I think we should make this a sticky. SO that way people can steer clear of bad dealers

Livingstone Auto in Easton is one to stay away from
Inventory

They have a 96 F250 super cab short bed 460 auto truck. My friend was looking for this exact truck. WELL, by the description and price you would think this is a well kept garage queen

Mileage: 85K
Engine: 460/7.5L V8
Transmission: AUTO
Price: 8,900
Vehicle Options: ABS, AC, PW, PL, CC, Dual Air Bags, Rear Sliding Window, Alloy Wheels, New Tires, Towing Pkg, Runs Great!!! Clean, Strong Truck!!! Warranty Available!!! Call for details!!!

But when looked at in person? HA, I would not give 2,000 for the rotted out POS.

 

Lots of hidden body rot? Pictures didn't look too bad. Interior was nice. If there's anyone who knows where to look for rot in one of these trucks its you Brad.

There was one me and my mom went to a year ago looking at a Navigator. Can't remember the name. It was in downtown Portland. I will see if I can find it. Pictures and description made it look and seem like a brand new truck. Low an behold when we got there we found torn seats, worn carpet, broken interior pieces and lots of exterior dings. Looked like a completely different vehicle than what they put online. Only took us 5 minutes to turn around and walk away.

 

I have to go back down that way tomorrow, I'll get some pics

Fenders, wheel wells, tailgate, doors, super cab rad support ALL ROTTEN

 

Damn. Glad we don't have rust issues here. Like I said, you know where to look. From what they have on their website it looks like an okay truck.

Found the name of the dealer. Global Auto Motors Inc. on 82nd Ave. in Portland OR. They take there vehicle out to some nice park with them all cleaned up for pictures to make the cars look nice, then when you get there the cars look old, worn out and dirty.

 

It's private sellers too. Just went to look at an 86 Bronco. Where to begin...

It had a 351 EFI with AOD and looked almost like my 89... The one in my Avatar. Had to have it. Ask about rust - little on the tailgate and passenger door. Ask about 351 swap - 89 computer from a truck with a C6, Crown Vic flexplate, about 15k on each. Ask about the flares - are they there to cover up rust? Nope - just for style... Needs tires and a battery. $3k. Too good to pass up, right? Sounds like the guy is an enthusiast and knows what he's doing and is just letting go for some reason...

I drive 45 minutes to get there and as I turn onto the street and see the truck from 50 feet away I can see it's a giant POS. Pictures were 10+ years old from when he first built the truck. Motor was a JY unit that was swapped in 15k miles ago. Body and paint was a Maaco special. Lots of rust, he bondo'd it after pop riveting some scrap tin from an HVAC job where he was working painting a house. Trans was rebuilt but only because he trashed it with the wrong flexplate. It wouldn't idle, gauges were wonky, interior smelled like the daily catch - from last year...

The guy tried to haggle and feel me out and I told him straight up "You could give it to me and it's not worth the effort to go home and get my trailer to drag it away..."

Oh well... Didn't really need another truck but an 86 like my 89 Bronc...

The funny part was when I was pointing out the rust and what was involved in fixing it he said "Oh, you're one of those people who want something nice..." ROFL!!!!

 

Like when you asked SPECIFICALLY about rust, and he said there was none. Just a flat out lie

 

Yup, I touched the wheel well from behind and got a handful of rust chips... Not to mention the poor patch job. I spotted what looked like a pop riveted panel from the dimples and asked - "Oh, I patched that..." Um... How? With what?

Yeah, complete waste of two hours of my time...

 

Just went thru this same s#*t on craigslist for My Son. Spent a whole day driving from town to town just to be dissappointed. The only thing that was correct in any of the listings was the color!! Finally found him a 2000 exploder with the 4.0 pushrod motor in good shape with 100k for $2500.00 : )

 

I hate to buy vehicles. That is why when the POS Chevy Blazer 4x4 got the best of me & I saw I was going to take a fully body bath in ACID, I thought crap I need to replace this with something. Thank God my friend had this 95 Ford F150 4x4. The price was great & I know about the trucks history. I remember when it sat on the Ford dealers lot NEW.
I have bought from this friend before & have only known him for 50 years, everything I ever got was as he said, & was always good.
Most car dealers are CROOKS, LEGAL THIEF'S. I have known Ex-Criminals that did time that were 100 time more honest than most car dealers. Most Crackheads are more honest. To be politically correct they are no longer car Salesmen or women they are now (Product Demonstrators) That I guess makes the screwing they give people feel better.
Craig

 

I like to think that people just never actually crawl under the vehicle and really believe there are no problems. Most people don't know what they are looking at anyway. It's hard to tell if a seller is ignorant or dishonest.

