AutoNation Toyota Weston - did they manipulate my wife to take delivery?

Bottom Line Up Front - bought a truck from Autonation, out of state; I'm deployed overseas; wife flew out to pick it up; truck had a lot of undisclosed damage; dealer said they would fix bumper (they are) and recondition paint to their standard (they are NOT).

My wife and I decided it was time to get a truck. We were in the market for a 2016 or newer Toyota Tacoma SR5 with an out-the-door price no more than $24,000. I already had financing pre-approved through my credit union, so it was just a matter of finding the right truck at a price we were willing to pay. After a couple of weeks of hunting, we found a 2016 Tacoma SR5 that was a certified pre-owned (CPO) at AutoNation Toyota Weston, just outside of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I contacted the dealership and was put in touch with Dimitry Y., one of the used car sales managers at this location. He was pleasant to deal with on the phone.

I am currently in the military deployed to the Middle East, so my wife was going to be the one picking up the truck, regardless of where we purchased it. One of the first questions I asked Dimitry was if he had any issues working with out-of-state customers. He said he had no issue with that. I told him that if we went through with this deal, my wife would be flying from Arizona to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up the truck and drive it home. He said he was fine with that, too. So far, so good. As a bonus, my wife has always wanted to go to Miami, so she was going to make this a pleasure-trip as much as picking up a truck she was super excited about buying. I was truly happy that she would be getting two well-deserved rewards for taking care of the homestead while I am away.

I work out the deal with Dimitry and he starts sending me the paperwork. This is when I should have listened to my gut. Three separate times, he sent me an unsigned bill of sale, and each time I had to call him back, internationally, to get him to resend it. When he finally sent the correct one, the lines with the subtotals were so dark that the bank could not read the scans that I emailed them. The process of just buying the truck took me almost five hours of babysitting my computer in my office until about midnight. I finally got confirmation from my credit union that everything was good and that they would overnight the check to the dealership the next day.

My wife purchased her plane ticket and we arranged for Sophie, the salesperson that was assisting Dimitry, to pick my wife up from the airport. Sadly, this was the only part of the deal that went off without a hitch. To Sophie’s credit, she was extremely friendly and a delight to work with.

Before my wife departed the house for the airport, I texted Sophie to verify should would be at the Ft. Lauderdale airport to pick her up, which she confirmed she would be. I also asked her, “BTW, I forgot to ask, how is the body and paint on the truck? I noticed (*in the pictures on the dealer’s website*) the bed liner was in kind of rough shape, so I figured this was probably a work truck.” Sophie replied, “Everything’s ok. If you want I can have them inspect it one more time before Andrea arrives.” I said that would be great, and if it has light scratches, could she find out how much it would cost to have her detail people buff it out. She said, “Light scratches they’ll fix.” I told her “cool”, and she said she would “get right on it”.

About three hours later, prior to my wife’s flight arriving, I texted Sophie to ask if the dealership received the check, and how the paint looked. She verified that they did receive the check, and, “Paint looks great. The paint looks great too. I took the car to get detailed this morning.” I replied, “Awesome, that’s a relief.” Sophie said that she would have Andrea inspect it when they got back to the dealership. If there was anything she didn’t like, Sophie would have them fix it before she leaves.

The two women arrive at the dealership. From what my wife told me, everything went ok until it was time for her to actually get the keys and leave. This is when someone from the finance department (she does not remember his name) refused to let her take delivery because she did not have a power of attorney. She was not signing any loans on my behalf. As far as the dealership was concerned, she was simply picking up a truck for another person, for which she had written and verbal permission from the owner (me) for her to do. They basically held my wife hostage at this dealership for an hour and half, without even trying to contact me, before they decided it was okay for her to leave! She was very irate by the time she left.

I had reserved a hotel for her just a couple of miles from AutoNation Toyota Weston since I knew it would be evening time before she finished the deal. She got to the hotel and called me. While we were on the phone, she said the back bumper did not look right. She sent me some pictures and I could plainly see that the right bumper cap on the rear bumper was darn near pushed into the body below the tail light! Then, she walks around to give it a good, up close inspection, and starts seeing numerous scratches of varying length and depth, with three or four that had paint removed down to the primer. (Disclosure – I misinterpreted the bumper pics and thought that the driver-side bumper cap had a larger-than-normal gap. This is what I had originally texted Dimitry that the problem was).

