Trimax Auto Group, Inc.
10-29-2008, 06:07 AM
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Trimax Auto Group, Inc.
This happened yesterday evening. My girlfriend is currently in the market for a late model used car. One of the car's she happens to be interested in is a 7th gen Celica GT-S. We found one at a good cost at Trimax Auto Group, Inc. just off of Military and Indian River.
It was a '00 Celica GT-S in Super Red II. Car had 124,xxx miles on it, the exterior looked good at a glance but when using the street lights to shine on certain areas you could tell that the plastics were fading and they added something like Black Magic to bring the color back out. The hood of the car had some over spray on it, but in the shape of a V along the contour of the hood, as if there was some vinyl on it before. The rims were all curb checked as well, some rather badly. The gas door had a nice dent in it and the tag lights didn't work (neither of them, and it had a 9/09 inspection sticker).
The sales guy (I forget his name) informs me the car's been well taken care of and is a rare car as it's a GT-S. He also informs me the car is relatively stock with exception of an aftermarket Intake. RED FLAG moment right? So the car is warmed up and I rotate the throttle cam and listen to the engine for a moment. It rattles, a LOT. I'm not talking about just some valve-train noise. I could hear some wrist pin rattle when I release the throttle and the engine unloads. I figure what the hell and we go for a drive.
As the sales guy put it I figured the car would drive fine etc. etc. and it's a good price considering market value for the car. So we go for a quick test drive. As soon as we leave the parking lot I hear "clunk, clunk" from both strut tops, indicating that they're both broke. There's also a lot of vibration coming from the suspension and a droning coming from the tires from one of them being out of round, probably from the blown strut tops.
Either way, we keep driving keeping the engine around 4000rpm. At this rev I can hear the engine rattling and ticking its brains out. The girlfriend is driving since they only copied her license and I have her go back to second gear at about 30mph. It grinds. I tell her to let the engine idle first, THEN go to second, it grinds but then flops into 2nd gear. I tell her to floor it and shift up at redline. She does so and the engine hits the high cam and just makes this god awful valve tapping sound and she immediately gets off. So at this point I have her limp the car back to the dealer fearing the engine dropping a valve on us.
Pulling back into the dealer everyone's got this smirk on their face and they ask "So how was the drive?" and I let them know EVERYTHING.
Needs:
Engine replacement / rebuild
Transmission replacement / rebuild
Strut top and strut replacement
Alignment
Two new front tires
Rear hatch struts
Tag lights
Cleaning the windows switches b/c coffee was spilled in them making it sticky
They have this dumb founded look on their faces like WTF are you serious, esp the middle eastern looking guy who initially asked "How was the drive" expecting me to say "OH IT WAS WONDERFUL!!"
It's at this point that I inform them that I'm a Toyota Certified Technician and worked for 5 years at Charles Barker Toyota. With this new knowledge the sales person asks me THIS..."So, how much would it be to replace the engine?" I tell him about 3k for the motor and between $1k to $2k to install it.
He snags his phone and calls his shop and they quote him $1000 give or take a few hundred to install the drivetrain. He then tells me to "Come into my office, I'll show you a cool website" At this point I'm like..."Oh great, here we go"
I've researched the 2zz-ge engine package before because its a 90% bolt in swap for my MR2, so I'm fully aware of the prices, so I figure WTF maybe he knows something I don't. He goes on to this webpage and shows me his "awesome prices" which end up being $2700 for a low mileage used engine with a 6spd transmission, shipped it comes to $3250...I was like "Didn't I tell you the engine will cost about $3k?"
Here's where it gets WONDERFUL. The sales person then tells me, "If I source the engine for a good price, say $3000 and include that into the price of the car, and you install it. You'd still be getting a great deal since the book value of the car if it has 62kmi (mileage on used engine) is about $10.5k."
All I could think to myself was...Did you just ask your fucking customer to install an engine on a car that isn't supposed to have any problems?? Isn't that why the fuck I came to a used car dealership?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING HERE??? Did he just try to take advantage of the fact that I'm a trained technician and turn that shit into a sale?? At that point we left.
HOLY SHIT that was an encyclopedia. Sorry about that I had to get it off my chest. Anyway, I was really tempted to get the keys to the RX-7 so I could rip on them for that too.
That was probably the WORST sales experience I've ever had in my entire life. I wasn't being an asshole at any point I was just pointing out facts and whatnot and telling them the truth. Here's their webpage through AutoTrader. Trimax Auto Group, Inc.
They advertise... "OVER 35 YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE" I love that line, So they've got 7 employees with 5 years experience each...AWESOME!!
It was a '00 Celica GT-S in Super Red II. Car had 124,xxx miles on it, the exterior looked good at a glance but when using the street lights to shine on certain areas you could tell that the plastics were fading and they added something like Black Magic to bring the color back out. The hood of the car had some over spray on it, but in the shape of a V along the contour of the hood, as if there was some vinyl on it before. The rims were all curb checked as well, some rather badly. The gas door had a nice dent in it and the tag lights didn't work (neither of them, and it had a 9/09 inspection sticker).
