Carville's Auto Mart

On February 21 of this year, I drove with my 5 month old baby at 11 am in the morning, to Carvilles Auto Mart. After spending 7 hours trying to find the perfect vehicle,we decided on a 2005 Chrysler Pacific baby at 11 am in the morning, to Carvilles Auto Mart. After spending 7 hours trying to find the perfect vehicle,we decided on a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica.A very nice newer car, that we weren't expecting to have any problems with for a long time.Well, in August, I finally took it into Firestone to check out why the ABS light kept coming on,that and my husband noticed my tires were balled which is something I would have payed no mind to had he not pointed it out. In the process of letting us know what the ABS was coming on for, the mechanic proceeded to tell us we needed 4 new tires(already?) and an alignment... That is what they thought until they lifted the car up on the lift and discovered, we had a broken sub frame... According to the mechanics, in their opinion and from their experience, they believed the frame had been this way long before we bought the car. It was very rusted and almost looked like it hd been in some sort of accident. .In order to fix this, as well as all 4 tires which had become bald due to the frame issue, we would have to pay close to $3000. Seeing as how we knew we absolutely didn't do this, we'd had the car barely 6 months, and I drive as far as church and the grocery store,(very cautiously since my baby boy is in the car with me), the mechanic suggested we take it back to carvilles right away and confront them. Well, we immediately went the next day to the GM(OWNER SON), who when we brought it to his attention,immediately grew defensive, quoting all the "wonderful reasons" they have a "great reputation", (Although since then, whenever I seem to mention CARVILLES around town , everyone cringes), and telling me the car had to pass "countless inspections" before sold. Which seemed strange, because they sold us this car, in this condition. He then sent us to the other store to deal with the service manager (He seemed to have an attitude that this issue was beneath him) . The manager, was very kind for the most part, took the car up on a lift in one of their shops, and after taking pictures of the damages,even stated "wow, you either hit a really really big rock, or went off a cliff!". Our point exactly. He then said he would get an auction report, and see if anything about the frame was mentioned on it. He was to get back to us within a day, and 4 days later, after me calling 3 times, he returned my call. Apparently, there was nothing on the report about the frame in bad condition and everything checked out. "ON PAPER". In his words "Im not saying I don't believe you, but if the report had said something about the frame, we would of had them take it back, but since it doesn't..." You get it.( Now the responsibility lies on THEM to take it back, which they just couldn't do of course!) They offered to find the parts cheaper( which we still had to pay for) and do the labor for free.WHICH, according to them, was a generous act of courtesy that they DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO DO. Stated in a fashion that indicated I should for some reason get on my knees, kiss their feet n worship Carvills for their "OH SO GREAT KINDNESS!!"We were prepared to do this, as it was our only option, when my Grandfather who has been a mechanic for 44 years,(also lives in FL so he couldn't help out) told us ABSOLUTLY NOT TO! Nothing in this world is free, so the fact that they offered labor, is because they know they did this.Circumstances led us to meet a bank lawyer, who when heard the story, told us to pursue this all the way. In her words," YOU TRUSTED THEM TO SELL YOU A GOOD SAFE CAR FOR YOUR FAMILY AND 6 MONTH OLD BABY, THEY TOOK ADVANTAGE OF YOU, AND SO NOW YOU ARE GOING TO TRUST THEM TO FIX IT?? God forbid You had got in an accident n that baby got hurt, they would now be in your position, trying to prove they DIDNT do this!"She gave us the number of her personal mechanic who when she called and explained the situation, said he'd take a look at our car the next day for free. I dropped the car off the next morning and returned to pick it up around 4.The first thing he did, was admit that when he offered to check the car out, he had intentions to find out what WE had hit, but when he got under the car, he was actually shocked... He went on for about 30 min. telling us the car was absolutely in some sort of accident.He explained that my airbags had either been replaced, or weren't even in there because the car hit something so hard, they they would have went off. He explained that despite all the babble about inspections, car auctions are like cows going to the slaughter and something like frame damage, underneath the car, could very well be missed. Despite Carvilles boasts of such thorough inspections,He then deemed the car unsafe to drive.(mind you, he had no intention of getting money out of us, as he thought we were getting it fixed at firestone). One thing led to another, and I found the number of the DOR Auto criminal investigator. Although he seemed confident that Carvilles might have did this, he warned us right away, that HIS problem would be PROVING IT. He needed some sort of paper trail..Well after a month of waiting, we received the call that on paper EVERYTHING checked out which made the investigator now useless. He discovered our car had previously been a rental car, during which it could have very well been in a small accident, but once again, the "auction report" said nothing about the damaged frame.So even though he agreed, that it looked like the car had been dropped off a lift, HE COULDNT PROVE IT. He told us we could still take them to court, something I fear would take so much work, and money,only to be shut down by carvilles again. We eventually took the car to Superior Body Shop, and asked if they might be able to just shift the frame, so the tires would at least be even, and we'd worry about the dent and crack welding later... but after examining it, they said they couldnt even shift it to the left because the frame was actually jammed up towards the front. Once again, we were told we'd have to replace the frame, which they quoted us as $1500. We had just taken out an $800 credit card from Big-O-Tires,because they absolutely had to be replaced, and to even think of somehow taking a loan for $1500 more, is just unreal... Once again, I had to try something else. So I posted on facebook, asking if anyone knew a mechanic personally that might help us out. We were eventually connected to the owner of a shop, who just started attending our church. After speaking with him about the situation, he said that he'd actually worked for Carvilles for 9 yrs, and still did a lot of business with them frequently, so he might be able to talk to them... We brought our car into his shop, only to be told by his mechanic, that our steering wheel had been replaced, the paint on the front right side had been redone, the skid plate underneath was brand new, and our airbags had been replaced also. Again, this is simply based on their experience, but to be told the same thing over and over? I asked him one more time "could I have done this?", hoping to get a "possibly",b/c then it'd be easier to suck up,but again I was told absolutely not. However the Owner once again reminded me, that because there was nothing on paper, and I did buy a "used" car,trying to get anything from these guys would be hard. He got back to us after about a week, and told us that he spoke with the manager at Carvilles, for quite some time, but apparently, they were upset that I had had the situation investigated in the first place, and did not want to help me out AT ALL. So once again, I was quoted about $1400, to replace this thing.... You always think it wouldnt happen to you, but if you ask around enough, it seems to be more of a frequent problem around town with this dealership. I believe, people just get shut down by Carvilles, feel defeated and dont end up pursuing it because of how much work it can be.... I know that the idea of taking them to court,for me, is too much work, especially having a little one. THIS IS CARVILLES MOTTO:"Carvilles Auto Mart in Grand Junction, CO treats the needs of each individual customer with paramount concern. We know that you have high expectations, and as a car dealer we enjoy the challenge of meeting and exceeding those standards each and every time. Allow us to demonstrate our commitment to excellence!" Yet when it came down to it, and we approached them about something that they did wrong, they insisted we must have "let someone borrow our car"...They did not GO THE EXTRA mile, or even one mile, for their customer. Essentially, what they did was call us liars, and send us on our way. A business with so much money, yet they don't take into count how hard a customer works for their own money.They could have fixed our problem, admitted that the all perfect dealership they are, could have made a mistake, and it would have been cheap change to the business. Had that happened, we would have continued to buy cars from them in the future! However that wasn't the case.GREATER SELECTION AT THE EXPENSE OF SAFETY AND HONESTY IS NOT WORTH IT. More