I tried to call Dimitry but could not get ahold of him, so I called Sophie and told her that my wife would be coming back to the dealership first thing in the morning. At no point during this process did they tell me that the bumper was damaged, and I was specifically told that the paint looks great and that the detail shop would take care of light scratches. It was clear to my wife and I that the body shop had not touched the paint.

Lesson learned – even if the vehicle is at a “reputable” dealership, get it inspected before assuming they are being honest with you. Who would have thought that an AutoNation dealership would have let a vehicle be sold in this condition, and misrepresent its damage in the process?

The next morning, my wife went back to the dealership. My wife found Dimitry outside and showed him the bumper. He crawled underneath to have a look. He said it was “just a bracket” and that she could just take it to another AutoNation dealership where we live and they would fix it and charge it back to his dealership. He then left and my wife went back to the truck and called me to tell me the situation.

I asked her if he put it in writing. Naturally, he did not. I started called and texting Dimitry multiple times on his cell and office but he would not respond. I got in touch with Sophie who was still an hour from coming into work. My wife waited in the parking lot until she arrived. Sophie tried to talk to Dimitry, but she said he would not even speak with her. After another hour or more of myself, my wife, and Sophie trying to get Dimitry to put the repair of the bumper and scratches on a work order, he finally gave my wife an AN work order that said “repair rear bumper”. Unfortunately (and as was his habit), he did not sign it. I made Sophie got back in and have him sign it so my wife could get out of there.

Throughout this whole process, I was keeping my dad in the loop on what was going on. He has been in the car business his whole life and worked for AutoNation for 20 years, retiring as an internet sales manager for a dealership in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. He was ready to drive down to rip Dimitry a new one, but I told him not to. My wife was also telling her parents what was happening. This was causing my wife a lot of extra stress. Long story short, what was supposed to be a very happy and enjoyable time for her became a distraught, migraine-inducing nightmare. She could not wait to get the hell out of there. The silver-lining is that she ended up having to stay an extra day in the area, so she was able to take advantage. I put her up in a hotel on South Beach, which helped her feelings a little bit.

It did not help my feelings knowing that my wife got manipulated by Dimitry at AutoNation Toyota Weston to take delivery of a car that had several thousand dollars of undisclosed paint and body damage. He did this knowing that I have no way of directly influencing the situation, even at home with the AN dealership where the repairs are supposed to take place.

I left a 2-star rating on both Cars.com and Google reviews about the transaction up to this point. I got a reply “from the dealer” a couple of days later to call the General Manager and he would help me out. I tried called on multiple occasions over the course of two to three weeks. I only ever got his voicemail. I left several messages, but never got a call back from him. I did get a sheepish call from Dimitry the day he got back from his vacation (one week after my wife took delivery) that he would have the bumper and paint looked at. He did tell me on the phone that he wanted to avoid painting panels. I do not really care what he does or does not want to do. Had I known the paint was in this bad of shape, I would not have purchased the truck to begin with.

I call the only AutoNation (AN) dealership in Tucson to arrange for my wife to get the Tacoma repaired. The service manager tells me that because they are in a different region, he will not be able to bill the repair directly back to the Weston, FL AutoNation dealership. I call Dimitry and relay the info, and ask if I can just work directly with the collision center that does the work for AN. He agrees, so I call the collision center and speak with the manager. I explain what was going on and asked if he would be willing to bill AN Weston the same rate he bills AN Tucson. He said that would be no problem, and for my wife bring the truck by for an estimate.

A few days later she takes the truck over to the collision center. The collision manager does a thorough walk around, takes tons of pictures, and marks up the truck with the pink crayons they use to highlight damage. It looked like a bunch of 4-year-olds were given a box of pink crayons and free reign to mark up the truck. The total estimate for paint work was over $6800. That included about 2.5 hours of labor to remove the rear bumper assembly so he could inspect exactly how much damage was done to the bumper and give a proper estimate for the bumper.

