Public Motors

Review: When purchasing a Toyota Yaris 2010 from Public Motors, my husband and I were told that the car has a clean title and has never been in an accident; in addition, it has been a subject to a vigorous inspection.

However, we were stranded on the road mere four days after the purchase because the cable connecting the battery to the engine had been severed. During the replacement of this cable, our mechanic discovered that the car has been in a major accident, and the whole left side of the body was replaced. The repairs are obvious to a professional mechanic, but not to us, first-time buyers. None of this was disclosed to us; at the time of the sale we were presented with a clean vehicle report and verbal assurances. This is fraudulent, as the car has been compromised and as a result, it has a dramatically lower value.

Our attempts to reach a satisfactory resolution with the dealership have been unsuccessful; they do not recognize any fault or responsibility for the condition of the car, and they would not admit to the fraud. We have attempted to reach them on 6 occasions (the first time on Aug.2: we physically went to the dealership regarding the severed cable, but we were turned away as the mechanics were not there past 12pm), and every time after that (August 6th at 7pm, August 7th at 11:30am, August 8th at 11am, and August 11th at 10:30am and 1pm), the call was either dropped, or nobody got back to us. The only "conversation" was via a mediator who was going between the phone and the sales office.

There were other dishonest practices during the sales process, but we would discuss them with the Revdex.com upon further request.Desired Settlement: We are happy to return the car to the seller; we have even fixed the mechanical damage which came with it upon the sell (not covered by the warranty). We would like a full reimbursement.

We are also happy to keep the car, but get a fair refund for the difference between the price of a car with clean title and a car with a previous severe body damage. That exact difference can be estimated by a neutral third party.

Business

Response:

We apologize for the lack of communication from our sales staff. I would like to take the oppurtunity to introduce myself. My name is [redacted] and I work directly with our service department. We would like to have the chance to set up an appointment to further diagnose your concerns. After determing the physical and mechanical damage of your vehicle we can negotiate a solution to rectify the concerns. Our appointments are set from M-Th of the week. Currently we only have Thursday of next week 8/21/14 available. If this day does not work for you, we will have to set up an appointment for the follow week which would be the week of the 25th of August.

A lot of times, people who are involved in an accident, do not report it to an insurance company or the DMV. Therefore, we or any other dealership may not be aware of any past accidents, therefore we are unable to disclose it to you, the purchaser. We rely on all AutoChecks we run on all our vehicles and the DMV report you signed at the time of sale. This DMV report discloses any title or accident records that have been reported.

Please contact me via email or phone to set up a service appointment or discuss your complaint in more detail. My email address is [redacted]

Best regards,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] The business has offered a meeting on Aug. 21 to discuss the issue further. Since I do not know what the outcome of that meeting would be, I would like to keep the case open until that meeting has passed.

Thank you for your assistance so far!

Regards,