Complaint Review: Autobarn VW of Countryside - Countryside Illinois

I went in to test drive a used 2012 VW GTI at this dealership and was almost suckered into buying a lemon. I typically do not waste my time with reviews but my experience at this dealership was so overwhelmingly sour and ultimately disappointing that I feel compelled to balance these reviews with some form of a reality check for dealers and buyers alike.

When I was first presented with the car, I was initially impressed by its overall condition, but upon just slightly deeper inspection, there were some tell tale signs that this "CPO" car was not taken care of when received at the dealership a month and a half ago. It turns out that the car was not taken care of mechanically by its previous owner either, but more on that later. First, the keyless entry feature was malfunctioning and would not operate consistently. Next, when I opened the center compartment, there was plastic garbage buried in one of the openings, and what clearly appeared to be marijuana stems. Behind the rear armrest, there was an unidentified wet residue covering the cutout where the arm rest folds into. One of the rear directional air conditioning knobs was missing, and the rims had strange dings on them that went beyond normal wear and tear.

All of these things put together paint a picture of a young or reckless driver, but even more importantly paints a picture of a dealership that has a low standard of service. If you have a car in your lot for a month a half, you'd think it would get cleaned and detailed before presented to a customer. After examining the car further and going back to the salesman's office to discuss it more in detail, I made a comment about how the car would have to be detailed and he had the gall to tell me that it WAS detailed, it just needed a wash. What type of dealership/detail shop misses marijuana stems in the center console? Either one that doesn't know what they look like or doesn't have their 112 point inspection Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles (wish I could bold this) cleaned and serviced.

I leave the dealership to check out another car (which ends up being a waste of time) and decide that despite the poor presentation, the GTI was still in relatively good shape and at a competitive price. I return to the dealership to give them an offer and I am passed to a new salesman (my initial point of contact was working with another customer). We begin the negotiation process and it's the typical dance done at every dealership since the beginning of time and probably will be done from now until the end of days, but I quite literally have to fight tooth and nail to take the price down $200. And you must take into account that I wasn't exactly asking for an arm and a leg here, just for a well reasoned deal. An "I Get This is a Business, But Come On, Man" deal. Granted, the GTI was already priced "below KBB value", but we have to accept that that price is not the entire picture - dealers are using KBB values to price under what the car is technically worth and using that as a point of resistance in negotiations, but if a customer comes in with a KBB trade-in value for their car, they get nickel and dimed by the dealer for every minor defect in their car and wind up with less than what it's worth. Buy low, sell high, that's mama's rule.

At this point, I concede to the fact that I'm a young buyer and that they probably think that they can out-marathon me in the negotiation process, so I agree to have them see if they can beat my financing, in my mind ready to accept the deal if they can take it down even just half a percentage point. "This will make up for not being able to come down on the price," I tell myself. Nope. Half an hour later. the second salesman comes in and tells me, "We can't even come close to your interest rate, so you should just go to the bank and get the check so we can do the deal." I sat there staring into space, one part paralyzed and another part on the verge of hysteria, which is what I imagine it must feel like to be stung by a box jellyfish, incredulous that he would come back, sit down, offer me a worse interest rate, and tell me to finish the deal. "Wait, explain to me how that gets us anywhere better than where we were before," I respond. He leaves to go "see what he can do" and returns with the $19.99 Autobarn package for a couple oil changes, unlimited 30-minutes away from home car washes, and a partridge in a pear tree. Needless to say, my father and I walked out, and we waited for the typical follow-up call to see if it would go anywhere.

Lo and behold, I get the follow-up call the next morning, this time from a manager. I voice some of my issues to him, and he is calm and manager-like, and starts doing the "this is what I'm into the car for" bit. He tells me they bought the car at ABOVE KBB's trade-in value - there is an Emoji for the face I am making right now, see if you can find it - and gives me some itemized thing over the phone for some mystery servicing and labor costs. Despite this, his boss is willing to take a loss - did you find that Emoji yet? - on the car and brings the price down another $200 and throws in the Autobarn package for good measure. After some phone tag I accept the deal so long as the issues I mentioned would be taken care of, and I return to the dealership to get the paperwork out of the way so I can take delivery of the car the next day.

My father and I arrive at the dealer and begin the paperwork with Salesman 3, or maybe 4 if we count the manager. He takes down information that I gave Salesman 1 yesterday, including my social, at which point I stop and make a point to ask that he not run my credit again. He assures me that they will not be running my credit, but I find out later that my score took yet another hit as a result of setting up a back-up financing agreement. Ding, 3 points. We finish up with Salesman 3, who is by all accounts very pleasant, welcoming and clearly has the gift of gab, and are seated in the waiting area until the finance guy finishes up with another customer. At this point, I have the GTI key in hand, and am sending Snapchat messages to friends, receiving congratulations, helping myself to the snack bar, and making small talk with my dad. This all gets very boring after 45 minutes, and by the time finance guy is ready for us, I am mentally out the door.

