Arrowhead Cadillac in Glendale AZ

[MPRCTCL]

Anyone have experience with Arrowhead in Phoenix? I bought my V there and have been finding (serious / stupid) problems that should have been identified and corrected before it was offered for sale. Not little things like a rattle, rather very low power steering fluid due to a visible leak and a loose oil filter that dumped a quart before I found it.

They were the servicing dealer since 2008 and assured me that the vehicle was fully inspected and 100% before my (2,000 mile) drive home.

The general manager can't understand my dissatisfaction.

Is this common? I bought it from a Cadillac dealer over an individual assuming that they would understand the nature of the vehicle and not just shove it out the door. None of these issues were expensive to correct (or just do correctly) but would have been catastrophic if left unrepaired. There were a lot of other things overlooked, but I don't want to dilute these big issues (yet.)

 

[cubby558]

Sorry to hear of your problems Bob. As you stated, you would think a dealer would go through everything before offering it for sale.

Anyone have experience with Arrowhead in Phoenix? I bought my V there and have been finding (serious / stupid) problems that should have been identified and corrected before it was offered for sale. Not little things like a rattle, rather very low power steering fluid due to a visible leak and a loose oil filter that dumped a quart before I found it.

They were the servicing dealer since 2008 and assured me that the vehicle was fully inspected and 100% before my (2,000 mile) drive home.

The general manager can't understand my dissatisfaction.

Is this common? I bought it from a Cadillac dealer over an individual assuming that they would understand the nature of the vehicle and not just shove it out the door. None of these issues were expensive to correct (or just do correctly) but would have been catastrophic if left unrepaired. There were a lot of other things overlooked, but I don't want to dilute these big issues (yet.)

 

[rexster314]

This sounds like a "buy as is" car.

 

[long Tall Sally]

I guess they figured their wholsale almost give it to yo ufree price should make up for a few things.

 

[pure zen]

100% fully inspected,,,,

quote: They were the servicing dealer since 2008 and assured me that the vehicle was fully inspected and 100% before my (2,000 mile) drive home.

They tell you what you want to hear.

Probably never touched the car except for a quick detail job.

Did you pay that high Bull/S DOC FEE as well?

AZ dealers love to gouge you for that added profit figure. Calif law tops off the DOC FEE charge at $55, which is more acceptable. Only takes a office worker 15 minutes

to prepare the paperwork on most transactions.

Dealers know how to reach into your wallet to extract more dollar$.

 

[MPRCTCL]

I guess they figured their wholsale almost give it to yo ufree price should make up for a few things.

Um, what?

I didn't pay wholesale and the problems it had were the ones they caused or overlooked.

Why would you say or even think that?

 

[MPRCTCL]

quote: They were the servicing dealer since 2008 and assured me that the vehicle was fully inspected and 100% before my (2,000 mile) drive home.

They tell you what you want to hear.

Probably never touched the car except for a quick detail job.

Did you pay that high Bull/S DOC FEE as well?

AZ dealers love to gouge you for that added profit figure. Calif law tops off the DOC FEE charge at $55, which is more acceptable. Only takes a office worker 15 minutes

to prepare the paperwork on most transactions.

Dealers know how to reach into your wallet to extract more dollar$.

I not only had to pay the fee, I had to pay the city tax of about a grand. Michigan and Arizona are reciprocal states, but MI won't credit me for the higher tax rate I paid AZ, only up to 7%. Oh well, at least it wasn't a surprise...

 

[pure zen]

Sorry you got bent over,,,

If one buys from a private owner in Arizona,,,you don't pay any Sales Tax to the state of AZ

That is why I buy late model, low mileage, one owner cars from a 'private owner' so I don't get stuck with Sales Tax,,, and DOC FEE that is a huge rip-off

 

[FulviXLR]

If one buys from a private owner in Arizona,,,you don't pay any Sales Tax to the state of AZ

That is why I buy late model, low mileage, one owner cars from a 'private owner' so I don't get stuck with Sales Tax,,, and DOC FEE that is a huge rip-off

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MPRCTCL]

If one buys from a private owner in Arizona,,,you don't pay any Sales Tax to the state of AZ

That is why I buy late model, low mileage, one owner cars from a 'private owner' so I don't get stuck with Sales Tax,,, and DOC FEE that is a huge rip-off

Don’t you have to pay the tax when you register the car? We do in Michigan.

 

[Army Al]

How many miles on your dream machine?

 

[MPRCTCL]

How many miles on your dream machine?

It had 31,383 when I got it, but now a little over 33k. Two thousand of that was the road trip home. Not bad for a 10 year old car!

It started snowing here recently, so I think I am done for the season. Fortunately, I have space to store it on site so I can work on the to-do list at my leisure in a heated garage over the next 5-6 months.

