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My husband and I bought a 2001 Lincoln Continental from Holmes in April, 2008. My husband had already been pre-approved for a loan, but when we arrived at the lot, the salesmen didn't seem to know what we were talking about or who we were. We waited over an hour, while a salesman showed us several cars. We explained that we did not want to see any vehicles until he told us how much we were approved for on the loan, and what the downpayment would be. He still insisted on showing us other vehicles on the lot, wasting our time.
When we went back inside, we were subjected to another long wait, until we were finally able to speak with the person in charge of in-house financing, Jimmy. We were told he was the only associate working in this department. First of all, when he approached us, he had a completely unprofessional attitude: he looked like he did not want to be there, and his clothes were covered in food stains, he had food all over his mouth, and overall looked like a slob.
He showed us about eight cars, one of which was an Oldsmobile Alero which was in extremely poor condition. This car looked like it was salvaged from Hurricane Katrina! For some strange reason, we decided to test drive the car, and not surprisingly, it drove horribly. The suspension creaked and groaned, brakes barely worked, it had absolutely NO pick-up at all! And Jimmy told us all their cars had been inspected. At this point, I was suspicious, but agreed to look at other vehicles.
Jimmy then showed us the 2001 Lincoln Continental. He stated, 'You won't find anything wrong with this car, ' and told us it had been owned by an elderly man who had retired from the military, and rarely drove the car. We drove the car, took it on the interstate nearby, and it drove perfectly. At this point, we were convinced we were getting a good deal, so we signed on the deal and picked up the car the following day.
We live in Mobile, about an hour away, and as soon as we got the car over the state line, it began missing, then it cut off at the next stop light, but we managed to get it home. The rest of the week, it seemed to run okay, but a week later was when all the real trouble started. We took the car to Chattanooga, TN for my job interview. Before we'd even left Mobile, the transmission began to slip and did not want to shift properly. Remember, we'd only had this car for a week at this point! But we drove it to Chattanooga with no further problems until about halfway there, when it began missing again.
We did, however, make it to Chattanooga. When we arrived, we decided to drive up Signal Mountain, to find the school where I was to be interviewed for a job. As we made the drive back down the mountain and got onto the interstate, the car would not shift out of third gear. We crawled back to the hotel, unable to drive more than about 30 miles per hour. As soon as we got back to our hotel, all the transmission fluid was gushing out of the car onto the ground.
We had the car towed to the nearest Ford dealership, where we were told that the CV axle seals were blown and the repairs would cost around $900. We had to rent a car in the meantime. We agreed to have them repair the car, and contacted Holmes Motors to tell them what had happened. They told us that we would have to speak to Jimmy, who, as usual, was not available. They also told us that they would not pay the mechanic in Chattanooga for the repairs, nor would they rewrite the contract to include the cost of the repairs.
No matter what we said, Holmes would not compensate us for the repairs, nor the rental car. We picked up the car about five days later. The lengthy time for the repairs caused us to have to stay in Chattanooga an extra six days and my husband to miss work. As we were short on money, since we had not accounted for an extra $900 on this trip, we had to have someone wire us money to help pay for the added expenses.
When we picked up the car on that Saturday, the mechanic explained to us that they had replaced the seals and put in new fluid, but that the transmission still did not shift properly. He said we should be able to drive the car back to Mobile, but that we would probably not be able to go more than 45 mph. When we drove the car out of the repair shop and proceeded to the hotel, the car would not shift at all, and we didn't even make it halfway down the block. We therefore had to rent a U-Haul moving van and car carrier to tow the car back home. Jimmy at Holmes Motors told us that we would have to tow the car to their lot to have a used transmission installed in their in-house repair shop. We would have to pay them to install the transmission, and our notes would increase by $100 a month.
About two weeks later, we picked up the car and signed new paperwork on the rewritten contract. (The same one they would not rewrite for us earlier.) We asked how many miles were on the new transmission and were told it had about 30 thousand miles on it. We also noticed that we were told the cost of the transmission would be $1800, but when we were presented with a bill, the price was $2000. When we inquired about this, they explained to us that when they installed the new transmission, they broke the pins that hold it in place, and we were charged about $80 for new pins. Why we had to pay for what they broke, I still can't figure out!
