Hubbard Auto Center

Website looks nice. Inventory looks nice. Just don’t do what I did… I bought an Audi S4 Cabriolet with low miles on it. First and foremost, now that its fixed, I LOVE the car!
Here’s where the story begins… I have purchased many, many cars over the years so I only have myself to blame for not following my gut instincts. I am a «Car Guy» with many collectable/​sports cars in my history. Mark told me that «80 to 90% of my sales are transacted sight unseen», other than the photos on his website which are many. The problem is two-​fold; the photos don’t show the door dings and blemishes. Consequently, when Mark told me there were «two dings here and a ding there that were so small you had to bend down almost on your knees to see them», I felt the car must really be clean (also taking into consideration the nice photos). When I got the car, based on his prior description of the three dings, he should have also mentioned about 8 to 10 more!
Secondly, NEVER, NEVER fall for the «80 to 90% of my sales are transacted sight unseen» line! Go see the car and spend/​invest the money into a pre-​sales inspection! Shame on me! I will never do it this way again. When I got the car it had a small oil leak (or so it looked in my garage). I took it to the local Sacramento Audi dealer for a service and to have a couple things that Mark DID tell me about taken care of (glove box door and arm rest). I asked them about the oil leak. Without dismantling the underside of the car to dig into it, the tech said «based on where it is coming down from, it could be a main seal at the transmission.» He said it would be expensive when the day comes. I opted to keep my eye on it and the oil levels for the time being. In my gut though, I had the fear from the beginning that the car was «Driven hard and put to bed wet» (my wife hates the description!). A month or so later the «Check Engine» light comes on and there is a loss in power… I took it in. The good news is that the «Camshaft Adjustor Solenoid» that needed replacing was only $ 1,400.00 or so! The bad news was the engine and transmission had to be dropped to fix it!!! Three weeks later (~45 man hours) my car was ready to go. The bill before some adjustments (and a coupon) based on my pleading, came to $ 7,998.00. I got it down to $ 6,500.00.
While it was in the shop I contacted Mark about the issue. He said «Wow, I really feel bad. That’s why I always bring up and suggest that the buyer also get a warranty». I said, «with all due respect Mark, I brought up the warranty, not you. In fact, while we discussed the warranty we mutually agreed that the car had so few miles and that you knew the previous owner, and that the warranty probably wasn’t worth the cost.»
The fact is that while the car was at the shop I was allowed to visit it many times. I even took a couple videos because the engine had oil leaks everywhere! I posted a video on my you tube channel. To make matters even worse, three days after I got the car back the part went bad. It and the entire job were covered by warranty (12 months /​12K miles) but I was again down and without the S4 for three more weeks. An absolute nightmare!!! ALWAYS DO A PRE-​SALE INSPECTION!!!