Bought a certified used car from dealer. Red flags made me cautious but was ultimately fooled by the certified inspection. Salesmen said it hadn't been wrecked and used the certification and the car fax to relieve my concerns.

Purchased car and drove it off the lot. On the way home, wouldn't you know it I have an accident with driver side door damage only.

Take it to a separate collision repair only to find out that it has been repaired and repainted just about everywhere. The collision repair is shocked that it was certified and encouraged me to take it back to the dealer before repairing.

so I call the dealer to notify them of the situation. They ignore my call all day so I drive it to the place 8 hours after my first call. Salesman says only the general manager can make the decision on what to do and he isn't in until Monday. He says it's now complicated with my accident and they generally would just replace the car with another of my choosing. However the GM needs to make the ultimate decision. but he encourages me to look at their used car lot and spot a replacement car to swap before I meet with his GM.

Anybody know my options or have experienced something similar?

Did you check the car fax? I'd be pissed but if it's certified I guess it doesn't make much difference.

This is in California.

Dealer provided car fax report.

What does the manufacturer's CPO language say? If they have it in writing that certification means no wrecks this seems pretty cut and dry, but you may have to threaten to go to the manufacturer with your issue which would likely get the dealership in trouble.

The CPO language breaks it down into 156 inspection points. In several of the areas inspected, it asks if it was found to be in original condition to which the answers are yes, n/a or repaired. Of all the areas where there are signs of repair, the answer is yes and not repaired.

According to the collision repair, those areas either have body plugs, dirt nibs and/or dry spots.

The area it gets complicated is I further damaged the vehicle. However, without the accident, I would not have known that I was sold a car that should not have passed a certified inspection.

What brand is this? You may need to contact the regional rep but yes, the current condition of the car is very problematic for you and the dealer. You should expect to need to get the car repaired to the condition they sold it to you in.

Audi purchased in Southern California

I would imagine California has more strict consumer protection laws than most states so that should work in your favor. Do you know if you are the original CPO owner or was it previously bought CPO and you are just inheriting the remainder of the CPO coverage? If it's the latter it is possible the previous wreck/repair happened after it was certified and you may be out of luck. If it was just certified prior to your purchase you have a better case.

Your accident does cloud things, but if a third party mechanic verifies that many areas have been repaired when the checklist explicitly says they haven't then you should have a leg to stand on. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

I am the second owner....so I assume the certification was done by the dealer I purchased from. However I am not certain of that.

The dealer is giving me signs that they know they tried to get away with something. Supposed to meet the GM of the dealership tomorrow and I will update the thread.

I bought an ecoboost Flex for my wife at Autonation Katy certified with a clean carfax. A couple of years later I got rear ended at high speed. My Insco told me that it had been wrecked before. That there is a database that is only accessible for Insco, that showed it as previously wrecked.

aggieforester05 said:

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I bought an ecoboost Flex for my wife at Autonation Katy certified with a clean carfax. A couple of years later I got rear ended at high speed. My Insco told me that it had been wrecked before. That there is a database that is only accessible for Insco, that showed it as previously wrecked.

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Typical AN Katy.

Update: salesman avoided me all day yesterday and an appointment with GM has yet to be scheduled. I've left multiple messages with none returned.

Planning to take tomorrow off and sit at the dealership all day until the GM sees me. I have about 10 days left of my 30 days since purchasing the vehicle.

I'd consider going this route as well (or something similar): https://www.nbclosangeles.com/consumer-form/

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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aggieforester05 said:

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I bought an ecoboost Flex for my wife at Autonation Katy certified with a clean carfax. A couple of years later I got rear ended at high speed. My Insco told me that it had been wrecked before. That there is a database that is only accessible for Insco, that showed it as previously wrecked.

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Typical AN Katy.

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Same. Had a customer that bought their CPO vehicle from AutoNation in Katy last year and had a clean carfax they gave him. When I pulled the info it showed a wreck right before he bought it. AN unloaded it before it showed on carfax. Needless to say my customers were a little upset.

Certification states for each section of the car if it meets Audi certification standards (not clearly defined). Each question has the following answers: Yes / No / Repaired / N/A.

The dealer then has to sign stating that if repaired that the repair was performed by a certified Audi technicians using Audi parts.

So by then not checking repaired on areas that has obvious signs of repair, it's my take they misrepresented the vehicles condition.

