Protomotoring = Scammers

[nismo240now]

I'm not gonna lie, but I have no idea how you guys have been in business for 10 years with the prices i see that you put on your cars... OMG!!!! They are beyond ridiculous... You must be selling some cocain or something.... I see you have a 240 hatch w/ silvia front end and an sr20 and an aluminum wing for like 10 grand... Pot smokin hippies......

[Medrivfast]

Here is the experiance i have seen with Proto.

A friend of mine bought an S13 with an SR20DET & Silvia front end conversion. I beleive it was also lowered with up-graded brakes. He payed about $8,000 for it. He financed the car with $5,000 down.The car was missing a lot of the interior peices. The engine looked like crap. We all tolled him that he over-payed for the car. Over the next few days we convinced my friend to call Proto and complain. Proto sometimes answers their phone. He finally got a hold of Proto and they agreed to return the car for another one. They ripped up the contract. But, Proto still had the deposit. My friend got a 93 240SX coupe bone stock. Also, he was promised a set of rims. Never received them. He ended up paying $4200 for the car. After a couple of weeks later my friend decided he didn't want the car. I offered him $1,000 for the car right then and there. He said "Ok". Once the title came in the mail i bought it. That's how i came across my 240.

The 240 i bought runs excellant. I just needed to replace the carpet and added an ignition switch. Knock on wood, car doesn't over-heat or anything else bad like that. The only issue is that the CEL is on. I got it scanned and it has something to do with the emissions. In other words it would Fail smog. But, somehow Proto passed smog with the car. That said, they are a very expensive shady business.

[finalgear]

LOL i cant believe you payed 8K for a 95 240sx with sportmax wheels and a fake vertex kit, and its thing like that i hate, people paying for cars that are far overpriced i mean come on you cant want to jump on the 240sx band wagon that bad to where you will pay a retarded price then get screwed, well i guess its like they say A SUCKER IS BORN EVERY MINUTE.I hope Protoscamers will make things right by you

[NINJA SHERMAN]

I heard about this thread so I have to give my 2 cents.Well about a year ago my Cousin wanted to buy a Kouki from Proto. He scheduled an appointment and I decided to go and visit the shop with him. Before hand I used CarFax to check out the VIN's on some of their cars and a couple had a Salvage Title. We showed up and met up with Wesley, He was straight up and cool. He told us about the vehicles that had a Salvage Title.

The Kouki my cousin wanted had high miles and was started life as an AT and was converted to an MT. This was reflected on CarFax and once again Wesley was straight up about this and told us about the conversion.

At the end of the day my Cousin walked away and bought a Kouki from a private party and is really happy with his car.

As for James the owner I really didn't have the chance to talk to him, but I can say he was really lucky to have Wesley in that shop. He was the only reason we stayed to even consider that car.

Dc05sd good luck in resolving this problem, please run the VIN on CarFax. Really see what you have, I hope the Lemon Law works out for you brother. Good Luck again!

[jeff420]

so did you not test drive the car before purchasing it?

[nismo240now]

i find it funny how he has only 1 post... along w/ proto.... what are the chances of the ninja being truly legit... could be a seperate account.. hey, you never know lol

[ThuG LyFe]

F over those aholes as much as you can. i'm tired of shadya$$ shops trying to rip people off not just once but multiple times...

[Touge noob S13]

I happen to know a guy that works for Proto, I'll ask him about this.

[jazz4890]

haha I noticed that whole 1 post thing on both accounts to and yeah those cars are waaaaaaayyyyy over priced. I got my car for 1700 and the motor is amazing I only replaced my waterpump and nothing else even the comp test shows 175 all around. I think people show know what there getting into before they buy something and also do there research on the shop if there buying something that exspensive from them. I guess you live and you learn but when your dealing with something that expensive you should definetly be careful. I hope you win your court battle but from personal experience your going to pay even more money if you do go to court I dont think its worth it.

[RustyShackleford]

I almost bought my coupe from them but I ended up going to a private seller in Chatsworth. It was a 93 240 Coupe and when I drove there, took about an hour or two, the interior was really messed up and the door panels had holes and it was missing the rear seat but it ran alright. I think he wanted 3K for it but I used that 3k and bought a perfect condition 90 240 Coupe. It wasn't really a professional attitude that he conveyed. I'm glad I got that other one.

[lawhaze]

wow, I've heard that protomotoring wasn't good.. but this just made it even worse :O

[MoldyOldy240]

Another SD guy gets scammed by proto

I've have not heard ONE good thing about that shop. Now, I've only talked to 3 customers in person, but I've read countless threads about this shops bullsh#t.

