of had a family mechanic sabotage it? It was driving fine before it left our location and she test drove it confirming that it was mechanically sound.
- What we often experience in these scenarios, is that she most likely realized that she didn't like something about the vehicle and knew it wouldn't be justifiable, to return it and therefore had a friend or family member sabotage the engine to create a narrative supporting her new claims that a vehicle with only 70k miles somehow developed a major mechanical issue and we knew about it. This is clearly makes no sense.
Closing Summary
We had a 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander SUV in mint condition with low mileage that OPERATED perfectly while it was in our possession. It came back to us with failing stabilizer links and a rough engine idle.
The issues with the vehicle did NOT occur while in our possession. They occurred while in the program participants possession.
The bottom line...this program participant was responsible for the repairs to this vehicle and we went above and beyond to help her avoid expensive repairs by offering to upgrade her into a nicer vehicle, with ZERO out-of-pocket costs.
We were shocked when she asked for her initial payment back.
The issues with the vehicle did NOT occur while in our possession. They occurred while in the program participants possession.
The bottom line...this program participant was responsible for the repairs to this vehicle and we went above and beyond to help her avoid expensive repairs by offering to upgrade her into a nicer vehicle, with ZERO out-of-pocket costs.
We were shocked when she asked for her initial payment back.
Documentation
| RTO Agreement.pdf |