It took the outside collision repair shop 30 seconds to figure out the car had been repaired.

Have a meeting with the GM of the dealership in. The morning. He finally spoke to me today but it took 30 minutes for him to agree to meet me. He argued for the first 30 saying that a certification doesn't mean it hasn't had damage or repairs. He couldn't answer specific questions and said he didn't even know what a body plug was .

These guys are not good people.

uneedastraw said:

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Bought a certified used car from dealer. Red flags made me cautious but was ultimately fooled by the certified inspection.

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What were the red flags you were concerned with before you bought it?

Complete Idiot said:

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I'd consider going this route as well (or something similar): https://www.nbclosangeles.com/consumer-form/

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I agree with the idiot above.
The dealer is just milking the clock and doesn't intend to take it back, or make it right. You need to involve state agencies asap, or you will get stuck with the car.

Tumble Weed said:

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Complete Idiot said:

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I'd consider going this route as well (or something similar): https://www.nbclosangeles.com/consumer-form/

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I agree with the idiot above.
The dealer is just milking the clock and doesn't intend to take it back, or make it right. You need to involve state agencies asap, or you will get stuck with the car.

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But 1agswitchin4lanes has a good point - it may not even be in writing that it can't be damaged, CPO may just guarantee everything is in good working order and not that it's never been repaired. You should double check that, see if it states no accidents guaranteed. If they advertised "clean carfax" and in fact it wasn't, may have something there as well.

All CPO inspections are different for every manufacturer but most don't omit the allowance of damage on a vehicle. As stated before most disallow vehicles with carfax's of air bag deployment, severe damage reported, branded title, buyback/lemon and flood etc.

However, minor accident, damage reported and accident reported are allowed to most degrees if disclosed. State by state law differs in what needs to be disclosed but a reputable place will
Hopefully disclose all they know.

Lexus for a long time would allow anything equal to or less than 2 adjacent panels painted/repaired. That may have changed since I was with them. Infiniti is pretty loose with previous paint as is Mercedes-Benz as long as they don't fall into the above area of severe carfax reports.

We do our absolute best to catch all previous work and definitely disclose the work we do but I've seen some work so good you're not going to catch it without a tear down of some sort and you're just not doing that with an inspection unless you're chasing an issue unrelated. However, I've been in their situation with every attempt to conduct business in a fashion there are no surprises for the customer. Stuff happens.. delaying the discussion from a store standpoint never helps your case with a customer. These things have to be attended to promptly and decisively.

Your current accident definitely clouds the situation greatly though. I'll reach out to my Audi guys and see if there is anything fine print about previous repairs to help you.

Red flags were low mileage for a 2015 (28k miles); no real history of the vehicle and it came from Florida.

I verbalized my concerns in which they used the crrrtification to calm. They said multiple times that the car would not have been wrecked. Of course, this is just a salesman trying to sell a car.

However, the certification language is clear.

For each section in the certification, if it has been repaired, the technician is supposed to check repaired and then sign that the repair was performed by an authorized Audi technician with authorized Audi parts.

By them verbalizing to me that it had not been wrecked, using the certification to support it and by the technician not noting that sections had prior repair, they misrepresented the facts that a reasonable buyer would have expected an authorized Audi dealer to have known.

Again, it took less than 30 seconds for a collision repair guy to notice signs of repair and to further investigate.

TitanAGGIE09 said:

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Your current accident definitely clouds the situation greatly though. I'll reach out to my Audi guys and see if there is anything fine print about previous repairs to help you.

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I don't believe it clouds anything after some thought. I need to repair the damage to a condition prior to the accident. The fact remains I purchased a vehicle represented with no prior damage that was in fact a misrepresentation.

Complete Idiot said:

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Tumble Weed said:

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Complete Idiot said:

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I'd consider going this route as well (or something similar): https://www.nbclosangeles.com/consumer-form/

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I agree with the idiot above.
The dealer is just milking the clock and doesn't intend to take it back, or make it right. You need to involve state agencies asap, or you will get stuck with the car.

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But 1agswitchin4lanes has a good point - it may not even be in writing that it can't be damaged, CPO may just guarantee everything is in good working order and not that it's never been repaired. You should double check that, see if it states no accidents guaranteed. If they advertised "clean carfax" and in fact it wasn't, may have something there as well.

