Kelley Buick GMC, INC. — Local services in Bartow

UPDATE 4-25-2025 I was contacted by the sales manager a month after my review. He told me that the owner saw it, was not happy about it & wanted to take the truck back & issue a full refund.

We had a civil, polite conversation & he offered to do whatever necessary to make everything right. I requested a refund for what I did not ask for (protective film) & for what they made me pay for & did not provide (nitrogen). He agreed & sent me a check.

I returned to the dealer this week to have a part replaced. This was ordered when I picked the truck up. I live 110 miles from the dealer. They offered to pick my truck up, do the work, then bring it back at no cost. I politely declined & made the trip on my own.

I had a great experience with the service writers. All were friendly & helpful. My appt was at 1030. I was an hour early & even though they were busy, I was out the door by 1115.

Based on the above, I changed my rating of the dealer from 1 to a 4. If the price was right I might buy another truck there unless I was had to deal with the sleazy finance guy again. He is the poster boy for crooked car sales people & brings this dealership down.

ORIGINAL REVIEW BELOW I found this truck online. The dealer had the color/trim I wanted, & the price was w/i my budget. I requested their out-the-door price, & agreed.

I arrived & was greeted by Braxton, a polite & professional salesperson, who showed me the truck. We noticed some damage to the grill, so they ordered a new one. I was told it would take time as the part was backordered, which was fine.

I signed paperwork with Braxton. He left to fuel the truck/transfer the plate. He had me to wait for the finance manager.

I sat in the lobby for 20 minutes while the finance guy sat in his office alone. When he finally emerged, the lack of professionalism was very apparent.

He went over the paperwork & explained everything. He said I had to pay $250 for tape on the door trim. I asked him why it was not listed on my detailed quote from the salesman & why I was not told about it before. He said that it's the salesman's job. I asked him to remove it from the truck as I did not want it. He told me that every truck has it & I have to pay for it. I asked where it's listed in the contract that its required, he could not show me. I stated that since it’s not listed, I am not obligated to buy it. His answer was that it was already on the car so I have to pay for it.

I asked him for paperwork describing what I am paying for. He pulled a brochure out of a drawer & handed it to me. I put it with the paperwork that I was taking with me. He stopped me & told me that it’s his only copy so I can't have it. I asked him for a copy of but he said he did not have access to a copy machine.

He asked how long I would keep the car. I told him 2 years. He took out his iPad & started his extended protection package pitch. I told him that I was not interested & asked him to stop. He became agitated to a point where I told him to calm down. He then started calling me “sir” & repeatedly stating he was calm, not angry & he is required to offer these services. I told him that he was wasting my time but he kept going. I was then told to sign twice on his iPad. I declined since I was not purchasing anything. He told me I have to sign. He said that I was signing to confirm that he tried to sell me this stuff & confirming that I do not want the packages.

He told me that I have to sign a paper saying that I will keep the loan for at least 6 months. I told him that I intend to pay it off in 3. He told me that I can't legally do that as they are selling me the car cheap in part because they make money on the loan. I asked for a copy of this document & he told me no.

I then asked why my loan was 2 points higher than my pre-approval. He said the sales manager handles credit not him. He said that GM does not have rates lower than what I got, even though it’s on the GM website. It's obvious that this dealership added 2 points to the rate I was approved for as their sell rate. Sleazy but...

While I'm unable to comment on ongoing support and/or service at Kelley Buick GMC, I can comment on the initial sales process.

I used a car buying service (Shawn @ The Car Haggler) to help me find my new Sierra truck at the best price. This is the fifth vehicle he’s helped me find.

Through another friend, I had found a very good deal at a self-professed “high volume” dealership in Brandon and shared the details with Shawn. The salesman at the other dealership began to exhibit the “typical” sales B.S. with me on the phone when I got a bit deeper into the details of his proposed price and financing. He was able to find what I was looking for, but since these trucks “move so fast”, he claimed it was 50 days out, but only if I’d put $1000 down on it. Without the down payment, he wouldn’t commit to anything. I found this strange since I had already found the same truck at a much smaller dealer near my home. How could a “little” dealer have a few, but a “big” one needs the client to wait nearly 2 months?

With my details in hand, my buyer’s agent Shawn called Kelley Buick and negotiated an even better deal. Shawn had very favorable things to say about the dealership and arranged the purchase of exactly the truck I was looking for. It was a nicer version of the vehicle I had found with a better value on my trade in. I feel I might have sold my car for a bit more than I was given, but it would have required a lot of time and effort, including ongoing payments until it sold. These days, you really don’t want to deal with selling a car on Facebook Marketplace if you can avoid it. Kelley offered a fair value on my car, and a fair price on the new vehicle too.

While in the dealership, I dealt with two people. Braxton was the salesman and I believe Adam was the finance manager. Both were personable and friendly throughout the entire transaction. There was one very small issue Braxton discovered, and he offered to immediately resolve it. He took the time to train me on the use of the electronics in the truck too. Upon noticing it didn’t have a full tank of fuel, he even pointed that out and filled it up on site before I left.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience. It was well worth the short drive from my home to Bartow for the truck. I would suggest that you reach out to Braxton and the other folks at Kelley Buick GMC if you are looking for a new vehicle. I’m very happy with my purchase.

I would also suggest you search for “The Car Haggler”. Shawn is an expert on the process of buying a new car and is your secret weapon to find...

A/C Compressor went out in my 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali with just over 24k miles on it. Went in to have it repaired/replaced and I asked Chad the service guy for a loner car and he told me that there weren’t any available. He never tried to schedule me one either. My coworker had this same experience with them with loner cars until he complained to upper level management. Had to deal with that, took the truck home and the very next day and the compressor was making a horrible noise. I recorded the noise that my truck was making then I called Kelley GMC and got the service manager and he told me to bring my truck back in. I did and then I got a call from Chad and he said that there was nothing wrong with my truck that they could find. Chad also got very rude with me at one point getting loud and talking over me. I sent him the recording as well and he still said there was nothing wrong. I got frustrated because I know and like I told him the issue was intermittent and was also told by the service manager that he was going to replace the compressor. I got that straightened out. The compressor is on back order. Throughout this entire process the service guy by the name of Chad not one time calls me by my first or last name he keeps calling me “Boss” and I found this to be quite rude. I called today because I have to drop my truck off to have the compressor replaced this Friday and I asked for a loner truck and I was again told there will not be one available and when I asked Chad could he schedule me one he told me to call back tomorrow to see if they may have one. I told him I live in Haines City and I don’t want to sit around a the dealership all day waiting on my truck but again I felt this was put off like it’s my problem deal with it. Since my compressor failed the blend door doesn’t work right and it always sends cold air to my windshield where there is always frost there no matter how I try to position it. I told Chad about this and he said a failed compressor wouldn’t cause this. I don’t know how or why it was caused, it wasn’t doing this before the compressor failed and I just want my truck back to the way it was. At this point I’ll never buy another vehicle from this dealership again. One of my coworkers went through something similar and said the same thing. This should NOT be the experience that any customer should have to encounter. This is not how you thank your customers for doing business with...