Carver Toyota of Columbus

I am from Michigan and had been working with a salesman (Chris) for a week trying to trade my 2011 Nissan Rogue sl awd for a 2012 toyota Rav4 Limted V6 they had on their lot. I live about 350 miles from the dealership (a good 5+ hours away). I was given a price for the trade on the Rogue by Chris and it wasn’t quite where I wanted to be in terms $ and needed them to make me a little better deal to prior to be securing the loan and driving 5 hours to pick up the Toyota. Anyhow, I told Chris about an experience I had around 10 years ago driving to another state to buy a car and it didn’t work out. Anyone can take a photo and make it look good these days. I asked Chris is there was any dents, dings, or anything wrong with the car prior to me coming to see it that I'd want to know about. I was told it was immaculate and that I would be very happy with the purchase and that made me feel good about driving that far to make the deal because once again the photos looked great. However, Chris had the day off during the week and I needed to secure the loan on his off day so I could drive down that weekend to buy the car. I worked with Charlie and told him what Chris and I had talked about and what I needed to make the deal get done. He called me back quickly and told me we had a deal. The car was in my g/f name and he suggested I switch the title into my name to avoid paying $490 in tax because she was not able to travel with me to pick up the car. My g/f and I did just that and she sold me the car for $150 and I paid the $24 fee at the SOS here in Michigan to get the title in my name and save me a fair amount of money. A long story short, I drove the 5+ hours and left at 4am to arrive just after 9am when they opened on a Saturday 4/28/18 to be greeted by Chris. He walked me out to the car and I did a walk around and immediately was upset. The spare tire carrier on the back of the Rav4 had the paint scratched off in over 5 places the length of the cover. The right rear quarter panel had a gouge over ¼ deep and more scratch marks like it had side swiped something. To top it off the inside of the car was very dirty and had potato chips in the center counsel and had not been detailed (I thought it was standard for dealerships). I told Chris there is no way I’m buying the car, but kept a level had as I knew my anger would not solve anything at that point. The sales Manager got involved and tried his best to put me into another car, but this was a specific car we had sought out with a V6 to use to tow with and everything else on the lot was out of budget for me. Needless to say this was an awful experience and I am now 0/2 in my life trusting out of state dealers to be honest (which, why lie because I’m going to see it when I come to buy it). The sales Manager wouldn’t compensate me for gas or anything. So the trip cost me over $100 in gas, 700 miles on my car,$24 to get title in my name to save me the $490 that Charlie suggested I do, and 3 days interest on my loan I had gotten from the bank. If you’ve taken the time to read this whole thing I hope that you realize it’s a huge risk trusting people when buying out of state vehicles that you’ve never seen or drove in person before. (yes, we had driven the exact same vehicle prior to seeking out this one). I hope this review helps someone as this was an awful experience for me!