Buying cars at auto dealerships has always been risky. But especially now, when you may be exposed to Covid-19, the risks are even greater. Plus Covid-19 isn’t the only health and safety risk you face if you shop at a car dealership.
Many auto dealers don’t care enough about their customers’ safety to take the simple step of ensuring that FREE safety recall repairs are done to fix deadly safety recall defects.
Auto dealers neglect to get free repairs done to fix killer defects like:
- bad brakes
- steering wheels that literally come off in the driver’s hands
- exploding Takata airbags that are like having a hand grenade go off in your face, causing blindness or bleeding to death
- catching on fire
- sticking accelerator pedals
So can you trust auto dealers to protect you from Coronavirus? Obviously, the answer is NO.
Even huge auto dealership chains like CarMax and AutoNation sell hazardous vehicles with safety defects that have killed hundreds of people and seriously injured thousands more.
They spend millions in advertising to lure car buyers to their stores, trumpeting that vehicles they offer for sale must pass an “inspection.” They list over 100 components that are supposedly inspected. But don’t be fooled. They routinely fail to fix components with serious safety recall defects that are likely to kill you or someone you love.
CarMax is the largest retailer of used cars in the U.S. They raked in over $18 billion in revenue last year, and are publicly traded on Wall Street.
CarMax used to hire employees and task them with delivering recalled cars to nearby new car dealerships for free repairs. New car dealers liked to get the work. Auto manufacturers compensate their franchised dealers for performing safety recall repairs, so it’s a money-maker for them.
But then CarMax decided they could make more money by lowballing consumers who traded in recalled vehicles, then selling them rapid-fire for high retail as “CarMax Quality Certified” vehicles without waiting for the free repairs.
AutoNation is also publicly traded on Wall Street and boasts they are a Fortune 500 company with over $21 billion in revenue. Their largest investors include the trust controlled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
At first, AutoNation announced they would guarantee that all their vehicles were recall-free. But when Trump was elected, faced with competitive pressure from CarMax for investor dollars, they gave up and started selling dangerous recalled vehicles too.
The kicker: If you are injured or killed, or harm someone else because of an unrepaired safety recall defect, the dealers will blame YOU for buying a dangerous car from them.
Learn more:
CBS News:CarMax Accused of Selling Unsafe Vehicles
CBS This Morning: AutoNation Accused of Selling Recalled Cars
CARS tips: How to get a good deal on a nice, safe used car without the risks of buying from a dealer