I purchased a "Run and Drive" vehicle on 10/21/24, using RideSafely.com. The car was delivered on 10/23/24. When the car arrived it sounded like it had an engine knock, and some type of grinding coming from under the hood. The car also had a coolant light on although there was coolant in the reservoir. I let the car idle for a few moments and noticed smoke coming from the tailpipes and under the hood. I quickly turned the car off and started recording. The car smelled like fire and I suspect it could have easily been a fire hazard. I can't link the video here but I did send it to Roman, the "VP" of RideSafely.com.

The coolant hose held together with black electrical tape, not something you could see from pictures or notice unless specifically looking for it. I scanned the car for codes and the car had the following 6 DTC codes;
P0299: Turbocharger/Supercharger Underboost
P0300: Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0301: Cylinder 1 Misfire
P0302: Cylinder 2 Misfire
P0447: Evaporative Emission system vent Control Circuit open
P0304: Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected

Combined with the metal sound coming from the motor, I was not confident that this "Run & Drive" vehicle would neither run nor drive. Within a few hours of the car being delivered, I towed the car to a local mechanic and had the car looked at. They confirmed the following issues:

"Note: Vehicle presented with significant upper valve train noise. Broken coolant hose duct taped. Engine codes for misfires cylinder 1 2 and 4. Boost pressure code for turbocharger 1. Coolant level message on cluster. Various codes in other systems that do not affect drivability such as tailgate function and EVAP system codes. Engine sounds like it may have been run without oil. Recommend oil analysis for bearing material and proper type. Vehicle is not drivable. Continued driving will damage the catalytic converter. We can quote you for repairs on any of these items but significant engine assessment is needed to determine if it is worth fixing or would need an engine replacement. Significant diet is needed to determine the failure mode on turbocharger 1."

This vehicle will require hours of labor and thousands of dollars in diagnosis charges alone including engine disassembly and cylinder compression tests, and/or complete engine replacement. No where in the auction did it show engine issues. No mechanical issues were listed anywhere on Copart or RideSafely.com. Not these or any mechanical damages were disclosed in the listing. The car was listed as "Run & Drive", Primary Damage: Minor Dent/Scratches. Nothing listed as mechanical damage. This car is mechanically totaled and was clearly staged. I ran a VinDoctor report and the previous 6 times this car ran through the auction, non listed mechanical damage. All listed "Minor Dent/Scratches. Again, giving me false confidence this car would not need extensive engine and transmission work. I purchased a car with dents and scratches and RideSafely sent me a car with extensive mechanical damage.

Taken directly from the RideSafely website: "The 'MC – Mechanical' code indicates the presence of mechanical issues in a vehicle. This can include a range of problems, from engine troubles to malfunctioning transmissions or other vital mechanical components. Mechanical damage or defects are defined as any harm to a vehicle's parts that makes it unusable, except for issues related to routine maintenance items."

I attempted to work directly with the GM of the Copart yard but they could not assist me without RideSafely's involvement, and RideSafely has no interest in helping me reverse this transaction.

The "VP" Roman, doesn't return calls, is never "available" and takes 2 business weeks to reply to an email. If you don't believe me, give him a call to his direct line *******117. This whole company is a joke and borderline SCAM.

RideSafely will likely reply to this (like they usually do) and say I was wrong and I didn't do my research (like they usually do). I know where I went wrong, it was trusting RideSafely. There is ZERO customer support after purchase. I wish I would have listened to the reviews, but here we are.

If you are considering purchasing a car via RideSafely.com or AutoMoto Deals LLC, you still have time to run as fast as possible in another direction.

PS: RideSafely, you have my telephone number if you want to make this right.
But if you want to just offer a generic apology for the internet, do what you usually do and reply below. I'll keep posting this review on every site possible.

After dealing with RideSafely for weeks and weeks (and their customer service has been nothing but lackluster) I finally got a vehicle. I was so excited! This was going to be a second car for my family of 5 and it would really help with getting the three small kids where they need to go. I paid for it in full on 3/6/23 and was able to pick it up on 3/08/23. This is where the headache really began.

First- after you get your vehicle you will have your title mailed. You can either have it mailed via snail mail and receive it within 7 or more business days, but this comes without tracking and if it gets lost it's your own issue and you have to pay for a new title. I elected for it to be shipped via FedEx. With this, it is priority shipping with tracking and received in 3-5 business days. I was happy to pay the extra $15 to get tracking and get it sooner.

Keep in mind, I cannot register or get a license plate for this vehicle until I have the title.

I wrote the company on 3/13 to get a status on the title and hopefully tracking. In order to keep this as impartial as possible, I will share my messages and include all typos:

3/13
Me: "Hello. I purchased a vehicle and paid for the title to be sent via FedEx with a tracking number and still have not received this. Please advise."

Agent: "I have reviewed your account, your title arrived and should be mailed during this week due to loads of titles coming in."

