4 stars is pretty good for me for a dealership. No dealer has earned 5 stars from me, yet. Should…read morebe 3 to 3.5 stars, but I will round up.
Last year, I bought a used truck at Grieco. Experience was OK at best. If you want a kiss-ass experience and be wined and dined, you need to go elsewhere. Nothing bad happened, but nothing that blew my skirt up either. It wasn't a fun experience. It was more stressful than it should have been. More stressful than the last few cars I have purchased. Very minimalist dealership. The wobbly round tables (no desks or offices for the salesmen apparently) did not give a great first impression. Sad to say, a lot of old school traditions still exist. I kinda felt like I was in a time machine going back to 1989. If you are around 50 or older, you will know what I mean.
We shook on a price, providing the wife liked the truck. Contract comes out. It is $574 more than our agreed upon price. They added Doc fee $375 and Paint/fabric protection $199. I said I wasn't paying those charges. Sales manager came over and asked if truck was reduced by the $574, would I buy it. I said yes. Shook on that. Deal done (or so I thought)!!
My wife couldn't be there to look at the truck with me the first night. I went alone to take a look. I liked it, I asked to take the truck home to show her, as she has limited mobility, they declined, unless I left a deposit. Mind you, have had countless dealers over the years let me take home much more expensive, brand new cars, with no more than a photocopy of my license.
We went down 2 days later, together, to look at it, and buy it, if she liked it enough. I requested the ugly ass plastic chrome wheel covers be removed before I arrived, so I could inspect the factory Aluminum rims. The covers were not removed when I arrived. I asked the salesman why. He mentioned the lug nuts need to be removed and it was a lot of effort. Now if lug nuts are a problem with their service dept, then there is a bigger problem!! I said I would return once they were removed, and he should call me when it was done. Reluctantly, he got them removed while I was there. Still kinda wondering why there was any issue with that simple request. Once the covers were removed, the wheels looked acceptable. Not great, but good enough.
OK got wife's approval. I agreed to dealer financing, even though they were 2 points higher than my bank, but that's OK, I am going to refinance it. Looked closer at the finance paperwork. They added $65 just to open an account with the bank! I said I wasn't paying that either. He resisted. I said fine, we said we would be back after we go to our bank to get financing, as I am not paying any bank to open an account! They wrote me an IOU for the $65 because I complained. (Took about 4 weeks, and 3 phone calls, several emails, but the $65 refund did show up). So I got that additional fee waived.
They did contact my insurance and registry and did all the registry stuff. Then again most dealers do that.
Nutshell: Very minimalist dealership. Negative old-school traditions still persist, unfortunately. They stood by their word for the most part. If you are an educated consumer, know your numbers, and stand your ground, you should be fine. I never got the impression I was being 'screwed'. They were fair. No one went above and beyond, that is for sure! No real complaints. Everyone was nice enough. Average experience.
Not the most pleasant car buying experience I have had, certainly not the worst! Average at best.
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Online chat - significant fail.
It is an offsite service. They are not in the building and are not employed by the dealership. This service is worse than useless. It is infuriating. EVERY answer they give is to call the dealership!
Why have it. they can answer NOTHING!
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Went back for 3 service visits in the last year:
1) Truck was missing a horn upon purchase! Dealer installed a new horn for free. Would not pass inspection without it.
2) Needed a starting battery. They had a reasonable price, coupon for free installation. Was done quickly at a reasonable price
3) Just had an oil change a week ago. No drama. Made the appointment online, they called to confirm. Arrived early, they took the car early. Completed the work drama free. Since it was my first LOF, they did it for free as well. I only went there because the LOF was free, at about $50, was a bit more that I am willing to spend on that type of easy service that I can DIY. Without a service coupon for an oil change, I won't be back.
In a year, my option has stayed about the same. They are a run of the mill dealership. Old school (shady, but not illegal or misleading. To be fair, they did disclose everything) sales practices.
The 2 very minor services I had went off without a hitch. Relatively high oil change price will prevent me from going back for routine service, however. No experience with other, more complicated/expensive repairs.