Auto Depot John Edmondson They sold me a car that had major, undisclosed mechanical problems and the ad misrepresented the condition of the car. Jacksonville Florida

I purchased an Acura that I thought would be in good shape based on the write-up on ebay.  When I first got the car, it was obvious that the windshield was cracked, the fog lights were cracked, the tires were worn out, and the seats had been painted.  This was obvious upon first seeing the car.  I say that the car was mis-represented because the ebay ad said the tires were at 70%.  The front tires were at 4/32 which is not 70%.  The windshield has a large crack in it, and when I contacted the seller, he said that he hadn't seen it.  The crack goes from the top to the bottom of the windshield.  It is obvious, but it was not disclosed in the ebay ad.  The fog lights are obviously cracked.  The seller has a mechanic that goes over the car.  Again, this was obvious and not disclosed.  Finally, the ad stated that the car still had a new Acura car smell.  This led me to believe that the interior was in good shape.  I have been in new Acuras, and I know what it smells like.  This car did not have that smell, and it was obvious that the seats were no longer the leather that Acura cars come with.  Instead, they had been painted to look good, but they feel terrible.  The car also had a warning light for the TPMS System and an intermittent warning light for the Engine Oil level.  In the ebay ad, it was stated that there were no warning lights on.

I immediately contacted John about the windshield, and he said he would refund me $200 for the windshield.  That seemed fair.

Then, I brought the car to my local mechanic to get the car checked out.  When I went to pick up the car, the mechanic said "Don't buy this car.  It is a mess."  It told her it was too late.  She gave me an estimate (attached) of $5800 for work that needed to be done including new tires, new timing belt, cracked motor mounts, loose tie rod, replacing rear suspension, windshield, fog lights, and other items.

I was shocked.  I contacted John, and his message back to me is that this is an old car with high mileage, and I should have expected some work.

My husband is also a mechanic, and I discussed the situation with him.  He said that the windshield, the fog lights, the motor mounts, the tires, the rear suspension, and the tie rod were all items that were easily seen by visual inspection or experienced with a quick test ride.  John, my Auto Depot contact, has a mechanic who reviews all of his cars, yet these items were not disclosed in the ebay ad.

My mechanic also talked to John about the issues they found.  In my mechanic's words, John just tried to justify the problems.  My mechanic didn't care about that.  She was just reporting what had been found.

At this point, I was really upset about what I had purchased.  We agreed that my husband and John would talk.  My husband said that we had basically purchased a car that had been treated poorly and not kept up.  We were facing a lot of work and a large bill.  John said the most he would refund us was $500.  I told him that we would not accept that, and our minimum was $1500.  I had initially asked for $3000 which I felt was fair given the estimate of $5800.  John said that he needed to talk to his partner about it.  I was patient for a month waiting to hear what his partner said.  Unfortunately, his partner was sick so I never really got an answer back.  It was getting close to the window where I can no longer leave feedback so I just had to leave the feedback.

This has been a miserable experience for me.  The final insult in this process is that I don't have clear title on the car.  On one of the change of ownership documents, someone signed a name that should not have been signed.  I am working through Auto Depot/John to get the correction, but I don't even know when that will happen.

As a result of all of this and the lack of space in my feedback to provide all of this detail, I sum it up with "Don't buy a car on ebay."  That's my lesson with all of this.  Auto Depot had 100% positive reviews so I thought it was worth the risk.  It was not worth the risk.   Once I posted the negative feedback, John sent my feedback for third part review saying that my feedback should be removed because I: 1. Never let him know that I had problems with the car.  (This was a lie.  I have proof of multiple texts with him, and I also had a couple of phone conversations.) 2. The estimate from my mechanic did not have a company name on it so he said the estimate was fraudulent.  (This was John trying to throw question on to whether I was actually in contact with a mechanic.  John had at least two conversations with my mechanic.  He knows that my mechanic and the quote were legitimate.)   John seems to work the system in order to keep 100% positive feedback on ebay, but looking elsewhere on the Internet, it is obvious there are people who are dissatisfied.  It is important for people to know that the ebay feedback system is flawed, and John is dishonest.