Me: "is this a normal time frame? I thought I paid to expedite it."

Agent: "As there are a lot of titles to be mailed, we send in the order of the queue." The agent did write back a minute later with a second email to say "we do apologize for the inconvenience."

Me: "Can I be refunded the expedited fee for this delay? I would still like it to be shipped with a tracking number but I picked up this car 5 days ago and have not been able to get it registered at the DMV without the title..."

Agent: "We collect the carrier fee to protect the title. Insure the document in case it is lost. However the auction does not mail the document out until the item is picked up and it usually takes about 2 weeks if the title is not pending. If you get refunded for the carrier service, the title will go out regular mail and you will be responsible for the full amount for the duplicate if it gets lost. At least with Fedex they will cover up to 100$ if package is lost in transit."

Admittedly I did not reply to this email as I was frustrated and did not want to write angrily.

3/16
Me: "Hello. Just wanted to follow up and see if the title was mailed?"

Agent: "Dear Customer, I have reviewed your account. The representative spoke to the auction, your title would be getting mailed to us this week. We do apologize for the inconvenience and delay."

Me: "Do you have an idea when this week? Does this include weekends?"

Agent: "I think, that the title will be sent tomorrow till the end of the working day. The representative will contact you."

Spoiler alert.no one contacted me.

3/21 (This was a Tuesday when it was supposed to be mailed the previous Friday)
Me: "Do you have an update on this?"

Agent: "Dear Customer, we do apologize for the delay. We received your title yesterday, but it needs to be flipped. T hat means when we received the title it has no more reassignment space. By law we have to send the title to our stat so they can provide us with a new title with reassignment space to reassign to you. Usually it takes 2 to 4 weeks."

Me: "Was CS planning to reach out and inform me of this? After it's flipped will it be mailed immediately or will there be another waiting period?"

Agent: "Just today we got the information from title department that title has to be flipped. The representative had to call you, but you reach out to me here, that is why, I gave you this information in message. After the title will be flipped, it will be mailed to you immediately. Again, sorry for inconvenience."

I did not write back. I'm beyond frustrated from talking to their customer service department. It's now been 21 days since I picked up a vehicle that I can't drive. I've already put over 1500 into repairs to get this car running so that we can drive it, but now we are just waiting on a title. I do not expect good communication at this point. To find out any information, I have had to contact them first. At this rate who knows when or if I will get the title. If I don't, what happens next? Do I need to sue them as I own the vehicle but have no documentation of this?

I just wanted a vehicle for my family...Now I have a vehicle in my driveway that can't be driven, and a massive migraine from this company. Be careful purchasing from this company.
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Edit- after posting this review, the manager reached out and kindly spoke down to me about how I misunderstood how their company worked and what the agents were telling me. She said her agents did not do anything wrong, in which I pointed out where they provided incorrect information, specifically concerning where the title was on given dates. She eventually told me that the title arrived to them on the 20th. She did own up to one of the incidents, but when I pointed out the second one she got defensive and continued to explain the varying ways I am wrong. At one point I specifically told her I did not appreciate her speaking down to me and accusing me of being the only person confused as opposed to her agents giving any misinformation, to which she argued and told me no one was speaking down to me.

This manager chose to argue about small things just to fight- such as if I was talking to someone via chat or email. I emailed an agent back and forth from an email address that had an@ symbol and ended in.email, but she felt the need to continue to correct me and tell me that was chat. Why she was fixated on this rather than making a better customer experience, I do not know. Please know, this company does not record customer service calls, so documentation is a little sketchy.

I bought a car at their website which is buy now. On Monday the 20th of April they called me and told me they have to put me in record because the car is buy now, that I authorized them to buy the car for me and I have one day to pay and one day to pick up and I agreed, and asked the lady then when is the latest day to pick she told me it should be Wednesday. On that Monday morning around 11:30 am I was at my bank to do the wire transfer and I emailed them the copy of the transfer around 2pm. I called them to see if I can go pick up my car that very Monday, the lady I spoke to told me no because it's not cleared yet. Tuesday I called again the same thing not cleared again, I called back again on Tuesday around 3pm they told me my car is ready for pickup and a pick up location was given to me. I went to copart around 4:10 pm make arrangements and the car was brought to my house by 6pm.
Today the 22nd of April a lady call me between 9am and 10am telling me you owe us $5 for storage fee of my vehicle, i tried all my best to explain to her that I picked up my car since yesterday but yet still she said no I have to pay the $5 or else I will never receive my tittle meaning they going to seize it for not paying only $5. I spoke back to her again trying to tell her that you guys did recorded my conversation, then go back and listen to it the latest pick up day given to me is Wednesday and I picked my car on Tuesday. She was not polite to me at all. I have been buying cars from copart the only time I use there services is when copay said non public auction then I will go to the third party.
So dissatisfied for someone to tell me we going to seize you title for only $5. I used other third parties but not them the same trick they did last time they took my $400 plus for no reason.