I purchased a 2001 Toyota Corolla in seemingly excellent condition from this dealer about 2 years ago. I recently moved to Chicago and do not need a car, so I went to Carmax today to sell my Corolla. To my horror, the Carmax appraiser found that there had been some severe past damage on the car, which had been repaired by using a new hood and both fenders from different vehicles that had been painted to match the rest of the car. These new parts hid a frame that had been rewelded in order to repair it. To make matters even worse, it turns out that one of the VIN number stickers on the car had been changed to match the VIN number on all of the other panels of the car in order to hide the past damage. I was never made aware of any of this by the dealership. In fact, I was told that the car passed the dealership's rigorous inspection with flying colors!
The nice folks at Carmax explained to me that dealers sometimes purchase totaled cars at a low price and then do a lipstick job to make the car look like new so that they can sell it for much more than it is worth. This, unfortunately, is what happened to me. Since the damage on the car was not filed with the police or an insurance company, the dealership was able to do its ""repairs"" on the car under the radar, without ever having to mention it to me. The really scary part about all of this is that, had I gotten into a head on collision, the frame of the car literally could have snapped in half due to the structural problems caused as a result of the make-shift ""repairs"" done by the dealer on the past damage.
I find this to be very dishonest and I highly urge everyone who is interested in Oak Lawn Mazda to consider a different dealership.
Pros: Attractive sales staff
Cons: Dishonest sales techniques
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