2005 LGT New to me... Lemon?

Recently purchased a Certified Pre-Owned Silver 2005 LGT wagon 5MT with just shy of 40,000 miles on it.

 

Since I was at school, I sent my mom and brother into look at/drive the car. Everything seemed to be fine, carfax checked out clean, no accidents or any other damage, so we decided to buy the car. Only note here is that the bumper and left headlight didnt line up perfectly and the hood was slightly off, leaving me to think a small fender bender occured but the carfax is clean so nothing bad. But got it for a pretty good price and was happy. This was saturday 12/5/09.

 

Picked the car up on tuesday 12/8/09 and went to drive it up to school. On the drive up the car was so out of alignment that had I let go of the steering wheel I would have been in the left hand gaurdrail. Also noticed on the way up that the oiled needed to be changed in 300 miles. Neither are really big issues but not what you would expect for CPO car. Had an alighnment done 2 days later when I hat winter tires put on, and figured I'd get the oil changed 2 weeks later when I was back home.

 

So I get home and I go to the dealer that I purchased it from and bring up these two issues. They agree to do the oil change no charge and say they will take a look into the alignment thing, so I make an appt for the oil change for today.

 

Today I go in to get the oil changed... no issue. I go to talk to the sales guy who I purchase the car from about the alignment and he says there is nothing they can do. But he points me to the finance person, and he says there is nothing he can do. I plead my case and still nothing...

 

Then the fun starts, one of the service guys comes in and says they need to replace my ecm and a pulley and a belt. I am now very confused and annoyed as I have had this car for 20 days, and have put less then 800 miles on it.

 

So I then get to see the inspection report of when they got the car and there is a note saying there is an issue with ECM, and that the cooling fan is always on. You would think they would have fixed it but I guess not...

 

They are covering the ECM, the belt, and the pulley along with a rental under the 30 day waranty they give you.

 

But my question is has anyone else run into any issues similar to this? Do I have myself a lemon? I live in and bought the car in CT if it makes a difference. At this point I am very unhappy and worried about what will be breaking next.

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated

 

Thanks

Demo 243

Do they have some sort of return policy? They werent very upfront woith issues before the purchase....typical A-Hole dealer/salesman.

Forget the dealing with the dealership. Call SOA immediately. I have no auto sales background, but I assume SOA has some say in whether a dealership can present a car as CPO. And in this case, wholly misrepresented as such.

Certification is meaningless. Maybe has meaning if backed by Subaru of America but if dealer "certified" a person with qualifications at Jiffy Lube will do it.

 

Obviously no prep or money was placed into the car regarding oil change and potential alignment. You did not test drive it though either.

 

The stuck cooling fan was a common issue and corrected by Subaru a few years back. This car missed this recall.

 

I would not worry about it being a lemon. Just a car in need of some items as dealer obviously simply sold it off.

 

Where did you buy it from? Was it Subaru certified?

so you bought the car only after your mom drove it???

Certification is meaningless. Maybe has meaning if backed by Subaru of America but if dealer "certified" a person with qualifications at Jiffy Lube will do it.

 

No shit? How do you find out if a vehicle is a manufacturer backed CPO?

I bought the car from Georgetown Subaru of Norwalk CT. I did buy it after both my mom and my brother drove it and I saw it. I was up at school in RI at the time. Also it is my first car with a manual so I didnt want to drive it off the lot into the busy traffic that was around the dealer.

 

According to subaru.com the dealer is a register certified pre owned dealer.

Alignment - You didn't test drive a used car?

 

Cooling fan issue - There is a TSB out, this is covered.

 

Belts - For an 05 with 40k, this doesn't seem out of line. I had to replace mine a few months back, at just under 50k.

 

News to me that Subaru has a factory CPO program, I didn't realize they did.

 

Sounds like just a little bit of buyers regret/trepidation, relax.

 

Push harder on the alignment, they'll do it.

