Used 2001 Toyota Land Cruiser

Rodland Toyota Used Cars in Everett Washington.

My wife and I went into Rodland Toyota on the rainy Memorial day this year (2006). My wife was looking for a Toyota or Lexus SUV. We went to Rodland because they advertise “Toyota Certified”. I own a BMW M5 and it is BMW Pre-Owned Certified which in my opinion carries great significance to the quality and maintenance of the vehicle! I thought this would be true of Toyota as well since every Toyota my wife and I have owned has run and held up extremely well.

My wife and I looked at several vehicles and after deciding they had several that looked pretty good we dropped the kids off at home and drove back in our 4Runner limited in case we could work a trade in deal.

When we came back we test drove a Lexus and a Land Cruiser. The Lexus was noticeably pre-owned by a smoker. The land rover had excellent leather and interior as well as a very well appearing exterior. As we walked around the car and opend the rear hatch I noticed a little rust around the water drainage holes. I thought this was a little odd and asked if this car was perhaps from the east coast. I explained that I would not want a car from the east coast since they salt the roads and this can cause significant damage to the cars over time. The sales man said he know about it because he was from Boston. He stated that he did not think the car was from the east coast and would have the history for me when we went inside.

At this time we were dealing with two salesmen. This Toyota appeared to be in excellent shape. I commented that it looked like it was always garaged and was probably never in an accident. The salesman agreed. It drove very well. Since it was raining I did a quick inspection of the wheel wells and around the doors and did not notice any rust. The wheel wells looked in perfect shape.

We went inside and began to negotiate. My wife really wanted a new car! After determining that they would not give us even near low blue book for our 4 runner we decided to keep it and if they could match our price we would take the car. They did meet the price. During the negotiation there was much swapping between the two salesmen. They even bought us coffee!

I had asked what the meaning was behind the Toyota Certified status and the salesman told me that it meant the car underwent significant inspection to attain that status. He said they put the car up on racks and inspect the undercarriage for rust and any other type of problem. They inspect electrical and mechanical for outstanding Toyota quality.

At this time I was putting a lot of weight on the Rodland name (they have been in the area over 20 years) and the Toyota Quality!

My wife and I bought the car. We realized afterwards that we never did get the carfax report promised but figured we had the 3 day right of recession that I have heard many people refer to. We surely thought the salesmen we honest and upfront. Everyone was very helpful.

We get home and the next day I started detailing our 4Runner to put of for sale. I was inspecting the Land Cruiser and noticed that the windshield had a 3 inch crack hidden by the mirror. I immediately took it to the dealer and they agreed to replace it and that it was part of the Toyota certified quality. They were surprised it was missed. After this I felt very good about the quality this represented.

The next morning I went down to my garage and while doing my morning workout I opened the garage door and as I sat on the bench I could see the undercarriage of the Land Cruiser (our drive way is sloped so I had an excellent view). My heart sunk! All I could see was rusty metal all the way back!

I crawled under the car and sure enough… Pitted rusty metal everywhere. I immediately thought, oh boy, this car is from the east coast and they wouldn’t tell me. I went into the house and hopped on the internet to look up the carfax. Sure enough, the car was from Michigan! To top it off, it had been in two accidents. I knew nothing of this and was under the impression that the salesmen at a dealership should disclose this information.

I took the day off and went to the dealership immediately. The salesman was very apologetic and took me to his manager. The manager told me that they have a no return policy! I explained that I had asked the salesman if the car was from the east coast and that I would not buy a car from the east coast. I also asked him if they were supposed to disclose that the car was in an accident because if I had known that I would have never bought the car! He said that it is disclosed in carfax and that was good enough.

He began to justify it by saying I got a good deal. Well, I got blue book price. I said if it’s such a good deal then they should have no problem selling the car again. I told him that I would gladly buy another land cruiser from them just that I did not want that one!

Someone tried to hide the rust. The wheel wells were painted with black paint (it made them look very good). You could see some of the overspray when you looked behind the wheels and in the areas that were at an angle you could see the rusty undercarriage.

All I could think of was how they had duped my wife and I. The never showed us the vehicle history report because they knew we would not buy it. They told us that the Toyota Certification inspection would have caught the rust etc… its backed by Toyota they told me!

Well, the windshield was cracked (they missed that!), the 6 Disk CD Player didn’t work (they missed that), the rust was extreme (they hid that), the car was in two accidents (they did not disclose that to us).

Seems like Rodland Toyota of Everett operates under a bit of dishonesty and lack of integrity.

Does anyone know the laws that may protect the consumer from this type of behavior?

Thank you,

John Milanoski