You might think it would be impossible to have a lemon of a vehicle in the world we live in today, but there are still many out there. While you might not want to buy a vehicle on Craigslist or another site that doesn’t exclusively deal in cars, is important that you get to touch, feel, inspect and drive the car you’re about to take home with you before you take it home. Here are some actual horror stories of those who have had the hard learning experience of buying a lemon.
Corrosion Troubles – Winter can offer terrible corrosion and one man purchased a truck from a dealership through an online ad with the request there be no rust or corrosion. Pictures were exchanged and money was sent, but once the truck arrived at the buyer the vehicle had rust on every brake and fuel line which cost him more than $4,000 to replace.
History Report Validation – A car shopper chose to buy a used car from a car lot that showed them a clean vehicle history report. The car started to leak fluid and was taken to a dealership for a warranty repair. This visit showed the windshield reservoir was cracked, the front bumper had been replaced, the radiator was damaged, the frame was bent and the car had been driven without any coolant.
Missing Something – You might find a great deal at an auction, but make sure you can take a look under the hood, under the car and all around. One shopper won the bid on a luxury car at auction and brought it home only to find the car was missing an engine, transmission, radiator, and battery. Contacting the auction didn’t help as the car was sold as-is.
Door Troubles – After purchasing a vehicle that looked good and ran well during the test drive one customer brought their car home to show his girlfriend. Upon opening the passenger door the door nearly fell off in his hand. The car had been in a major accident and the dealership he purchased the vehicle from wouldn’t do anything to help him.
A Luxury Hoopty – The exterior of the Audi A4 looked great, the interior seemed to be right and it drove fine during the test drive. After a few weeks the check engine light came on and the car was taken to an Audi garage for the repair but it turned out the engine had been from a junkyard and was from a completely different model year and the Audi wouldn’t fix it as a warranty issue.
A New Lemon – The problems with this new car started on the first day and thankfully the customer reported it right away. After several attempts at repairs and ride with representatives from the dealership and the brand, the customer was eventually given a new replacement model at no cost to them because they were smart enough to report the issue on the first day it was experienced.
Troublesome Trust – One customer chose to purchase a car from a local mechanic that his family had trusted for many years but found out the car he bought was trouble. After several different parts failed and repairs were done the mechanic agreed to take the car back from the customer. Unfortunately, there probably isn’t any trust left with this mechanic and this family.
A Serious Safety Hazard – The car this customer purchased was in his face a problem; literally. The airbags of this car continued to go off without warning while driving on the road. The dealership wouldn’t do anything to help this customer at all and he had to sell the car for scrap, which is certainly a better choice than to have this unsafe situation continue.
Too Far Gone – Sometimes the lemon is so bad even a mechanic won’t fix it. This customer found that out when they bought a car and several problems popped up quickly. The brakes, suspension, and steering were all shot and the mechanic shop he took it to wouldn’t work on the car. This was the case with several other shops and this car eventually had to be sold for scraps.
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