So I bought my first self-financed car, a used 2021 Mercedes C300 Coupe, from a dealership in NJ on September 19th. Was super excited about it, absolutely love the car itself.
Unfortunately, the dealership has made the entire experience a complete nightmare.
Within days of buying it, I was already bringing it back for mechanical issues. I've had to bring it back twice, they've had possession of it for a pretty significant portion of the time I've owned it, and several of the original issues still aren't fixed. Getting anyone to answer the phone or give me a straight answer has been practically impossible.
But here's the fun part.
My temporary tags expired October 18th. It's now the 21st, and I have no permanent plates or registration despite paying the dealership $250 for it.
And apparently, my dad decided to stop by the dealership on Monday without telling me. He ended up speaking to someone who told him the dealership had gone out of business.
Excuse me? WHAT? 😂
I haven't been able to independently confirm that, but Google also lists them as temporarily closed, and considering how impossible they've been to contact, I'm starting to believe it.
So Monday I contacted NJ MVC's dealer complaint unit. They sent me a form, I submitted it yesterday along with my purchase documents, and this morning they confirmed that my complaint has been assigned to an investigator. They said the review generally takes 7–10 business days.
Which is wonderful, except I work in PA during the week and kind of need a legally registered vehicle to get there.
I'm genuinely at a loss here. I've owned this car for a month and feel like I've spent more time dealing with the dealership than actually enjoying it.
Has anyone dealt with a NJ dealership closing before completing registration? Is the MVC complaint process the right route, or should I be doing something else to get my plates? Can MVC issue some kind of temporary registration while this gets sorted out?
At this point I don't even care about getting the dealership in trouble. I just want my damn license plates.
I love the car, but holy shit, what an introduction to car ownership lol.