Automotive Avenues

Automotive Avenues responded

Jim, Every vehicle we sell is thoroughly inspected and serviced. The vehicle you purchased was no different. It received brand new tires, new brakes, an oil change, and a differential service. Had we not inspected it we would not have known that those items needed attention. What you were told is that we do not have the vehicles "state inspected". State inspection can only be performed by the vehicles owner and only after the vehicle is registered and receives permanent license plates. If there was a hole in the muffler at the time of purchase it certainly would not have passed inspection. Regardless, a muffler and flange installed for your vehicle should have cost about $350, so you may want to contact the shop who repaired it for you an discuss their pricing. Had you contacted us we certainly would have offered to perform the service for you. As to the issue of the $44, I assure you if we did owe you a refund in that amount and did not send it to you, it was nothing more than an honest oversight. Had you contacted us and alerted us to the error I assure you we would have processed it immediately. The last thing I'd like to point out is that after this review was first posted, I contacted you in an effort to discuss and hopefully resolve your issues. Although you responded that you would be "contacting me shortly", I never heard back from you. Bill S., Dealer Principal

Jim123 responded

Bill, I provided you with my name and address; I'm sure you have all you need on file. You could easily speak with Paul (Finance) to verify that I'm due $44.18 or look at the bill of sale. I gave you over $16,500 in cash and you can't send me $44? Regarding the repairs, they were done by a reputable establishment (Meineke Eatontown) not only the muffler, but the exhaust pipe,flange and the 2 end pipes on the muffler had to be replaced thus $1000. Anyhow, I can't believe that's it's now March and I have not received a check from Automotive Avenues. I didn't not reach out to you regarding any repairs because at that point I had no confidence in your dealership to do the right thing. I have 2 reviews on this website 1 from a year ago on Ray Catena with I gave 5 stars. I ranked your dealership 1 star because the lack of professionalism I was subjected to. In the end, I'm the customer and this was my experience.

Automotive Avenues responded

The first thing I'd like to point out is that the vehicle the reviewer is referring to was 12 years old, with a sales price of this vehicle was $5,995. Keeping that in mind, here's our side of the story. The customer contacted us a couple of weeks after he purchased the vehicle complaining that the check engine light came on. Despite the fact that a vehicle of this age is sold AS IS, we offered him the opportunity to bring the vehicle in to our shop for us to have a look. We replaced 2 spark plugs at no charge, and never heard back from him again regarding any issues with the vehicle. As far as the warranty is concerned, we never told him that the bank required the warranty. Banks cannot force customers to purchase warranties and the suggestion that we told him that is ridiculous. What he was told was that the bank charged a $650 fee due to his poor credit rating, which WE absorbed because the warranty profit basically washed that amount out. He purchased the vehicle on 7/21 and we cancelled the warranty on 8/12, which was the day he requested we do so. From that point forward, it was in the hands of the warranty company, but cancellations can take 4-6 weeks to process. Once it was cancelled, the funds were sent to his lienholder. As far as the cost, unfortunately warranties can be expensive on 12 year old vehicles because the warranty companies know that the risk of a mechanical failure is higher than with a later model vehicle. That's just the reality of it. For all of our alleged dishonesty, our net profit on the sale was negative $267.02! Yes that's right...we actually lost money. Now you're probably asking why we would sell a car to lose money. The answer is actually very simple. The majority of our 500 car inventory is comprised of late model, off lease vehicles, that are still covered under the factory warranty. When we sell those vehicles, we often take in older cars such as this as trade-in's. Rather than send what we feel is a good quality, inexpensive, trade-in to an auction, we'd much rather offer the vehicle to a customer who's looking for good, cheap transportation. Our hope is for that customer to refer a friend or family member, or come back again themselves in the future. It just makes good long term sense for us, as opposed to sending the vehicle at an auction. In this case, the customer purchased a 2005 Chrysler 300 Touring with only 79,00 miles that was fully serviced including new tires, brakes, alternator, and battery....for only $5,995. We could not have worked harder, or made less than we did, all in the name of good business. 70% of our sales are derived from referrals of satisfied customers. It's unfortunate that this customer does not realize the level of service and value he received. Sincerely, Bill S., Dealer Principal

Automotive Avenues responded

The first point I'd like to make is that the vehicle for which this review is posted had in excess of 127,000 miles on it. While I'm not saying that automatically means a customer is going to experience a mechanical issue, it obviously means that there is a greater likelihood that the vehicle may be more problematic. That is the case no matter where you buy. Obviously the higher the mileage, the lower the price, which is why some customers are willing to take the chance that a high mileage vehicle will provide them with better value than a more expensive vehicle with lower mileage. For customers who want more assurance, we do offer extended service contracts which provide protection from unexpected issues that may arise. This customer declined to purchase that coverage. That being said, the vehicle was fully serviced prior to being posted for sale. As you read the review, you will see that this particular customer took issue with just about everyone they dealt with, as well as everything they did. She even took issue with the location and time of the test drive (too short and in too rural of an area), not to mention the application of the tire shine. While I cannot address every comment in their review, I can tell you that it's simply not true that we would not present a customer with an interest rate. EVERY approval we obtain for a customer details the interest rate, term of the loan, and monthly payment. The only reason we would offer to obtain a loan for a customer only to have them immediately pay it off would be for them to take delivery on the spot, as often a customer has a loan arranged, but not the ability to close on it on the spot. It does not benefit us to go through the time and effort to arrange financing for a customer only to have them pay that loan of immediately with financing they arranged on their own. That amounts to extra work for us without any benefit, and would only be offered as a way to assist the customer. Our title processing staff work daily until 5PM. Unfortunately, this customer arrived after 5 so we could not provide them with an answer to their registration questions the evening they were here. We did provide them with that information when they returned to the dealership. With regard to the condition of the vehicle, the vehicle had 2 different sets of tires which were the same tread pattern and of above average tread. While an investment in brand new tires is never a bad one, it was the customers option to spend nearly $1000 on brand new top of the line BF Goodrich tires. That accounts for half of the repairs the reviewer claims to have made. As far as any other repairs, there is no way for us to know if they were necessary because the customer never contacted us after the sale complaining of any issues. Had she done so, we would likely have made the repairs, offered her assistance, or offered her the option to choose a different vehicle. We cannot resolve a problem if we don't know about it. Selling nearly 300 vehicles per month, we understand that a very small percentage of those customers may require some assistance after the sale. When they do, we are here to assist them. Please read all our Internet reviews and testimonials on this and every other website. You can also visit autoavenj.com and view video testimonials left by dozens of satisfied customers! We're sure that if you do, you'll see that we have a reputation for customer service that's second to none. If I can ever be of service, please do not hesitate to contact me personally. Best Regards, Bill S., Dealer Principal. Automotive Avenues LLC

Automotive Avenues responded

Unfortunately the truck was sold a couple of hours before this customer arrived and the sales associate who sold it failed to place the vehicle into a ""sale pending" status. When he noticed another associate showing the truck, he realized his error and attempted to rectify it. We explained this to the customer and he seemed to be very understanding. He has since been back to the dealership on 3 separate occasions to look for a truck which is why we were surprised to read this review. It was nothing more than an honest mistake which we've attempted to make right by assisting him in finding another vehicle. Sincerely, Bill S., Dealer Principal