Again, on the way back home from Holmes Motors, the car began missing, and the transmission started shuddering. We got the car to our home in Mobile. The next morning as my husband drove to work, the transmission warning light came on, and he had to return home and get another ride to work. He called Jimmy, who said he would have someone come and get the vehicle and that they would look at it. They sent a tow truck to pick up the car the same day. Later that day, my husband made several calls to Jimmy, who, yet again, was not available, to find out the status of the car. The next day, he was finally able to speak to Jimmy, who said the problem was with a cellanoid and the repairs would take a few days to complete as they had to wait on the parts to be delivered to them.
The next time my husband spoke to Jimmy, he told us the car was ready. By this point, we were both so completely fed up with Jimmy, Holmes Motors and the piece of junk they sold us, that we told them to just keep the car. This was a big financial loss to us, since we put $1800 down, put on a new set of tires and several more minor repairs, including brakes, totaling around $1000, and the nightmare with Chattanooga. In all, we spent well over $2700 and lost eight days of work with this car, before we were even due for our first payment. After we told them to keep the car, we never heard from them again, except for a few letters demanding payment for the transmission and car note.
I have read several other reports of even more severe incidents than mine involving Jimmy, Holmes Motors and their lemon cars and shady deals. I strongly advise anyone with bad credit to NEVER buy a car from these sloppy, unprofessional crooks! And this is putting it nicely! I refuse to pay any more money to these criminals. After what I've read about them from other customers, I think we got off easy, but I agree that Holmes Motors is a bunch of liars and crooks and they should be shut down for good and thrown in jail for fraud! I hope that mine and other reports on these people will finally get some action taken against them.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
wow thats tough. i just wrote a complaint myself before reading yours. i sympathise with you. anybody reading take our word & do not buy from holmes motors
Well I have to say there are always more than one side to a story. At Holmes Motors we work very hard to do the right thing in every scenario, in some cases losing money to keep our customers happy and their vehicle rolling. While there are a few people that have written these reviews...(possibly our jealous competition) we have over 50, 000 families that have done business with us over the last 20 years since we've been in business. Of the 50, 000 families there are thousands of repeat customers every year. So, I ask that anyone reading this will take that into consideration. We will work hard for each and every customer and you WILL be satisfied after doing business with us.
Sincerely,
Jason
Bad Buisness in Diberville, MS
...(possibly our jealous competition) when the dealership injects their own opinion the buyer should be very skeptical of beliving anything they say. If you have minimal credit do not go there to buy a car. If you decide to use Holmes motors third party financing you need to ask if there is a GPS monitoring or kill device installed on your car, much like all the cars there. If you do not make a payment you should expect your car not to turn on unless the device is removed, you should expect it to be repoed. these gps devices have a habbit of running amuck. If you buy from holmes motors you will run this risk. Holmes Motors is shady, along with most of its employees that will do anything to rip you off and take every dime away and still leave you paying debt, no matter who you are. Remember Holmes Motors sells USED CARS only, used means used and you should remember this before going there. They pay workers to sit on the phone all day cold calling anyone they can to sell used cars. This alone is desprate. WORSE than Markerters! I wonder if they were ever reported about the no call list. I for one will never buy anything or belive anything Holmes Motors says or does, ever. True info folks just telling it like it is.
more to follow...
done ranting today...
I wish I would have read this before buying a vehicle from them. There montoring me now!
NO IT'S NOT COMPETITION!IT'S THE TRUTH! I WILL PUT MY STORY HERE LATER... Hope somebody will read it before they or he or she buys a car from there. I wish I had'n't! But everything happens for a reason RIGHT. Maybe I will be just be that one to do something about it!
I bought a vehicle from them in which they claimed was brand new! I got home only to start finding several flaws which proved it must have been used! they also sold me by telling me several features that the vehicle was supposed to have. I soon found out that the vehicle did not have these features!
