Honda of Kenosha — Local services in Bristol

Inquired online about a Honda CRV that we were interested in. Jim responded back timely with a link to the car and a personal video which I thought was really nice. The link displayed the vehicle price at $23,598, which was a good market price. Later that day I received a text message that I had an appointment @ 3:30, I had not discussed a time other than I wanted to beat rush hour traffic. I sent Jim a message that I would be there around 6:30pm, which he replied that would be fine.

When we arrived we were observed numerous employees gathered together, none of which seemed interested in helping us out. After walking around looking for Jim someone did finally ask if we were looking for someone. We asked for Jim and they had paged him. After 10 minutes or so Don came up and introduced himself and said Jim was with another customer and he was now going to take care of us. I explained we were here to look at a CRV. Don asked us to meet at his desk and started going over personal information, financing, etc on their worksheet. I told him that we wanted to see the car first, not even sure we were interested in purchasing the vehicle yet. After sometime, Don said he was going to pull the vehicle into the bay so we could look at it.(It was dark out so that was nice) After 10 minutes or so he finally brought the car inside. He washed the car which was very nice, but in all honesty please say something so we know what's going on and not just standing around.

Don did a great job explaining all the features and was very helpful. Test drive was great and we were really impressed on how clean and well prepared the vehicle was. Don did talk about several add on that the dealership could provide but didn't explain how that would all add up later. After the test drive we told him we were very interested in the vehicle and wanted to talk numbers.

Don pulled out his work sheet and started adding up the numbers. Now remember the vehicle was priced at $23,598. Then comes the accessories, over $7,000 worth that he failed to mention were installed on the vehicle. I countered with an offer and said I wasn't interested in the accessories. He left and returned with a proposal and said they would offer the car at the same price and give me the accessories at cost, now only $1400. Again I explained I was not interested in the extras. When I told Don their tactics were deceptive and the price was not marked with accessories, his demeanor immediately changed and he said, that's a matter of opinion. He quickly went to his computer knowing he was going to show me the add. I said here, I have it on my phone and showed him. The ad clearly states the vehicle price $ $23,598 and says nothing about added accessories. I did point out in the disclaimer it does state, "additional accessories not included in vehicle prices shown must be paid by the customer". Again the additional accessories prices were not shown until we sat down. Just be up front and disclose to the consumer! My advice, ask if there are any installed accessories before buying a car, because that is up and over asking price.

You will see a common theme about the additional accessories in the reviews with the same response...

Before jumping into details, here’s a summary for those who don’t want to read the lengthy recap: This dealership operates on sleazy, old, bait-and-switch tactics, lacks transparency and decency and tries to take advantage of unsuspecting clients. Check their yelp reviews and BBB and compare to other dealerships, that should make for a reality check, which I unfortunately skipped before coning in. My initial contact with them was through internet sales department, where a couple of quotes were provided, as well as ‘sight unseen’ trade-in estimate. One of the quotes had $1,000 in nonsense ‘accessories’ such as Rainx style windshield coating and other upsell items. I expressed no interest in those and asked them to be removed. Second quote was without the ‘accessories’ but on a more expensive trim, which would have worked for me. They asked for day/time I could come in and I expressed desire to finalize the transaction in one visit. Upon arriving for my scheduled appointment, I came into a nearly empty dealership, with tired décor, scuffed walls, number of salespeople looking bored and disinterested. This was the first red flag. An older man, Jim, finally approached me and I showed him the quote I was given. He asked for the keys to my trade-in and disappeared for 15 minutes. On my way to the restroom I saw him just killing time by the parts department rather than getting someone to actually look at my car. The restroom had no paper towels and smelled poorly. While waiting for Jim I walked around and saw a couple of dusty cars either awaiting pickup by buyers or waiting to be test-driven, which also seemed unusual. Another 5 minutes passed, and he came over announcing that the car I was scheduled to transact on has been sold. “Why hasn’t anyone told me it was sold, before I came in?” – I asked. “Well, it was a good deal, and as such it’s first-come, first-served” – he answered. “But we have another one in transit” he followed. I realized then what sort of place this is, that wasted my time and baited me to come in. I asked then for the estimate of the trade-in, at this time to see if the experience can get any worse. And of course, despite being missing for 15+ minutes, he didn’t have one, and went to ‘talk to the manager’ who then provided a significantly lower estimate than the one I got from them via email. I told him that his number is lower than what they had previously told me. He disappeared yet again and came back with “yeah we can match the original estimate”, clearly thinking they can play games with the quote for the actual car. All in all – if their price is lower than a volume dealership – expect them to not honor it, claiming vehicle has been sold. I can only imagine how many people they’ve screwed over. For peace of mind this place should be avoided as they’re dishonest and conniving. Glad I didn’t transact there.

Also, their canned responses to reviews are something to behold - a continuation of the same,...

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS DEALERSHIP!

My girlfriend and I each recently loss BOTH of our vehicles due to the catastrophic floods that struck SE Wisconsin two weeks ago. We visited this dealership today, 8/23/2025, with (2) vehicles in mind that we were interested in purchasing after doing our research and finding value in the listed price online.

After test driving both vehicles (2023 Honda HR-V and 2023 Civic LX), we went back to the table with our sales rep Anthony to review the numbers and were shocked what the “out-the-door” cost came back at. The HR-V was priced out with an added $9K in “accessories” and the Civic with $3K. These added “accessories” priced both vehicles outside of our budget and the sales manager essentially said there was nothing he could do - these add-on “accessories” were a part of the final price and there was nothing he could do… I believe the exact quote was “his hands were tied”.

The entire experience was totally disappointing. We spent hours doing our research and found TWO replacement vehicles we thought we would be able to purchase at the cost listed online (and notated on the offer sheet), but I guess that is not the case at Honda of Kenosha.

If you are a cash buyer and just want to buy a good, reliable vehicle THIS IS NOT THE DEALERSHIP FOR YOU! The sales manager here is FAR MORE INTERESTED in trying to re-direct and pivot you into a car that will make him money than sell you a vehicle that fits you and your families needs.

As victims of the recent flooding, we again do not have vehicles right now and have resorted to renting a car while we search for a replacement. To not have the ability to use our hard-earned money to go in to the dealership and make a substantial purchase for TWO vehicles was totally disheartening and points to the trend of more buyers feeling comfortable purchasing online and avoiding the dealership all together.

Want to re-iterate that it was a pleasure working with Anthony, however, it is a shame that he has to work for a company that does not have ANY respect for the average American looking to come in and purchase a vehicle without the special financing and all the additional nonsense.

Please consider another dealership if you are looking to buy a new...