Thanks for asking!

 

[Mark0polo]

Quite a trip!

Great pictures of your trip back to MI. Other than those mechanical surprises it looks like a nice car! Congratulations on your purchase, winter is knocking on the door here too!

 

[long Tall Sally]

because

Um, what?

I didn't pay wholesale and the problems it had were the ones they caused or overlooked.

Why would you say or even think that?

Every dealer that sells you a car thinks they gave you a rock bottom price that you could not get anywhere else. Have you ever seen a dealer say " yeah, we made a lot of money on that used car we sold you so bring it back with anything wrong and we will fix it because you paid so much extra upfront" Get real. They all tell you they had more in it than they sold it for or some other lame excuse so they don't want to pay you for anything that goes wrong. Maybe you should have took the extended warranty they offered you? If you have proof they caused your problems or overlooked items that they knew about, then tell them so they can pay you what it cost to fix them.
Other wise don't put down a dealer for things that maybe , you overlooked or should have seen at the time you bought it. Every problem has a starting time, so what is to say that starting time was after you left not before??

 

[MPRCTCL]

Every dealer that sells you a car thinks they gave you a rock bottom price that you could not get anywhere else. Have you ever seen a dealer say " yeah, we made a lot of money on that used car we sold you so bring it back with anything wrong and we will fix it because you paid so much extra upfront" Get real. They all tell you they had more in it than they sold it for or some other lame excuse so they don't want to pay you for anything that goes wrong. Maybe you should have took the extended warranty they offered you? If you have proof they caused your problems or overlooked items that they knew about, then tell them so they can pay you what it cost to fix them.
Other wise don't put down a dealer for things that maybe , you overlooked or should have seen at the time you bought it. Every problem has a starting time, so what is to say that starting time was after you left not before??

Wow, you certainly have a lot of opinions. Lets see... I guess I'll begin at the top:

• Every dealer is in the business of selling vehicles for a profit. They wholesale or sell at auction cars that, for whatever reason, won't be profitable to repair and sell or may be a liability to their reputation if they sell it at retail.
• Since April, 84 XLR-Vs were offered for sale online / or visible online at dealerships. Only two were this color combination. Nearly all sold within two weeks. There is a high demand for this model, so they don't need to lowball the price just to get rid of it.
• No extended warranty was offered. In fact, the CarFax showed that the previous owner had one and I inquired about transferring it (for a fee), but that was not possible.
• I do have proof that they caused the two, potentially damaging problems
  • They did the oil change (there is a record) and in less than 3,000 miles, the filter had backed off enough to gush oil whenever the motor ran
    • Properly installed oil filters don't come loose
    • Implicitly, the filter wasn't installed properly
    • They installed the filter
    • Therefore, it was their fault
  • They claimed to have inspected the car pre-sale
    • One day after I picked it up, the power steering fluid was 8 ounces low
    • The power steering system is a closed system; it doesn't evaporate, it can only leak
    • A second dealership inspected the system and found a small leak at the power steering pump. Small...
    • Eight ounces of fluid did not come out of that leak in the time between the inspection and one day after i bought it
    • Implicitly, they did not check the fluid level as part of the pre-sale inspection
• I contacted the sales manager whom I'd worked with about the power steering and other issues
  • He did not reply
  • A week later, I contacted the general manager
    • He DID reimburse me for the second inspection (no repair done), but said that the inspection report didn't say anything about it
      • I believe it because my claim is that they didn't inspect it
    • He blew-off my other issues despite having the pre-sale conversations documented in emails with the sales manager
      • I'm not going to cloud this conversation with those problems as they were about misrepresentation and not on this scale
• I contacted the GM again when I found the oil leak.
  • The filter was so loose, I could tighten it by hand
  • His reply, and I quote, "Don’t you think the dealer would have noticed if the filter was leaking? It would have been obvious. Oil looked pretty clean, filter looked new. High performance vehicle more vibration, more chance for a filter to come loose. Still not sure what you are looking for?"

In summary: I didn't but a wholesale car, I bought a car at retail from the Cadillac dealer that had been servicing it for ten years for slightly more than book value. I told the sales manager that I would be driving it home asked that it be inspected before my trip. He said, and again I quote, "The vehicle will be 100%"
It feels to me like I did "tell them so they can pay you what it cost to fix them" and they are not going to.

 

[pure zen]

Not in AZ,,, on private party sales

Don’t you have to pay the tax when you register the car? We do in Michigan.

If buying a car,,new or used from a licensed, Arizona dealer...... Yes, you pay SALES TAX which is collected by the dealer at the close of sale.

If buying a car from a private individual.............. NO, there is NO SALES TAX involved or collected between the seller // buyer // or when registering the purchased vehicle.