I have to agree with everyone above. My husband lost his job last year less than a year after we relocated to Ocean Springs from Atlanta so we got rid of his car that had a car note on it and decided to just pay cash for something inexpensive just to get him around to job interviews until he found a new job. We bought a used Nissan Altima (great reputation) for a little over 3k. The car did not have a spare tire and the salesman said that he would get one for the car. Upon paying for the car, I asked the salesman about the spare tire and he said he couldn't find one. The car had only one key but prior to paying for the car the salesman said he would have other keys made. After paying for the car, the salesman said that the key had a microchip in it and they could not produce additional keys. A few weeks after we bought the car, it left my husband stranded at Lowe's. I have AAA so we had the car towed to Holmes motors and they said that they would have to replace the alternator. While Holmes motors did replace the alternator, we still had to pay for the part. (BTW, when we bought the car they told us the only thing wrong with it was that it was due for a tune up.) In about 2 weeks, the car began idling very loudly. We ended up parking it and just using the one car. It sat for 6 months and I finally decided to have a mechanic look at it. I ended up spending 1k on the car in April of this year. The mechanic was able to resolve some of the issues we had with the car but finally told us that when he hooked the car up for diagnostic testing, seven additional items lit up that might have been the reason for the car idling so loudly but there was no way he could tell us which item was causing the idling and that if he just went down the list one by one and it ended up being the 7th item that fixed it, we would have had to pay for the repair of the other 6 items b/4 finding out. He suggested that we stop paying for repairs to the car and put it on ebay for 2k. I told him that I only worked 3 miles from home and asked him if I could drive it back and forth and he said that he didn't recommend it. I, refusing to admit we'd been had, drove it back and forth to work and eventually the idle quieted down but the noise from the engine became unbearable and people at work kept asking me what was wrong with it. Then the air conditioner started to squeal which was actually the only part of the car that worked well but it eventually quit. No air conditioner in South Mississippi?!? Not me. I quit driving it and it sat in the driveway for emergencies until such time as we could sell it. I, being ashamed to sell the car to anyone knowing the problems I had with it, asked my husband if he would take it to a dealership near our home known for buying cars with "issues" and then fixing them up and resaling them. When my husband got ready to take the car in, of course it wouldn't start. He did finally get the engine to run and he drove it to the dealership who offered us $750.00 for the car. Good riddance! Our bottom line was much lower. It had almost come to the point that we would pay someone to remove it from our driveway!
As I previously mentioned, my husband and I had just recently moved here and at that time we had no idea what kind of reputation the dealership had. Since then I've had numerous people comment to me (only after I admitted the car was a piece) that you should never buy anything from Holmes Motors. I'm not talking just 1 person, it's been more like 1/2 dozen and the comments were unsolicited I assure you. The mechanic (who we did not know prior to purchasing the car) felt so sorry for us because we were new to the area and didn't know the reputation of the company that he offered to take us to look at used cars at no charge.
I know there are a million ways I could have handled it differently, I work at a law firm for God's sake, but I was too proud to admit we'd been screwed over so bad. We all learn lessons from our mistakes and I can assure you that we will definitely not make that mistake again. We only had it for exactly 1 year and 6 months, we put over 4k in it, and it only ran for 6 of those 18 months.
P.S. I forgot to mention that one of the problems we had with the car was that the latch that opened the gas tank jammed and therefore, we were unable to access the fuel tank. Of course being a woman, I had driven the car until the fuel light came on before stopping and finding out. :)
BEWARE! DO NOT BUY FROM HOLMES MOTORS! I have had many problems and have heard of many people also having problems with them. When we bought the car we were told the car was perfectly fine...nothing was wrong with it. Come to find out the car had been wrecked. About two weeks after we bought the car we were left stranded on the side of the road. Got the car fixed after 9 yards of hell... a few months after that all kinds of warning lights came on and and stuff wasnt working properly.. Got that fixed.. But during these periods of having the car repaired could not get ahold of anyone to find out anything and also was told everytime that the car would be ready at a certain time or day and come to find out it still wasnt ready when we would go to pick it up. The people in their are very unprofessional...More like FRAT boys but entirely to old to be in a frat house! Oil changes with an appointment sometimes would take an entire day. We bought the car under the so called "integrity plan" yea thats a lie. This dealership needs to be put out of business. When we signed the contract the salesman said that tires, oil changes, brakes and basically all repairs needed for the car to run properly for 3 years would be taken care of free of charge. Its funny cuz I need new tires so bad that the car isnt wanting to stop and they wont replace them. Last time I went for a oil change I said I needed the tires changed and was told that I have several more thousand miles left on them. This time I went back because my tires are so bad it will cause me to have a wreck soon and have came very close and I was told that the contract has been changed... Is this possible? I dont think so... So they may have a lawsuit on there hands very soon! I could go on and on but it would probably get a little nasty! pretty heated right now!
