We paid Chosun Imports (purchase agreement was under Abenante Motor Group Inc.) $11, 995 plus $295 documentation fee for a 1992 Toyota Hiace van that we bought for our son to drive. One week after owning the van we were told it did not conform to B.C. vehicle safety codes and would be pulled off the road if we were stopped. The motor vehicle authority confirmed this information and we were told that Johnny Jung and Chosun Imports were in violation of Section 222 of the Motor Vehicle Act. At the time we purchased it Johnny Jung had assured us that the Hiace had been inspected and was legal to drive in B.C. We spent the next 3 weeks trying to get Johnny Jung (Chosun Imports) to take the vehicle back.
Johnny Jung finally agreed to meet with us to offer a comparable vehicle for the return of the Hiace. He couldn't meet us until late in the day, when he had 2 vans and a beat-up Mercedes for us to choose from. We asked repeatedly if there were any other vehicles as these weren't really acceptable.By now is was 8:00 p.m. and we were exhausted after spending more than 3 hours with Johnny Jung trying to arrive at an acceptable compromise. The best of the three vehnicles he offered was a 2003 Kia Sedona van that had a sticker price of $14, 995 in the window. We said we would take it but made it clear we were not pleased with this solution. We said that we shouldn't have to pay any difference since the 'sticker' price of the Toyota Hiace was also (a highly inflated) $14, 995 originally. At this point we had no way of knowing the true value of a 2003 Kia Sedona and foolishly trusted that Johnny Jung was somewhat trustworthy. BIG MISTAKE!!
Johnny Jung came back after speaking to his general manager for about half an hour and said that they "were going to loose money on the deal" but they would reluctantly give us the 2003 Kia Sendona for the same price as the Hiace. He emphasized that they would loose money but he wanted to right the situation with the Hiace. The catch was they wouldn't fix any of the body work on the Sedona (a large dent and many paint scratches), nor would they do any other work that he iniatially told us would be done if we were to take it. We had to take it "as is". We were reluctant but thought that we could probably at least sell it if our son didn't want to keep it. After all, they were giving it to us "below cost".
Well, our son couldn't drive the Sedona because he was too tall and his head literally rubbed on the ceiling. Two and a half days after taking the van we went back to Bay City Kia (Chosun Imports, Abenante Motors and Bay City Kia are all owned by the same people) to offer to buy a new Kia Rio and trade in the Sedona. We did this as a good faith gesture, even though we still felt ripped off by being forced to take a replacement rather than getting a refund. However, we were told by the Kia saleman "Richard" that their cost on the 2003 Sedona was $7, 000 and that was all they were prepared to offer as a trade in. This was the car they were supossedly selling us "below cost" 60 hours earlier at $11, 995!!!
Richard then proceeded to wheel and deal and almost had us convinced to buy a base, base model Rio supposedly worth $17, 595 if we gave him $8, 500 more. So our total cost for the Rio would have been $20, 495 ($11, 995 $8, 500)!! We were actually prepared to do it just to get a new car and get rid of the van since our son couldn't drive it, even though we were going to loose $2, 900 on the deal.
Luckily we checked on the internet while they were getting the Rio ready for us and found the MSP was actually $16, 245 not $17, 595! So apparently Abenante Motor Group and Bay City Kia were now hoping to rip us off for a third time!! When confronted Richard admitted the MSP on the Rio was only $16, 245 but said they weren't prepared to give us a better deal. The difference we owed should have been $4, 250 and they still wanted $8, 500. The upshot was that they made $4, 995 on a van we had hoisted on us after they orginally sold us an illegal van!!
To say we regret not consulting a lawyer before accepting this 'replacement van' would be a major understatement. I guess the morale of the story is if a used car dealer lies and rips you off once, seek legal advice and don't give him an opportunity to do it again. These guys a basically unethical, immoral, car salesmen scam artists!
Molly
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada
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