I took my mother to buy a car from Interstate Auto Brokers. She is in her 60s and was looking for a used car to get to and from work,she works 5 miles from her job. She could not afford a new car and couldn't afford payments on one, she is working a low paying job. We went here in search of a used car that would run her to work and back. The owner who says his nickname is 'Ram' took us over to a couple of used compact cars.One was a toyota and the other was a nissan sentra. The toyota he told us would smoke some and wouldn't be a good car for her.
The second car was a nissan sentra 1993. It had a lot of miles on it but he said it ran great and he would even take the car out of town on trips! We took it for a short test drive and it ran okay, The A/C worked everything seems okay on the car. He promised us the car ran fantastic. We bought it with the money my Mother had,which took her over a year to save of 2,280 dollars.We both didn't know much about cars but we figured it would be okay, He seemed honest. We paid cash and he filled out the paperwork for the title.
She drove the car for 3 days when the a/c stopped working and when she would turn on the a/c the engine would die.It did so in the middle of traffic and almost caused an accident. Anytime you turned on the a/c the car engine would die. So she drove the car in august with no a/c. One summer day it started to rain and she turned on the windshield wipers. The dashboard lit up and every light came on in the car, then the engine died. She had to drive the car home with her head out the window in the rain just to get the piece of junk home!
That next day I went back to Interstate Auto Brokers. The owner 'Ram' didn't speak to us but he sent a younger guy out and he told her he could send us to a good mechanic who would fix it for a cheaper price than a normal dealership. He also said we could use this car as a trade in for a better model if we had 5 thousand extra to put down plus the trade.
We left very angry! She continued to drive the car when it didn't rain and with no a/c. Finally about a month later we had to get the car inspected for the state sticker. The mechanic started the car and drove it around his shop. He told us he would be unable to give this car a new inspection sticker.
He asked us how much we paid for it and when I told him,He shook his head and told me this car was worth maybe 400 dollars at the most. He showed me how the battery was being held up by picture frame wire and bungee cords and that they hid it under so we wouldn't see it.
The power steering pump was broken and had been for some time,the a/c of course was out. He told us this car shouldn't of even been on the market to be sold unless it was sold at a junk pink-n-pull shop. It was not able to be approved for a new sticker because of various serious safety violations.
As we took the car home,we were able to drive it for one more week before the inspection sticker was to expire. The Sun visor fell off driving home and there was never any passenger side mirror when we bought it but we hadn't noticed till we got home. The radio also didn't work.
The kicker was my Mother had went shopping in her car to the grocery store. She put the bags in the trunk, it started raining and by the time she got home the trunk was filled with water and all her groceries were wet with rainwater and the smell of mildew from the leaking trunk and rubber smell.
This place refused to listen to us and I filed a complaint with the BBB but the company refused to do anything. These guys are RIP OFF artists! Do NOT buy any car, truck, van or even a bike from these slimeballs!
I ended up getting my mother a 2002 car and working two jobs to help make the payments. She works graveyard shift and was unable to take a bus, thus the need for a car.