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The same owner of Japanese Auto Sales also owns K & T Auto Trading, both of which have a principal place of business at 4721 SE 82nd Avenue in Portland. If a customer discovers or suspects their recently purchased vehicle had the maintenance codes cleared to hide a problem, and they confront the dealership with this information, they claim ignorance and that they “get their vehicles from a third party,” meaning K & T Auto Trading, effectively themselves. In the business world, this gives them a level of removal and some plausible deniability.
We bought a 2002 Ford Expedition from them for only $3000 and it quit running 3 days later, as my uncle was driving it back to Utah for my aunt. After towing it to the Ford dealership, their maintenance technician indicated that the transmission burned up and the warning code that would normally indicate that was recently reset. We asked Japanese Auto Sales for help with towing and repairs several times but to no avail. In fact, when I told them the transmission went out the sales manager’s reply was, “Well, you shouldn’t have bought a three-thousand-dollar vehicle then!” I was speechless. I started investigating the company and in reading through their Google and Yelp and other reviews discovered that I am not the only one that had this happen. There are at least six other customers that have complained to them about this in their reviews and I managed to contact a resident of Battle Ground named Gene Meyer. His story and mine are very similar. He had to replace an entire engine because they masqueraded a known mechanical issue. I haven’t even begun to attempt to resolve the transmission issue in our 2002 Expedition because we have literally spent an additional $3000 in towing, storage, hotel, gas, and other expenses just getting the vehicle back to Portland. Japanese Auto Sales would not help us with anything through the entire process, and it took a while because the vehicle broke down near Hermiston. We bought the Expedition in April 2022 and we finally got it back to my place in Portland in August.
I filed Portland police report 22-324545 for violations of the Oregon UTPA. I filed DOJ# FF6521-22 with the Attorney General as well. Plus, I filed another complaint with the Better Business Bureau (an entity with no teeth, FYI) and left my own reviews on Google, Yelp, Autotrader, and a few others that I could think of. I even consulted a lawyer for advise before I take them to small claims court. However, the lawyer said I should wait to see if DOJ has the bandwidth to pick it up because that would save me money and time, so that’s where I am at currently.
Besides my reviews, I sprung for a bullhorn on Amazon and “picketed” the sidewalk in front of their business one time, informing the customers in the lot of the potential for a bad purchase. This is about all I can do to warn the public of their behavior, aside from online reviews. If I had the time and money, I would be doing that every day, but all I can really do is wait. I am confident that their behavior will continue, they will keep hiding maintenance issues on their vehicles via code-clearing, and they will keep blaming their customers for the mechanical issues – this seems to be their modus operandi. I’ve done a lot of research into consumer law, and whether or not the “as-is” clause applies in these situations (it doesn’t, by the way.) I am warning every person I know about this business, and that they are a criminal enterprise hiding behind the “as-is” clause and “we get our cars from a third party” reference. If you ever see a guy out in front of this place with a bullhorn, that’s me. I am keeping my behavior as polite and professional as possible, but I firmly believe that there will be more victims moving forward.