Hate buying from dealerships!!

[B96brig4CC]

I purchased a vehicle for my wife last weekend(oct. 16). I sold my wifes new car to get rid of the car payment. She really hated to see it go, 09 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI. But we bought a new house and I hated having a larger morgage and a car payment.

Anyways, had been looking for days trying to find something that would be a good fit for us and that she would like. Thought we had found a great one owner xterra, but after driving it, it just didn't fit her comfortably. She is 5' tall, I am 6'4", fit me fine......

So the search continued. 4 Runner seemed to be the best option for what we wanted. Searched and searched, coming up with nothing. Finally found a 4 runner at Hudiburg Nissan that had everything we desired. Great price, leather, 4x4, color we wanted, and the room we needed. Called right before they closed and it was still available. SWEET!! Drove down after they closed friday and looked at it with my flashlight in the dark to make sure it was what we wanted. Has a sale tag on the mirror that has it 1,000 under what we thought we could get it for!! Go back the next morning and drive it home for the wife to see and drive, also gave us time to really decide. Everything was great. One owner(company vehicle), purchased from hudiburg toyota new, all service records done by hudiburg toyota, can't lose!!

Go back up and tell them we'll take it!! They try to say that the price it what the internet says, and I inform them of the tag(sales man removed it when he pulled it up for me to take home) try to tell me the internet price was the lowest.....I tell them that I watched the guy take the tag of the mirror and 15 minutes later, he tells me they will sell it for that price, like they are doing me a favor. Mamma didn't raise no fool!!

Drive it home, everything seems great. Wife notices a clunk noise when she puts it in gear and when coasting and then hitting the accelerator again. Transmission? Research and find that it's probably the u-joints. Crawl under to grease them and find one is missing the zirk fitting, and another is completely failed!!! So much so that it has caused damage to the knuckles and I am surprised it is still connected. So, new u-joints it is!! Put all new joints in and grease everything and it's good as new. Contacted the GM to inform him of this, may not do any good, but it should have been caught during one of the services, especially the 150k mile service that was done a month before the guy traded it in for a new one!! Makes me wonder what else they didn't do?!?! I will be requesting all of the service records from them, and going over this thing with a fine tooth comb to make sure nothing else was "overlooked".

So here is a question.
Do dealerships no longer do lubes on vehicles anymore?
When you bring your vehicle to a dealer for scheduled maintenance, don't you think they would do everything that needed to be done at that interval? Especially a company vehicle?

Hope to hear back from the GM on this matter. It is one thing for it to be a trade in with no clue about the vehicle, but they have seen this thing since it was new!! They have seen this vehicle for every service up till it was traded in for a new one!!

What say you guys and gals?

 

[onwmed]

All I can say is keep bothering them, but be nice and professional. One of my good friends purchased a used but VERY nice jeep grand cherokee from Diffee. After 7 days off the lot the master cylinder went out, two valves were sticking and the alternator went out too. It took him about 3 weeks....but they finally made it right....he would have been out around 3K because there were a few other things that all went wrong at the same time.

 

[VitruvianDoc]

Hudiburg Nissan did me right. I bought my slightly used truck, an 08 Nissan Frontier 4x4 CC with 6k miles, from them back in November of 08 and it was missing cleets for the bed tie downs and a spare key. I was able to get them to knock 2500 off the price and get the cleets/spare key in on the deal. I didn't have to deal with a trade in though.

And as far as lubing, it depends if it is in the service manual. The U-Joint on my truck is sealed and doesn't require lubing, but come 125k I expect to replace it.

 

[RaysZ71]

That's why I don't buy vehicles over 100K, just a headache.

 

[EXD 45]

Personally,
I would have asked to take it to a Mechanic of MY choice that I trust, before I purchased the vehicle. I did this in February when I purchased my truck. Come to find out it had an oil leak, plug coils needed to be greased, and the spare tire was ruined....Not a whole lot but it would of been a headache if I would have had to pay for it.
You live and learn.

 

[4play]

When you buy an older vehicle with more mileage the dealer may not do the more elaborate inspections that are normal. They might just change the oil and make sure the brakes and tires are good. I assume it did not have some type of "certified inspection" or something along those lines advertised on it, or a extended service plan. You bought it "As-Is" its just like buying from a individual in that sense. The best thing to do was to either expect it yourself or have someone do it for you and even then things can go un-noticed. If the problem is as bad as your trying to explain, it sounds like you should have heard or felt it before the sale. Bad U-joints usually squeek, pop, clunk, vibrate during driving. If they were dry and the cross had wear I would imagine it should have shown some of the symtoms above.

I know when your looking at something you really want, it can be difficult to search out all the problems because you are focused on the good things. That is why its best to have it checked over by someone else.

 

[B96brig4CC]

When you buy an older vehicle with more mileage the dealer may not do the more elaborate inspections that are normal. They might just change the oil and make sure the brakes and tires are good. I assume it did not have some type of "certified inspection" or something along those lines advertised on it, or a extended service plan. You bought it "As-Is" its just like buying from a individual in that sense. The best thing to do was to either expect it yourself or have someone do it for you and even then things can go un-noticed. If the problem is as bad as your trying to explain, it sounds like you should have heard or felt it before the sale. Bad U-joints usually squeek, pop, clunk, vibrate during driving. If they were dry and the cross had wear I would imagine it should have shown some of the symtoms above.

I know when your looking at something you really want, it can be difficult to search out all the problems because you are focused on the good things. That is why its best to have it checked over by someone else.

I know what your saying is true. but I have verified proof that it had a thorough 150k mile service done by the dealership and then the guy traded it to the dealership a month after for a new one. I understand that they may not go over it with a fine tooth comb as a used vehicle, before they resell it, but this u-joint looked as if it been faulty for quit some time. I would say atleast 10k miles. It is also to the front wheels for the 4 wheel drive. I heard a slight clunk when we first drove it, but having had Toyota's before it seemed like the typical Toyota hesitation clunk when you first put it in gear, or are coasting and press the accelerator and it moves from a neutral back to drive.

It was an easy fix, and I just wanted to make the dealer aware of the service departments oversight or lack of inspection. The other 3 joints looked as if they had never been greased, and this truck has grease zirks for all the u-joints and both yokes. All is well after 40 dollars for 4 new joints and about 6hours worth of work. Thing drives great. Just wonder what other things they overlooked during the life of servicing this vehicle.....

 

[RaysZ71]

I think that you wanted this car so bad that you ignored the signs. I'm guilty of this myself.

 

[vvvvvvv]

They might just change the oil...

Or they might not and put a sticker on the windshield that says they have.

Personal experience: motor oil should not have the consistency of cold chocolate syrup 200 miles after an oil change.

 

[Old Fart]

Not to sound like an old poop, well I guess I am, but with 150K I'd expect stuff to break.
Who knows when that u-joint actually failed.
But like you I'd also expect an established dealership with thier reputation to have at least given in a jerk to see if it was tight.