Sunnyvale Volkswagen

In short, a seemingly clean used Volkswagen was nearly sold to me without any disclosure of the major problems with the vehicle and its history. Sam K was very kind and attentive to me, but the time and money that I wasted here due to the dealership's dishonesty was deplorable. I was looking at a 2008 Volkswagen Rabbit S that they posted on Autotrader and various other online used car search engines. It had a detailed clean Carfax with no reported problems or accidents across its entire 1-owner history. The car looked very clean and well-maintained in the pictures and in person. The dealer also provided me with a record of the 120k mile maintenance that their service department had just performed. I felt pretty confident about the car with this information, but I still wanted to take the car to an independent mechanic to be sure. An inspection by an ASE-certified mechanic revealed numerous serious problems with the car. The immediate problems included: major rear cylinder head oil leak, corroded battery terminals, dirty air filter, discolored brake fluids, excessive drive belt pulley movement, excessive harmonic balancer vibration, cheap tires, and a dead turn marker bulb. Repairs for these problems were quoted at about $3,000. However, the mechanic told me to "stay away from this car" for an even more serious issue: the onboard computer revealed a history of startling fault codes. At some point, the doors, airbags, and steering column had been REMOVED from the car. Furthermore, the data bus had a "leaking" code (i.e. the internal wiring had been altered and scrambled). The mechanic attributed the likely cause to an unreported major accident that had damaged the wiring and internal components which required the removal of the doors, airbags, and steering column for repairs. This car was not in a suitable condition for driving without immediate costly repairs. Either the dealer's service department had completely missed all of these major issues or the sales department actively tries to sell used cars regardless of existing issues and without informing potential clients. Both inspire little confidence, but the latter is more likely because the salesmen were unsurprised and dismissive when I showed them the report. Plus, they did not want their own copy because they were not going to fix the problems! The car is worth less than half of what they are selling it for - they would not even lower the price after I learned about the $3,000 repairs needed. Their lack of disclosure and regard for the dangerous problems with this vehicle suggest a culture of dishonesty and borderline unethical behavior when it comes to used vehicles. Even the mechanics, including a former used car salesman, were surprised to discover the behavior of Sunnyvale Volkswagen. I would advise against ever considering purchasing a used vehicle at this dealership regardless of how cosmetically good the car may look, how clean the Carfax may be, the work of the service department here, and the car's price.