 

I don't even think we need to limit it to USED dealers, there should just be a list of bad dealers altogether. Gagne Ford in Princeton, WI is one of them. When my TBird was brand new, the guys that own Gagne Ford also had a TBird, but they were over mileage to do warranty work. So they used the warranty on MY car to replace their warn out parts for cheap.
Several years after they had done this (nobody had noticed because no work had been done to my car at any other place) we went to Ripon Ford (in Ripon, WI. Very good service there) to buy a ZX2 Escort, and the dealer there thought we were trading in the TBird for it, so he brought up the sheet to see the history on it and was dumbfounded by all the things that were done. This was then brought to our attention, and Gagne nearly lost their shop for it, and I still can't believe they didn't lose it.

 

I use yelp to report bad businesses and car mechanics. When I bought my truck in Denver I drove it to pueblo CO. My brother told me of a mechanic that was known to be the best. I asked him to go through the truck and tell me what it needed and to change all the fluids. $290.00 later and four days I went to get the truck.

I was told I needed a new radiator. (no I did not, just a hose clamp)
I was told they wanted to take it to a transmission shop (no, just a fuse)
I was told I needed new brakes. (no, just bled)

They quoted me a repair bill of $1,800

After I fixed all the issues my self, I went back to the owner of that company and demanded an explanation. When I told him what the real problems were, he stated "oh, we would have caught that" so what did I pay $290.00 for? I yelped his ***. I had been recommended there. It is a small town so people find out quickly. Next time I go back, I am going to show him all my receipts that do not add up near that high and cause a big scene in front of his customers.

By the way. Do not use National Tire and battery either. I put on a new front end, tie rods and all by my self. I did the best I could by eye balling the alignment. N.T.B told me I needed a new steering gear at $849.00.

I took it to PepBoys, and their mechanic said I did a really good job and that it just need a little bit of changes. I mentioned that N.T.B said I needed a new steering gear. He laughed.

Point out the crooks and put them out of business.

 

I bought my 93 Cobra used. It had an exhaust leak. I demanded it be fixed before I took delivery. Came in after work, the car was still in the air running. They knew it had a leak but couldn't find out where. I asked for a bunch of of rags and plugged up the tail pipes and they found the leak in 30 seconds. I was still in a suit from a meeting at work...

Another time, a dealer called my mother when I was there. Her car was in for annual inspection. I heard her say "well my son looked it over, we no, he's not a professional mechanic.." I took the phone. They said it needed brakes front and rear for a cost of $600 or so. I told them I measured the brakes and if they wanted I'd have the state police down there so we could see who's right. They said they mixed up invoices, her car was ready to pick up - it needed nothing...

I could write a book...

Now pepboys around here is the land of the misfit mechanics... Got tires there once and the 'deal' required them to install. I watched as the guy put the wheel on the front of my Bronco and try and install the trim ring before bolting the tire up. Every time he hit the ring to install it the tire moved... It was 3 full minutes before another mechanic said something to him... I would have waited all day just out of curiosity...

 

This is much too ambitious a project - the list of honest used car dealers would be MUCH shorter.

 

Rotti Motors in Clinton IA.

When my moms 91 C2500 finally died (with help from me) we went there looking for a new truck. They had a 1998 Crew Cab Dakota with the 318, 4x4 A/C etc. From the walk around it was a real nice truck only a little rust above the rear wheels and the asking price was a little over 7 grand. So we took it for a test drive and as soon as we had it on the road I started to notice problems. Transmission felt a little laggy, the salesman said it had a shift kid. We got it on a dirt road and engaged the 4x4. Nothing. Tried 4Lo. It locked on we drove it around a little and when we tried to shift out of it it stayed locked in 4Lo. Had to limp it back to the lot. When we told the dealer they said that we broke it! I called bull**** on him and pulled the transmission dipstick and low and behold the fluid was brown as my **** and didn't smell much better either. The dealer just looked at us like so we hopped back in my truck and drove away never looked back.

And avoid PayDay Auto in Sterling IL. The wifes father bought her a 2001 Contour from there as a birthday present. Went through 3 alternators before he finally got the dealer to return his money. Probably helped that we left it in their lot on a trailer with a little note saying we are calling the police if they didn't honor their 90 day warranty.