Complaint Review: Gateway Classic Cars - Nationwide

On March 18th, 2017, I visited Gateway Classica Cars in Fort Lauterdale to look for a classical Ford Mustang, together with 3 friends. We spotted a 1967' Mustang with Window Sticker, stating it has a V8 Cobra Jet 428 engine and is in great conditions. I contacted the sales representative Joshua and asked if this is true. Being not really an expert, I challenged him on the fact that a Cobra Jet 428 is quite a rare engine and if it really was available already in 1967. The sales representative showed me a document ("Seller Statement"), printed on GatewayClassicCars letter head, stating the following: - The car is Numbers Matching - The car has Original Engine and Transmission I asked the sales representative if he can confirm this and so he did. I immediately checked the VIN using a public VIN decoder on the internet and got the information that the car should have been produced with a 6 cylinder engine, not with a V8 as written on the Window Sticker. I challenged the sales representative again with this but he said that I am wrong, the car definitely is Numbers Matching and has Original Engine and Transmission. He also said: "what is written in the Seller Statement counts", I can trust on this.

With this confirmation and the Seller Statement I bought the car. I paid a quite high price for the car as a Numbers Matching 1967' Ford Mustang with Original Engine and Original Transmission usually has a very high value and is a good investment. If I would have known that it is NOT Numbers Matching and NOT with Original Engine and Transmission, I would not have accepted such high price. Together with the purchase contract I got the Seller Statement document with all the vehicle details, stating - The car is Numbers Matching - The car has Original Engine and Transmission Luckily I made a picture of the Window Sticker that was at the car. After I shipped the car to Germany, paid high import taxes and brought it to a technical check in order to get it street legal in Germany, some classic car experts found out that the car is NOT Numbers Matching and has NOT an Original Engine and Transmission. Further resarch that I conducted showed that the Cobra Jet 428 engine was even not available yet in 1967 when that Mustang was built.

When I confronted GatewayClassicCars with these facts, I got the following information in return by email: - It would be the buyers responsibility to check if the car is Numbers Matching and has Original Engine and Transmission. (As I'm not an expert, I cannot check that. But GatewayClassicCars claims to be experts, so they should be able to chek and tell me.) - GatewayClassicCars KNEW that the statement in the Seller Statement document about the car being Numbers Matching and has Original Engine and Transmission was WRONG. Thus, GatewayClassicCars and its sales representative have provided wrong information to me during the sales of the car. - GatewayClassicCars claims that there is a disclaimer on their website about not being responsible for such issues. - GatewayClassicCars afer the sales of the car provided a Window Sticker by email to me with totally different information, compared to the Window Sticker that was at the car at the time of the sales. It seems that GatewayClassicCars deals with two different versions of the Window Sticker: one version at the car to catch the buyer and another version that will be used later on, after the sales. I did not visit the website of GatewayClassicCars before, I just visited the shop in Fort Lauderdale. Thus, the terms and conditions and legal disclaimers on the website do not apply for my purchase. I asked the sales representative multiple times if the car really is Numbers Matching and has Original Engine and Transmission, which he confirmed, refering to the Seller Statement and to the Window Sticker. I asked GatewayClassicCars for a proposal about compensating my loss and the lower value of the car due to not being Numbers Matching and has Original Engine and Transmission as stated in the sales offer. Nothing serious has been offered.

In the meantime I have evidence that GatewayClassicCars has acted by intent. Wrong information has been provided in order to get a higher sales price for a car that has much lower value.