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Business Profile

Used Car Dealers

Classic Cars of Sarasota

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

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Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Classic Cars of Sarasota's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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Classic Cars of Sarasota has 2 locations, listed below.

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 1 complaint in the last 3 years.
    • 1 complaint closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:06/24/2025

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      AnsweredMore info

      Complaint statuses

      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      This transaction took place on 6/13/2025, when I purchased a 1953 **** F100 from this shop for around $29000 cash. Sold me a vehicle that was on consignment, didn't want me to test drive it outside of the parking lot. To make matters worse, the car broke down 4 times after getting home with it and after voicing my concern, **** (salesperson) said "we will get it fixed" and to reach out to ******* since he is the owner of the store, rightly so. When I reached out to *******, I received the same assurance from ******* (owner), and he said if I provided him a quote from a shop, he would work with me to come up with some form of resolution. I immediately took the car to a shop near me and was quoted for thousands of dollars worth of repairs which included a full replacement of the rear brakes, securing the engine correctly (it's not even fully secured, and they sold the vehicle in this condition), and a myriad of other items. After showing him the quote, ******* completely went back on his word, told me he didn't trust the validity of the quote, said he refuses to "write a blank check", said there are NO ISSUES with the vehicle, and then said I was on my own. I got a hold of **** letting him know the situation and that things were not going well at all, and he said i "went around him" and thus, he will not involve himself with the issue anymore, even though he was the one who suggested I reach out to ******* directly in the first place. Upon following up, he is no longer responding to my emails and has proven every bad review on here to be spot on. This is single handedly the worst experience I've had with any purchase I've ever ******* this point, I would absolutely prefer to just return the vehicle and not deal with this anymore and then they can deal with fixing the issues on their own time, but if that is not a feasible option, I feel as though they should pay for these dire issues with the truck that they sold for top dollar but didn't have top dollar quality.

      Business Response

      Date: 06/25/2025

      This is a case of buyers regret or remorse.  Devin saw the vehicle online and reached out to us, inquiring about the vehicle.   We did not solicit this customer; he saw an ad on one of the 15 online car advertising sites we use and contacted us.  The customer originally came in with a very low price.  Our salesman said we could not sell the vehicle for that but was willing to reduce the price $900 off list, which we did.  In several conversations and texts after price was agreed upon customer continued to negotiate and get a price reduction.  Our salesman continued to say $29,000 is the price.  The customer agreed to this price and signed the bill of sale.
      We did reduce the price after bill of sale had been signed twice but prior to money exchanging hands due to the directionals not working.  After the purchase I did tell the customer I was open to providing some goodwill.  However, his story continued to change on what was wrong with the vehicle along with wanting money for directionals that were already negotiated/ agreed upon and price reduction made.
      Prior to sale of the vehicle, prior to customer coming to see the vehicle he was sent an “As is” and “hold harmless” agreement for review and signature.  Copies of this is attached.
      I have also included attachments for all three bill sales he signed, email correspondence that align with my response to this complaint.
      The customer has the vehicle listed for sale on Facebook Market place.  The description he has on Facebook Market place is the description from my website.
      June 11th First Contact by the customer inquiring if the vehicle was still available.
      June 11th Completed credit application
      June 11th Sent Loan application to third part lender
      June 11th Loan officer sent an email said customer was “busting his chops” about getting the vehicle the same day.  Loan officer explained that he couldn’t get the vehicle same day as none of the paperwork was signed and the lender had a process that needed to be followed.  Also gave loan officer a hard time about verifying income.  (See attached copies of emails)
      June 12th Signed bill of sale for financing the vehicle
      June 12th Decided not to finance and said he would pay cash for the vehicle. Signed a bill of sale for paying cash for the vehicle, no lien holder
      June 13th Arrived to the dealership at 5:20pm, 20 minutes after dealership closed.  No apology, no thank you for staying, did not ask if another time worked best.  We did not bring up that we were closed nor did we suggest coming back during business hours.  We allowed him to conduct business just as if it was just as we opened in the morning.  The reason for being late is customer had to go to 3 different banks to get cash for the transaction.   We had already notified the customer a wire transfer was preferred, or cashier’s check.
      June 13th – Upon arrival Customer and his girlfriend walked around the vehicle inspecting the truck.  I raised the hood and opened the door so they could see the engine and interior of the vehicle.
      Customer asked to hear the vehicle so we started the vehicle up.  Vehicle ran for several minutes before he said shut it off.  He then asked what the chains on the tailgate were.  I said they are what hold the tailgate when it is open.  It is what they did in 1950’s.  He then asked what the gas cap was.  I let him know that is where you put fuel into the vehicle.
      Next he asked if the lights worked, so we started the vehicle up and turned the lights on.  The lights worked, however the turn signals did not.   I explained to him that I could have my technicians look at it but it would have to be the next day because they leave for the day at 4pm.  His reply was I don’t want to wait, I like the truck and want to drive it home, can you give a price discount, and I will have the directionals fixed later.  I said it it difficult to know what is wrong could be a simple fuse for 75 cents or a re-wire that costs $800 in labor.   The customer said Well give me a high and low as you just did and would you be willing to split it.   I said you are looking for $400 off the price, he replied yes.  So, I agreed.
      He then asked to go for a test drive.  So, I started the vehicle drove it out of the shop.  He then got in the driver seat, and I got in the passenger seat and we went for test drive.  After the test drive, we got out of the vehicle.  As we got out the customer walked around the vehicle said can you do any better on the price.  I said no our salesman has told you all week that $29,000 is the lowest we will go so that is the price minus the $400 for turn signal reduction.  ($28,600). 
      At that point I had a transporter trying to pick another vehicle up that was being shipped out of state.  So I excused myself and said think about it I’m going help him with the vehicle he is picking up and I’ll be back.  When I returned the customer said he wanted the truck.
      So we went inside.  When inside I created now a 3rd bill of sale.  The customer signed the bill of sale and counted the money to pay for the vehicle.  So the sale was now official.
      The customer went outside started the vehicle and drove from Sarasota to St. Peterburg.
      June 14th he texted the salesman and said the vehicle had stalled.  Which it is a 1953 vehicle with a carburetor, unlike new cars you can flood them with fuel so starting or running can be an issue until the carb dries of the extra fuel.   Then later he texted the salesman and the salesman told him to contact me, the business owner.
      June 16th I spoke with the customer and he said there was an exhaust leak coming from the engine.  I said it could be exhaust manifold or gasket fairly simple repair and we could take a look at it.  Once we looked at it let him know what the issue is and if there would be any goodwill provided.    The customer said he did not want to bring the vehicle back to us as we were to far away he wanted to go somewhere and send the invoice to me.   I let him know I wasn’t giving anyone a blank check.  I explained if he wanted to get an estimate and send the estimate to me we would then discuss it.

