# SK Auto Market Surrey



## metalhead10 (Dec 16, 2014)

I recently purchased a 2005 Nissan X-Trail with a standard transmission from SK Automarket in Surrey. Here are the pros and cons of the transaction.

Pros – The staff was generally good except the person that actually sold me the vehicle. They have a 72hr return policy which saved my butt so I am very grateful for it.

Cons – They are not honest. There was a vehicle inspection done and it had a list of items to be fixed. A sheet was also included to indicate what had been fixed. One item, the right front window switch, still did not work despite them saying they had replaced it. With that in mind I was now hesitant if all the other stuff was actually fixed. Also, the rear middle seat belt did not work. I would assume that standard visible safety items would be a regular check and this should not have been missed.

When I drove it off the lot it took about 19km before I encountered a problem. I did a hard brake to feel it out and that seized the drivers rear caliper. After pulling over at safe spot I informed the dealer. I was told they would order the part in. I was pretty mad at this happening but was closer to home than their place so drove it home. A couple of blocks from home the squealers came on indicating that the brake pads were toast. Immediately after walking in the door I called my local repair shop and booked an appointment for an inspection. 

The independent inspection revealed a large list of items which were deficient. This made me question what SK Automarket actually checked. They did offer to repair it themselves but I did not trust them to do it correctly. If I wanted to get my repair shop to do it they would give me $1000. The repairs would be more like $3000 or more. 

So my wife returned the vehicle today and was told that those “items” were normal wear and tear and that $1000 would be more than enough to cover it. Sure, everything can be labeled as normal wear and tear but some items might have been abnormal. Regardless, that is not the problem. The problem is that they didn’t communicate the issues to us at the beginning. That is unacceptable. 

My advice when buying a used car, especially from SK Automarket in Surrey, is to get an independent inspection done to verify their work.


----------



## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

Always do an independent inspection, never trust the garage that sells you the car.
Even a dealer.


----------



## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

So you did you return it? What were the items the garage noticed that were going to run you over 3000?
The rear caliper is not terribly expensive. Usually the problem is related to the pins seizing, or the pads catching in the slides. This affects Rogues as well.


----------



## metalhead10 (Dec 16, 2014)

Yes, I had always planned on getting it inspected by a different place. As this was my first used car I was unaware of any tricks and was confident in the original dealers inspection, thinking that my other inspection would be just to verify things rather than find new ones. 
Items that were up for repair were the rack and pinion, oil cooler, leak from the timing chain cover, loose tie rods, many rear suspension bushings were worn out, front discs need replacing, and the cat was close to coming off as one of the connections was severely rusted. 
After all this when my wife went to return it they said that it would be hard to use up $1000 to repair it. Right....

I was able to get all my money back for the vehicle. I would not have bought it without the inspection if this wasn't the case. I did have to request the form though when I was buying the vehicle. This leads me to suspect that they don't readily do that and wonder if people have gotten bitten by that as well.

Mostly posting here for people looking for a vehicle and want them to be cautious of that one as manuals are rare. Also, as with me being a first time used car buyer to make sure others get independent inspections as well.


----------



## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

I think you and your wife did the right thing bringing it back. Just the oil cooler alone would have run you 1000 or more, as most places would not know about replacing the O rings and the Nissan part is over 600 not installed. Also sounds like oil pump is on the way out...
Re rear supension bushings, I do not believe you can just buy the bushings and have new ones pressed in. Again renewing the arms and hardware both sides would be close to a thousand dollars, unless you could do it yourself. 
With new front rotors you would want new pads as well... Probably a good thing to warn people away from those guys. 
Only impressive thing was your list didn't include anything to do with the manual transmission which would eventually require some work, and my understanding is that they are fairly pricey to repair.
In my opinion manuals are more likely to have been driven hard and roughly. Good luck in your search though I think you bought a Bonavista based upon your other post.


----------



## Traveler70 (Mar 14, 2015)

Thanks for sharing. I just looked at this car yesterday. Seemed odd to me that they had it for a year or so. I'll have my mechanic check it out real close, if I decide to go with it.


----------



## franticvike (Jul 7, 2014)

Wow, nice work internet.


----------

