Lemon Squad

I used Lemon Squad to inspect a used Fifth Wheel trailer. I was informed this is very routine and common for them. Unfortunately, when I had the inspection, I knew nothing about these trailers. I have learned quite a bit since, which led me to write this post. When the «inspector» showed up he was pleasant enough. Upon inspecting the exterior, I asked about inspecting the brakes and was informed it could not be done. After that he climbed up the ladder to the roof, but never actually got on it to check the roof. Now, after purchasing this trailer, based on their recommendations, I have found 2 sections of rot that will need to be repaired. Probably never would have made the purchase otherwise.
The rest of the inspection was kind of a joke. Just flipping switched. After seeing this I was not impressed.
The worst part was that toward the end of the inspection, I asked the «RV Inspector» how long he had been RVing. His response: «Never, I’m a mechanic». Anyway, now I’m stuck with a costly repair after making a purchase based on the Lemon Squad inspection.
Don’t use these people!

Great service and experience with Lemon Squad — personal attention from all levels of the company — from Angel to Andy — they helped me make the right decision for not getting the wrong ‘first’ car for my son. Highly recommended, very timely, and excellent across the board!

Lemon Squad helped me to verify a scam on a vehicle that was out of state. The «dealer» had sent me the information about the car and a complete set of photos along with the fact that he had it there in his showroom. Upon sending someone for the inspection, it turned out the address was a fraud, and Lemon Squad went so far as to look up a «relocated» address and also found out that was a residence. Suspiciously the dealer no longer returned my calls or emails. Thanks to Lemon Squad for being my eyes and ears for me… and I was really appreciative of Regan who called me directly and sent photos of the locations that they visited. They provided peace of mind and were very communicative.

I went into my transaction with Lemon Squad with high hopes, as the person on the phone seemed knowledgeable, and assured me that the car I would be purchasing would be inspected thoroughly. However, after the clean inspection I purchased the cart, and had it shipped to me. I quickly realized that the inspection was joke. When I contacted Lemon squad I was berated, and even threatened. Completely unprofessional.
As for the car, and what they missed. First, it was an SL550. The passenger mirror did not work at all, and when I took it in I was told that the mirror was completely destroyed internally and would need to be replaced: over $ 1k. Next, the bluetooth is not functional, and needed a digital voice controller; $ 1.5k. Further, the radio had only three speakers functioning, and had a burned out amplifier, needed new speakers, and a new command center; $ 5k. Both taillights are cracked, another $ 2k. The headlight is damaged and scratched: no clue on that price yet.
Back to reaching out to them. I called and complained, yet, rather than complain, they were verbally abusive, with one of the men telling me if I lived in MN he would «whip my ass»; an almost laughable threat.
Long story short, use someone reputable, as these people clearly did not even inspect the car. I actually wonder if they simply charged my card and sent a bogus report!

I scheduled an appointment last evening online. He went out to the dealership first thing this morning to check out the car I was looking at buying. The report more than paid for itself, alerting me to a couple issues that I would’ve paid for in the long run. He went above and beyond, for me, even calling the dealership afterward to make sure one of the issues was taken care of. Customer service over the phone was top notch. I can’t recommend this company enough and I was happy to find them.

I paid $ 149.95 for the Premium inspection, and before booking called the customer service people to find out the timeframe for completing the inspection, as I explained that I was under a very tight timeframe.
They assured me that at the latest I would have the inspection the following morning, which worked well for me. When I didn’t receive it the following morning I followed up and at that point things started to go wrong. The customer service person was pretty rude, uninterested in helping, and very dismissive.
I eventually received the inspection report that evening, which was within their stated timeframe, but well outside of the timeframe they’d given me before I booked. The report itself was ok, it gave the impression of being comprehensive, but I don’t think they really knew that much about the cars. Overall, even though the inspection report came back very clean, I wasn’t confident enough in the inspection to buy that vehicle.
Would I use them again? No, I would probably go with somebody else, I just didn’t feel like I could trust these guys to give me the right information.

Unfortunately, my second attempt with Lemon Squad resulted in my purchase of a Lemon. After my first experience I expected another positive experience, but unfortunately they let me down.
Lemon Squad operates by outsourcing the inspection to local inspectors near where your potential purchase is located. I guess this time I got a loser of an inspector. The result: I need to buy a new engine. This was a totally identifiable problem that my local mechanic recognized in moments after seeing the car.
When I complained, Lemon Squad refunded my fee, but I’m still out $ 5k+ for an engine I never should have needed to purchase if their inspection was worth a dime.

