Evolution Autos — Local services in Whiteland

I purchased a 2012 Toyota Hylander on 8/23/2023 from Evolution Autos with 149k miles on it. Mike showed the CarFax report to me, exclaiming how well this car we kept up over the years. “It runs like a dream”, he said. After purchasing the vehicle, I drove it straight home, 12 miles away. The next day (8/24/2023), I noticed what seemed to be the transmission slipping. The car was sputtering while the RPM’s were jumping. I was able to get it in to be inspected by my mechanic on 8/30/2023. Exactly one week after purchasing the vehicle. The vehicle was scanned, and it generated 3 codes. My mechanic recommended I take the car back to the dealership and have them look it over.

I left the mechanic shop and drove straight back to the dealership. I was only in the dealership for approximately 2 minutes before I was being video recorded on a cell phone by who I presume was his brother, who saw me walk in. I was told by Mike that I am trespassed from the property and that I am a liar. I did not raise my voice and I was not belligerent. I wanted the car looked at. Mike said, “I don’t believe there is anything wrong with that car.” And he instructed me to sue him. I repeatedly asked him to have his mechanic look at the car. He refused. The final time I asked to have it looked at was on my way to the door. Mike yelled at me from his office to get out and to never come back. This entire encounter lasted under 5 minutes. Not once was I asked what my name was or what vehicle I purchased.

I then took the car to a Toyota dealership. The codes showed that the battery was changed without the car running. Apparently, this is common with this vehicle. It will show “false” codes if the battery isn’t changed a certain way, and they would have appeared immediately after changing it. I made an appointment to have the vehicle inspected at their soonest convenience, which was on 9/5/2023. I was told that I may need to replace the transmission, but it cannot be confirmed at this time due to other issues that are going on with the vehicle, affecting the drivability of the car.

I have now put over $1,200 into repairs on this vehicle and my first payment hasn’t even come due yet. Only time and more work will tell if there is indeed an issue with the transmission.

To summarize, I purchased a vehicle that has a lot of problems, possibly even a bad transmission. Mike refuses to have his mechanic look at it. Given these problems occurred so soon after purchasing it, having his mechanic look at it would have been the right thing to do. Instead, he called me a liar, videotaped me, and told me to leave. Again, in the span of 5 minutes without asking for my name or vehicle information.

UPDATE: I thought I should share what was figured out in terms of the vehicles drivability issues at the time of purchase. I ended up spending $3,400 in repairs for this vehicle. The problems that I was experiencing, which were the reason I asked Mike to have his mechanic look at it, were extensive. The timing chain, a camshaft gear, the oxygen sensor, and a coil all needed to be replaced. In addition to the other issues that were mentioned above.

I would not recommend this dealership to anyone. Please...

UPDATE: I was contacted by the dealership owner who offered me to fix it "some" of the issues, but I would still need to pay the cost. However, the rust is still the major issue and was not disclosed up front. END UPDATE. (photos included) Buyers, please review multiple BBB (Better Business Bureau) complaints, and yelp complaints, and Evolution Autos responses to prior customers before purchasing. This is NOT Buyer's remorse, per dealership's response. Dealership knowingly hid important facts about the car, and rather than take responsibility, they made it my fault for trusting them to be honest.

I bought a car from here and took it to a repair shop expecting to have some overdue maintenance to perform on it and WOW, was I taken advantage of by Evolution Autos.

After a test drive and speaking with Mike, the owner of Evolution Autos, I asked him to disclose any issues with the car and he said it was working fine and he'd trust driving this car with his family on-board. Turns out this car is a true hazard on the road and not repairable due to the rust underneath. Some of the rust was also painted black to hide it from view.

The sway bar is visibly splitting (see photos), the transfer case, rear differential, suspension, knuckles, calipers are all rusted through including the bolts that (barely) hold them together. There are leaks coming from the power steering pump, high pressure line, and the steering rack, but none of those can be repaired due to the rusted out bolts. Everything has to be rebuilt from scratch which will equal the amount I paid for the car. The damage on the car would have been clearly visible to them and they should have disclosed the issues.

After speaking to them I was threatened, they let me know that "we have lawyers." I have NEVER ever been treated like this by a business. They kept saying that they "could not help me" and I had them clarify that they "would not help me. Because they seem to be confusing the two statements.

BUYERS BE AWARE!!! This dealership sells rusted out vehicles and they will not be transparent with you. They took advantage of me and who knows how many others. They do not hold themselves to high standards and they will not take responsibility. Some people are truly awful and Mike appears to be one of them. This car isn't even safe to drive home from the...

This is just going to be the concise, objective review of my experience from this dealership:

Inspection sheet provided by the dealer showed all green. I ended up replacing 3 wheel bearings, 4 tires, and spark plugs. In addition, the transmission check showed abnormality unlike the dealer's certified mechanic claimed. This was done all within 2 weeks of purchase.

Dealer promised that he would fix the broken bumper that had 3 screw nails on before the sale. Nothing was fixed.

All ended up costing around $1600 out of my pocket.

The dealer notified there are struts and other parts needed to be replaced, prior to sale. He insisted that I pay $200 before the sale was finalized.

The dealer made me to fill a Google review while transaction was in progress. He was immediately checking my review, passively forcing me to leave nothing but 5 stars. I then later removed the phony 5-star review, and filled out 1-star honest review.

His only effort was to offer $200 coupon for repairs but I explained that I had to spend $1600 mostly due to the false information given by the dealer. The dealer insisted me to send a fax of my repair bills. I did so in an hour.

My previous 1-star review was deleted by me with 2 reasons: 1. I was blackmailed by the dealer, stating that his attorney will be in contact with me because I have been "bad mouthing and only wants money from them," all because I wanted a refund of my car with an appropriate compensation. 2. I notified BBB that I voluntarily deleted reviews in an effort of the settlement.

The dealer blocked my phone number, which I take that as a denial of my patronage to the business. This seems contradictory to their promise of customer care. The dealer yelled at me that I lack respect, despite the fact that my respect already had been demonstrated with a full payment via a cashier's check.

I ended up replacing a bumper on my expense. This was...