Complaint Review: Lipton Toyota Of Ft Lauderdale - Fort Lauderdale Florida

First of all based on your narrative you have driven the car just under 20K miles in about 5 months, which by most standards is considered excessive. You did have a warranty to take you to the 60K miles, but you went over that.

You also seem to be equating age with wear and tear. Yes the car is only "2 years" old, but it has also been driven over 60K miles(or about 30K/year). The average car gets about 12-15K/year, so you are double that.

A car doesn’t crumble and die after 5 months of having it and all fluids are at level!!!

- NO..the car "died" after being driven 66,0611 miles. The length of time you had it has nothing to do with this.  And this is one of the hazards of a Used Car, as you have NO idea how it was treated before you got it.  

I'll tell you that the dealer may very well have sold you a car with a "bad" engine. But did they do it intentionally or should have known? The answer of course is NO. As remember this "bad" engine, lasted you 5 months and close to 20K miles of driving. It wasn't like you drove it off the lot and it died.

Then did anyone mention any issues they saw with the engine during your scheduled maintenance? Because based on your driving claims you should have had 3 or 4 visits for regular maintenance.

One also has to wonder why you would admit to driving 80 MPH(which is 5-15 MPH over the speed limit) on a daily basis. I would bet that you also hit speeds higher than that. This could mean additional wear and tear, and stress that could cause additional issues and failure.

In order to qualify as a lemon, there are several steps you as the owner have to go through.  One of the problems you're going to have in order to qualify the car as a lemon is that the car generally has to be new - in most states, a lemon car has to be a new car.  In other words, it came off the manufacturing line as defective.  Then you have to go through several steps attempts to rectify the problem.  I mean you may think it's a lemon, but it really isn't.  A used car really can't be considered a lemon to you because someone owned the car before you, and if the car was fine...and why wouldn't they say the car was fine, then the lemon law doesn't apply.

Now, you claim when you bought the car, the lot indicated the car was still under warranty.  Based on your narrative, the car was under warranty - you bought the car with 48,000 miles on it, and it had a 60,000 mile warranty - you do indicate this.  So no one deceived you that the car was under warranty at the time of the purchase.  Now, the question from the reader's perspective isn't whether you were offered an extended warranty.  The question from my perspective is whether you would have purchased an extended warrantry had it been offered?  Now if you were assured there was a warranty on the car, and there was, would you at that moment, without the benefit of hindsight, purchased the extended warranty?  Before you say yes - consider this statement from your narrantive:

My loan was for almost 18,000 but the car was sticker priced at $12,995.00

This statement tells me the answer as to whether you would have purchased the extended warranty, was no.  However, most people would not purchased the extended warranty because often, there is no need for it.  Hindsight is always 20-20, and complaining about not purchasing the extended warranty happens when people don't purchase it when situations in the future dictate that they should have.  In reality, the only way an extended warranty is worth it, is what actually happened to you - the engine going bad.

One of the other interesting pieces I noted in your narrative is that you put roughly 18,000 miles on the car in a little over 5 months, which tells me you're putting more than 40,000 miles on a car in a year - really hard miles - and you haven't been through one winter in that car.  You likely would have been far better off buying a new car with maybe a 100,000 mile warranty.  However, that's also hindsight as well.  Best of luck to you....

 YOU were late with payments. The mechanical problems have NOTHING to do with the CONTRACT you signed where YOU agreed to make all payments on time! Giving the car back is a VOLUNTARY REPO and does NOT make the financial contract vanish into the clear blue sky!

However, since the banks won't touch you because of YOUR reputation of NOT paying YOUR bills on time, it's a sure bet these collections activities are nothing new to you! You act surprised this car isn't covered by warranty.

I'll bet you didn't even read the paperwork you signed which would have very clearly explained that FACT to you! This is nothing more than the whining of a serial deadbeat who just can't stand the consequences they caused.

Like all the others, it's always the fault of the lender when the serial deadbeat once again fails to live up to their obligations. Let me save you some effort. I'll tell you right now, I don't work for them!

 The car would have been stickered with a "Buyer's Guide". That sticker would have told you if the deal included a warranty or if it was sold "As Is". Additionally, YOU would have signed a disclosure statement which delineated the same condition of sale. Did you read what you were signing? Also, if you are going to play the sympathy card of having children, it seems kind of irresponsible for you to be driving 75-80 mph! It is also a point of FACT, abusing an engine by driving such high speeds often causes piston and block damage.

 No I asked about the warranty several times. The dealership in case you did not read my letter did not give me the extended warranty. I did ask for it. They led me to believe I had a warranty. The issue with the car is the piston rod bust a hole through to the spark plug position 1 damaging the head on the spark plug within 30 seconds. The motor locked up. I did nothing but drive my car and keep up on the regular maintenance. A car doesn’t crumble and die after 5 months of having it and all fluids are at level!!!

The salesman was correct. At the time of purchase the vehicle had 12,000 miles remaining on the manufacturer’s warranty. Apparently you chose not to purchase an extended warranty.

You put 18,000 miles on the car; therefore, you were not sold a car with a bad engine. A lemon is a vehicle with multiple issues. Your car is not a lemon.

Specifically, what is the problem with the engine?