Sharp Auto Sales

Stay away from this car dealer!
My Wife was recently involved in a car accident when a woman crashed into her that totaled our 2001 KIA Sedona van. We decided to buy a used KIA Sedona van instead of paying for a rental for the weeks it was going to take for the insurance to settle, so on October of 2013, we found a used KIA on Craig’s List that seemed to be a good replacement. I called the number listed and spoke to a man who owned the car and confirmed the price of $ 5495.00. He assured me that it was in perfect condition. We live in Pasadena, CA. and the KIA was in San Diego, so we traveled there that evening in hopes that we would return with another KIA van because we love KIA cars. When we reached the address that the man had provided, we realized that it was a business unit instead of a house and so I called the number and the man came outside to direct me to the store front unit he was at. On the phone, the man had told us that he was selling the car, but made no mention that he was a dealer and led us to believe that he was just an individual selling a car.
We were shown the car as much as the nighttime would allow. It seemed to be a descent car and we agreed to buy it but when I brought out the cash to pay, the man presented a dealer contract and after taxes and license the price of the car now went up to $ 6500.00, $ 1000.00 more than it was advertised for. We informed him that we hadn’t known that he was a dealer and that he had said over the phone that it was just $ 5495.00 and only brought the amount that was advertised. Despite my experience to that point, I agreed to buy the car as it was late and we had our kids with us and they didn’t want to go home without the car so we paid the extra amount after going to an ATM to get the extra $ 1000.00 and was on our way.
By the time we got home to Pasadena that same night, the transmission began acting up and after taking the van to our mechanic the next morning, he told us that the transmission was shot, along with the Catalytic converter, battery and a few other essential parts of the engine. Our mechanic informed us that the transmission needed to be rebuilt and that the car should have been illegal to sell without a working catalytic converter despite that the checklist the dealer gave us said it was in working order. When we called the dealer to inform him that the transmission and catalytic converter were bad, he refused to help and stated that the car was sold as is and that he was not responsible. He offered to have the car picked up and taken to a mechanic and insisted that we would have to split the cost of the work needed, which was around $ 3000.00, but I wasn’t going to do that and wouldn’t feel comfortable having his mechanic fix it anyway even if he offered to have it fixed for us.
It was clear that this dealer was interested only in ripping as many people off as possible so he could make the most off of them with absolutely no conscience or concern for the customers that he rips off. He has now refused to respond to our pleas and we are now having to take him to court in order to try and recover some of the money spent to repair the car. We had to have the transmission rebuilt and a bunch of things are falling apart now, so this car was obviously abused and he knew that he was selling a lemon to us and had only his own wallet on his mind when selling the car to our family, even after telling him that this was a car to replace the car totaled after my Wife was crashed into. I have to take some responsibility in this, not listening to my better judgement and buying anything from Craigs List. If you buy a car from Craig’s List, you take the chance of getting a lemon or getting ripped off. If you buy anything from this dealer, you will only be ripped off, so stay away from this guy and his hole in the wall office in San Diego. He is the stereotypical sleezy car dealer that is grinning all the way to the bank and flipping through his stacks of cash after ripping off families of their money. The dealer’s name is Bijan and his sleezy business is called Sharp Auto Sales on 6920 Miramar Road, Suite #319 in San Diego, CA. If you’re looking for a car, be sure to stay clear of this guy… but by the time this review is out, he’ll probably leave town and start another car dealership somewhere else to stay ahead of the mobs of people that have been ripped off by him and his business… if you can call it a business… the business of ripping people off of their money anyway. This isn’t even worthy of a star. It should be a negative star. Pass it on…