Aaron went shopping on AutoTrader and saw a BMW he liked sold by International Motor Productions. The lady over the phone, Brigette Brown, told him everything about the car was perfect. He put down a $500 deposit and flew down from Chicago to check it out with his friend Nathan. There he discovered the body panels didn’t line up and the tires were mismatched and worn. When he took it for a test drive, it pulled under acceleration and made horrible noises. He took it to a reputable dealer who inspected the car and assessed it had been in an accident and had frame damage. When he took it back to International Motor Productions and asked for his deposit back…

…Brigette refused and also refused to let anyone else test drive the car.

Aaron is now pursuing complaints against the company with the BBB and the State’s Attorney General. Deposit, hotel, rental and airfare, Aaron and his friend are out $2,000. A check of their online profile turns up a number of very severe complaints against the company, mixed in with a number of glowing reviews.

Our request for comment from International Motor Productions was not returned.

“I am also curious as to where they get cars that have clean titles, but have obviously been wrecked. (*cough* chop shop *cough*)”, said Nathan.

AutoTrader doesn’t let customers post dealership reviews. Before putting down a deposit and flying to get your dream car, make sure to always check out a dealership’s reputation elsewhere, like cardealercheck.com, their BBB report and Yahoo! Local reviews. You can also investigate a car’s history on CarFax.com. If you were to check out a dealership’s rep, where would you look first?

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