I don't know if you've ever been to a Volkswagen dealership, but the entire showroom is white -floors, walls, the show cars, with glass offices. Salesman 1 told me that they do this because you can see the lines of the car better. It's how I imagine an Apple mental facility would be built. When I stepped into the finance room, it all turned gray. If it was a Crayola crayon, I would name my interaction with the finance manager Dismal Gray. Strangely, this was the feeling that left with me when we walked out with my new license plates, and not the new-used car feeling. Unless of course this is the new-used car feeling, in which case I'm doomed to a life of second guessing myself. Up to that moment I had been trying my best to rationalize every step of the process, but something was off. I could feel it.

When I got home, I feverishly reviewed the copies of the documents I signed, and noticed that I had not been given anything with regards to the CPO 2 year/24,000 mile warranty. This makes me unreasonably nervous. I return to the online auto listing website where I first found the car and see that it's still listed for sale. Reading through the description, I confirm that it is indeed a CPO vehicle, but then I notice two more strange things: 1) There is a disclosure at the bottom stating that sometimes the dealership makes mistakes in the listings 2) The miles posted on the listing are 2,000+ less than what I had printed on the odometer check. This all begins to worry me so I go to the Countryside's website and check their official listing. The car is very clearly advertised in bold writing "Certified blah blah blah" with a WorldAuto badge on the right hand side of the screen. This gives me a bit more peace of mind but I need further assurance, and at this time it's too late to call the dealership, so I check the CarFax again which almost always displays that the car is being offered as a CPO. Can you guess what I find?

No, the car is not marked as being offered as a CPO, but WORSE. At the bottom of the service history, I notice something that wasn't there when I first looked at it earlier in the day. Thankfully, I am a serial tabber and had an old tab open in my browser with the CarFax from earlier that morning, so I compare the two. Two new services appear on the 9/12 date: "Engine removed to complete repair" and "Transmission removed to complete repair". Uhhh......what? I told the manager to have the car serviced for the malfunctioning door handle and the air conditioning knob. Are either of those under the engine and transmission? I do some extensive Googling and searching through GTI forums to look for reasons why those components would need to be removed and find nothing. It is 11:30 p.m. and I fall into a feverish sleep. I wake up with my laptop still open on the side of the bed.

The next morning, I go to my credit union to pick up the check for the full amount of the car. Once we leave I call Salesman 1 to see if the car is ready to be picked up, and ask for a copy of the CPO warranty details. He assures me that it is indeed a CPO car, and that he will get back to me when the car is ready. Phew, that's a relief. It's about 20 minutes until he calls me back and he tells me that the car will be ready in 2-3 hours. This doesn't make sense to me. The car was put in service yesterday for what I thought to be minor repairs. I'm aware of the fact that I'm not your only customer but I am a new customer trying to pick up the car in the morning, check in hand, as was part of the agreement with the manager I spoke with over the phone. Then I remember the odd servicing that I noticed on the CarFax and ask Salesman 1 if he can check on what these repairs are. He tells me it could be major or it could be something as little as fixing something small that was difficult to reach. He will check on it and let me know.

12:30 rolls around and I get a text message. I know I am a millennial and this is how my generation communicates, but have the decency and/or courage to call and tell me that the ENGINE HAD TO BE REPLACED. Not only was the engine replaced, it was a known issue when they accepted delivery of the car a month an a half ago. The Dismal Grey crayon feeling snaps and is replaced by Infuriated Red. I call Salesman 1 immediately and give him an earful and what do I get? A handful of more salesman language. I ask him why it just so happened that the repair was listed on CarFax between the time I went into the dealership yesterday to sign for the papers and when I got home. He tells me that there is a delay between when the repair is completed and when it is posted on the CarFax report. There are only two scenarios here:

A) What he is telling me is true, and it's just by supreme roll of the dice, indifferent universe coincidence that the engine repair was posted on the CarFax.

B) What he is telling me is false, and the information was intentionally withheld either by the dealer TO CarFax or by the dealer ON CarFax.

Regardless of what you want to believe, here is the icing on the BS cake: not one salesman knew. Salesman 1, 2, 3 did not know and therefor could not possibly think to have mentioned this throughout the sales process. Salesman 1, who I had gone through repairs on the CarFax with on day one, who would not budge on price due to the fact that this car is certified with a 112 point inspection, did not know. The manager I spoke with on the phone did not know. This is all according to Manager 2, who I am now on the phone with, who apparently is the only one who knew about the engine being replaced. So I ask him, "What you're essentially telling me is I worked with multiple salesmen who had no idea about the car they were selling." "Yes, that's correct." "How do you guys operate?" "We operate just fine here."

Long story short, I go in to cancel the deal. I apologize for being rude on the phone, which I shouldn't have been. Manager 2 asks me what about having a new engine makes me not want to do the deal. I tell him, "Just on principle." There are some important lessons here that I hope any serious car buyers will be able to fish out of this lengthy tirade. Demand information on any repairs done one the car and get it in writing. Have the car independently inspected by a 3rd party mechanic. Always CHECK the CarFax, but do not always TRUST the CarFax, as there is some doubt as to whether this service can be manipulated by dealerships. Most of all, be aware of red flags at any dealership you step into and trust your instincts. If the car is not presentable when you see it, walk out and don't go back. If they make any indication that they are not willing to work with you, or are unfriendly, it's not the right car for you.

I would not recommend this dealership to anyone unless they worked there, because if these salesmen were honest, according to them they'd still buy the car. It's got a brand new engine!