Krieger’s Of Dewitt

The consumer here should absolutely know, there is NO TRANSPARENCY to the manner of which this dealership does business. And if that transparency does not come from the top, it cannot transcend through the sales and service staff.
Consider the following: 8 hrs after a used car SATURDAY morning purchase from this dealer, the vehicle’s engine, steering, and brakes stopped working while the vehicle was being driven: a safety concern/​risk both to the driver and others on the road. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the imminent danger passed. Since the vehicle was taken over 2 ½ hrs away, and the risk to drive it back to DeWitt would be unwise, the vehicle was taken to another dealer for inspection first thing Monday morning. Water in the engine, rusty spark plugs and coils were the diagnosis brought about by the computer diagnostics and the pooling water witnessed in the engine upon servicing. Any logical person would call the selling dealership and ask questions in hope the dealership would even take a 10^th of responsibility for these findings and show some concern as to the events that happen to our daughter as she happily drove her newly purchased, but unsafe vehicle. The salesman would not return my 2^nd call after the car was repaired by the other dealership. I reached out via e-​mail to the dealership’s general manager after receiving his classic e-​mail blast purporting transparency and to call him personally with any problems. The following was the general manager’s angry and agitated response to me as I TRIED to questioned this situation: 1) he blamed our adult college educated daughter of being taken advantage of by the other dealership and had his ire raised when I told him we had in our possession the rusty parts that were replaced when computer diagnostics were used to assess the problem not human assessment 2) he would not reveal the dealership’s policy for «reconditioning» a trade in vehicle which was sold to us or any other trade in «reconditioning» resale policy stating: «I’m not going to do that.» The reader here should know the engine’s surface was crystal clean when we purchased it, and I questioned their «reconditioning» policy as a potential source of the water. Multiple sources tell us cleaning the engine amongst other things is a standard practice for selling a trade in vehicle. This vehicle was in the dealership’s possession according to the salesman for 45 days (according to the general manager 55 days) before we took possession, 3) «you drove it 2x and the vehicle worked, didn’t you?» and he rattled off the events that allowed me to speak to the prior owner of the vehicle (servicing done by his son), (we do not dispute the facts we both test drove the vehicle that morning 2x for 15 minute stints before we purchased it and that I had spoken to the prior vehicle owner days earlier. In fact, I was very clear when I spoke with the salesman days earlier that we were purchasing the vehicle for our daughters and their safety was our concern). 4) there simply wasn’t a conversation with this man as he talked AT me cutting me off several times and further implied we were somehow at fault for the problems of the vehicle and stated «I’m not going to go there» before he promptly hung up on me. The reader here should know that all I requested via e mail was the decency of a conversation and some monetary compensation for this incident that cost us an additional $ 649 for repairs. I never even posed a dollar amount. It could have been any small amount. But this general manager’s intention from the moment I spoke to him was to dismiss anything I said with the preconceived intent to «deny» any responsibility. No apology, no empathy, no concern for the safety of our family or daughter who was clearly put in a dangerous situation. His sale was complete.
We signed, as all used car purchasers do, their paperwork to protect themselves from any responsibility with the vehicle. There was some hope before the general manager’s attitude was revealed to me, that this dealership might do the right thing even by some small measure of courtesy and/​or re-​imbursement. Silly me! We are not angry at this dealership and I am not angry at the general manager. We bought the car «as is» as do so many others as we all take risks in buying a used vehicle. Part of my intent of speaking to the general manager was to inform him that perhaps water was let into the engine by his staff, UNKNOWINGLY, and that perhaps measures should be taken to AVOID this scenario again in the future… like inspect the engine and tune up prior to resale. Again, silly me! Well, I can assure the reader as with any conflict resolution, there needs to be an open party to even consider a respectful conversation. So, I ask the reader, why is it that dealerships and salespeople get a bad rap?
As an end to this story, our daughters are happily driving this vehicle, and we are pleased they are happy and SAFE.