If you find yourself in the office at Capital Fleet on University Avenue, do yourself a favor and leave while you have the chance. My wife and I bought a used 2006 Honda Pilot for $7500. We put a down payment on the car and...
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If you find yourself in the office at Capital Fleet on University Avenue, do yourself a favor and leave while you have the chance. My wife and I bought a used 2006 Honda Pilot for $7500. We put a down payment on the car and were then directed to Capital Fleet to complete financing.
Alex talked us into paying $1500 for a Powertrain warranty through a company called Gold Standard. It covered just about anything that could go wrong, and it was a no brainer due to buying a used car with 140k on it.
When we had barely put on enough miles for an oil change, the car began to overheat so we brought it to the nearest mechanic.
The water pump failed taking the timing belt and head gasket with it. What a bummer after only having the car for such a short amount of time. But alas, we had our warranty! According to my brochure, all of the repairs were covered. It would cost about $4000+ for repairs and the Mechanic called Gold Standard to make a claim, only to find out that we had a simple Key & Maintenance plan which only covers oil changes and tire rotation and things like that. How could that be? We had the documents showing that we payed $1500 for a Powertrain warranty and we had the brochure and all corresponding paperwork Alex gave us when we purchased the plan that clearly shows our Powertrain coverage. The “Key & Maintenance” plan wasn’t even on the brochure he gave us so how could I have purchased something that I didn’t even know existed? Even so, who would pay $1500 for oil changes that they can do in their own garage?
I then called and emailed Alex who claimed the warranty company CHANGED our Powertrain plan to a Key and Maintenance without notifying him or ourselves. So he lied, and blamed the warranty company, not taking any responsibility for the mistake HE made. We didn't even get so much as an apology!
He then gave me 3 absurd options to try and fix the situation. One option was to cancel our warranty and collect what money we could from it, and then buy a NEW warranty. Then we and the mechanic would have to LIE and say that the failure happened at a later date so it could be covered under the new warranty. I knew I was in big trouble then because what he was suggesting is beyond shady!
The second option he offered was to pay off our loan, and then put us in a newer Pilot. After all of this, the last thing I wanted was Capital Fleet messing with my loan and credit and going through the whole process again with them!
The 3rd option was to try and find somewhere “cheaper” to fix the car. We would be responsible for a tow and the repairs, and for all I know someone could be fixing the car in their home garage with duct tape. We were given no idea of where the repairs would take place, how long it would take, or how much it would cost. Almost a week had passed and the car was already at a reputable shop. All the options given to us by Alex were either legal or absurd.
I also called Gold Standard and informed them of the situation. They confirmed that they NEVER changed our plan (and would never do so) and Alex DEFINITELY took our $1500, but somehow signed us up for the simple maintenance plan, which is worthless to almost anyone. As I thought, THEY CONFIRMED THAT ALEX WAS LYING. This came as no surprise after all of this.
We then went to the BBB and Attorney General for help. It took 2 letters from the Attorney General to even get a response from Capital Fleet. Their only response was that we bought the car “AS-IS”. We did buy the car as-is, which is why we paid the $1500 extra for the powertrain warranty, that we never got, and unfortunately didn’t discover until we truly needed to use it. Court is the next course of action. It’s not even about money. We just don’t want him to do this to anyone else and will do all we can to warn the public.