09/01/2021
Statement From the Owner:
Dear, Current and potential customers
Over the past two weeks you can see three negative reviews on our page, I wanted to take some time and give more clarity to each review so you will have a better understanding during your decision making process as to use Lanier Auto Group for your next vehicle purchase.
I'll start with the repossession review which was a sale that took place in January and the repo took place at the end of Marc, However, the review wasn’t left until the end of August. We use a few different lenders, and within that we have some sub prime lenders that work with lower credit customers that wouldn’t be able to get approved with traditional lenders, so they have tougher standards, and recourses. One of the major recourse is if the customer doesn’t make their first payment within 15 days of the due date, we the dealership have to pay the lender back for the loan and we have to repo the vehicle. Think of it like this, as a lender if they approve someone with a low credit score, or prior repos etc and they miss their first payment the odds of that person making the rest of their payments on time or at all are more limited, so they remove themselves from the loan all together which is what happen in this case. We had no control over it once the lender sends us the demand, the deal is already dead and it is up to us to have the vehicle repossessed as we have to pay the lender back in full and with a fee, and pay to have the vehicle repossesed -- in this case it was in Houston Texas and we're in Garner NC.
Next review involves a check engine light, In this sale the customer came to look at the vehicle for her mom, test drove it like it and said she would bring her mother back to see if she liked it. They both came back in a few days and the salesmen showed them the car again they test drove it and like it. After the test drive and they said they wanted the car, the salesman told them he did not like how the car was running and demanded that it be checked out before delivery, even though the customers saw no issue and wanted to take the car at that moment. The salesman did all the paperwork and had the car sent to a reputable repair shop to have the issue addressed. Once the issue was addressed and fixed the mother took delivery of the car. About a week later the daughter reached out saying the check engine light had come on. The salesman then had her bring the car back to our dealership so we could send it to the shop to fix the issue as we felt it wasn’t fully fixed the first time. The daughter did and we personally took her from Garner back to her Mother's home in Oxford. Once the car was repaired, the Salesman personally had the vehicle towed to Oxford at no charge to her. A few days later we were met with disrespectful messages from the Daughter of the customer. At this point we ended communication with as we aren’t going be disrespected or belittled. Over all in this case the customer had signed a “as is “ statement that clearly states there is NO warranty on the vehicle from the dealership, meaning if you drive off the lot and the engine blows up at the stop sign the dealership is not responsible to give you any money back( we would never do that just using it as a example ). So again we went above and beyond for her to try to solve the issue but once we were met with hostility we can no longer work together….
Side note we are located in Wake County which in NC is a emission county which means a car must pass a safety inspection and a emission inspection meaning there can not be any check engine light one and multiple monitors but have passed there checks before it can be inspected. This also means that if we unplug the battery the vehicle must be driven 20-75 miles for those monitors to go through their checks so the car could pass the emission inspection there is no way around it. So the statement that we unhook the battery so the lights will go away doesn’t hold true in the county were located it.
Now brings us to our last negative review. The couple came from about a hour and 30 mins way, we waited for them to get there after hours, even though we had prior engagements that had to be reworked. They came and took the car on a test drive for about 20 mins alone. They came back to the dealership after the test drive and continued to look over the car. After looking over the car we went into the office to do the paperwork. During the paperwork process the wife (the vehicle expert as we were told) voiced some valid issues with the car, so even though they were told we were firm on the price we negotiated some to come to a fair price, so the purchase happen. The couple drove off with the car and we closed at this point it was almost 8 and we close at 6, but we don’t mind staying to help our customers. We received a call about 30-45 mins last from the couple that the engine light came on, but the car wasn’t driven weird or any, so they drove it home. I told them I would been in their area the next day to take care of some business and that I could meet them at their mechanic shop to find out what was going on with the car, I expressed that I wouldn’t be free until after 12-1pm. So during the time I was taking care of what I was in the area for I received over 7 phone calls which I was unable to answer from the customer as I had already told him I would be unavailable. Once I finished I called the customer and got his voicemail, I left a message and haven’t heard anything from him and this sell took place the first week of June, but the review was just made the last week of August.
Here at Lanier Auto Group we pride ourselves in selling dependable reasonably priced used cars, and we understand sometimes things slip through the crack and we own up to mistakes and were truthful and transparent as we can be. We go through each car as best as we can and fix items we see or disclose items we found and do not plan to fix, but as everyone knows we are a used car dealer and we get our vehicles from the sale, we don’t know what underlying issues it could have, all we can do is fix what we find, and we do!! We also allow customers to take the vehicles to have a pre purchase inspection done before buying the vehicle, which again we wouldn’t offer if we were trying to hid anything… so in closing I just wanted to say our side to this bad reviews even though there are only three out of the over 1500 cars we have sold in the last year and 8 months in our eyes it three too many.
Thank you and see you soon
Owner of Lanier Auto Group LLC
