CarWise Gurnee — Attraction in Gurnee

Updated Review – Lowered to 2 Stars

I originally gave this dealership 5 stars the same day we purchased our vehicle, as requested by our sales rep. However, after some time has passed and ongoing issues have surfaced, I feel compelled to update my review and lower my rating to better reflect our full experience.

At the Dealership: We were constantly reminded of how many cars they sell daily and how they offer the “lowest prices in the area,” almost as if to justify not negotiating and not really needing our business. However, we realized that the low prices were due to pre-installed LoJack devices, which they strongly push with an install and subscription fee of at least $1,000. The dealership WILL NOT remove the LoJack from the vehicles. It was very apparent that purchasing LoJack was non-negotiable.

We also asked for a vehicle detail, especially since this was a surprise gift for our father. The car had a strange odor coming through the vents and visible crumbs and candy stuck in the seats. Though they agreed to “clean it,” it was obvious that all they did was wipe down the seats with leather cleaner. We ended up paying out of pocket for a proper detailing service to make the car presentable at a different dealership.

After the Purchase: It’s now been two months, and I still haven’t received my plates (I live in Wisconsin, so I expected a slight delay). However, my bank has now threatened to default the loan due to lack of lien confirmation. I called the dealership and spoke to someone in finance who promised an update—but never followed up. I then contacted the DMV myself, and they confirmed the vehicle was never registered with a lienholder listed, despite the fact that I provided a cashier’s check directly from my bank and completed a lienholder form at the time of purchase.

Final Thoughts: My siblings and I have some insight into how dealerships should operate—my sister worked at a luxury dealership for a few years, and my brother is currently a mechanic at one—so we had higher expectations for accountability and quality of service.

This was a big purchase meant to be a special gift for our father, and while some of the issues may seem small individually, they added up to a frustrating experience overall.

The ONLY reason for 2 stars instead of 1 is because our sales rep, Doug, was a personable gentleman and his manager was willing to come speak to us about pricing and do some slight...

Absolutely Furious with Carwise – A Warning to All Potential Buyers

I am writing this review out of pure frustration and anger regarding my experience with Carwise. Since purchasing a vehicle from them in February, my truck has been in the shop every single month. Carwise claims to sell "reliable vehicles," but this is an outright lie. It's clear they don't perform proper service checks on their inventory; they merely snap photos and upload them to their website. My trade-in was handled the exact same way – no vehicle inspection whatsoever. To add insult to injury, Carwise sneaks hidden fees into their loans. Prospective buyers, be warned: demand they meticulously review every detail of your loan agreement with you on the spot, and insist on ample time to review it independently. They will attempt to rush you through the process. They added an $800 key replacement insurance to my loan that I explicitly did not request. Furthermore, the staff I encountered was abysmal. If Carl, the sales representative, is still employed there, be advised that he is unprofessional, curses in front of children, is inattentive, and a liar. Marcos, the sales manager, is equally untrustworthy; he made numerous promises to assist me but failed to deliver on a single one. Paul, the service manager, cannot be trusted either. They supposedly "fixed" my car by merely clearing error codes, causing further damage. My check engine light illuminated the moment I drove off the lot. They then prolonged the "repair" process for weeks, perhaps to ensure I missed the 15-day return policy. These vehicles are demonstrably unreliable, and Carwise should immediately remove their misleading "reliable vehicles" slogan from all their marketing. I've had my truck inspected by two independent mechanic shops, including a Nissan dealership (the make of my vehicle), and both have expressed dismay, recognizing that Carwise knowingly sold me a faulty vehicle. Be extremely wary of their Google ratings. They actively solicit 5-star reviews from customers while they are still at the dealership purchasing a car. I urge you to filter by the low-star ratings; you will find a consistent pattern of issues and a clear indication of how many other customers have been exploited by this dealership. My experience has been nothing short of a nightmare, and I implore you to take your...

Peter and Rena were amazing. But that’s where it ends.

We were over the moon when we initially bought our 2019 Jetta, but as soon as we brought it home, it became a financial nightmare.

Not only did they sell it to us without a working front assist, but after they did attempt to fix the issue for us, it still came back with errors. My husband returned a third time to try and have it remedied and they tried to tell him it wasn’t their problem.

It wasn’t until my husband stated that it was THEIR mechanics who made the mistake and that it’s their responsibility to fix it that they finally changed their tune.

A couple weeks go by and my husband decides that it is time to do an oil change on the car, as that was the only maintenance at the time he was aware of they had not done.

When he took it to our local shop, we discovered that CarWise failed to do a thorough inspection and neglected to do more than just normal maintenance. The entire camshaft position sensor was out of whack, and the oil pan sensor was in shambles. The transmission fluid hadn’t been replaced either. They showed us and alerted us of these issues immediately.

We told the shop not to touch those issues, as we knew that CarWise had the 3 month 3000 miles warranty, and camshaft and transmission absolutely falls under that.

They outright refused to honor the warranty. They claim “it’s the shop’s fault” and that “it didn’t look like this when they gave it to us”, which is absolutely untrue, as this was something we witnessed ourself.

So don’t come here and buy from them unless you’re prepared to buy a car and not take it to a shop for 3 months and be given the run around, because they will use the cop out that other shops are to blame to get out of accountability. Their mechanics are clearly neglecting to work on these cars with care if they are “fixing” problems and then they still come back with issues and not doing ENTIRE inspections.

We are currently preparing all of our files with our attorney on how to proceed as well as contacting the Better Business Bureau for this atrocious behavior. Never have I come across a dealership as shady and unwilling to own up to their mistakes as this one, and between the both of us, we’ve owned many cars.

It certainly was not how we wished to spend the week of our honeymoon, or the expenses and distress coming...