Complaint Review: Woodbridge Public Auto Auction - Woodbridge Virginia

Dear Jimi,

We are an auction. That means every day, whether you buy a car in our weekend auctions on the block or in the week from our lot; WE ARE AN AUCTION. AUCTION = AS-IS , you bought the car from an auction, not a dealer. I am never happy to hear of your misfortune but you really are showing a distinct lack of class with your repeated foul mouth comments. Like we always recommend, you should always get a used car checked out by a pro. You can buy our cars, pay a mechanic to check them out and buy a warranty and still be below retail. It truly pains me when common sense does not prevail. You happily drag our good name through the mud without any consideration that maybe, just maybe the responsibility for your  misfortune is at the very least partly your fault?

I am here most days, I am always happy to hear from you.

I am always upset to read such negative comments from one of our clients. I can only make four very important points to anyone who decides to read this report and my response. Firstly you must consider that we have sold to date 79,313 cars since 1995 and you are only likely to find a handful of complaints online. Secondly, our customer base is 99.9% surveyed and statistically 47% of clients are returning or friends of happy customers. Thirdly, we are an auction house and NOT a dealer. Cars are sold AS-IS but we do welcome and encourage test drives and mechanical inspections by your own mechanic. Warranties are offered at an extra cost yet our prices out the door including a warranty will more often than not be substantially below retail. Fourthly, and most importantly we are a family business that makes the same amount regardless of what car we sell. This means that it is not in my interest to knowingly sell you a lemon since we rely on word of mouth and happy clients for nearly half of our overall business. If you spoke to a manager and you feel that you were not furnished with appropriate respect or service I am always willing to assist, my contact details are below. Having sold nearly 80,000 used and heavily used cars I can honestly say that there have been an extremely small number of cars that have not provided their owners with the expected service life. However we always encourage test drives and mechanical inspections by our clients in order to minimize these risks. I sincerely hope to hear from anyone with questions. Charlie Powers 703-643-1189

"Why didn't I check it out? I DID! Everything looked clean." What I meant was, why didn't you take it to a competent mechanic and have it thoroughly checked out (including hooking it up to a diagnostic machine). A car with 320 miles to live will be identified pretty early on in the inspection process. Particularly one that has been "rigged" by a dealer to pawn off on some unsuspecting customer.

Josh, You are probably one of those maggots that knowingly rip off people by the way you're defending them. I didn't buy it at an auction - a-hole! I went to their lot on a buisness day. FYI, their auction is NOT closed to the public d*khead!

Maybe you should read about what an auto auction is before you buy a car from one. This is the reason why most of them are closed to the public. If you want a car with a warranty, go to a dealer. An auction service is not a dealer. A car you buy at auction is sold AS IS. Meaning that there is NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. This is why cars are generally cheaper at auction than at a dealership. Generally, these cars are trade-ins, which means that it is very likely for them to be defective in some way. If you don't know how to inspect cars (you obviously don't) and can't deal with the possibility of getting a lemon, don't shop at auctions.

Why didn't I check it out? I DID! Everything looked clean. I did everything except hook it up to a diagnostic machine. They knew what to hide and how long it would last. I'm telling you, these maggots are no better than those spammers stealing money from honest hard working people. What comes around - goes around!

"I understand I bought it "as is", but still had some expectation it would last longer than 320 miles." Why would you expect that? You know what "as is" means. The paper you signed or initialed said that you knew you were buying the car with absolutely no warranty. That should make you want to get the car checked out before signing on the dotted line. Frankly, you probably would have had better luck buying from someone off the street. If I had to choose between the general honesty of the average guy on the street and a used car salesman, the guy on the street would get my vote.