Messina Motors used car sales Providence, Rhode Island

I responded to an ad for a used F-150 truck for $3450. We saw the truck, took it for a test drive & decided to buy it with the written agreement that the truck would be checked out over the next couple of days and serviced as necessary to pass Massachusetts inspection. Also the agreement was that if there were other problems with transmission or motor within 30 days it was 50% covered for parts & labor. We took the truck in for an inspection sticker and it failed. We then paid the shop in Massachusetts to go through it carefully to determine what made it fail. Very obvious things were wrong - the parking brake was totally frozen & needed replacing, the service engine light was on because of leaking valve gasket, the front end was so loose that it needed several parts to repair, there were several other problems as well that were never picked up on the supposed front-to-back inspection that Messina Motors said they did. We brought the truck back with the list of repairs required just to pass inspection.

Now it was an older truck and we expected that it would have some wear.However there was no reason why these things should have gone unnoticed if it went into the dealership as Messina claims it did before we picked it up. After he had the truck for over a week, we called to find out when it would be ready. He said he had parts on order and they were being put in as they arrived. A few more days went by, we called again. This time he said he wasn't going to sell us the truck because it would never be able to pass inspection without him putting too much money into it. This included the front end that still was so loose after the parts were installed.  However he still had our money and our plates were still on the truck. I asked him to also refund the cost of the inspection sticker, the repair shop fee for 1 hour labor & the registry fees. He refused. I explained that if they had gone through the truck as they claimed to have done they would have seen that it would not pass inspection and they would not have sold it to us. We spent over $400 to get the truck on the road (including a month's worth of insurance) only to find out it was junk & wouldn't pass inspection as they had agreed it would when they sold it to us. BEWARE of this dealer he is neither fair nor honest.