Victory Honda Michigan City — Attraction in Michigan City

My experience in July 2024 was very disappointing, which was a total surprise given the great interaction I’ve had for years at the Bosak Honda in Highland. But I had to come to this location because of a specific used 2018 CR-V Touring they had in stock. It was a rare find and I was so excited to buy it. The first red flag was the broken air conditioner when I took it for a test drive on a particularly hot day. Turns out, they never did any inspection on the vehicle. But I didn’t know that at the time and they promised to fix it. Ok, no problem. Later though, when I was talking with Rachel in financing, she kept pressuring me to buy the insurance for defective parts. Now, I understand you want to make an extra sale and possibly look out for my wellbeing. The problem though was that no matter how many times I kept saying I wasn’t interested, she wouldn’t drop it. And she kept elevating things until it became uncomfortably aggressive and downright indignant. She kept questioning my finances and even my judgment. Strange thing to do after I hand you a check for $16,000. Finally I had to raise my voice to make her stop. It was so bazaar. Who does that? Afterward, she assured me there were no more warranties on the vehicle and no outstanding recalls. Ok great, except both of those were not true. They ended up fixing the air conditioner under its WARRANTY 🤦‍♂️ and there is an open recall on the fuel pump. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ How do I know this? Because after my uncomfortable experience, I immediately took it over to the Highland Bosak Honda for an evaluation. They confirmed no inspection was done and discovered the open recall. The Highland staff was shocked after I told them what happened and strongly recommend I contact Chad who heads the location to discuss everything. So I did. I called, left him a voicemail and never heard back. I shouldn’t have been surprised though since communication there was poor. My salesperson, Jordan, never contacted me when she said she would regarding the A/C repair updates as well as my delivery status. When I confronted her about this, she claimed she did call me and even left a voicemail. Initially, I was like “oh okay” because maybe it was an accidental misdial. But then she added that she confirmed it was my voicemail because it said my name. Wait, what? That’s interesting considering my voicemail doesn’t ever say my name. It’s a generic message. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ Man, it takes a lot of guts to lie like that. In any case, the Highland Bosak did the inspection and even fixed a few additional things they found for no charge. This whole experience taught me something important though… a company is only as good as the people running it....

They are very polite and accommodating to get you to sign on the dotted line. Do not give them your business without first coming up with a strategy.

I went in to lease a vehicle because I was sick of buying used lemons. I had intended on purchasing the vehicle outright after the lease. However, 19 months into the lease I hit a pothole that damaged the rim. They didn't offer to reimburse me for the tire and they told me the rim didn't seem bad enough to fix because it held on the lift. But if it went flat again while I was driving it they would be more than happy to fix it then. Wow, thanks a lot. This prompted me to sit down and examine my lease agreement.

What I hadn't realized until entirely too late was how they managed to drive up the price of the car from $26,617.95 to $33,795.45. Allow me to break it down:

Sales Tax: $1,283.26 (This is AFTER the following charges are added by the dealership that I didn't even ask for.)

Protective Coating: $2,498 (I find this extra comical as there was a pin head sized chip that they wouldn't fix. They told me they would sell me touch up paint and I could do it myself. But "the coating" is protected and they'll pull out dents so long as they're not in the paint.)

Etch Security Guard: $359 (Anti theft, don't know how it works or what it even is.)

Product Bundle Package $1698 (I have no idea what this is but this, the coating and the anti theft are documented as "accessories". Sounds like they charged me for stuff that the car already came with and was probably already included in the MSRP. ALL DEALERSHIPS will charge you for things that the manufacturer has already paid for).

Maintenance: $682 (This is literally only for 6 oil changes and tire rotations. This is what they mean when they say, "maintenance is done for you in the lease!" you're getting charged double the price for a service that can be done easily on your own or any shop.)

Service Contract: $442 (I have no idea what this could possibly be. The computer paper to print out my lease?

There are a few other minor taxes and fees but these are the big ones. Just remember, it doesn't matter if you're dealing with a sketchy looking used car salesperson or one of the bright, smiling faces at Bosak Honda. They are there to take as much as they can from you.

My biggest mistake was saying I wanted to lease. At that point the negotiation becomes all about the monthly payment. This is how they tacked on an additional $7,177.51 without...

My husband and I went in to view (ended up buying) our Santa Fe. The vehicle wasn’t there so we discussed our needs and budget while waiting for the transport. Everyone was polite, but the process in general seemed longer than expected. We were clear on the overall amount of what we were wanting to spend and really liked the vehicle after the test drive. As I stay at home, my husband had to do the loan and titling. We walked in with a pre approval from our credit union, but were talked into working with their bank. We really expressed wanting to stay at a certain price and with certain payments. Never once were we explained that the price would sky rocket with everything added on (paint protection, safety theft, and warranties). We were told about the paint coating and safety theft being added to all of the dealerships cars and found the fine print on the website after the fact, but it is so deceptive to not include that on the sales price if they are adding it whether or not you agree or want it. We sat with finance and the wording of the warranties was stated as though the vehicle came with the basic warranty and we could do add ons. We went with the lowest option. We were there for hours. We had to get home to our children and live over 30 minutes away. I left with our vehicle and my husband stayed because despite all of the time, the (almost $1900) coating wasn’t finished yet. By the time we were home and actually reviewed the numbers we were sick to our stomachs over how a $25K vehicle suddenly became a $34K vehicle. We have submitted cancellation documents for the warranties. We would submit them for the mandatory add ons if it was optional. The last two vehicles I’ve purchased had very honest and up front pricing. We will need to stick to those dealers in the future. The people we worked with were kind, I just wish they would have been more detailed and honest with how the numbers we were working. We will refinance as soon as it’s possible and the refunds have been applied.

PS - We asked about additional benefits of buying from a dealer (something that is quite normal) and we were told to look at the reviews. We were told by anyone we spoke with to look at the great reviews. The last dealership I worked with was very transparent, had a good service team, and sent us home with a full tank of gas and 3 free oil changes. I will have to look at their reviews and make sure to...