u/Heron_90

Hey friends,

I am new to Canada and yet to learn all your mysterious ways. I bought a used car 2 days ago and have had a nightmare.

I bought a 2007 Honda Civic from a dealership in Hastings. The listed price on autotrader was around 2900 but the final sale price was 3800. I'm new to Canada so I'm not familiar with all your fun sales taxes. I remember thinking "wow that's a lot of sales tax" but stupidly did not question it. The dealership let me road test the car but only for 10 minutes, which in hindsight was a red flag.

I got a warranty with Lubrico (free with the purchase). when I got home and checked the warranty paperwork, I saw that the sale price was listed as 3400 not 2900. I'm wondering if the dealership added an extra 500 to the sales price without telling me?

This is when the fun starts. I signed up with BCAA the same day and then took the car out for a drive. The car broke down within 30 minutes. The key snapped in the lock and then the engine stopped turning over. I called BCAA and they told me they couldn't help me as I'd only joined that day. They advised I call a tow truck. I called tow truck. the guy towed me to his friend's garage (cost about $200). The garage said the starter motor was gone and changed it for me for $700. The next day I called a locksmith to get a new key which cost me something like $250. So in total I spent an extra $1150 in the 48 hours since leaving the dealership.

As it happens, none of this is covered by the warranty- the warranty only covers work that was pre-authorized so I would have needed to call Lubrico 1st instead of calling BCAA. Some of these issues could have been solved by me reading the small print more carefully, spotting the red flags in the dealership, asking about the final cost etc. This is partly my fault, but in my defence I was stressed and I'm a new arrival in Canada who is still learning how these processes work. Do I have any rights? Can I claim some of this money back? Did the dealership rip me off, or did I just get unlucky?