review North Coast Auto 7/16/2009

My Review of Northcoast Auto Sales:
I have never dealt with a shadier operation that this one. I bought a Chrysler 300 from these guys off of eBay and right from the start, it was a bad experience.

Now I have purchased cars over eBay before, from private sellers and dealers, and the experience has always been at least satisfactory. With North Coast, there was no satisfactory involved.

When I first called about the car to buy it at the Buy-It-Now price on a Saturday afternoon, I was assured by NCA contact Chris that he would get the paperwork to me on Monday. I had to fill that out and send it back and he could have the car shipped out to me in 24 hours. Great, right? Except not a bit of that was true.

For starters, Monday came and went. So did Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. During this time, I called Chris, called other numbers I had for North Coast (where I was told to "just hang in there buddy"), emailed and even texted Chris' phone. Every once in a while (probably a 10 to 1 ratio), I would get some response from Chris stating "yes, the paperwork will go out today." But that never seemed to happen. Mind you, I was persistent because I had put down a $400 deposit and could not get insurance or financing or anything started before they sent me the paperwork.

On Friday of the 1st week, I sent Chris a text that said if I didn't get the paperwork by that day, he could keep the car and I'd look elsewhere. This was the same week that Chrysler went bankrupt so there were plenty of dealers looking to unload 300's.

Well the ultimatum worked and the paperwork showed up Friday afternoon. By 10 o'clock Saturday morning I had financing set. But because NCA turned out to be a non-franchised dealer, the bank said they couldn't go ahead w/ the loan. Within three hours, I had another bank set with financing. Good to go, right? Wrong.

It took more than a week and a half for them to get title information to the bank to actually complete the sale! That's with me calling, emailing, and texting them throughout the week as well as my bank. My loan officer said she had never see such a thing in all her years.

So finally the sale was complete and the car was shipped. THIS WAS ONE DAY SHORT OF FOUR WEEKS SINCE I SAID "I'LL BUY IT"!!! and it arrives at the house. Gas on E. Windshield washer fluid bone dry. Half vacuumed. Cup holders still filled with gunk. All four tires about 20 PSIs low. I mean they had it for nearly a month AFTER deposit and they couldn't detail it or even clean it???? Plus it was supposed to come with a GPS unit which never arrived and I know I'll never see. Did I mention it still took them nearly three more weeks to send me the title and I only had three days left on the temporary plates when it finally arrived?

So far the car has been ok but has certainly seen rough times. The Carfax report on it said it was clean but I'm waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Do not deal with North Coast Auto unless you can deal with an incredible amount of aggravation and shoddy delivery. They are awful!