Tag Archives: safety defects

Did you pay too much for your car?

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You work hard for your money. You have better things to do with it than give it away to a greedy, conniving car dealer. But if you shopped at an auto dealership last year, chances are you paid too much. By a lot.

Car dealers across the nation are crowing about the record-breaking profits they’re making during the pandemic.  Their fat profits are being fueled by people who are flocking to buy cars — understandably fearful about taking public transportation, flying in airplanes, or using ride-shares or other modes of transportation where they risk being in an enclosed space with others who may be spreading the Coronavirus.

According to Automotive News, “AutoNation, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., hit a record-high quarterly F&I [Finance and Insurance] profit per vehicle retailed on a same-store basis with an average of $2,172, an increase of 12 percent, or $240, from year-ago figures.”

AutoNation is publicly traded on Wall Street. They operate over 315 new car dealerships nationwide. Over the years, their biggest investor has included an entity affiliated with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Keep in mind that $2,172 is just AutoNation’s profit on the financing and insurance products they foist off on consumers. They also profit handsomely on the price of the car itself.

Imagine what you could do with $2,172.  Maybe feed your family for months. Pay college tuition and get a better job. Get a much better vehicle you really like, that’s friendlier to the environment and safer for you and your family.

Plus — something AutoNation apparently doesn’t like anyone to mention publicly — they deliberately sell their customers cars with dangerous unrepaired safety recall defects. Especially cars with killer safety defects that you cannot get fixed because there are huge shortages of repair parts.

So if you buy that recalled car, there’s no way you can get it made safe. Sometimes the parts delays can last for months, or over a year. Meanwhile, you are your family are at serious risk of being injured or killed.

Please don’t assume you will have time to get the recall fixed before tragedy strikes. Auto safety defects are like ticking time bombs.  In San Diego, four members of one family –a highway patrol officer, his wife, their 13-year-old daughter, and the officer’s brother-in-law — were killed by an unsafe car the same day, just hours after a dealership handed the CHP officer the keys. They were on their way to a soccer match when the fatal defect happened.

If you don’t feel like overpaying for a dangerous deathtrap, please consider buying from another consumer and avoiding car dealers altogether. You still have to be careful, and do your homework. But at least you won’t be stuck dealing with a dealership chain that is out to maximize their profits at your expense.

How can you take control of your car buying experience, and get a good deal on a nice, safe, reliable used car? Check out these step-by-step tips from pro-consumer experts.

Your life is precious. You deserve to get the full value of what you pay for. Stay safe — and save!

Are car dealers exposing people to coronavirus?

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Many car dealers engage in reckless practices that put lives at risk. Like selling new or used vehicles without bothering to get the FREE safety recall defects fixed first. Tragically, some people have been seriously injured or killed by car dealers who sold them cars, trucks, or SUVs with deadly defects.

So it’s only reasonable to ask: Are auto dealers also exposing car buyers and their families to the coronavirus? Some car dealers are attempting to reassure prospective car buyers, who are understandably concerned about the coronavirus pandemic, not to worry. For example, AutoNation claims on Twitter that it ” can service and then sanitize your vehicle with Clorox® Total 360®.” The use of the term “sanitize” implies that there’s nothing to worry about.

But how can anyone trust AutoNation, when their then-CEO told the whole world — right after Pres. Trump was elected — they were going to rev up their sales of seriously defective recalled used cars? Especially vehicles where there are no replacement parts available, so if you buy one of their “cream puffs,” there’s no way you can get it fixed, for weeks or months. Meanwhile, you are left to ride around in a potential deathtrap.

Last fall, Researchers found that more than 1 in 9 vehicles AutoNation was offering for sale at various stores across the nation had at least one unrepaired safety recall defect. Like faulty brakes, catching on fire, loss of steering, accelerator pedals that stick, stalling in traffic, hoods that fly up and obscure the driver’s vision, and many vehicles with ticking time bomb Takata airbags that explode like having a hand grenade go off in your car, causing devastating injuries such as blindness or bleeding to death.

If a huge car dealership chain that rakes in billions of dollars a year, is a Fortune 500 company, and touts Bill Gates as its biggest investor, will stoop to deliberately selling vehicles that grossly defective and unsafe, can you trust them to protect you from an unseen threat like coronavirus? Do you want to bet your life on it?

Why don’t consumers get safety recalls done? They’re afraid of car dealers.

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Safety recall defects are dangerous, putting precious lives at risk. So why don’t consumers get safety recall repairs done?  Surveys show that a major reason is that many consumers are afraid of taking their car to a car dealer.

According to a report in the Detroit News:

“The big problem is that recalls depend upon the private vehicle owner to take the car to a dealer and get it fixed. In newer cars, that compliance rate is more than 80 percent, but when a car is five years old or older, the rate drops to around 44 percent, according to a new survey by ChecktoProtect.org which was founded by FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) and the nonprofit National Safety Council and announced June 22.

Surveys done by Autotrader.com show that a lot of car buyers don’t trust dealers to fix recall issues properly, and they also worry about the dealer charging them extra for non-recall repairs.”