The estimate was sent over to Dimitry. Surprisingly, nobody heard anything from him for a few days. The collision manager finally got a call from Dimitry and was told that he was declining the repair, and that all he was going to do was pay for a bumper bracket. I texted Dimitry over the course of three days asking what the status was. I finally got a reply (after leaving another angry message on the GM’s voicemail) that,

“Per corporate, I am to get in touch with the used car department director at AutoNation Honda of Tucson and have him look the vehicle over with their service department manager and get an estimate for acceptable reconditioning and bumper which is confirmed now to be only a bracket and set up a loner (sic) for your wife for the two days it will take for the completion of the job. The estimate from the collision center was declined due to overstatement of repairs. It is outside of acceptable reconditioning requirements for a pre-owned vehicle of the model year and miles as per AutoNation Certification standards.”

I replied, “I’m curious how anybody can confirm that the bumper damage is “only a bracket” when nobody from your service or collision department has inspected it. Please explain”. No reply.

Last Thursday I took it upon myself to call the AN Tucson used car director and see what Dimitry had arranged. Not surprisingly, the Tucson director had no idea what I was talking about. I gave him Dimitry’s contact info, and I setup a time for my wife to bring the truck over for inspection. I called the collision manager back (who works at a different location from the AN dealership), and he was kind enough to agree to be present when the inspection took place to help get this sorted out.

My wife took the truck over to the AN dealership yesterday (8/19/19) for inspection. They ended up keeping the truck and taking her back home. The dealership did not have any loaner vehicles, but we have another car, so it was not bother for her to not get a loaner. At this point, I am not sure what the dealer is going to cover, and I am really frustrated that I am not home to be able to handle this in person.

Before anybody says it – no, I did not have the vehicle inspected beforehand. I should have, but I wrongly assumed that AutoNation vehicles were up to a higher standard or they would at least tell me the actual condition of the vehicle. It turns out that neither of those cases are true.

I have screenshots of the dealer pics, the text exchanges between me and Sophie (paint condition), me and Dimitry (business dealings), the pics that my wife sent me after she noticed the damages, and the estimate from the collision center.

I would like for Dimitry and his GM, David Mathews, to have a little integrity and stand behind the word of their employees and not behave like they run some two-bit sleazy used-car lot. I am realistic, however; I do not expect a full paint job. I would like for the scratches that go down into the paint and primer to be properly repaired, and to have the truck buffed to minimize the light surface scratches. Obviously the bumper must be fully repaired. There will be no compromises on that. Am I out of line in my expectations?

8/20, 2248 local/1248 PST - I sent an email to the collision center to ask what Dimitry had authorized. The manager replied that the only thing authorized was the bumper repair.

PS: To add insult to injury – it has been six weeks and my bank still has not received the title documentation from the dealership. Part of the most recent message I left with the GM, David Mathews, was that the temporary tag had expired and that my wife had to pay an extra $50 to get an extension on the temp tag!

I got a call from AN Toyota Weston about three hours ago that the tag would be overnighted today and received by my wife tomorrow. I am not holding my breath.

 

Only suggestion I have is next time hold a vehicle with a credit card and never give them access to full payment until you have seen the vehicle in person. Bring the check with you to the dealership, that way they have no choice if they want to sell the vehicle but to fix it.

 

You did a lot of things right and some things wrong. The best thing you could have done was let your father who worked for 20 years for Autonation drive or at least call and "help" with the situation. I suspect he would have been able to see through the smokescreen and cut through the BS that was flying. And to be honest, it is probably not too late for him to help out. Try calling the owner or the overall General Manager for the dealership. Dimitry is probably a used car salesperson with a glorified title. Someone is above him. Keep climbing the ladder.

 

I have tried contacting the GM at least a dozen times and have left no less than five messages. I did call AutoNation corporate office last week and left a complaint. I received a follow up email from them, but no action has been taken.

I am highly disappointed in my experience dealing with AutoNation. I doubt I would ever but another vehicle from them again.

Concerning help from my father... my aunt, who has been battling cancer for the last three years, went into hospice last week. He is currently out of town to be with her and the family. I am not going to bother him with my situation.

 

Fuck AutoNation. Sorry to hear about your troubles with them, but from what I've heard from their employees on this coast, it's par for the course. They are a shady outfit, with "good" employees leaving en masse like rats fleeing a sinking ship. AutoNation only reinforces the stereotype that all car sales lots and employees are unscrupulous thieves.



