I bought my 2004 TL about 20 days ago. A few days ago, the engine was toast. the car came with no warranty so that sucks. i need to register it but it needs an emissions done, which the dealer was supposed to provide to me (georgia law), but now it cant have an emissions my because it doesnt run. also, i am 18 and no one will rent me a car...

 

dude that really sucks..please tell me you pulled a carfax on it and made sure everything was legit..other than that, good luck man

 

You need to be a little more descriptive in your post. Are you looking for advice, a place to vent, a cookie, or what? When you say your engine is toast, what does that mean? Give us a little more info. and we will do the same.

 

mostly a place to vent. It was taken into a mechanic that ive worked with on car lots before and he drained the oil and took out the oil filter and found considerable amounts of metal in the engine. the car was also losing power(due to losing a piston). it made a loud knocking sound, and took damaged the engine block as well.

also, I did get a carfax report for this car and everything checked out well. i also got the car inspected before i bought it.

 

damn sorry to hear that. just out of curiosity, how many miles were on it?

 

it just turned over 62k miles...

 

wow .. i'd expect a TL holds up better than this ... sorry to hear about this dude ... we feel your pain ... I'm crossing my fingers as my 00TL approaches 140k ....

 

sounds like the prior owner abused it, and/or ingnored all preventative maintence. These cars shouldnt have that kinda problem @ 62k . ACCURATEin has over 100k miles on a S/C and REALLY custom mod'ed TL. and so far, he's had nooo problems

 

Well stated...sorry you're in this situation though...

 

I am sure someone beat the car up or never changed the oil. do you have receipts for the oil changes? That will tell you how the car was maintained. 62k on a honda product is just getting broken in.

 

FYI to everyone at A-Zine... just because a Carfax report is clean, this is in no way proof of a lack of serious accidents or mechanical problems. Believe me... I've learned the hard way.

 

Dude, real sorry to hear your story. When you get this mess squared away you gotta upgrade your buying experience. You need a more honest dealer. Can't you get them to do anything?

 

they likely never changed the oil. Willing to bet all the filters need to be replaced and all other fluids as well.

 

my dealer seemed really nice up front, and i felt good about buying from them because almost every car on the lot was acura, lexus, bmw, and infiniti. but once i wrote that check and signed the paperwork, they didnt care from there on out. i told them my story and they basically said, "well it was fine when it was here..." and then i got the whole that sucks have a nice day thing.

either way, i know this car should hold up really well, as i know alot of people driving hondas and acuras with amazing stories on how well they last.

and sad to say i dont have reciepts for oil changes, as the car was bought by the dealer at auction and had nothing. the carfax showed 2 reported dealer changes...

 

if you bought it from a dealer, definitely should have asked for the extended warranty to cover it...

 

they said they didnt offer it and that i could find a third party warranty and get it. i looked into it and looking back i should have done it haha

 

searching for my wife's TL here in the ATL area we visited Acura dealerships as well as independent dealers. the independent dealers with the higher end vehicles usually had at least a 3mo/3k warranty (the ones we went to anyway). really sorry to hear that the one you went to didn't offer that.

 

million red flags right there.

 

thats very true. i see that now. plus im 18, new to this whole buying a car thing, but at least ive gained experience for next time...

ha, and all i wanted was a nice car that would be practical and to keep a long time...

 

thats messed up man GL on trying to resolve this issue

 

Sounds like a shady dealer. At the VERY least you may want to post their name on here. Also, if they are a local dealer get your local news division involved. Bad publicity could KILL their business and nobody wants to see News @ 6 knocking on their door.

Who "inspected" the car for you? They may be at least partially at fault. I would also tell News @ 6 about them.

How much did you pay for it? If it was "too good to be true" then you may have just learned why...

 

no lemon law? If it didn't last 1 month i'd be suing that dealership... also call client services and see if they would work with you.

 

well i came to find out that this dealer had so many complaints from before that they changed their name from atlantas best cars to georgias best cars. ive already posted a complaint to georgias better business bureau. oh yea and since 30 days is up they refuse to give me an emissions test...

and the mechanic i had inspect it was a guy i knew very well from working on car lots before. it was also a whole different place that had nothing to do with my dealer.

i was looking at TL in the price range of about 20,000. i left the dealership paying 18,100 for the car...(guess that does kind of sound too good to be true right?)

 

i defintely say this is a VIOLATION of the lemon law!...and NEVA trust a third party independent (MCLS dealership here in chicago) dealership as they are less likely to satisfy any of your complaints or negotiations you want to make about the car. before i got my SSM i was gonna buy a blue '04 which had 22k on it but had a stain on the drivers seat and they did not have the radio / navi code to reset the radio. and they didnt comply to take care of either issue if i bought it. i thought that was pretty sh*tty of them and they didnt even offer an extended warranty. those 2 RED FLAGS made me not even think about going back.

sorry bout the rambling but let this be a lesson to buying a luxury used car. me personally, i would feel comfortable buying from the OEM dealer. DEFINTELY TAKE THEM TO COURT!!!!

