California Classics — Local services in Toronto

!!!PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS!! WE WENT TO BUY A 2008 RAV 4 HE SAID I DONT SELL JUNK I SIAD OK IM NOT LOOKING FOR JUNK. I LIKED THE PRICE (TOYOTA RAV4) I SEEN IT ONLINE I ASKED ARE THERE ANY MINOR OR MAJOR ISSUES I NEED TO KNOW BEFORE I WASTE MY AND YOUR TIME HE SIAD NO SO I SAID IM COMING DOWN TO SEE IT BUT WILL BE ABOUT 10 MINUTES LATE HE CLOSES AT 5:00PM ON SATURDAY I TOLD HIM I WILL BE THERE AT 5:15PM (WILLIAM) SAY OK I WILL WAIT I SIAD OK THANKS, THEN CALLS ME AND SAY'S !!!!!!!!(HOW LONG YOU GOING TO BE YOUR KILLING ME)!!!!!!! I SIAD 10 MIN (CURRENT TIME WAS (4:40PM) I ARRIVED ABOUT 15MIN SOONER 5:00PM . HE CALLED ME (I WAS STARTING TO LEAVE AROUND 4:15PM BEFORE I GOT THERE AND HE SIAD THE FOLLOWING (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY (!!!!!!!!!!!!!ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE ME MY MONEY !!!!!) WE WERE IN SHOCK AND SIAD WELL YES WE ARE SERIOUS BUYERS IT TOOK US ALMOST 1HR TO DRIVE TO HIS LOCATION HE SIAD IVE BEEN HERE FOR OVER 4O YEARS I DONT SELL JUNK I SIAD OK, BEFORE I EVEN STARTED HEADING DOWN I ASKED HIM PLEASE ARE THERE ANY PROBLEMS OR DAMGES EVEN NOT UNDER SAFETY HE SAID NO THE PRICE IS BELOW MARKET VALUE AND I DON'T SELL JUNK THE SUV IS (MINT) WHEN I LOOKED AT IT I SAID WHY IS THERE WATER IN THE FRONT HEADLIGHT HE SAID NO THERES NO WATER I SAID LOOK, HE SAID OK I WILL FIX OR REPLACE I SAID OK BUT IF YOU CAN FIXITS BETTER OTHERWISE IF YOU REPLACE IT THE HEADLIGHTS WONT MATCH ONE IS VERY YELLOW AND THE OTHER CLEAR. HE SIAD I DONT CARE WHAT YOU DO AFTER!!! THEN AFTER I SIAD THERE IS A NOISE FROM THE ENGINE LIKE A WORN BELT tensioner OR PULLY I SAID IT MIGHT BE NORMAL I DONT KNOW IM JUST ASKING HE STARTED GETTING MAD AND SAID (I DONT WANT TO DEAL WITH YOU PEOPLE ANYMORE!!(PUNJABI SIKH,HINDU,MUSLIM) !(SOUTH ASIANS)!! AND SAID I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR PEOPLE) ( WE TOLD HIM YOU TOLD US!!( ITS THE THE BEST DEAL IN THE MARKET WITH PRICE ADJUSTMENT)!! WHEN WE CAME THERE RIGHT AWAY THERE WAS A PROBLEM STONE CHIP IN THE WINDSHIELD THT WAS NOT REPAIRED IT WILL CAUSE A CRACK AND REQUIRE A WINDSHIELD REPLACEMENT AND!!!,WATER IN THE FRONT HEADLIGHT AND PULLY OR BELT TENSIONER MAKING A NOISE. I TOLD HIM I HAVE EXPERIENCE IN BUYING AND SELLING VEHICLES AS A HOBBY FOR OVER 15 YEARS(ONLY MY FAMILY AND CLOSE FRIENDS, AND ALL VEHICLES I LIKE TO TAKE TO THE ORIGINAL MANUFACTURER FOR (certification,INSPECTION FROM THE DEALER)...

Not quite sure where the other 5-star ratings came from. I feel like they went to a different business than I did.

Met Gerry yesterday and right from the beginning he was quite "enthusiastic". He started reading from the Carfax report and tried to make it seem as if he knew the car cold, but it was obvious he hadn't reviewed the report and was just making stuff up off the top of his head. For example, we both saw on the report that there was a service done in Rochester, NY. He spun it as 'they got an oil change, you can tell that they are taking care of their car, even on vacation they changed their oil'. Problem was, the next page said it was a tire service. So most likely they had a flat and it was fixed. The report also mentioned a rear-end accident that he totally glossed over.

Not a great start to my experience, already I need to worry that he's not being straightforward.

As we started to talk about pricing, I asked him why the price he was asking ($21K) was so much higher than Kelley Blue Book ($13K). I told him, I honestly want to know-- what makes this car worth that much more. Well, this just set him off and he started to behave more erratically, ranting about how Blue Book is a joke, yelling about how amazing this car was, you'll never find a better car, this one is in perfect condition (it wasn't), how it would last me another 300,000 km and I could still sell it for $15,000 (impossible) and everyone else is selling garbage cars. In the middle of his rant he started walking back into his office, I tried to get the conversation back on track to something that a sane, logical person might have, but he continued his rant and eventually insulted me and walked away.

This was one of the worst experiences I have ever had with another human being. I don't really understand why someone has so much anger and bitterness that they can't maintain a civil and logical conversation with another person. Perhaps he's under a lot of stress, and I guess with COVID we are all facing issues that are affecting us emotionally. But if you are in the service industry, dealing with customers, you have to figure out some way to interact with customers without alienating or abusing them.

Hope that Gerry is able to get things turned around on the customer service front, but for now I cannot in good conscience recommend that anyone buy a...

If you want a quality used car that is ready to be driven off the lot at any moment, detailed from inside and out, serviced from top to bottom, and a trustworthy person to sell it to you, then California Classic Cars is the place to go.

I found this place on Auto Trader and after an inquiry on their Used Honda Ridgeline, Gerry immediately returned my message and right off the bat customer service is 5 out of 5. Great service is always a good start. But once I saw the truck I knew at that point that this place takes great pride in their business. Visually appealing, detailed carefully but most of all Gerry was stayed true to his words when he told me that this truck is close to perfect and is good to go on the road. I know this because I am familiar with Honda's components under the hood and its underbody. Lots of work has been done in order for this truck to be road worthy and safe for the buyer. From safety components to regular maintenance entities, I could not have asked for more on this one. Everything on my "used car checklist" is ticked.

All in all, excellent customer care and outstanding quality of product swayed me to give them my business. They can be trusted and I am sure all their vehicles are of superb quality. Gerry mentioned that he only has one or two of a specific make or model but he makes sure that those one or two are the best out there. I highly recommend this dealership and would do business with them again in the future. Note: this place is the fourth one that my wife and I...