1st Class Auto Taken for a bumpy ride Langhorne Pennsylvania

I bought a VW Jetta from these guys last year. I brought the car back to the dealer due to an issue with the transmission. When the car warms up, after being at a complete stop, the transmission would hit real hard going from 2nd to 3rd gear.

They took it for a test drive and the guy who took the car said that the issue was normal and it was the turbo purging, which was complete nonsense. I did not take that for an answer. I then drove it for a little while longer and kept in constant contact with the dealer.
After 1 month, I was driving it and the automatic transmission would not shift into 5th gear and the transmission was hitting real hard into 2nd through 4th gear. So I called the dealer and informed them I would be dropping the car off so they can deal with the problem.

I dropped it off and they said that i would have it back within a week. Well, the week went by and I didn't hear anything from them. I stop by and they tell me that they are taking it to their "transmission guy". I asked them how long it was going to take...again. They told me another week. I came back a week later and the car was right where I parked it...it had not been taken anywhere.

I then expressed my concern for my growing need for a more permanent solution and the need to get out of the expensive rental I had been in. The one thing they did do was set me up with a loaner for a few weeks. Well, 5 weeks went by and I still didnt have my car. At this point, they were in possession of my car longer than I had been.

I kept calling and stopping by. They would tell me that they hadn't heard anything. About 7 weeks into this fiasco, I get a call to come and pick up my car. It was finally done! I get there and my car is not there. They tell me that the problem is still happening and they took it back. This phenomena of getting a call to pick up the car and me going to get the car, only to find out it wasnt ready happened 3 more times.

I am now 9 weeks into this drama. I finally get my car back. They banged me for 1300.00 for a transmission rebuild. Originally, the quote was 1200.00, when I showed up, the number magically went up 100.00. My salesman told me the problem was fixed. The car was still shifting hard, but I guess I paid 1300.00 to get 5th gear back, because it started working again, but the original issue was not addressed.

Yet again, I took the car back and told them that the issue was not fixed. My salesman assured me that if I wasnt completely satisfied with the car when it was done, I could trade it in on another car.

I bought the car for 5,000.00. When I went back to him to trade it in for another car, he started to tell me that he could not guarantee that i would get my original 5,000.00 back to apply to another car. He has yet to give me a firm figure on that offer, but I figured it to be about 2,500.00. Yeah right.

At this point, the salesman informed me that he had spoken to his "VW guy" and he told him that the issue could be the "valve body" buried within the transmission. He said that they were going to order this part for me and that their "transmission guy" was going to put it in for me, "free of charge".

Well, I wait and wait and wait for this part to come in and it finally does. I get there to pick it up and take it to the "transmission guy" myself and when i get there, he hands me a little box. Mind you that a valve body is about 60 pounds and pretty large. I open this box and inside is a throttle body. I look at my salesman and explain to him the difference between a valve body and a throttle body. He emphatically apologizes for again wasting my time and assures me that they are going to get the right part in. I did some research and a valve body from VW is 1,300.00!! I knew after finding out the price of the part that there would be no resolution to this.

I then call their "transmission guy" and he is less than eager to talk to me about this. He informed me that he was not going to waste another second on my car and that he had already taken huge losses in time, money and parts trying to fix it. He said it wasnt the transmission at all. He swore the problem was electrical.

Well, we are now going on a year later and after numerous calls and stops by the lot, empty promises of a resolution by every employee and manager imagineable, nothing has changed. I am still having the same problems I had when I pulled the car off the lot.

Moral of the story...dont buy cars from sleazy dealers. Get a certified pre-owned car. Sure it is a little more up front, but believe me, an authorized dealer's warranty is much better than the 10% coverage that is offered from the sleazy guys. Also, you can only sue under lemon law if the warranty is from an authorized dealer of that particular make and model vehicle.

Epawls
Levittown, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.