If you spend some time with Maria Caro, you’ll quickly notice she’s meticulous. It’s a trait she says she learned from her mother.
“Whatever I have, I try to take care of it because that’s the way I was taught when I was a little girl,” Caro said.
That’s why the retired accountant says she took good care of her 2014 Lexus RX 350.
“It was immaculate inside and out,” she said.
And when her lease was up in July, Caro took it to the closest Lexus dealership to her home in Pembroke Pines and handed over the keys to a salesman.
“He came back and said ‘your vehicle is in perfect condition – it’s beautiful. You hardly have an miles on it,’” Caro said the salesman told her.
That same day Caro decided to trade in the vehicle for a smaller SUV, so she signed a worksheet saying there was no damage and that she didn’t owe any money. She thought everything was fine.
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“Two months later, almost to the date, I received a letter from Lexus finance company saying that I owe $278 and some change because of wear and tear on the vehicle,” Caro said. “I thought it must be a mistake.”
But when she called the dealership, Caro says they sent her a picture allegedly showing the damage.
“It’s very hard to tell that there is damage to the car,” she said.
When they kept insisting she was responsible for the damage, Caro called NBC 6 Responds.
“You were my last resort because everybody had told me no,” she said. “Nobody wanted to help me.”
Consumer producer Selena Hernandez got right to work and it didn’t take long for Caro to get the news she had been hoping for.
“Selena called me in three days and told me, ‘Maria, Lexus of Pembroke Pines is taking care of the bill,’” Caro said. “I couldn’t believe it … what a relief.”
Caro is grateful and says the next time she turns in a car at a dealership, she’ll take a different approach.
“I’m probably going to take video of my car,” Caro said. “I’m going to take pictures.”
Mona Green, a spokesperson for the dealership, sent a statement saying: “Lexus of Pembroke Pines tries to do the best to take care of all our guests. We review each case and make a determination of what’s the right thing to do in helping our guests. In Maria’s case, we felt the right thing to do was to take care of the situation. Lexus of Pembroke Pines always believes the customer is our foundation.”
