COMPLAINT FILED 04/17/2025
Dane H.
Purchased a 2021 Ford Ranger from ACV Auctions on 3/25/25. Payment was deducted from our account on 3/28. ACV sends us the pickup slip on 4/1. Our transporter goes to pick the unit up at Dealers Auto Auction in Florida, and is told that unit was sold in November 2024, and the vehicle is not there; the pick up slip sent was INCORRECT. Another pick up slip is sent by ACV on 4/3/25. Our transporter picks the vehicle up, and we receive the vehicle on 4/10. The condition report and photos are wrong; the unit has a huge rust hole in the bed (and considerably more undisclosed rust) that was not disclosed in the photos or description of the vehicle. An arbitration is filed on 4/10, within 10 days of both the first INCORRECT pickup slip, and within 7 days of the CORRECT pickup slip being sent on 4/3. Jason with ACV is denying the arbitration claim because he states “payment was not made on sale day”, and that we are out of time frame on this claim. He never stated what the time frame SHOULD have been. Jason is failing to take into consideration that whatever delay in payment ACV is claiming is offset by the delay in us receiving the correct pickup slip. He also admits that the pickup slip is held for 3 days once payment is received (and we received the INCORRECT one on 4/1). We have been told by our ACV rep that the arbitration clock starts when the buyer (us) receive the pickup slip. There is no scenario here (regardless of payment on sale day) where we would not have been in compliance with arbitration time frame. We requested a buyback of this unit; had the inspection been legitimate and proper photos taken, we would not have purchased the vehicle. Jason offered $500 and said the arbitration department would not revisit the claim. There are several troubling things here: 1) ACV is holding me accountable for “not paying on sale day”, but yet is not taking any responsibility for sending an incorrect pick up slip creating a delay on their part. 2) The inspection performed on this vehicle is at best negligent and at worst fraudulent; ACV would not answer to that. 3) ACV’s policy of not disclosing who a seller is rears its ugly head once again- our filters are set to Franchise Dealers and Fleet/Lease. In my opinion this seller was neither of those. Overall, we enjoy doing business with ACV; we have had previous issues with inspection and light announcements, but for the most part, ACV attempts to do the right thing. In this situation, I believe they are way off. ACV should do the right thing here and unwind the deal. A $500 adjustment is NOT going to compensate for the awful condition report that significantly misrepresented the vehicle. Lastly, any discussion about our “no payment on sale day” is invalidated by ACV’s failure to produce a correct pick up slip in a timely fashion.
Last 8: MLD21323
Date of issue: 2025-04-10
Auction Contact: Jason (ACV Rep)
UPDATE BY DEALER 4/25/2025
ACV agreed to buy the vehicle back and the issue was addressed.
[RESOLVED]
COMPLAINT FILED 03/24/2025
Vehicle was purchased Green/Yellow with the announcement of OBD port could not be read, engine noise (which every out of warranty vehicle is announced with). The engine sounded normal on the audio recording. Upon receipt and inspection of the vehicle, it was discovered that the OBD port had been disabled; a wire had been cut. Once fixed the vehicle was scanned and found to have timing codes. I filed an arbitration but was told that because of the engine noise (and told that the OBD port could not be read), the arbitration would be denied. In my opinion, this is on the seller; they knew the port had been disabled and deliberately covered it up. At that point, the seller should have represented it Red, not Green light. In essence, that is fraud. A seller nor ACV should be allowed to sell vehicles with partial/half disclosures. The timing issue cost over $2000 to repair- I feel this was completely dishonest on the part of the seller, and ACV should have allowed the vehicle to be sold Green Light.
Last 8: KC628906
Date of Issue: 2025-03-18
Auction Contact: Arbitration
UPDATE BY DEALER 3/26/2025
I’m pleased to inform you that we had one of our reps reach out to Carl yesterday to have a discussion about the auction he was having issues with, and address any other questions and concerns he may have had. At this time we believe that the representative was able to come to a proper resolution for this matter, and we were able to help Carl out on this one!
[RESOLVED]
COMPLAINT FILED 03/10/2025
I held off on publicizing this experience due to benefit of the doubt, but as it goes on a month of age and continues to worsen I’ve realized this is merely a statistic. On February 12th, I “won” a 2015 6.7 Ford through (you probably guessed) ACV. This was my first transaction with them, so I waited a 4 day hold period after my payment cleared before they gave me a pickup slip which I received on the 18th. I received the truck on the 24th. Much to my dismay I immediately noticed sections of rocker panel missing, on both sides, consistent with what one could only assume was result of the factory running boards being ripped off of the truck. Being someone who takes pride in thoroughness, I wondered how I missed such damage. But upon going over the listing photos, I realized I didn’t miss it… ACV just felt the need to take the pictures conveniently in front of the missing sections on both sides. The “virtual lift” did no justice either as it was very clearly taken too close to the truck as to not show the rockers, either. The physical damage starts to make more sense as I then open the title envelope and am greeted with repo papers that also weren’t disclosed at any point. Albeit it being minimal I believe in giving credit where it’s due, ACV did do the right thing and unwound the deal, which was decided on the 27th and I was told I’d see my money back in 24-48 hours. The next day I was refunded my transport cost, but got an email with a FedEx label and changed stance that the amount of the truck itself would not be given back until they received the title again. They sent someone to come get the truck from me on Monday the 3rd, and they received the title back at their office on the 5th. For the second time I’m told in 24-48 hours I’d be refunded. As of this morning still, my bank has not so much as seen anything pending from ACV and ACV’s last communication with me was “the money left their account” but “has no trace number” and they “don’t know what happened”. Not only could I have sold that truck several times over had it arrived as advertised, but the money invested in it was purely wasted in the meantime with no sense of urgency to return it. Messes undoubtedly happen, but this has been nothing but serial negligence that you couldn’t even make up. I have photo evidence I took followed by the photos ACV took I can provide in order to show the intentionally hidden damage.
Last 8: FEC11452
Date of issue: 2025-02-24
Auction Contact: N/A
UPDATE BY DEALER 3/12/2025
I wanted to follow up regarding Kalli’s recent experience. I followed up with her and she has ensured that everything has been resolved now.
[RESOLVED]
4 Reviews on “ACV Auctions”
I want to thank ACV’s customer support staff for turning a bad situation into a positive. After an unfair arbitration resolution, I posted on Auto Auction Review to advise other potential buyers on ACV what to expect from arbitration. I did not expect a response from ACV as the “case was closed”. Thanks to Liv’s involvement we were able reach a favorable resolution as she agreed with me and did what ACV should have done from the onset. Thank you Liv for your excellent customer service.
I filed a complaint earlier in the week regarding an arbitration that was denied. ACV’s team “met me in the middle” with a settlement on my issue. I feel like it was a good effort on their part. It’s nice to know that at times compromises can be met. Thanks again to the ACV team.
I started back buying on ACV about a month ago, reluctantly. I had read some of the nightmare stories on Real Success on Facebook, but due to high prices at the auctions, I tried again. I have bought over a dozen cars in the last month, and the inspections have been accurate and have done pretty well on the cars. Other than the high cost of transportation, ACV has been a good source to buy from.
I purchased a Chevy Equinox from ACV on February 27, 2025. The vehicle had 43K miles on it, and ACV called P301 misfire code. Long story short, the engine had a dead cylinder. I filed an arbitration, and the team required from me a compression test (80 pounds), and the required video and audio. The arb team was professional and reimbursed me to repair the engine. Needless to say, I was very happy with the result.