I'm not sure there are words to describe how incredibly happy I am with going to Merchants. So lets start at the beginning. I first worked with Mark in December, I had a difficult year going through a divorce and being in bad housing and was trying to make a bounce back from it all Mark listened, showed me vehicles that would work for my three daughters and I and than ran my finances. Mark was so very kind, patient and such a great listener and a calm that I had NEVER experienced at any dealership, ever. At that time I was unable to come up with a deposit because I was very ill over the summer and lost three months of income, so I had just started a new job and it wasn't going to work timing or funding wise just yet. He helped me by advising different banks that could help and different cards that could help boost my credit, and withing a couple more months I had saved the deposit he advised and was ready to purchase! The second time around I worked with Joe. I loved his happy outgoing and charismatic outlook and attitude immediately! I told him what I did for work and that I was a single parent of three girls and that I was working hard to get on my feet from the prior years chaos. I told him what I was looking for in a vehicle and not only was he very thorough and patient I could tell and feel he was looking out for me and my girls. We found the most perfect Jeep ever and it had everything I wanted! We ran finances and did the deposit and Joe and his team were able to get me into my Jeep and drive it away in the same day! Joe also gave me amazing banking, saving and credit building advice, he truly went above and beyond a typical sales person transaction! I also worked with Scott who I just can't say enough positive and good things about. I have owned two cars before (from dealerships I should say), both experiences were terrible and when trying to understand extended warranties and financing I never really understood it- I just kind of smiled and nodded and signed off. Scott broke it all down, he explained all of it, and gave me the best advice ever regarding work and warranties and also how to help myself build a better future by saving, banking, building credit and making a come back from my past years experiences. He immediately brings a calm and comfort and also sunshine to every room he walks in- this dealership hit the jackpot finding him and all the others I worked with! I have owned the Jeep for just over a month and I still love it as much as when I first saw it. The pride, happiness, independence, happiness and connection to an AMAZING dealership full of not just sales and finance people- but FAMILY is incomparable. I will forever recommend Merchants Auto to all those I know and love. Thank you for restoring my trust and happiness into car dealerships- you set the bar very high and over achieve time and time again. Thank you all for all you do! My family and I will be back buying through you for many years to come :) read more

I bought a car for merchants Auto several years ago my experience buying the vehicle was honestly not amazing but this review is about their finance company right direction. Honestly if I could give zero Stars I would! Very rude and unprofessional. I've had several incidences over the years with this company. I've had a car loan with them since 2017 and have never missed a payment or had a payment late. The two most recent awful experiences I had with them are what finally pushed me to write this review. As with everyone everywhere due to covid I ran into some financial hardships. Given that I had such a great payment history I called them in the hopes that I would be able to make a slightly smaller payment for one week and then make it up with the next when I would have a real paycheck again. The woman I spoke to was extremely short and rude with me only saying "no, you need to make your payments on time in full, no exceptions" and immediately hung up on me. My most recent issue has been going on for the past 2 weeks. I started getting phone calls from them saying that my bank returned insufficient funds and then I needed to fix the issue ASAP. I called five times spoke to a live person twice and was told each time that the payment was corrected and I was all set. Then I would continue to get rude and threatening voicemails. Finally yesterday on the 29th I was able to speak to someone who claimed to be a supervisor, and if that's true no wonder the staff are so awful. He told me that my payment had been bounced back from the bank on September 27th as insufficient funds. Now in that regard there's an issue with my bank which I took up with them and the issue was corrected immediately however as far as right direction is concerned his explanation cannot possibly be true if I began receiving calls 2 weeks before the payment was supposedly returned as insufficient. I expressed that I was very frustrated with the fact that I had called so many times to try to correct the issue and that in the meantime I just kept getting voicemails essentially telling me that this is all my fault and that if I don't return their calls immediately they're going to take action against me. Again despite the fact that I had called every other day for two weeks. At one point the " supervisor" said to me "what is even the issue here?" As if it wasn't his company calling me to tell me that my payment wasn't going through. Awful awful service terrible employees and horrid management. If you're going to buy a car from merchants do not finance through them because this is their company. Although at this point with all my combined bad experiences with them overall I wouldn't recommend buying a car from them to anybody read more

