PreOwned Car Shoppers Beware (Especially if Your Credit Isn't Perfect)!
(from the Better Business Bureau)
IF YOU BOUGHT A CAR HERE YOU'D BE PISSED-OFF BY NOW!
A Better Business Bureau study of the preowned car industry in eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois found "some dealers are taking advantage of buyers with poor credit by selling cheap vehicles that don’t last 30 days. In some cases, the vehicles barely got out of dealers’ lots before they broke down."
The study listed the 10 worst. These got the most complaints at the BBB in the past three years (2007-10?) and also earned a rating of D or F. In order of most complaints first:
- Ken’s American Motors, 3001 Camp Jackson Rd., East St. Louis, Ill. – 126 (F)
- Car Credit City, 12750 St. Charles Rock Rd., Bridgeton, Mo. – 64 (D)
- Insta Credit Auto Mart, 1690 Magnolia Dr., O’Fallon, Mo.; 910 N. Bluff Rd., Collinsville, Ill., and 1807 W. Highway 50, O’Fallon, Ill. – 52 (F)
- A & E Auto Sales, 3338 Camp Jackson Rd., East St. Louis, Ill. – 50 (F)
- St. Louis Car Credit, (a/k/a Preowned Auto Sales), 2111 and 2766 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, Mo. – 43 (F)
- Auto Centers of St. Louis, 1350 N. Lindbergh Blvd., Florissant, Mo. – 41 (D)
- Auto Buy Credit, 10250 W. Florissant Ave., and 4101 Chippewa St., St. Louis, Mo. - 31 (F)
- Auto Depot LLC, 10059 St. Charles Rock Rd., St. Ann, Mo. - 30 (F)
- Auto Credit Mart LLC, 8440 St. Charles Rock Rd., St. Louis, Mo. – 28 (D)
- Paylater Auto Sales, 2916 Camp Jackson Rd., East St. Louis, Ill. – 28 (F)
The BBB advises preowned car shoppers to do the following:
- Check the Buyer’s Guide - usually posted in the window - for any warranty information. Do not rely on verbal promises not specified in the guide.
- Before buying a car, take it to a mechanic for an independent inspection.
- Insist that the dealer provide you with a copy of the Buyer’s Guide, as required by law.
- If you buy a car “as is,” there is no guarantee that it won’t be useless the next day.
- If you buy a car in Missouri, do NOT sign a “junk” or salvage affidavit. If you do, you forfeit your right to have the dealer pay for a safety inspection and pay for repairs if the car fails emissions testing.
- A safety inspection does not guarantee that the car is reliable.
BTW, did you notice fully one-half of these sweethearts named their company so as to pander to people with bad credit?!
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