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CPO language does not clearly define.

However each section has a question with the subject line of the answers stating "meets Audi requirements" yes / no / repaired / n/a.

This represents to me that if there are signs of repair, the repair box should be checked. Then at the bottom where they sign, the language states: "all items checked repaired have been thoroughly inspected and been repaired by a certified Audi technician with genuine Audi approved parts."

This might apply

https://www.dmv.org/ca-california/automotive-law/lemon-law.php

aggiepaintrain said:

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This might apply

https://www.dmv.org/ca-california/automotive-law/lemon-law.php

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Used car. No protections on Lemon Law

Further inspection shows passenger side was just paintless dent repair.

There was prior damage / repair to the rear panel on the driver side and the driver side was repainted poorly.

No frame damage.

Independent body shop won't lifetime warranty the paint due to previous defects.

Best I can get them to agree to is to refinish and repaint driver side rocker panel at their cost.

Dealer swears that it still would pass certification and he doesn't expect his technicians to know that there had been damage.

Bottom line is it obviously was repainted and repaired due to the body plug and the paint readings so I don't know how he can say that he can't expect his technicians to know.

So I either choose to fight them to refund my money and return the vehicle or it get it repaired for my damage and then take it back to them to refinish and repaint rocker panel.

uneedastraw said:

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Complete Idiot said:

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Tumble Weed said:

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Complete Idiot said:

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I'd consider going this route as well (or something similar): https://www.nbclosangeles.com/consumer-form/

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I agree with the idiot above.
The dealer is just milking the clock and doesn't intend to take it back, or make it right. You need to involve state agencies asap, or you will get stuck with the car.

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But 1agswitchin4lanes has a good point - it may not even be in writing that it can't be damaged, CPO may just guarantee everything is in good working order and not that it's never been repaired. You should double check that, see if it states no accidents guaranteed. If they advertised "clean carfax" and in fact it wasn't, may have something there as well.

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CPO language does not clearly define.

However each section has a question with the subject line of the answers stating "meets Audi requirements" yes / no / repaired / n/a.

This represents to me that if there are signs of repair, the repair box should be checked. Then at the bottom where they sign, the language states: "all items checked repaired have been thoroughly inspected and been repaired by a certified Audi technician with genuine Audi approved parts."

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I don't think that's what the form means. It most likely is meant to indicate the condition as to whether or not the had to do a repair in order to get it to meet audi requirements for CPO. Like if there was a damaged interior part and they replaced it, it would indicate "repaired" there. I don't think its reasonable for you to think they're going to indicate whether or not anything on the car had EVER been repaired.

The bodywork when they indicated it had never been in a wreck is shady, but I don't think you're going to get anywhere with the inspection report.

If you can find a version of a carfax that shows the wreck, or if you can figure out where the work was done. If it was a minor accident, see if you can squeak some money out of them and move on.

Agreed on the has it ever been repaired statement.

However, the paint reader machine clearly shows additional paint and with the body plug in that area, it is reasonable to expect that they would further research and determine it was repaired.

The dealer has agreed to refinish and repaint the rocker panel but they will not pay me any money. They want my damage repaired which requires the collision repair shop to repaint and then bring it to them to refinish and repaint the rocker panel.

Sounds stupid to me but I think I'm chasing my own tail here. This will require a lawyer which I don't think is worth at this point.

uneedastraw said:

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Agreed on the has it ever been repaired statement.

However, the paint reader machine clearly shows additional paint and with the body plug in that area, it is reasonable to expect that they would further research and determine it was repaired.

The dealer has agreed to refinish and repaint the rocker panel but they will not pay me any money. They want my damage repaired which requires the collision repair shop to repaint and then bring it to them to refinish and repaint the rocker panel.

Sounds stupid to me but I think I'm chasing my own tail here. This will require a lawyer which I don't think is worth at this point.

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Online reviews are your friend.

Be truthful and factual and have all your information ready to back up your claims.

Very negative reviews on Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp, etc can get their attention more than anything. Especially Google My Business because it will show up anytime someone searches for that business.

Are we talking about an RS7 or R8 or is this a A3?

Ha.....A3...hence the reason I'm not wasting anymore time on this amdnI dripped it off to get repaired and am done with it.

RS7 / R8 and they'd have the car sitting in their lot right now.