I tell ever new guy that comes to the Mira Mesa meets to stay far away from the company.

Sorry that happened to you, but when you do get the car working; bring it over to the Mira Mesa =)

[dc05sd]

I know i haven't posted in a while, just took a while to get things going on this matter. I find it funny that james finally decides to respond to my post, months later, after the Bureau of Automotive Repair had contacted him just a couple days ago and he was made aware that we were not just gonna let this go. Things are most definately finally looking up for me right now in this situation for the first time in months. I will keep everyone updated with the progress of this issue.

[dc05sd]

Another SD guy gets scammed by proto

I've have not heard ONE good thing about that shop. Now, I've only talked to 3 customers in person, but I've read countless threads about this shops bullsh#t.

I tell ever new guy that comes to the Mira Mesa meets to stay far away from the company.

Sorry that happened to you, but when you do get the car working; bring it over to the Mira Mesa =)

Ya unfortunately i had to be one to deal with this bull****, anyways once i get my car up and going again which should be in a month or two i would like to meet up with some fellow nico members down here in SD; mira mesa is right down the road from me nice to know about this.

[NINJA SHERMAN]

Oh wow I have been discovered as a spy on this forum for Proto. Come on and get real if I was writing to defend proto then why would I say bad things about them. That shop is shady and the only person that you can trust there is WESLEY. If any thing Wes is the only one there that is honest.

Oh yeah if I remember right we showed up looking for one Kouki and they busted a bait and switch. The owner happend to bring a different car to the show.

Hey if you want have the mod check my ISP address to that fool from proto. I'll tell you right now that they are not the same.

I just hope the OP gets his car fixed.

[dc05sd]

"A Spy" Hahaha

Well i tried to settle this out of court ,as proto wanted to do, but they are doing the same old beat around the bush, say one thing but do another bull crap. I am so tired of dealing with these people it is such a joke. We will see what happens in court, with the BAR investigation and my mechanics notes it should be a breeze.

[silvia240sx007]

Sorry to hear that man. Well I can definitly relate to what you went through. I purchase a basic 240sx for $6,500 when I could have did my research & bought a 240sx se for about the same price... It sucks, but it is what it is!!!

[jedis13]

**** protocuz they will **** you

[dc05sd]

**** protocuz they will **** you

You got that right they will get what they have coming soon enough. They just can't keep ripping people off all the time and expect no one to do anything.

[slepys14]

I have learned to distrust mechanics from the beginning! Even if you are not one yourself you should learn as much as you can about your car and try to do whatever it is you can yourself. that way you know the questions to ask and you will be able to tell when they feed you a line of BS!

[verSat1l3]

A similar situation occured out here with a shop called EIP. I know about the outcome because I run the networks for several law offices. I was working late one night and saw a lawsuit against EIP on a lawyers desk:

Long story short:

Guy has civicguy takes civic to EIP to get boostedEIP takes 6 weeks to do the job, doesn't order parts until they have the car even though they were paid in advanceGuys car is fuxxored when he gets it backEIP takes it back for "repair" holds it for 6 monthsGuy arrives with tow truck 6 months later and takes the car home in peices

Guy sues EIP for the original cost of the turbo system, for the tow truck, for the insurance and car payments he was making on it(didn't fully own it ), and the cost of repairs(new motor) at another shop. He also sued for the price of buying another car so he could get to work that whole time, and the cost of his lawyer.

Original price of turbo system: $5500Money awarded by judge in suit: $36000Money it actually cost the guy in the long run:$0

Get a good lawyer, it can actually be very worth it and won't cost you more than you'll get if you have a good case/cool lawyer.

to shady

good luck

[dc05sd]

Thanks for the positive support versat that sounds very similair to the situation im in so hopefully it will work out just as well. And thanks to all the other Nico members too who showed support with this issue.

Finally some good news, even though i still dont have a car I have been able to save alot more money without having a car, its amazing how much i was actually spending on gas and insurance and crap, so im placing a order for a motor from hrt in two weeks so i will finally have a runnign car again in about 2 months and then maybe i can meet up with some of you local nico members down here.

[ROAMZ]

well i recently bought a s13 from proto and dont have any complaints at all the only bad thing so far is that my coil cables got caught up in my fan i contacted proto n they came n towed it for me in a couple days so ive had a a pretty good experience so far

[jazz4890]

haha I love how that guy who just said all those good things about them has one post.

