I have never written a review on a car dealership. Most sales go smoothly, you settle on a price, you service it when needed and so on. If you are trying to decide where to purchase your next vehicle from, then please let me share some valuable information that may help you decide.
My husband and I, have owned several Ford vehicles from sedans to trucks and SUV's. In October of 2018 my husband and I purchased a preowned 2016 Ford Explorer Platinum from Encinitas Ford.
Almost immediately we began having mechanical issues with our Explorer. First they were small issues that became more serious. We began working closely with Sandy Bergstrom a Service Manager there. Over the years we have met many qualified and courteous service managers, but not a single one rises to the level that Sandy has during this time. Sandy has always taken detailed notes of the issues we were experiencing. She always made us feel important and consistently made sure we had a loaner vehicle. At first, you would expect this type of service, especially since we had just purchased the vehicle. This would go on for months.
The cliff notes: Suffice it to say that the vehicle was not only unreliable but was becoming a hazard to drive. Enter Steve Burke the Service Director at Encinitas Ford. The issues were not always easily diagnosed. They were intermittent. On two separate occasions, Steve took time to actually drive the vehicle around with me so that he could better understand what our concerns were. As Murphy 's Law goes, the car drove beautifully while he was in it with me. Steve asked me if I would mind leaving it so he could take it for an "extended test drive". For some time, Steve would drive our vehicle home every night hoping to replicate the various issues.
After a couple more months of this, my husband and I spoke to General Manager, Scott Cook. Like Sandy and Steve, Scott listened to our concerns. His response and demeanor showed genuine concern. He asked us what we wanted and we told him that we wanted it fixed but if that wasn't possible then we wanted to return the vehicle. He agreed and so our car went back for service and within a few days of getting it back another more serious issue arose. Scott gave us the contact we needed and we immediately began the process of having Ford Corporate reacquire the vehicle through the Lemon Law. Scott assured us that if Ford Corporate would not purchase the vehicle back from us, that Encinitas Ford would.
Within 10 days, we had a response from Ford Corporate; they would give us a full refund. We believe that this was resolved quickly because of Sandy, Scott and Steve. While the owner is responsible to make the initial contact with Ford Corporate, it is up to the dealership to respond to Ford Corp. once they have contacted the dealership for confirmation of ongoing issues.
Once we received our full refund, my husband and I knew we would be purchasing another Ford Explorer. The unfortunate chain of events that were plaguing our explorer was rare and a fluke.
The exemplary way in which Sandy, Steve and Scott represented Encinitas Ford left us no doubt that we would purchase our new vehicle from them. Scott introduced us to Andy Hutchinson, Sales and Leasing Representative. Scott gave him a quick synopsis and then Andy showed me some vehicles that fit our needs. Andy was knowledgeable and made me feel like his only customer. I found a new explorer that I liked and Scott set it up so that I could "borrow" the car for the evening so that when my husband came home from work he could also check it out.
My husband liked it and the very next morning we met with Andy and Scott. We knew the sticker price of the car and we made a reasonable offer. There was no back and forth. Scott immediately accepted our offer.
Kevin Burns the Finance Manager at Encinitas Ford handled the sales contract and financing. It was fast and painless. He was knowledgeable, friendly and a very pleasant to work with.
Kevin Sale is a Sales and Leasing Representative, the resident IT Guru, which we needed since our 2019 Ford Explorer came equipped with the new Apple Car Play, which has become our favorite feature of this car! Kevin explained how to use its many awesome features.
At the risk of repeating myself, I have never had the need to write a review on a car dealership because in 40 years of working with car dealerships nothing extraordinary has happened; UNTIL NOW.
ENCINITAS FORD did everything expected when something as unfortunate as this happens but at every turn, they have not only met but exceeded our expectations. The experience we had at ENCINITAS FORD has set them apart from any other car dealership we have worked with. This experience is what separates a "good" car dealership from a "GREAT" car dealership. read more