Great experience thanks to the warm and charming Richard R. and manager Samir. According to the BB value, Merchant's Auto offered a fair price for the clean used 2017, Subaru Crosstrek Limited (with moon roof and leather seat options) that I financed. Merchants offered a good APR finance rate by a local credit union. They offered a fair price on my trade-in, too. CR members have access to a car price estimator for the Fair value price range on used cars. The estimator is run by BB, which helps the dealer determine the fair price. Price is determined by Year, Model, Trim Level, Options, and Mileage. The Used Car Buying Experience: It seems not even the dealer is aware of the actual condition of the car not to speak of whether or not any given vehicle was properly maintained. You are taking a risk with any used car. You take a bigger risk when you don't pay for a third party mechanic (that you must find and trust) to inspect the car. All that said, as is the American tradition, buyers MUST do their homework and patiently figure out a way to negotiate the inflated first offers by the dealer. As with most dealerships, they will use creative sales strategies to get you to buy or to buy at their preferred price. Generally I see car sales professionals, use a kind of hot-cold/open-shut technique, where the dealer gives you the warm and fuzzies intitially and then during negotiation - we ain't friends no mo! At Merchant's, Richard's personal style was more subtle with me and careful. There was some bait and switch. I called before I came in to ask what was in inventory for SUVs. The sales woman got me to come in by offering a better price on a specific model than what was actually offered when I sat down to negotiate. I went with recommendations NOT to purchase any dealership extra sales offers. Gap Insurance is tempting for me, as I put on 30-40k miles per year. But, No. In my scenario, it is better to pay off the car before it reaches a negative value. You are also placing trust upon the sales people to truthfully disclose the terms of the Gap Insurance, because you need to be certain you can actually use it when you expect to use it. Also, will not utilize the free cleaning or free inspections, because I have not been given recommendations by multiple sources to trust these freebies. All in all, a very positive experience at Merchants Bank, because I had done my research and had a basic understanding of the dealer value for the used cars that I wanted. Also, Richard R, was interesting and charming, so long as we were not in the midst or negotiating or arguing. read more

From beginning to end I could not be happier with my experience with Merchants Auto. My lease was ending and during the term of my lease had fallen on some hard times & had gone over my mileage limit by more than just a couple miles so I knew I was bringing in a project for them. My first encounter was with Semir in the internet customer service department- he was very personable and made me feel at ease with even just setting up my appointment to come in! I worked with Richard Roy once I arrived (Semir came to say hello too!) we went over my dream car but what would actually be more realistic for my situation. He worked hard to find me a great deal & a car I would be happy with. While he worked he even offered me some of the Chinese food they had all ordered for lunch which was very thoughtful since I was there around lunchtime! He also offered me something to drink and they had a popcorn machine. Just when we thought we had reached a dead end and I was going to go back to Honda with my tail between my legs and eat my negative equity into another loan finance manager Semir swooped in & educated me on what that actually meant & would mean for the future of my car buying power. Semir delivered a Hail Mary with a beautiful 2018 low miles Hyuandi Tucson with a payment I could afford! Richard and I headed out on a quick test drive and I didn't even have to think twice. Richard was personable and made me feel comfortable throughout our time together. He treated me more as a friend then a customer. Next up was the paperwork which generally you end up in a stuffy office with some guy who really could care less- my experience with Scott was the exact opposite. One again I felt super comfortable with everything I was signing and Scott ensured I understood everything. Scott like Richard felt more like a friend then someone who just wanted the t's crossed and i's dotted. Last up was making my service department appointment (the first one is free) and while there was a wait Richard pulled some strings and got us in and out. There are also so many other perks that Merchants offers. When you walk away from a dealership with a good payment, an awesome car, and a hug from your sales person you know you chose the right place! read more

