aamco My car drove into aamco. After the mechanic test drove my car he informed me it would no longer run. I told them to wait until monday to touch my car. sarasota, Florida

I took my car into the aamco on clark road at the end of April 2012. It had been shifting hard every once in a while. I had no problem driving the vehicle and it had not stopped running prior to driving into aamco. I also had the car at an authorized VW dealer 1 day as well as 1 week prior to bringing into aamco for unrelated recalls. Both times my car was at the authorized VW dealership it was test drove by a mechanic and passed safety inspections. I have the paper work to prove this as well as it is in the computer system at VW. I also looked into getting a new VW. My car was appraised for more then I owed on it and I was turned down for a new VW due to my bad credit. This was 1 day prior to bringing it to aamco. It had shifted hard a few times that day, the check engine light was on so I brought it too the local auto parts store. They read the code there and suggested that I bring it to aamco on clark road. I drove my car about 20 min to get to the aamco.I told the men there it had been randomly shifting hard. (It is an automatic). They said they would need to take it for a test drive. I agreed to this. When the man returned from the test drive he said my car would no longer shift out of 3rd gear. (This had never happened before.)They also informed me that it was unsafe to drive my car and said I may die if I drove it. I stressed to them over and over again I just wanted to get my car home and they kept insisting it was unsafe and they were in fear of my life.  I really did not know what to do at this point.  They said they did not know what was wrong with my transmission, but after the test drive the car would no longer run. They told me it would cost $500 to take my transmission out to diagnose it. They said if I agreed to have it repaired at aamco the $500 would be credited to the repairs. If I decided not to use them I could get my car back for the $500 diagnostic fee. They informed me it may cost anywhere up to $6000 to repair my transmission. I told them I did not have that kind of money. They said I could apply for a credit card.  I told them my credit was bad and I knew I would not be approved. At this point they said they would work with me. They said after they diagnosed it, If I agreed to the repairs that they would take a check for a down payment along with several post dated checks that they would cash over a period of time. I agreed to this and signed the paper for $500 to diagnose my transmission. This was the only piece of paper I signed.

After they took my transmission out i received a phone call saying that my transmission was bad. The gave me prices over the phone for rebuilding my transmission as well as purchasing a new one. They also informed me at this point they would not be able to work with me with the post dated check situation. I began to get upset due to the fact the only reason I left my car there was the fact they said they would work with me with the post dated checks. They suggested I apply for a credit card. I told them my credit was bad, I informed them of this before they took the transmission out. I was denied. I told them I don't appreciate them telling me they will work with me, then taking my transmission out and deciding not too. They gave me 3 different options, rebuilding my transmission, purchasing a new transmission, or getting a used VW transmission with the same amount of miles, make and model as my car. The prices ranged from around $3,000 to over $6,000. I never received a written estimate. After expressing to the owner how dissatisfied I was with the fact he said I could write post dated checks, and then taking my transmission out and saying he could not work with me anymore he said maybe there was something he could do. He asked for my checking account number and numbers of checks. He said he worked with a private company and that he may be able to help me at this point.

After taking all of my checking account information as well as check numbers he said he had me approved, but only for 1 job. He said the only job he could do was to get a used vw transmission (the same make, model, year and mileage as my car).I told him I was interested in my other options but he said that was the only one he could do the post dated checks for. I told him I would probably do this and that I would call him on Monday to let him know for sure. He stated to me that there was only 1 of these transmissions in the state of Florida and that if he did not order it now I may loose it. After much pressure from him I told him it was fine to order the part, but to not touch my car until I called him on Monday. Over the weekend I did some research and found many used vw transmissions in the state of Florida. I also found out that my car goes into "safe mode" if the transmission is having problems. It does this as a precaution to do exactly that, get you and your car home safely with out doing more damage.

When I called on Monday they informed me the new transmission was in the car. I went down there and expressed to them that I told them too wait until Monday to touch my car. We began arguing. There was even a yellow post it note on my paperwork that said "call Monday". When I pointed it out to them they took it off and through it in the trash and said unless I was buying their transmission, I was not getting my car back. I told them to take the transmission out and put my old one in. They informed me "we cant do that, your transmission is in a million pieces." I told them I wanted my car back for the $500 I signed for at which point they told me too leave or they would call the cops. I went back to once again get a copy of the paper work I signed, they would not give it to me. I asked for my tags back and they would not give them to me. I asked where my car was and they said it was none of my business and to get off their property or they would call the cops.I then recieved a certified letter that they had a lien on my car and were going to auction it off.My car was going to be paid off in March. I informed VW credit of the situation. They informed me that the bill at aamco was higher then what I owed and that they were leaving it at aamco and sending me the bill for the balance of the loan.