We have used Lemon Squad twice now. The first time was to purchase a used 2011 Prius. They gave the car a clean bill of health Two months later we had $ 2000 bill to replace the air compressor. I don’t completely blame Lemon Squad as we do live in Texas and the air is run nonstop during the summer.
The second time we bought a 2002 Chrysler mini van for my nephew in Levittown, PA. They recommended we not buy the vehicle due to suspected flood damage. They did not find much wrong with the car that they based their recommendation on. We went forward with the purchase and took the car back to Maryland. Maryland has an intense inspection process where they put the car up on a lift and there is an extensive amount of time and work that goes into the inspection. We were expecting to find very little wrong with the car based on the Lemon Squad premium inspection. We were wrong. They had a list of things totaling an additional $ 1200 in repair cost. We were surprised so decided to get a second opinion. The second inspector found much of the same as the first guy. On the list was wobbly tie rods, no battery bar, and it needed brake pads for front, needs 2 tires amongst other things. The second mechanic gave us a more reasonable estimate for these items. I want to point out that Lemon Squad found none of these things except the tires.
I asked both mechanics what they thought of the car having been in a flood. Both said they saw no evidence of flood damage.
What I learned from using Lemon Squad is there is absolutely no guarantee they can save me money on my used car purchases. I consider the service they offer as no more than a glorified test drive. Nothing beats getting a car you want to buy up on a lift for a real look. I won’t be using this service ever again after these two experiences.
I wrote to Lemon Squad to report what we learned from the two additional mechanics. They never wrote back.

We bought a car in Fishers Indiana. We used lemon squad to check out and test drive the car we ended up purchasing. The report we got back on the car showed a lot of pictures and we were made aware of some minor exterior scratches both in the typed up report and pictures that were uploaded by the technician. What we were extremely surprised about was that the technician never took nor reported the claw like marks on the rear passengers side arm rests (most likely from previous owners pet). One side of the car was much worse with claw marks than the other side but it was definitely noticeable when we picked up the car. I can’t figure out how this was missed and we would of used this as part of negotiating with the dealership to get replaced before we purchased. Also it was not mentioned that each tire was a mismatch. No four tires were the same. They all had good tread as was reported but were all different brands. (which from doing some research online can lead to misalignment and poor gas mileage. Bought a whole new set of tires as a result. The leather arm rests will be about 300 bucks for both sides to get replaced. Just surprised because these are easily noticeable flaws that I would expect as a consumer to be made aware of by a technician who is paid to show out of state buyers what cosmetic flaws the car may have. I don’t think I would use them again just because every mechanic is going to be different and may not care to report the things which can make or break a deal.

I paid $ 149.95 for the Premium Inspection. For this the inspector, who in ASE like all their inspectors, inspected the car in Salem almost a 90 minute drive for me. He let me know, by special request the condition of the control arm and the underside. He inspected the body, interior, and mechanics. He took about 20 pictures for me. He performed the inspection the next business day and sent me the report (with pictures) that same night. I talked with him and he gave me advice on the repairs, what they might cost, and recommend I ask the seller to reduce the price. After he pointed out the dents, the tread of the three tires, the need for a tune up, and a belt adjustment. I found that the car needed $ 600 – 800 in repairs. I was able to use this information, with report in hand, to talk down the seller $ 800. All in all, spending $ 149.95 actually saved me $ 650. Needless to say I am pretty happy. Is this a legitimate review because I gave a 5 out of 5, the best rating, on Unilocal?Well, I work for a nonprofit in Portland and last I wasn’t employed by a national car inspection agency, so there you go. Note: Lemon Squad provides inspections in every city and state, but their headquarters are in Minneapolis so that’s why I posted the review here. MN is cool btw, I just prefer Portland, our beer is better.

Lemon squad impressed me in so many ways. First, when I cancelled an inspection, a service representative called to advise me that it would be best to put the service «on hold» so I didn’t lose the non-​refundable cancellation fee of $ 25.
When I reactivated the inspection on another car, the owner of the car started making excuses to delay the inspection (very suspicious). Nevertheless, the Lemon squad persisted in trying to contact him to see if it would be possible to proceed. When that fell through, they simply put my order back on hold. Third time lucky, when I instructed then to activate my (twice held) inspection on a third car, they had contacted the owner within minutes of my e-​mail and promptly set up an inspection for the next business day. The inspection seemed very thorough, plenty of pictures were provided, and I was able to go ahead and make my decision on the car. One thing I will say is that Lemon Squad have extremely good customer service, they respond lighting fast to queries. I strongly recommend them.

Comprehensive reports, incredibly quick service, reasonably priced, and fantastic customer service!
Lemon Squad went far, far, far above and beyond the service I was expecting. I highly recommend them to anyone looking to purchase a used car. You’ll be glad you spent the money for an inspection with Lemon Squad as they will save you money and hassle.

Very fast and friendly. I had them inspect a used car and they pointed out quite a few problems that I didn’t notice even after I had looked it over and taken it for a drive. They answered all of my questions and even gave me some good recommendations as to shops to take care of some of the issues.
Saved me money and trouble! Would highly recommend!

A high quality outfit with one of the lowest inspection prices on the internet. You’re an idiot if you don’t have a used car checked out by a proffessional mechanic even if its from a dealer. This company more that fills the bill. Got my inspection report back in 24 hours from the time I called, very fast. I was diaspointed twice by an inspection service Ebay reccommended. The first time they had a computer glitch they didnt tell me about. I placed the request on a Weds and told them I needed it by Friday because the auction was ending. They said no problem. Well big problem with the holiday I didnt get it back till the following Tues. I got my money back and decided to give them a second chance. I ordered another inspection on Weds. I called Thurs afternoon and they still didn’t have an inspector yet. I cancelled and called Lemon Squad who took the order and I got the results on Friday. No worries