My husband and I thought we would stop in at Merchants auto because we had heard their deals advertised on the radio and wanted to see exactly what they were offering. We knew we wanted to at least look at replacing my husband`s car for a truck but we had no intention of buying a truck on this particular day, we were still paying off his car loan. We wondered around the lot looking at different trucks and vehicles and even though there were sales reps around noone bothered us which was very refreshing. We decided to approach one of the sales reps Jeffrey Brown and ask about their deals we especially wanted to know about financing and existing loan pay offs we had heard so much about from Merchants advertisements. Jeffrey explained everything to us and then proceeded to show us some trucks my husband might be interested in. We found a GMC Sierra and drove it around, as a matter of fact we drove quite a few cars and jeeps (that's what I was interested in). Jeffrey explained to us we could not only leave with a truck today but it was possible for me to get my jeep. I won't lie the finance process can be long and stressful but we have to say Jeffrey was extremely calming and let us know we could walk away if there was anything we did not like or felt hesitant about. I knew my husband needed a truck and I was willing to walk away from the jeep until I felt completely comfortable. By the end of the day Jeffrey offered us a deal we couldn't refuse my husband and I left Merchants with a truck for my him and a jeep for me. The entire staff at Merchants starting with Jeffrey to the financing of the vehicles couldn't have been any nicer or more helpful to us. We never at any time felt pressured into buying either of the vehicles, but we are so excited we did. Thank you Jeffrey Brown for taking such good care of us, you are a credit to Merchants Auto and everything a car salesman ought to be. Thank you to everyone at Merchants that gave us a great car buying experience, we wouldn't go anywhere else! read more

The best experience of car shopping my gut feeling said to go to Merchants for a while but before I wanted to make sure I made enough money to show that I can pay for the car when I first got there we were created by Gene he was very friendly professional and not pushy he asked what we were looking for and what was our price range he did the application I had what I needed just needed a few more things gave it to the manager and within 30 minutes I was approved I was in shock and very happy he said I'm going to go get the car that fits in your budget let's see if you like it so as he pulled out of the 2017 White Hyundai Accent my eyes lit up because that was the first car I looked on the website and told my husband I wish I could afford this one it was a manager special we test drove it are three-year-old is very excited as we were test driving it I told my husband hey at least I know how much gas is in it because the car I'm driving now I don't know all the time. We got back to the dealership they put the numbers together Jean said what would you say if I told you you could drive this car for $8 a day I was like what okay and then he said how about 123 every two weeks awesome I signed all the paperwork and I met with Scott start explain the gap program and which one would be best for my vehicle so now my car payment is 142 every two weeks which is not bad cheaper than I thought. they gave me the paperwork for my car insurance and I sent it to my car insurance so they could send the binder I am so happy. I feel and appreciate that all my needs were met and that I have a safer vehicle for my family and I will always shop at Merchants Auto and nowhere else they are the best read more

I previously had wrote an awful review on here but I have deleted it, I even triple checked to make sure it is gone. The service my husband and I received this weekend from Marcus, GM was a complete turnaround and has changed our view of this dealership. He not only got us out of the car we had originally purchased that was beyond repair, but put us in our first choice of vehicles and moved every mountain he could to make sure we were happy. He even stayed late after he was supposed to leave to have everything done. Also have to add that every salesperson we encountered in both days we were there were courteous and attentive and it's a shame we didn't work with one of them the first time around. We left happy, relieved and guilty as well for saying what we have said and regret not meeting with Marcus sooner. As with every dealership there are limitations on what they can do to help a customer so of course not everyone will be happy with their outcome but in our case they broke a lot of these limitations to make things right. My husband and I are greatful for everything that was done for us and will continue to be customers here in the future. I expected to be asked to remove my review but that never came about however in return for all of Marcus's hard work in getting us into a new car it is more than fair that I acknowledge this. We could tell that he and the rest of the employees working over the weekend were genuinely nice people, and I think our opinion of the dealership could've been better prior had we met these individuals before. Thank you Merchants for restoring our faith in your business and for relieving some of our stress as well. I love my new car! read more

