America’s largest car retailer, has sold customers used vehicles with unrepaired defects

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And in other news, water is wet?

While there are systems in place to prevent this, I imagine with the volume of cars they move through it would be easy for plenty to slip through the cracks.

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I don’t think it is a slip through cracks. It’s actually part of a strategy that if they don’t have to spend time and money on it and they can legally sell it with open recalls, they will…

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I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t put in a bit of effort to check (e.g. CarFax reporting an open recall, NHTSA) but you might be right.

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If they can sell recalled cars then why not since it gives them the advantage over brand’s dealers, who cannot sell the same car.

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That’s a really poorly-written article.

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Arguably Carmax likely does the same thing.

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They should make a movie on successfully cracking the code from the infamous Autonation lease worksheet. Turning the tide for Western civilization when at the moment all was looking hopeless :rofl:

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They operate what, every brand sold in the US?

It has to violate SOME of their dealer agreements, which puts those brands/points at risk.

Researchers also claimed that most AutoNation dealerships are affiliated with a manufacturer and that there is no excuse for the dealer to not make on-site repairs. “Our survey found 62 used vehicles that were being sold by AutoNation dealerships of the same make as the vehicle under recall,” the report reads.

I understand if Autonation Jerkface Ford is selling a used 2012 Lexus, maybe not their jam. But if Autonation Douchenozzle Ford is selling a CPO 2016 Explorer - IT’S WARRANTY WORK. They get PAID for it. What Service Director isn’t scanning their CPO warranty for open recalls and pulling those in when they aren’t busy changing oil but not the filter on paying customer’s cars?

Total head-scratcher.

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Yeah, I meant selling other brands. Maybe even moving trade-ins under recall to a different brand dealership.

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Shocking coming from Vox. SARCASM

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I worked at AN corporate for two years. This isn’t deliberate. Service is the #1 driver of profit. If they have used cars on the lot that they could make easy money with warranty work they would.

Also AN is a lot of things. Deliberately putting people in danger isn’t them.

Another shoddy lazily written hit piece by Vox.

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That makes sense. Again if it’s an open recall they get paid on it, so wtf.

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So it’s just incompetence?

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Absolutely, there’s plenty to go around I assure you. You wouldn’t believe what goes on in that building.

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They still have to do the work and some fixes take a long time (X1), during which they can’t sell.

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Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity

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You stole my line…

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Not just stupidity but also simple logistics. Car service departments are often busy (really busy if it’s a Ford). If somebody comes and offers to buy a car before they get it into service or parts become available they let it go. I’m still waiting for airbags for my Takata airbag. It’s been months since I originally tried to get the recall done

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There are some additional details that would have made this a much better article.

  1. What is the industry average for the number of used cars sold with open recalls, and how does this dealer network compare to the industry average?

  2. Do the recalls fall into risk categories (high, medium, low), and if so, what is the breakdown of the recalls that AN failed to fix?

  3. How many injuries or deaths have resulted from AN’s implied negligence, and how does that compare to the risk of buying a used car somewhere else? Say, from a private party? Or a buy here/pay here place?

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