Air Bag Light in Disguise

That was a pretty sharp crook on that one or a used car dealer telling an unscrupulous tech to just fix it where the light didn't stay on. You see a lot of shenanigans from some used car dealers. There are a few in our town that will not let a customer bring a used car to us for a pre-purchase inspection. Guess why? We had one used car salesman start insulting us when we found problems on Porsche he was trying to sell and my service manager almost physically threw him out.

Wow, that's a new one on me. I have never seen that stunt pulled before Pretty smart if you ask me. (and yes it should be illegal)

uote name='CARMandP' timestamp='1298740355' post='9530']

Wow, that's a new one on me. I have never seen that stunt pulled before Pretty smart if you ask me. (and yes it should be illegal)

It really should be illegal in every state.

That was a pretty sharp crook on that one or a used car dealer telling an unscrupulous tech to just fix it where the light didn't stay on. You see a lot of shenanigans from some used car dealers. There are a few in our town that will not let a customer bring a used car to us for a pre-purchase inspection. Guess why? We had one used car salesman start insulting us when we found problems on Porsche he was trying to sell and my service manager almost physically threw him out.

The people that would even consider buying a vehicle under those circumstances are (in my opinion) just as bad as the salesman that won't let them get it checked out. Unbelievable... and YES, I HAVE physically thrown used car salesman out of my door. I know exactly the type you're talking about.

I don't know for sure, but I thought tampering with an airbag system and not letting the purchaser know IS illegal? That used car dealer set themselves up for a lawsuit if their customer was ever in an accident and the airbags didn't work.

Here's what I found out Dewayne. tampering with the air bag is a choice of the owner, you own the car (not renting) so it's your choice.. you can even request to have the bag turned off for reasons of height, health, or disability. Even if the owner is a used car lot. however, knowingly selling a car with a defective air bag system and not telling the new owner is .. well, in some cases illegal. But, the way it's worded (typical politics) the phrase "knowingly" becomes the "escape clause" .

But I'm with you... it ought to be illegal, and if a so called "professional" sale is taking place... then things like this should be checked out. This isn't the 50 or 60's where we didn't even consider seat belts as a requirement... this IS the time when as much care is taken to protect the driver and passengers as well as fuel mileage.

It's just sad to find what I found on that car... are real eye opener to the other side of car repair.... the illegal side.

I don't know for sure, but I thought tampering with an airbag system and not letting the purchaser know IS illegal? That used car dealer set themselves up for a lawsuit if their customer was ever in an accident and the airbags didn't work.

Here's what I found out Dewayne. tampering with the air bag is a choice of the owner, you own the car (not renting) so it's your choice.. you can even request to have the bag turned off for reasons of height, health, or disability. Even if the owner is a used car lot. however, knowingly selling a car with a defective air bag system and not telling the new owner is .. well, in some cases illegal. But, the way it's worded (typical politics) the phrase "knowingly" becomes the "escape clause" .

 

And therein lies the problem. Even if this dealer did have the chop job done the buyer has to prove the dealer knew it was "fixed" incorrectly. Good luck in getting that done. Any tech who would do that sure as heck isn't going to admit to it.

 

 

One of those buy-here-pay-here (screw job instant junk) car lots near my shop has their cars all "inspected" before sale. They even strongly suggest it to the customers. It's all a credibility thing. Convince the customer that the deceptive car lot is really honest because they let the customer have the car inspected. Well the car lot steers the customer to a specific shop. A friend of mine worked there (the shop not the car lot) and he told me that the "inspection" was very specific and he was NOT to "find" anything else except what the car lot authorized them to "inspect." Anytime I have a customer talk about buying a new-to-them used car I always tell them to have it inspected first. I try to impress the value of the inspection as a bargaining tool if anything is found wrong then they may be able to get the seller to pony up some $$ of the price. And at the very least they will knwo what they are buying. I tell them that if the dealer or seller refuses to let them have it inspected first WALK AWAY, there's a reason why they won't let it be inspected, they are afraid you will find something they don't want you to find.

 

Or like in the case of my mother-in-law's minivan, a Chrysler with the remote in the key head, the van had only one key. When the salesman dropped it off I asked if it had two keys and he said, "Yes, I only brought the one." I thought that was little fishy so I told my MIL to insist on having both keys BEFORE signing the paperwork. Well she didn't, so she had to go back and get the second key, programmed to the tune of $150.00+. But not being one to get pushed around, and having written many loans for this dealership when she worked at the bank, she talked to the sales manager and told him I was specifically told that there were two keys and the salesman had flat-out lied, so the sales manager graciously paid for the key. Had it not been checked out first she might have had to pay for that very expensive key.