I am not one to ever write reviews for ANYTHING... This is my second review i have ever taken the time to write. The first time was Merchants Auto last year praising them for the incomparable customer service and ability to get you into a car you want regardless of credit situation! Peter Phaneuf helped me out this past weekend and I am here to tell you, if you want to see yourself in a car you think is out of your league talk to Pete before throwing in the towel. I have bad credit and negative equity from the car i bought at Merchants last year thinking there is no way I will drive away in anything, let alone something I really want. WRONG. It took upwards of 4 hours due to my situation but, we closed the deal and I could not be more pleased with the outcome! The entire process was seamless all the departments at Merchants work together and even though i was there well beyond closing time, not one person seemed annoyed or rushed me they were all just as pleasant as when I had first got there that day. IGNORE all the negative reviews on here, as the saying goes you can't win them all and it seems bitterness is fueling those posts for what ever reason. If you are looking for something new regardless if you think you can or not, GO SEE PETE and all the Merchants Auto crew they will do everything in their power to get you in a car! THANKS AGAIN MERCHANTS not once but two times in 14 months I am rolling off the lot with nothing but good things to say and a bad ass Jeep to test in the Nor' Eastern tomorrow just in time! read more

Our family stopped in to Merchants to look at at least one vehicle but probably two. Upon arrival at the dealership we were excited with the massive selection. We had already done the internet research and knew what we were looking for. We looked through the multiple options for the models we wanted. My wife and I made our decision, then I was elected to find a salesman. I was greeted outside the entrance to the sales office by Richard Roy. My initial impression was good. We have tried other larger dealerships and felt pressured and unvalued in our opinion of choices. This was definitely not the case at Merchants. Richard asked me if we had time to look and further asked us if we had chosen vehicles we would like to pursue. We first joined my party, then after greeting everyone Richard brought us the vehicles we were interested at. We took the new vehicles for a test drive while they assessed our trade in. The finance process from start to finish was good and we felt no pressure and genuinely felt they wanted to sell us a our vehicles in our budget. For just showing up at the dealership and purchasing two vehicles we were out of there at a very acceptable timeframe. We were happy to drive our new vehicles home that day. I told Richard that I would recommend Merchants to people I know, and I will. We did travel about two hours to get to Merchants but it was well worth it. We like to support local businesses, especially closer to home, but when you can travel two hours and save THOUSANDS of dollars...... read more

I visited Merchants Auto last Fri. afternoon.... I was welcomed as soon as I walked through the door by smiling faces eager to help. The showroom was buzzing and they had plenty of salespeople on the floor to assist. I worked with Lisa (great person) who was very attentive to my questions and concerns about the type of vehicle I was in search for with-in my budget....after looking over their extensive inventory I narrowed my choices to 5 vehicles. Lisa had no problem sitting patently with me going over all my inquires on each auto. Once I was done she had each vehicle driven up to the front door all warmed up on a bitterly cold / windy afternoon for me to test drive. After my test drives that's when Scott came into the process and carefully went over all the details of what was reasonable and what to expect working with my budget. I left with a great 2014 Jeep and a payment I was happy with....Lisa & Scott made for a great team and fantastic buying experience. Later that evening I found out it was a record breaking Fri. for sales at Merchants but I never felt like I was being neglected or left hanging even with all the customers visiting that day. 5 stars...Nothing shines like gold as a satisfied customer. I will make Merchants Auto my 1st. stop going forward for all my automobile needs! read more

As a first-time car buyer, Merchants really helped me all along the way. They found me a great loan and I was able to leave the same day with my 2015 Ford Focus. I was treated with respect throughout the entire experience, which I definitely appreciated especially considering that I am only 19. I've heard stories of dealers not treating younger customers with dignity and respect, but was happy to find that Merchants was not the case! My only hang-up regarding the experience is that the car I ended up getting from Merchants was not very clean. It appeared clean on the surface, minus two stains on the driver's seat, but when I attempted to get the stains out I actually found that the entire seat was several shades dirtier than the original stains, and then had to scrub down the seats entirely to get the seats to be the same color again. I still have some spots I need to work on getting out. In addition, less than 2 days after bringing my car home I decided to wipe down the interior, as I like to keep my car very clean, and I had to use several wipes and they all came up dark brown with dirt. I know for a fact I did not cause that much dirt in only two days. Overall it was a great experience, I just wish that the car had been detailed and cleaned better. read more