yes i agree with what i read i just wished i could have read these complaints before i bought my car i got a 2005 honda civic and we live in slidell, la. while we was there they stalled us for about an hour and a half and then we was able to test drive the car it seemed fine until 2 days later when i was going back to mississippi to get a tag the car ran hot and i was stuck on the side of the road for 2 hours before i could get some help a week later i took it to a mechanic and he told me 2 head we blown and it cost me 2k to get it fixed and this was around the same time i was making my first payment. my husband called and talked to george the manager and he said that we can bring the car to him to fix it but it would take 3 weeks and over 1k so i had the car done in less than a week and paid 2k for the repairs. this place is a rip off and i wish to god that i would have listened to my husband and waited. i do like my car but with all the problems that went with it was not worth it. we will be looking into get this place shut down for fraud, and selling us lemon cars.
I would like to start a class action law suit against them...I need to know who would be interested in joining. Email me at michelle20819@yahoo.com to send complaints/remarks that will be helpful to the lawsuit. Including times your vehicle broke down or was towed and charged $500 to get it back. Thanks!
I HAVE THE SOME OF THE SAME ISSUES I HAVE A 2006 CHEVY IMPALA AND NOT EVEN A WEEK AFTER TAKING IT HOME THE CHECK ENGINE CAME ON WE CALLED DUSTIN THE SALESMAN AND HE SAID THAT THEY DO NOT FIX THE CARS BUT THEY WILL CHARGE US $50 TO LOOK AT IT I SAID OH HELL NO YALL WANT MONEY BUT YALL DONT WANNA FIX YALL CARS HOW ARE U GOING CONTINUE TO HAVE GREAT CUSTOMERS WITH SCAMS LIKE THIS. ALSO THEY CALL THE INSURANCE COMPANIES TO MAKE SURE U HAVE PAID YOUR INSURANCE AND MY INSURANCE COMPANY TOLD ME THAT WAS AGAINST THEY LAW FOR THEM TO DO. ONCE THEY FIND OUT THAT YOU WAS LATE PAYING YOUR INSURANCE THEY COME GET YOUR CA AND EXPECT U TO PAY $500 TO GET IT BACK THATS ### IN MY EYE. I WILL REALLY LIKE TO KNO HOW TO GO ABOUT SUING THEM ### WELL THEY SCAMMING PEOPLE AND WHO CAN AFFORD TO JUST BUY A CAR AND THEN PAY AN OUTSIDE PERSON TO FIX IT. IF ANY ONE KNOWS OF ANYWAY THAT WE CAN HANDLE THIS SITUATION PLEASE EMAIL ME AT Chiqueratanner@gmail.com
Thank God I decided to check these people out before purchasing anything. I will agree that the customer service is awful & was the reason I decided to check out reviews. There was a guy there that just kept saying "just bring some money $1, 400 or $1, 500 if you want a better selection." That didn't sit well with me at all because this clearly showed they have no concern for the customer just their money. BBB lists 18 complaints alone & probably does not put a dent in the total complaints that weren't reported. & why on every review site does one of their employees feel the need to say it is their "jealous competition?" Thanks again for the reviews & I think you guys should get together and file that class action suit someone spoke of in a previous post.
Holmes motors is the most disrespectful, low down dirty people I have ever done business with. They make their money by repossessing and reselling cars. I would get more specific but unfortunately I still have a vehicle thru them that I need for work. (Remedy soon) Suffice to say the people are extremely rude and disrespectful from the management to the salesmen on down to the lady who takes the payments who for some reason thinks its my job to call my insurance company every month and have them send documentation proving I have insurance. Insurance card and paperwork doesn't count. You can pay your note on time, pay your insurance and still worry about waking up with your vehicle gone overnight with no notice. I understand the self interest of car dealers but holmes takes it to another level praying on those with no to bad credit trying to support their families like vultures. PLEASE DO NOT TRUST THESE DIRTY PEOPLE!
