Pre Purchase Inspection Help Please!

Hey guys, not sure if I'm posting this in the correct area. Any help is much appreciated. Here's the story.
2 weeks ago, while out of town, I finally found the Tacoma I wanted. So I talked to the seller and decided since I couldn't look it over in person i would have a shop check it out. I paid meineke car care 50$ for a pre purchase inspection. I spoke with the tech who performed the inspection on the phone. He told me that the air filter was dirty and that the valve gasket was leaking. I asked if he put it on a lift and checked the drive line, steering, mounts and bushings. He said yes and that everything was in perfect working condition. I have his check sheet where he checked the CV joints, u joints and driveline as okay. (Three options: okay, suggest further attention, requires immediate attention). So my wife went and bought the truck. I got home a few days ago and started doing the normal new to me car tune up stuff. Air filter, oil, transfer case fluid, diff fluid... anyways while under the truck I noticed that the rear u joint had blown and sprayed its typical splatter under the bed. The I looked up the shaft and realized that both u joints, carrier bearing and double cardone joints were all shot. Its blatantly obvious just laying under the truck.
Here's my question. How do I deal with this? In my mind they should replace them for me at no charge. It's not a small leak or some small grease, they flung the usual and are obviously no good. I am going to take the truck in tomorrow to speak with the manager there. I'm feeling like I have a good case to be angry here. What do you guys think? Anyone ever deal with this before?

 

Used vehicle, private seller. Meineke car care performed a pre purchase inspection for me. They said the u joints and CV were okay, they were not okay. So they gave me the green light when in reality it needs to be replaced.

 

If they say it's okay when in reality it's in need of repair, I would think that's their mistake and thus they should be responsible. Otherwise why the hell pay to take a car in for an inspection?

 

If that end up being the case I'm gonna lose my sht on the manager of that store. It doesn't make sense to me. I paid for a service, they messed up, I think they should be held liable.

 

I got big boy swinging, come on dude that's the worst service ever. Why even get it inspected? What the hell did they inspect? Do mechanic shops have zero accountability or responsibility?

 

I hope I see you cruising in vegas.

 

Haha, that was pretty funny even though I'm pissed.

 

I can take responsibility for my mistake. First and last time that happens to me. I'm gonna fix it anyways, I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this. I guess I just figured if I paid a mechanic to check something that they would actually check. This is a chain, and a supposedly reputable one. If you came to my work and I sold you a service that I did not perform, I would be in trouble not you. If you complained to my boss that I did not do my job correctly their response would not be 'well you should have known better than to trust what we say, you brought it to a chain, you should do it yourself'. Thats the worst business model I have ever heard of and I would like to think that a national chain would know better than to blatantly rip people off. So while I do not agree with your theory that they should not have any liability, I can appreciate the advice to step back and remove emotion from the equation. I'm not gonna freak out, but I am going to attempt to have them help me resolve the issue. I havent talked to them yet, I'll be there in the morning.

 

Cut the OP so slack. I would be pretty pissed if i paid for a service that wasn't done or correctly done..

Man this forum is full of some high horse, full of shit pussies that shit on people for no reason. Especially in this case. Acting as if you wouldn't be as upset as OP is. What if the situation was worse and the truck had a bad transmission, or low compression engine?

 

At best, and this is nothing more than my personal opinion, meineke owes you a refund of the $50 paid. Granted, it could've been better in your favor had the done a legit inspection because you could've negotiated more with the seller. $50 back and lesson learned to never do business with meineke again.

 

If this happens all the time why is it not common knowledge? I am not new to this, I'm 32 and have owned and worked on too many cars to list. I do pretty much all of my own work. I figured a mechanic at a shop with a lift could pick it up and see that immediately. Especially since Joe schmo who usually comes in will also have them fix it. Isn't that the meaning of a business, to create more business? It doesn't vibrate bad yet but I know it will, just small popping noises mostly when putting it in gear. I did notice it almost immediately, especially when parking on a slope. Listen man I'm not the dude that's gonna talk sht to you on the internet. You wanna tell me how stupid I am, I'm not hiding, come to Las Vegas and let me know to my face. Otherwise let it be. Thanks for the helpish. If anyone actually has experience with a similar issue please let me know.

 

@1bad2k Yeah I expect as much, we will see tomorrow. I talked to their customer service line and filed a ticket. They said a district manager would call me within 48 hrs.

 

Did you pay with a card? If they're not willing to refund you the small $50 fee, I'd consider filing with your financial institution for a chargeback.

 

@1bad2k yeah I did pay with my card, good idea. Thank you.

 

Yeah no problem.

 

I usually would look over any vehicle myself but there are times where I'm tied up but this vehicle is needed so yeah I take it into a shop. A shop that can be trusted and not just any shop either. Thats also something else to consider.

I agree that the shop should've spotted it or maybe he thought 'oh thats extra grease from it being regreased, who knows. But like someone stated the vibrations should've been noticed.

 

I highly doubt the people at meineke even know what those components are.

I've enjoyed the bashing in this thread and I dont want to add to it however you couldn't find any better place in the area (hell even the wife to peek under the truck and turn on phone video message) to take the truck to? There are plenty of great independent shops or even TW members in the Vegas area you could ask to help.

 

@Truck Yeah! Yeah man hind sight is 20/20. That shop was near the sellers house and had an appointment slot available when I needed it. I agree with the fact that I should have personally looked at the truck. I'm at a different location right now and the manager agreed that the tech did not do a thorough inspection. Not sure what they are going to do here but he said they will make it right. They are performing the inspection again right now. I'll post how this goes later today.

 

So it goes, Cant be more than a couple hundred in Toyota OEM parts though and its not like it left you stranded. If the rest of the truck is solid, it will still deliver years of faithful service.

 

Okay so i took the truck to a different shop. They did another inspection for me at no charge and let me get under the truck to see with them. My carrier bearing has quite a bit of play in it (more than an inch), but the rubber isnt blown out yet. This is causing the vibration that i feel and the popping sound when i put the truck in gear on a incline. The U joints were over greased and caused the surplus grease to be sprayed. The play in the shaft is caused by the carrier, the u joints and double cardan joints are all okay, zero play individually, just over filled with grease. Although the first shop did miss the carrier bearing its not nearly as bad as I thought. So I am just going to replace the carrier bearing myself, easy enough fix. I dont have a lift so it was nice to be able to get under the truck. Steering and suspension are all tight with zero issues. Eventually I will be replacing the u and cardan joints but its nice to know its not something that needs immediate attention. I wasnt trying to start an internet battle here guys. I have learned a small lesson here, and will take that with me. Thanks for the help and advice.