Cortney Troy’s apartment parking space - spot 144 - now sits empty, after a frustrating experience with a used car she bought from South County Chrysler in Gilroy.
“It was a bad experience that I don’t ever want to go through again,” said Troy.
The past May, Troy bought a 2007 Escalade.
“It was really a smooth ride,” Troy said. “And we liked that we didn’t have to do anything to it. The rims were already there, the tint was already on it, and the gray just looked great.”
But Troy says within minutes of driving her new used car off the lot on that Friday night in May, problems started.
“The lights started flickering, the signs on the dash started coming up with ‘doors aren’t closing’ lights,” said Troy.
She drove straight back to South County Chrysler. She says the dealer told her to come back on Monday and it would fix the SUV.
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That weekend, she says the brakes went out.
“You’re hitting on the brake and it’s not stopping,” said Troy. “That was really scary. We didn’t know if we could stop. It took maybe three minutes to stop.”
Troy dropped off the Escalade at South County Chrysler, and the dealer said it would look at it. But when Cortney picked up the SUV, she said she couldn’t get a clear answer from the dealer what was wrong. And when she started driving it, she said little had changed.
“It was the suspension warning light coming on, the lights kept flickering, something was always wrong with the tire,” said Troy. “Every light on the dashboard would come up.”
Troy said she gave the dealer a few more shots at fixing her SUV. But she said nothing worked.
“I was livid,” said Troy. “I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t want to drive the car.”
So Troy reached out to us.
“I told you guys i wanted the money back,” said Troy. “And the next day they called and they said ‘we have everything cut for you and you can come get your money.’”
After we called South County Chrysler, it took back the Escalade. It gave Troy a check for $4,000 - her down payment and loan payments she’d made. And it paid off her loan. A savings of $24,000.
“I was ecstatic,” said Troy. “I was so happy. I had nothing to do with this car anymore.”
When we asked South County Chrysler for its side of the story, it simply said Troy’s resolution had nothing to do with NBC Bay Area Responds.
Here’s something Troy - and all used car buyers - can consider. California law allows used car buyers to purchase a Contract Cancellation Option. This gives the buyer two days to return a used car to the dealer for a full refund, minus a restocking fee.