[dc05sd]

haha I love how that guy who just said all those good things about them has one post.

Haha that is why I didn't even respond for all i know its someone from Proto. I still don't have a car... so that means i have not had a car for 6 months because of these people. Not to mention i found out the car was in a front end crash after taking the lights and front bumper off which explains the kouki conversion, yes i car faxed it and it had came up clean. My motor i ordered from hrt a couple weeks ago is suppose to be here within the next hour so FINALLY i almost have a car again. SCREW PROTO

[MastaYu]

they sound really shady

[dc05sd]

they sound really shady

[Jdmstyles]

I sell and build cars for a living and we all know some are good well taken care of and some are pieces of sh**. As a company specializing in cars that are modified and fixed up both aesthetically and performance, there are gonna be some good ones and bad ones and I sell both however I do not intentionally sell a car knowingly it is bad, unsafe, or is gonna fall apart a week after i sell it. If I sell someone a car I let them know what I think of it . Call me and I will be honest with you some are good and some are bad and they are all priced accordingly. The vehicle here was a completely stock 95 s14 with decent miles good body and clean interior, no engine mods whatsoever, not even a filter or muffler. I drove this vehicle home for about 2 weeks. I live about 35 miles away from my shop and never experienced any overheating or engine related problems. The vehicle was primered black, kouki front end conversion, vertex type bodykit,and 18" Staggered xxr mesh wheels (blk with red lip). The asking price was around 7K the way it was. We wheeled and dealed and we agreed to paint the vehicle (candy red) and take care of all the paperwork and reg out the door for 8K which was a pretty good deal because the paint job is worth about 1500 and taxes, tags, smog, doc almost add up to be around 800 bucks. It took about a week and the car was picked up. I did find out the door key was not working and i agreed to get him another. The car still had to return for colorsanding and buffing. The way it was written made it sound like it overheated the same day it left, it didnt..It was about a week or more after the pickup that i recieved a call that it was experiencing heating issues. We deal with the KA motor alot and they are known for air bubbles in the system so I asked him to just bring it back up. To make a long story short I did agree to change the headgasket but once I told him that the resurfacing of the head was gonna cost $400 dollars and I asked for half, he wanted to pik up the car and have his mechanic fix it. Im not gonna lie, I would be pissed too. However my warranty which I rarely give especially on cars that are this old was limited. The warranty only covers 50%labor and 50% parts and is limited to mechanical parts in engine only. It specifically states no electrical or damaged caused by overheating is covered. I'm sorry about this whole situation and this situation rarely does occur because I know what I'm selling. I know kids arent buying 240's because they want to put a sound system in it, put dubs on and cruise, no they but it because they want to drift. Cars with over 100k miles and over 10 years old need special attention if they are going to be drifted or raced out. Now, I do not offer any kind of warranty or guarentees. Anybody buying any car can have anybody (their own mechanic) look at and inspect the car. I do not force anybody to buy any of my cars and if you dont like the price of my cars than its easy to look the other way. I do take pride in the work i do and in this business I've learned you cant make everyone happy. It is unfortunate about this situation but I am willing to help Ben out in any way I can.. If you need another motor, you are more tan welcome to take 1 of the many motors I have here. I have a couple good running S14 motors here. I know your experience with us was a bad one and is probably gonna be a learning experience both for you and me. Proto has been in the game for almost 10 years now and you dont stay in business that long by screwing people over. I am willing to help out just give me a chance. Thanks PROTO>scammers

James, I have been to your shop countless times because I live pretty close by. In all due fairness, im sorry to say but you guys really overprice your cars. In addition, I call to check on a hatch and was told to wait for 30 minutes on the phone because customers were in line supposedly. Eventually I hung up, but mind you, it wasnt the last time it happened.

I want to advise you guys whether you like it or not, to treat your customers fairly. There are a lot of bad rumors about your shop and thats not surprising. If you guys keep this up, i dont see how the shop will manage to stay up in the future.

I'm not hating or bashing on you, im just speaking the truth and what i've experienced.

[ROAMZ]

haha I love how that guy who just said all those good things about them has one post.

YA I JUST JOINED NICO WHICH EXPLAINS Y I ONLY HAVE ONE POST AND NO IM NOT A MEMBER FROM PROTO JUST PURCHASED MY CAR THEREAND THEY HAVE REALLY BEEN PRETTY COOL BOUT EVERYTHING

THIS IS THE S13 I BOUGHT..

[Fonz]

and how much did you pay for that car? looks stock with body kit and rims (might not be the case im just saying)