The sales guy (I forget his name) informs me the car's been well taken care of and is a rare car as it's a GT-S. He also informs me the car is relatively stock with exception of an aftermarket Intake. RED FLAG moment right? So the car is warmed up and I rotate the throttle cam and listen to the engine for a moment. It rattles, a LOT. I'm not talking about just some valve-train noise. I could hear some wrist pin rattle when I release the throttle and the engine unloads. I figure what the hell and we go for a drive.
As the sales guy put it I figured the car would drive fine etc. etc. and it's a good price considering market value for the car. So we go for a quick test drive. As soon as we leave the parking lot I hear "clunk, clunk" from both strut tops, indicating that they're both broke. There's also a lot of vibration coming from the suspension and a droning coming from the tires from one of them being out of round, probably from the blown strut tops.
Either way, we keep driving keeping the engine around 4000rpm. At this rev I can hear the engine rattling and ticking its brains out. The girlfriend is driving since they only copied her license and I have her go back to second gear at about 30mph. It grinds. I tell her to let the engine idle first, THEN go to second, it grinds but then flops into 2nd gear. I tell her to floor it and shift up at redline. She does so and the engine hits the high cam and just makes this god awful valve tapping sound and she immediately gets off. So at this point I have her limp the car back to the dealer fearing the engine dropping a valve on us.
Pulling back into the dealer everyone's got this smirk on their face and they ask "So how was the drive?" and I let them know EVERYTHING.
Needs:
Engine replacement / rebuild
Transmission replacement / rebuild
Strut top and strut replacement
Alignment
Two new front tires
Rear hatch struts
Tag lights
Cleaning the windows switches b/c coffee was spilled in them making it sticky
They have this dumb founded look on their faces like WTF are you serious, esp the middle eastern looking guy who initially asked "How was the drive" expecting me to say "OH IT WAS WONDERFUL!!"
It's at this point that I inform them that I'm a Toyota Certified Technician and worked for 5 years at Charles Barker Toyota. With this new knowledge the sales person asks me THIS..."So, how much would it be to replace the engine?" I tell him about 3k for the motor and between $1k to $2k to install it.
He snags his phone and calls his shop and they quote him $1000 give or take a few hundred to install the drivetrain. He then tells me to "Come into my office, I'll show you a cool website" At this point I'm like..."Oh great, here we go"
I've researched the 2zz-ge engine package before because its a 90% bolt in swap for my MR2, so I'm fully aware of the prices, so I figure WTF maybe he knows something I don't. He goes on to this webpage and shows me his "awesome prices" which end up being $2700 for a low mileage used engine with a 6spd transmission, shipped it comes to $3250...I was like "Didn't I tell you the engine will cost about $3k?"
Here's where it gets WONDERFUL. The sales person then tells me, "If I source the engine for a good price, say $3000 and include that into the price of the car, and you install it. You'd still be getting a great deal since the book value of the car if it has 62kmi (mileage on used engine) is about $10.5k."
All I could think to myself was...Did you just ask your fucking customer to install an engine on a car that isn't supposed to have any problems?? Isn't that why the fuck I came to a used car dealership?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING HERE??? Did he just try to take advantage of the fact that I'm a trained technician and turn that shit into a sale?? At that point we left.
HOLY SHIT that was an encyclopedia. Sorry about that I had to get it off my chest. Anyway, I was really tempted to get the keys to the RX-7 so I could rip on them for that too.
That was probably the WORST sales experience I've ever had in my entire life. I wasn't being an asshole at any point I was just pointing out facts and whatnot and telling them the truth. Here's their webpage through AutoTrader. Trimax Auto Group, Inc.
They advertise... "OVER 35 YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE" I love that line, So they've got 7 employees with 5 years experience each...AWESOME!!
Last edited by ProbeGT-ZE; 10-29-2008 at 06:10 AM.
10-29-2008, 08:04 AM
#2
Shooting 63's
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Re: Trimax Auto Group, Inc.
You should have beat the shit out of the car.
Are test drivers liable for the actual test drive? I understand a wreck, but what about dropping the tranny, or straight up blowing the damn thing up?
Would have been a better story
Are test drivers liable for the actual test drive? I understand a wreck, but what about dropping the tranny, or straight up blowing the damn thing up?
Would have been a better story
10-29-2008, 10:25 AM
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Re: Trimax Auto Group, Inc.
HOLY WOW... that's worth the read. I can't believe he tried to turn you isntalling the engine into a sale... WTFUX
You should go back and test drive the rx-7 tonight just cuz.
You should go back and test drive the rx-7 tonight just cuz.
10-29-2008, 12:36 PM
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10-29-2008, 03:13 PM
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Re: Trimax Auto Group, Inc.
wow not suprised from them, oh and its a good idea u didnt get the keys to the rx7 i saw them start it one day and it plooms out smoke like a mother!
10-31-2008, 05:56 AM
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Re: Trimax Auto Group, Inc.
Unfortunately, used car dealers pick up junk like this just to have some inventory, verses hand picking decent reliable units. I test drove a 7-series there about 2 months ago, and of course ended up buying one from somewhere else. Make sure you run carfax/autochecks on any used car you are looking at, the one I drove had like 5 owners and was originally owned in Alaska.
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