Momentum BMW BMW Car dealership hiding previous car accident information to unsuspecting buyer Houston Texas

 RE: a used 2009 BMW 328i purchased in 2011 at Momentum BMW with the Address: 10002 Southwest Fwy, Houston, TX 77074 I bought this used (“pre-owned certified”) car on 02/05/2011 with a “clean” CarFax report with no previous owner and was a loaner car. At the time I agreed to purchase it I asked them to verify again that this car was cleaned and had no previous accident, because if there were, I would not buy it. So as a result, I bought it. August 2012 when I tried to refinance the car and got the appraisal value with the intention either to sell it or to trade it in for another car, nothing was mentioned to me about the changes on the CarFax. I kept the car until now. Because of many financial difficulties I am going through right now with 2 jobs (one is my own business) and with the plan to pursue medical school next year, on 09/28/2013(Saturday) I decided to sell my car to save money. I took it back to above BMW trying to sell it to them. The value, of course, is not high and something was brought up where the “rear door got repainted.” Then I was explained that before they sold the car it would have to be touched up here and there, etc., and if the repair was less than $1000 it’s not required by law to report it. CarFax was not shown to me at this time.

Next day I decided to take my car to 2 different dealerships and found out there was an “accident” on my Carfax and Autocheck reports. I became frustrated. What showed on the reports was the accident took place on 07/06/2009, I bought the car on 02/05/2011, the accident information got reported by Carfax on 09/15/2011. I went back to BMW questioning why was there such a time difference between the time I bought the car vs. the accident and did not get report until 09/2011. The sales manager said they will look at the case and call me on Monday which is 09/30/2013. Because of how much frustration I am going through right now, I ended up doing my own research and found out that dealerships can buy their cars through auction, fix them up and sell them. With cars that had been in accidents, what they can do to trick customers is by taking advantage of the lag time the accident get reported to CarFax by selling the car out to the public as “clean” Carfax.

This is a fraud action with the intent to take advantage of the customers. CarFax even though it’s like a credit card report, it’s still is the comprehensive tool to give customers the information about a vehicle’s history. It’s reliable information because it got the sources from insurance company, police reports, and DPS, but of course you have to test drive and find a qualified mechanic to check it at the time you purchase it. Dealerships pay monthly fees to get an unlimited number of Carfax reports providing to their customers or the Carfax report itself can cost roughly $16.95 each. Autocheck report is its competitor. It was Autocheck report that gave me the Case Accident Number. Going back to Monday 09/30/2013, the sales manager did return my call, but said there was no accident on my car. I said Autocheck and CarFax said yes. I had to drive home which is 1 hr away to give them the Case # of the accident. He asked me to give him 30 min to call back, but an hr later I had to call him. Again he did not have the answer and asked 24-48 hrs to do further investigation. The next day, 10/1/2013, I decided to get the police report myself and indeed it proved this car got into a car accident. Even though the accident was minor but involved with another car and injured driver. I then called BMW headquarter to file a complaint but I was told they don’t have the control over these independent dealerships but will address the complaint to them. I called back to the local BMW dealership and left message to general manager and had to call another staff to tell that sales manager I called. No calls got returned. I then called District Attorney Office but the office was closed after hours. Again I will have to wait and do more action. This is a very frustrating process. Customers need to be careful next time if they consider buying a highline cars or even any car.