State laws vary I'm sure on whether SALES TAX is paid to that state when purchasing either a new or used vehicle. Arizona doesn't collect SALES TAX when a vehicle transaction between two private parties has taken place (good for us in AZ)

 

[MPRCTCL]

Sales Tax Wow!

That really is a great deal!

 

[long Tall Sally]

if your oil filter was so loose yo ucould turn it wit hyour hands. then two thing.s Under pressure yo uwould have lost al lyour oil in amatter of minutes or a very few miles. Any car out there can have the filter tightned a little more after a few heat cycles. If the pinhole was In the line then there you go. No fault of the dealer. It had to develop sometime and most likely after you drove it off the lot. If it was a supply line it would empty again in no time. If it was a return which I am sure it was then it could take 1000 miles or more to loose that much fluid.

Most filters say 2/3 or 3/4 turn after gasket contact. I usually do one full turn and don't have leaks. However even after over tightening per manufacture instructions if the car is warm I can usually turn one another full turn. By doing so it is too tight and most likely will leak even more. The gasket at this point has stuck to the block and will twist within the filter housing. High performance engines or low performance out of tune would not vibrate a filter loose. You got a deal on a car that was written up on several sites and was sold fairly and priced at or below market value.

Buyers remorse or you lack of inspection and doing your own due diligence should not be reason to bad mouth a sales company. I read their online feed back and they seem to be a very quality store. Just wait til lyou need the 3000$ shocks or one of the models no longer available then you can complain.

 

[MPRCTCL]

Whatever

if your oil filter was so loose yo ucould turn it wit hyour hands. then two thing.s Under pressure yo uwould have lost al lyour oil in amatter of minutes or a very few miles. Any car out there can have the filter tightned a little more after a few heat cycles. If the pinhole was In the line then there you go. No fault of the dealer. It had to develop sometime and most likely after you drove it off the lot. If it was a supply line it would empty again in no time. If it was a return which I am sure it was then it could take 1000 miles or more to loose that much fluid.

Most filters say 2/3 or 3/4 turn after gasket contact. I usually do one full turn and don't have leaks. However even after over tightening per manufacture instructions if the car is warm I can usually turn one another full turn. By doing so it is too tight and most likely will leak even more. The gasket at this point has stuck to the block and will twist within the filter housing. High performance engines or low performance out of tune would not vibrate a filter loose. You got a deal on a car that was written up on several sites and was sold fairly and priced at or below market value.

Buyers remorse or you lack of inspection and doing your own due diligence should not be reason to bad mouth a sales company. I read their online feed back and they seem to be a very quality store. Just wait til lyou need the 3000$ shocks or one of the models no longer available then you can complain.

While it’s tempting to write a long response, you clearly aren’t interested in a conversation as your mind is made up.

You don’t know me, my experience, my technical knowledge, or anything about the car. You weren’t there for any of the experience or conversation, yet you argue and accuse based on conjecture and opinion. I’ve taken the high road and clarified what happened while you continue to insult me, imply that I’m cheap, a liar, or incompetent.

My final comment is that you’re wrong. You’re wrong about the situation and my motivation. You’re wrong to hijack a post and not listen to other people.

It ends here. I’ll even give you the last word.

 

[MPRCTCL]

Update on progress

Anyone have experience with Arrowhead in Phoenix? I bought my V there and have been finding (serious / stupid) problems that should have been identified and corrected before it was offered for sale. Not little things like a rattle, rather very low power steering fluid due to a visible leak and a loose oil filter that dumped a quart before I found it.

They were the servicing dealer since 2008 and assured me that the vehicle was fully inspected and 100% before my (2,000 mile) drive home.

The general manager can't understand my dissatisfaction.

Is this common? I bought it from a Cadillac dealer over an individual assuming that they would understand the nature of the vehicle and not just shove it out the door. None of these issues were expensive to correct (or just do correctly) but would have been catastrophic if left unrepaired. There were a lot of other things overlooked, but I don't want to dilute these big issues (yet.)

Here's an update on the situation. Unsatisfied with the GM's (general manager, not General Motors) response, I contacted Cadillac customer service. They followed up with the dealer who offered to pay for an oil change. Cadillac additionally gave me a voucher for service at my local dealer for an amount that I think is fair. I am waiting for communication from Arrowhead about the oil change and for touch-up paint they offered previously, but for now I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they will follow through.

What I really wish was that this hadn't happened to begin with, but it is what it is. For this issue, this was a fair resolution; I can regain some confidence that it won't be a ticking time-bomb and they are not out a significant cost. Hopefully, (and this may be a pipe dream, but Michigan DID just legalize pot) a brush with Cadillac corporate may nudge the service and sales managers back in bounds for awhile so other folks have a better experience.