for some reason my post was taken down and all I want to do is make others aware of the accounting errors that this company clearly has...... and the fact I have sent proof of the errors and nothing is being done about it............I have had my car for a year, I love my car no issues but the buy here pay here I would not recommend to anyone. One they don't note the accounts right and the follow up is not done. After paying my account 100% CURRENT till march 8th I received a call stating I owed $155.00 in late fees. which when I called and asked my balance I paid $70.00 over to make sure I was paid ahead. The on the 22 of Feb I all of a sudden have late fees when I paid my account current/ahead on the 18th. I was not even notified of the late fees till march 5th, why wouldn't they have called on the 22nd of feb when the late fees happen to appear? when these questions were asked I was told they did call, after calling Verizon and verifying that no call was made to my phone from their number they are refusing to remove the fees. I will not pay late fees on an account that was current as of the 18th and paid ahead till march 8th....I will make sure none of my friends shop here now...... I know where I will not be going again after this experience....... read more

I just purchased a used car in December 2013. The sales person listen to me as to what I needed and could afford. I bought the first car he drove down to show me.. It was exactly what I needed. I was impressed on how he didn't try to up sell me into a car that was above my budget , as so many other dealerships have done in the past. I have gone to at least 4 other dealer ships. I explained to Steve Dudley , I don't have time to waste. Please, this is what I want, this is what I can afford. Even though I was approved for a 500.00 a month Payment he brought me down a car that was 280.00 a month . this gave me room to be able to get the extended warrantee with out breaking the Bank !! Now the thing that really impressed me too....Today February 11, 2014, I had issues with my power steering. I know it was a used car and expected things may happen. The service guys took it in right away. even though it was Past the 30 day regular warrantee...Merchants did the right thing and took care of the car. I truly recommend going to Merchants Auto for a used or new car. from the sales floor to service dept. they have great customer service. If you go there,,,ask for STEVE DUDLEY !! please let him know Kathy M. Sent Ya !! read more

First, some background information. Whenever I'm in the market for a new or used vehicle I take my time and visit many dealerships for the best bargain. I get easily tired and grumpy with high pressure sales people trying to sell me over priced vehicles. Before I make a decision to purchase, I compare offers properly (apples to apples) and do the math. It typically takes me a month or more before I find what I'm looking for. My experience at Merchants Auto was very good to excellent. They have a great selection of used vehicles. After visiting many dealerships, I found a comparable 2020 Dodge RAM truck for the best price, and surprisingly Merchants offered lower financing than my credit union. In addition, I was given a better trade-in deal for my vehicle than other dealerships. The sales person that worked with me was Richard Roy. He and everyone in the office were easy to deal with. I liked how the business office didn't apply high pressure techniques to get an extended warranty or GAP insurance like some dealerships. To my surprise, the business office was able to beat the financing rate offered by my credit union. Overall a very good experience with zero complaints. I highly recommend Merchants. read more

My family has purchased all of our cars at Merchants for the past decade and every experience has been a positive one. This latest one however, with Richard Roy was WAY above and beyond what we expected. I think most people walk into a dealership a little stressed and on edge, as was the case for us this time. We were "exploring" options to try to get out of a vehicle we still owed a fair amount of money on. Never did we expect that we would be driving off the lot with an upgraded vehicle and a payment $100 less than we had been paying. Rich worked tirelessly to make this work for us and also to get the best deal possible. Admittedly, my wife and I got exhausted with the process but Rich would not give up. Extremely personable, not at all pushy and took a genuine interest in our wants and needs for a vehicle. If that wasn't enough, after the car was purchased, Rich spent another hour shopping insurance companies to try and lower our rates. Who does that?! Rich Roy apparently! Highly recommend Merchants and their staff, especially Rich! Thank you so much! - The Ladd Family read more