Got a vehicle, put down 3k. Drove home 2 hours away. Fine no problem, until I pulled in my driveway. Display message of low oil pressure shut engine off. Did just that. Got out, checked oil, it was about 2 quarts low. Looked under car to see oil drip. Filter was loose, hand tightened back up. No more drips. But started up heard engine ticking, bad sign. Cut off, called Holmes the next business day which was Monday, I got car on Saturday. They did come tow it and said they are going to fix. But it's been 12 days with the same response of its being worked on...won't tell me anything else. So the only good thing out of it was I spoke to manager and he is working with me on the payment dates being the same day I got it, it had issues. So I will commend Jason on that. That's great news. And I appreciate it. The only thing is when I call to get status no one knows anything, just that they're working on it still. Can't I speak with a service mgr or tech that's working on the car, not a receptionist that knows nothing. Not her fault, she's not paid to know mechanical issues. But they should let u speak with someone in the service dept. As I said it's been 12 days, and I put money down on Feb 12th and here it is Feb 24th with...It's Still Being Worked on
I also financed a nice SUV from Holmes Motors in Pensacola. After driving off lot I was impressed with how it drove. Until about 20 min away and on I-10 the Engine Light came on. Which was very discouraging. I has already waited at the dealership I wasn't driving back to spend more hours and possibily not being fixed. Thankfully the light eventually went off although would frequently come back on but without any noticeable problems. I put 2500$/down yet they still wanted 500$/more within a month. I couldn't pay the 500 but I made on time Payments for 4 months when my job lays off employees for 2mos. I was late on my payment but never over 30 days late though. I would call and at least make the full late payment or at least half the amount. Well a week after my 200$ payment was made I woke up and when I went outside thee car was gone and the people who repod it left my gate open knowing I had a dog that I am sure let them know he was there. I am so grateful to have a smart dog that didn't run in to the hwy. But why leave a gate that is originally closed wide open. I had nothing in the car I absolutely had to get back except my plate. Another poor choice for them not to take the tag that I own and leave it in a safe area or maybe even take a small step and leave a note explaining what happened and the process taken afterwards. Aside from the negligence. Holmes Motors wantes $1100 more to retrieve my car as if I had it set aside considering I had been late enough to repo. I can understand if I had been over a month late without contact. I owned the car for 7 mos. total. At least they can't report it to the credit bureau.
Holmes motors is a scam a ripoff and that's all it is to it I put 2500 down on a 2013 fusion i paid the first month the second month the due date fell on a Wednesday I called they said before Monday fine when I get there they say my car on the repo list wtf u mean I had a OK and after 5 days late no call or question just then the actual repo man walked in putva large stack if manilla envelopes down and said he should be satisfied with these 16 16 repos before 2:00pm This is my second car from Holmes the first inhad for 2 years not 1 late payment NOT A ONE i explained to the lady my situation only for this month will I be a day or so late she said fine low and behold a day late they trying to repo ...wrong one to be skick with Holmes have someone that's gonna stand up to them I will fight them tooth and nail til the smoke clears If u ever visit Holmes motor at tax time UNEMPLOYED, poor, people fill the parking lot cause Holmes drag them in with the no credit check or job what poor person not gonna take the offer of a new car they put $4, 000 down and the firtd time they late it's gone you advertise for bad credit, UNEMPLOYED does matter how do u expect them to pay THEY WANT THEM TO MISS A PAYMENT THEY WINNING 4, 000 TO DRIVE FOR A MONTH A REDO THE PROCESS ON THE NEXT VICTIM THEY PREY ON THE POOR BUT ILL HAVE A VOICE FOR U AND STAND UP I PROMISE one day in need of paperwork I came in and said u on the repo list she said your insurance due at midnight I said I'm paying my insurance today showed her the money she said we just have them in place and ready and prepared for it these people are all suck and should be ashamed if themselves preying on the weak May God have mercy on you..cause I will not.