It just seemed to be alot of issues with in 2 weeks of buying the car. But seems like nothing is really out of the ordinary. The only thing I need to work on is getting something out of them for the alignment.

 

Im gonna have a guy I know who does amazing body work look at the car when I hopefully get it back today and just see what he says about it.

 

Thanks for the help

 

Demo243

The alignment issue seems to be the most serious issue. It may be possible that the car was fixed in a shop where it wasn't reported on carfax.

 

If you can find out that it really was the case then the seller hasn't been honest with you.

Pulley issue might be related if it was bent in a front impact and not replaced. Any ideas why the pulley(ies) need replacement?

 

Does the timing belt cover look too new? Radiator? You see any differences in wear and tear between both headlights?

 

Carfax irrelevant, I've got a good friend who owns a body shop and we've always just gone right to him and skipped insurance. Skip insurance and it'll never made it to carfax.

Either return it quickly or contact SOA....... I went though similar issues with a Legacy GT that I purchased "Certified". Go to find out the dealer just slapped a certified logo on it and didn't do a damn thing to actually look at the car. After several months of trying to get the issues fixed I had a friend with Subaru contact her people and well things were done! The dealer got a visit and guess what they couldn't produce any paperwork to the cert, they didn't follow a single thing in the certified program!

 

if you want to read more go here: http://noelflash.com/subaru-of-gwinnett-sold-me-a-lemon.html

 

If you want to keep the car or can't return it contact SOA and if they give you the run around ask for a supervisor right off the bat! Get a case number and if worse comes to worse type up everything and send it my way!!!! I still have contacts Also document everything it will come in handy later!

Note the cool thing about a CPO warranty is it comes with a 6-year/100,000-mile coverage

 

Here is the CPO site:

http://www.subaru.com/vehicles/certified-pre-owned.html

Note the cool thing about a CPO warranty is it comes with a 6-year/100,000-mile coverage

 

If that was the case, wouldn't any pulleys/tensioners be covered under powertrain?

Only if it's outside the normal wear and tear.

Only if it's outside the normal wear and tear.

 

Correct, the warranty also doesn't say if the belts are shot they have to replace them. They just inspect them!

The warranty covered the pulley the ecm and the belt, and the dealer is going to reimburse us for the alignment.

 

But I had my body guy take a look at the car and it was definitely in an accident. you could tell by the way the hood and bumper had been painted. there were also a few cracked peices of plastic that we didnt notice before.

 

but to make things even more interesting, we asked them to do another full check over of the vehicle while they were doing the oil change... and they didnt

 

got the car back from service and the engine cover was loose... missing two of the pop its that secure it. The power steering fluid was low, and the coolant resevior was empty. so the car is going to my local mechanic on monday and we are having them do a full inspection of the vehicle and document anything they find and then we are going back to the dealer with that info.

 

One way or another I will prob be contacting SOA because this dealer is horrible and i am very unhappy with them.

I would, just remember to document dates, times, and who you have delt with... I wish i had my wrx back just a few weeks after getting mine but now that everything is finally fixed I'm content!

 

Don't get me wrong though I would love another wrx

Not sure that I read that your alignment issue was resolved or not, but I noticed a decent pull to the left in a car I was looking to purchase and when the dealership checked the alignment, it was OK. Turned out it was as a result of low tire pressure in the front left. Just food for thought.

 

- Allen.

My recently purchased "Certified" 05 GT came with a 6 year 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty from Subaru. Carfax showed a minor accident, but not the $9000 front end/corner accident it was in when it was 6 months old. The only evidence of that was the alignment subsequent to the repair-that was all that was reported to Carfax. I found out another way, and verified no frame damage, all hang-on parts, so I had no problem with that. For about $500 bucks, I added a comprehensive wrap-around type of warranty from Subaru that I consider equivalent to the bumper/bumper and which also goes to 6yr/100k. They basically just list what is not covered. That might be a good option for you, as you are concerned with future repairs.