Before I bought my current Taco, I went to look at a '07 Tacoma TRD-OR (access cab, 6MT, Speedway Blue, 150k miles) that an AutoNation locally had listed for $13k. Looked great in pictures, and clean CarFax with decent service history. I worked with the internet sales manager, they seemed helpful at first. I had pre-approval in writing from my credit union, they were persistent on running my credit anyway. They put the truck on hold for me, until I could go check it out in person - glad I did.

After a couple days of back 'n forth emails/calls, I finally got to go look at it. The good? Reinforced camper shell w/roof rails, 3" lift, headers, new 265/75 KO2s. The bad? 4WD didn't work, the clutch was worn out, clearcoat was almost entirely burnt off the camper shell, the front bumper was barely hanging on, there was no paint left on the door sills [yes bare metal], and 3 broken mudflaps. Still had mud stuck to parts of the chassis. It also had two open recalls (leaf springs, and I think clockspring?). Overall it was intact but definitely showing signs of being used hard and put away wet.

I showed & explained what was up with the truck to the sales manager, and told them I'd still buy it if it had cosmetic issues *or* mechanical issues, but not both. Please adjust the price accordingly, or fix the broken 4WD and put in a new clutch. They refused to budge a single penny on price, also refused to repair anything "It's as-is, AutoNation policy". As we stood there; across the street was the Toyota dealership, and I mentioned it would behoove them to send it over and get the recalls handled as it's free - they said nope, let the new owner deal with it.

I walked. That truck was gone within a week, but not to me. I was bummed at the time, as that cab/color/package combo was exactly what I wanted, but in hindsight? That truck was a deal for an unsuspecting/uneducated buyer - exactly what they wanted and [I'm guessing] they eventually got.

 

Well, that makes sense then that he is not involved. Then again, it may make him feel good to help out when you are so far away and unable to do as much as you would like. It may even give him a reason to feel good in the middle of a not great feeling situation. But you know all the specifics of your family and what challenges everyone is facing so I am sure you will do what is best. Sometimes the hardest situation to deal with is one where you know you are not being treated fairly but there is nothing you can do. You can try a little media pressure if they have a FB page and post to there but I suspect if you did they would block you in short order. Regardless, best of luck with the situation and I will send good thoughts and hope for the best possible outcome regarding your Aunt.

 

TBH, I started to read this thread & then realized just how long it was. Then I scrolled aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way down just so I could tell you that you went too in depth & you won't get much feedback. Good luck w/whatever it is you typed an essay about!

 

I know, I went a little overboard with the details. Even still, I could have added even more info that is pertinent.

Edit: added a Bottom Line Up Front at the beginning.

 

First mistake was buying a used car from a guy named “Dimitry”...

 

Those scratches are minimal and expected for a USED vehicle.. even though I would also be hoping for perfection. One of the pics shows the clear protection film on the front of the bed with white wax residue on it. The bumper doesn’t look bad at all, and a lot of tacos have an un square bed from the factory which is all you may have.

All in all, doesn’t look too bad and depending on price you are likely still ahead.

And thank you for serving for us.

 

In all seriousness, I’m shocked that you couldn’t find a suitable one much closer to home. These things aren’t exactly rare.

 

AutoNation is the WORST place in the world to buy a vehicle NEW or USED!

 

My gripe isn't that it has scratches. It's that I was told twice that it did not have scratches, and when my wife and I called them on the scratches and bumper, we were told it would be taken care of when she got the truck back home. They are doing the bumper repair right now, but the dealer wouldn't even foot the bill to buff it out, which they ordinarily would do before selling it anyway.

My wife and I were lied to. I would like them to have a bit of integrity and own up to their mistakes.

 

Unfortunately, unlikely. Once you are out the door they have moved onto the next customer. I always recommend getting everything you want done before you pay and take delivery. YOU hold all the power until the vehicle is paid for. Once they have it paid for their pace turns to glacial. You will be shocked at how quickly things can get done when getting it done is what stands between the vehicle being sold or sitting on the lot.

 

Update 1 - I got an email from AutoNation corporate a couple of days ago asking if I had met with the General Manager yet. I replied, asking "Are you serious right now? We live in Arizona (dealership is in Florida), and I am deployed". There is some kind of disconnect in communication within their system, or the customer service rep simply does not comprehend what is going on.

Update 2 - My wife did get it into the collision center in our town and got the bumper fixed. I paid out of pocket to buff the truck. I am so let down by this company. I wish I could still return this truck.