      June 18th Received an estimate, please see enclosed and the customer attached it to his compliant as well.   However, the quote the customer provided raised questions that I needed more clarity on—particularly the scope and pricing, which did not align with the car’s documented condition when sold.
      The quote he provided had three separate concerns.  1. Left axle shaft leak 2. Remove and replace brakes. 3. Trouble shoot and repair turn signals.  All three items had same number of hours and cost to repair.  It would not cost exactly $760 for each one of these issues.  Additionally, these items had nothing to do with stalling issue he originally told my salesman that went away or resolved itself, nor the exhaust leak he told me a repair facility found.  Additionally, we had already negotiated and agreed on the turn signals prior to purchase.
      I stopped communicating and made the decision I was not providing any goodwill as the story I was being told of what issues the vehicle had continued to change.  Additionally, the issues that were being brought up did not match the condition of the vehicle.  Devin is correct this vehicle was on consignment at my dealership.  The consigner purchased it from our dealership approximately 18 months prior and was using it as his company vehicle.  They purchased it 3/28/24 with 2726 miles on the odometer.  When customer purchased the vehicle it had 12,335 so they had driven it over 10k miles without issue.
      It’s never our intention for a customer to feel brushed off, and I regret that communication broke down in this case. Thank you again for your feedback.

       

      P.S. I have other attachments but would not allow more than 5 files.   I received a second message from BBB I will attach the other files to that request.

      Customer Answer

      Date: 06/25/2025

       

      Complaint: 23512419



      I am rejecting this response because:

      Again, Michael (owner of Classic Cars of Sarasota) assured me he would make this right, and requested that I get a quote and once I did, he invalidated the quote even though it is coming from a highly reputable classic car mechanic in the area. If he truly wants to make things right, he would not brush me or the quote off, and if he has any qualms with the numbers, he would simply reach out to the shop and ask for clarity if he truly wanted to rectify a situation in which he sold a vehicle that has serious repairs that will cost thousands of dollars and were diagnosed less than a week after getting the vehicle from me. He is stating regret and remorse from me, the consumer, but not acknowledging that the remorse is solely because I spent top dollar on a vehicle that had thousands of dollars worth of repairs needed, and were not conveyed to me at the time of sale. Had the truck been in the condition they portrayed it to be in, we would not be in this position and yet he is deflecting any accusations when there is a document from a top tier mechanic stating their are thousands of dollars worth of repairs needed for it to be made for it to be in the condition that it should have been in before selling it for $29,000. 

      Again, I have a quote from a reputable company, something he suggested I do so that he would help make things right in good faith, and completely changed his narrative once I provided said quote and is no longer communicating with me nor making any efforts to amend the issue in which they caused by selling a vehicle that had mechanical problem; one of which is a full replacement of the rear brakes which means the vehicle is not completely safe for driving until they are replaced, and the engine is not fully secured which could total the vehicle if it slipped out of position and destroys other vital parts next to it under the hood, which is very possible considering it is unsecured on one side. These are documented in an official quote from a shop at Realistic Auto Restorations Inc. (https://realisticrestorations.com/), and he is deflecting what is stated on the quote because he doesn't agree with the prices, but he fails to acknowledge the genuine issues with the integrity of the truck, and instead continues to try and blame me and saying my story is "changing", when I continue to state what the issue is, and have official documentation and evidence to support this. He is concerned about the dollar amount within the quote, I am concerned about the diagnosed issues on the quote, and if he is truly acting in good faith, should be more concerned about rectifying those issues, instead of worrying about the number next to it. I did not make these issues, he sold a vehicle without disclosing them, and will not take responsibility and I will pursue this until he makes this right.



      Sincerely,



      Devin Wagner

      Business Response

      Date: 06/25/2025

      I can appreciate his response and his rejection.  I have already stated the facts and particulars to this matter.   I originally explained to the customer he could bring the vehicle back for us to look at alleged issues.  He did not want to drive that far.

      The customer is asking for $5000 in his BBB compliant, when the total of the alleged issues is $2439.60.   (Three items $760, $760 and $760). The third item is for directionals which was known at time of purchase.  The customer asked to split the cost from a low and high estimate.   Which we agreed and he did receive $400 reduction.  One of the other items are wearable items that need to be replaced on all vehicles over time (brakes).  $760 plus $760 is $1520 which is vastly different from the $5000 number he submitted on his compliant.   

      I responded to BBB and his google review.

       

      Thank you.

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