 

man take it back to the dealer fast, you said you bought it 20 days ago. Most dealerships (99.9%) have a 30 day warranty that covers the vehicle. It doesnt matter if it is a 88' ford truck or a '04' acura tl. They all get 30 days.

 

And if it's less than 30 days, you should definitely be heading back to the dealer.

 

+1



Some County's in GA dont require a emissions. I bought my car in Macon(Dont require emissions) and had to get the emissions done myself. I live in Dekalb btw.

Where is this stealership located?

 

Damn, I saw those Ga's Best Cars ads all over AutoTrader when I was looking for my TL. Their prices were way lower than everyone else, but I heard a lot of bad things about that dealership so I stayed away and bought new instead. Good luck, if dealership doesn't help you out I would try to get the media involved.

 

hey man, i know you are 18 and thinking "im 18, how the hell would i take someone to court" if you like i can give you the number to my lawyer, he has a bunch of experience and im sure he wouldnt mind giving you some advice or even taking on a case for you. These guys at the dealership WILL pay you back, it is a HUGE violation of th elemon law. just pm for help. Im speaking to him tommorow about gettin reimbursed for my rims because butler tire didnt provide all the necessary parts for the install (long story) ill ask him about waht you should do.

 

If that is true, then the 30 days he is referencing covers the engine and transmission. But if that were true for you...then you would not be posting this on here right?

Damn, I wonder what's worse? Dropping 18K in cash or having a car note and this happens? I gotta say that if you have a car note and you take this to court you will likely win. Especially since you had this car for less than 30 days and the company is shady! Go for it! You have nothing to lose! First move is o get names of peope you contacted at the dealership and told you no deal on fixing this problem. No need to let them know why, just do it. Then request in writing that they fix your car and make sure it's dated. Hey! What are you waiting for? Get busy! Good luck dude!

 

Yea i mentioned it broke at about 20 days, but now its at 30 because its been in the shop. sorry for that confusion. i have paperwork showing gthat the car was in the shop at 20 days though so i have proof that it failed within the 30 days. were trying right now to get the dealer to cooperate but so far no good...

 

They should last 300k with proper maint. Hell my sisters Chevy van has 250k and no major problems.

 

There's something called an implied warranty of fitness that basically says if some one sells you something for a particular purpose (I assume they didn't sell you the car with the idea it was expected to die completely right off the lot) and the property fails to live up to that purpose, they are liable for the sale. Get a lawyer now. As in today. $18k is too much money to just throw away. You're probably still going to lose some with legal fees and all but even if it costs $3k you'll still get 15 back.

This should be pretty much a slam dunk case so it shouldn't be hard to find a lawyer. What's better $15k in your pocket or a giant pile of debt with nothing to show for it?

 

This is similar to a "salary cap" issue that I once had!

 

Sounds like he bought it from a used car lot

 

Did this inspection happen before or after you bought the car?

 

it was before...but weve just found out new information about legal issues with the car and i got a lawyer so now its just a waiting game...

 

You guys don't appear to be "getting it". He did NOT buy this from an Acura dealer. He bought it from "Joe Blows Auto Show"on the corner. Sounds like a VERY slimmy one as well. He had his buddy inspect it (doesn't sound like his buddy did a good job). He NOW has it at an acura shop and they are tryign to ream him.. He may want to take it back to his buddy to see what he can do as far as getting the engine replacement work done. It's still gonna cost him around anotehr $5K for the new engine or replacement parts... $18K just turned into $23K so yep, it probably was too good a price initially. Now, the ONE thing he COULD do is to get the Acura dealership to run the milage details/verification on the Acura system. If they discover that it's reported (on the sales slip) and actuals are not in sync, THEN he may have a court case against "Georgia's most putride Cars" dealership...

 

The internet has SO many "backseat lawyer experts out there don't they? Implied warranty does NOT apply in this case. The dealer (most likely) sold the car "AS IS". This is the MOST COMMON way fo reselling a vehicle by ALL the non-MFG dealers. It means that they provided the car, you (yourself or a private inspector) can review it and decide BEFORE you purchase it IF it is OK. It's your call, not the dealerships. If it dies 2 days after you own it....you OWN the problem, not them. So, don't go around mis-leading this kid into thinking that he has some "inherit rights" he does not have. And go take just ONE law class while you are at it.

However, this does NOT mean that he can't try to get it properly addressed. I know he's only 18 but as others have stated it may not really be THAT hard to get them to take responsibility. The News Agency's are the BEST as they have legal resources that will get involved for free. The courts "could" just be a run-around (sounds like these scum-buckets have done it enough that they can run him around for a few years before they have to change their name AGAIN). The BEST BEST BEST way to "get them" is to pursue CRIMINAL charges (rather than CIVIL which is what everyone else on here has been talking about). Criminal charges can FREEZE their bank accounts, throw them in jail and even their PRIOR history under the other name can ALL be brought into court. If they change ANYTHING on the car and mis-represented it, then it needs to be pursued as a CRIMINAL case, not a Civil one.

 

Contact the Attorney General's Office in your area and present your problem.

Also, I don't believe lemon law applies to used vehicles.