Read more: Detroit News: “As vehicle recalls multiply, technology gets the blame”

 

CarMax – still selling unsafe cars with lethal safety defects

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CarMax is the nation’s largest retailer of used cars. Unlike some of its competitors, it has a policy of deliberately selling its customers vehicles that it knows are unsafe. Consumers who buy cars from CarMax risk being sold cars with defects that have caused tragic deaths and injuries.  Defects like stalling in traffic, catching on fire, faulty brakes, air bags that spew metal fragments that cause blindness or bleeding to death, seat belts that fail in a crash, axles that break, steering loss, rolling away while supposedly parked, hoods that fly up in traffic, sticking accelerator pedals, and other dangerous defects.

Please warn your family and friends.  Check out these TV reports to find out more about how CarMax is deceiving and tricking people into buying unsafe cars — putting them and their families at risk, and endangering the lives of others who share the roads.

ABC’s 20/20’s investigative report

WCVB 5 Boston report

 

 

 

 

Car Dealers seek to legalize sales of unsafe recalled used cars

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Faced with record numbers of recalled cars and lengthy shortages of repair parts, car dealers are pushing aggressively to weaken state laws that prohibit them from deceiving their customers into buying used cars with lethal safety defects.

Car dealers are eager to foist the unsafe cars off onto their customers, knowing that there is no way they will be able to get the serious safety defects repaired, for months on end. In one horrific case, a father, mother, 13-year-old daughter and brother-in-law were all killed within hours after the dealer handed them the keys to an unsafe car. The publicity surrounding that case led to Toyota’s issuing a massive safety recall, and eventually paying a record fine. However, the dealers do not seem capable of learning from that tragic incident and its aftermath.

Federal law prohibits car dealers from selling recalled NEW cars to consumers until they have been repaired.  There is no similar, specific federal law that prohibits dealers from selling recalled USED cars to consumers. However, broader, more generic state laws in every state, and some federal laws, prohibit merchants, including car dealers, from engaging in fraud, false advertising, unfair and deceptive acts and practices, anti-competitive behavior, reckless endangerment, negligence, and other shady practices. In addition, a whole body of case law exists that prohibits such illicit conduct.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has charged some dealers with violating the federal law against selling recalled new cars to consumers. What’s next? Dealers trying to make that legal too?

KPIX-TV, the CBS affiliate in San Francisco, broadcast this news report about the car dealers’ highly controversial, anti-consumer, anti-safety bill in California. Be sure to watch for the reaction at the end, by the news anchors:

KPIX-TV: Car dealers fight back over recall disclosures

 

 

 

Used car buyers have friends in the White House in auto safety battle

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America’s used car buyers and our nation’s roads will be a lot safer if the Obama Administration wins the battle against shady car dealers who sell unsafe, recalled cars to used car buyers.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Dr. Mark Rosekind, are urging Congress to make it illegal for car dealers to sell unsafe, recalled used cars to consumers.

They joined the President of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety at a press conference in Richmond, VA, along with representatives of Hertz, Enterprise, and Avis, and the American Car Rental Association, who have been working together with CARS to enact federal rental car safety legislation. Auto manufacturers (except GM) and car dealers are blocking the rental car safety bill, and lobbying Congress to weaken protections for America’s car buyers.

It is historic for a President and his safety team to call for people who rent cars, or purchase used cars, to have the same level of protection as new car buyers. Under federal law, it is illegal for car dealers to sell recalled cars with lethal safety defects to NEW car buyers. That has been the law since the 1960’s. But there is no similar federal law to protect people who rent cars or purchase used cars.

“What we need now is for Congress to step up, and to make renting or selling a recalled vehicle [to a consumer] illegal,” said Secretary Foxx.

Read more: US DOT safety recall news

CarMax – Too Risky for Wise Investors?

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Thinking of investing in CarMax? You may want to take a close look at their breathtakingly risky practice of selling unsafe, recalled cars to consumers.

CarMax is already under fire from consumer groups,  faces potential action by the Federal Trade Commission, and has been repeatedly exposed in undercover investigations by TV news organizations, including ABC’s 20/20, over its sales of unsafe, recalled cars to consumers.

Here’s the rub:  CarMax advertises that all their cars must pass a “rigorous 125+ point inspection” before they can be sold as “CarMax Quality Certified” cars.  But how can a car with a killer defect possibly pass a rigorous inspection and meet their standards?

Despite the mounting scrutiny, CarMax recklessly persists in selling “CarMax Quality Certified” unsafe, recalled cars at retail to consumers. Case in point:  Even when competitors like AutoNation have wisely announced their decision to cease selling used cars with unrepaired Takata air bags, CarMax continues to sell them anyway.

Defying common sense and responsible business practices, CarMax somehow seems unable to bring itself to stop selling consumers cars with the notoriously defective air bags, which can explode on impact, hurling shrapnel at the driver and front-seat passenger’s face and neck..  In cases that are making global headlines, the defective air bags have caused  serious injuries, including blindness, while other hapless victims have bled to death.

This particular defect  remains the focus of Congressional investigations in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Takata also faces possible legal action by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and by the US Department of Justice.

So — what does AutoNation know and take into account that CarMax doesn’t seem to grasp?

Is CarMax waiting for a total PR catastrophe, before they stop making that added bit of profit by selling lots of unsafe, defective, recalled cars to consumers, instead of having them repaired or selling them for a somewhat lower price, at wholesale?

Whatever CarMax’s motivation, wise investors may wish to rethink the company’s self-inflicted level of exposure.