Volkswagen of Downtown LA — Local services in Los Angeles

Do NOT recommend VW of Downtown LA.

I was so excited to buy a car, but this dealership completely sucked the fun out of the experience. It was so bad, I walked over to Audi (literally next door) tried to buy a car there instead (a sedan and I wanted an SUV) — the only reason I didn’t was because they didn’t have the exact model/features I was looking for.

The issues started early. The dealer claimed there was a clear shield already applied to the car — that was a lie. They said it multiple times, and it still wasn’t true. The GM doubled down and even lied to his own coworkers at Lithia about what happened. When I asked to switch salespeople, they declined the sale altogether. That told me everything I needed to know.

The staff here are exactly the reason people hate buying cars. They’re shady. If they try to sell you clear shield or a tracker, decline it. If they say it’s already installed, they’re lying.

Out-of-state buyers — seriously, avoid them. Buy your car through Driveway (their online portal) or go fully online (with another). Do not work with the staff here directly. Many of them are lazy and unprofessional — they don’t even answer the phone with their name (if they answer), probably to avoid being held accountable. One answered on speaker from across the room. Just sloppy.

About 3 weeks ago the finance manger called saying they need a signature from the other person on the title of my trade in. I said of course let me know what to do. He stated he would mail papers overnight and I would mail them back. I never got them. I called daily for about a week, emailed him and even reached out to the old bank and they reached out to the dealership. Silence. I guess it’s not my problem anymore. Long story short this dealer should not be operating and clearly hasn’t trained staff and has a lack of car for many things.

If you’re forced to deal with someone here, avoid Jesus.

I ended up working with Michelle. She was okay — polite and tried — but there was definitely a language barrier that made it tough to communicate clearly and understand everything going on.

One thing to keep in mind for any out-of-state buyers: You can buy online without added dealer fees. Call Austin at Audi Lithia of Downtown LA — he can sell you any used car from either VW or Audi Lithia inventory. Wish I had done that from the start.

The finance guy was the only person who was kind, respectful, and easy to work with. Honestly, he was the only bright spot. In the end he still ended up making mistakes by leaving my lien holder off the title and sending it to the wrong address. Had to deal with corporate for 3 months after to get things corrected because they were unwilling to help.

I left the dealership feeling disappointed and uneasy about my purchase — when this should’ve been a super exciting milestone buying a car oh my own for the first time.

Aside from that make sure you bring your car to certified mechanic to be inspected. I brought the car to a mechanic but they were not Audi certified as the dealer said they could only go a certain distance and they cleared the car, that’s why I purchased it.

After getting it inspected at another Audi dealer there is 4k in repairs that VW covered up that the Audi dealer said would were on the inspection checklist for a dealer. (This inspection was done 400 miles after purchase so don’t even try and claim it happened before the dealer showed the wear and tear was extensive 5k+ miles of ongoing damage occurring). They also claimed to have done a basic service on the car and that was also far from true (they lied to car fax too) oil and filters were never changed.

To the GM that is gunna reply with some generic comment. Unless you plan on offering compensation or certification of my Audi our call will be completely useless. So don’t even offer to have ME reach out. This is YOUR business and problem if you want to actually make a difference you reach out. You have all my info...

Original Post- 09/23/23: *

Dropped my car off on Tue 09/19/23 afternoon for a engine light inspection, and I came back in today (four days later) to see what's going on since I haven't heard back from them and no one has answered the phone nor email. And when I got in they told me the paperwork for my car went missing and they didn't even realize it was still here... I'm upset. They are just now checking my car in, and now I have to wait even longer since they are closed on Sundays and it's late in the day on this Saturday. And though I have asked for a manager several times, I still have not been given an opportunity to speak to one. Very poor business practices and customer service.

UPDATED-11/29/23: *

On September 19th I dropped my vehicle off and experienced an issue to which I’ve already left a one star review regarding, a little over two months ago. Today I finally received my car back after dropping it off again on September 29th, in relation to the initial interaction on 9/19. For the inconvenience I experienced initially, Volkswagen of Downtown LA was nice enough to accommodate me with a courtesy Volkswagen 2023 ID.4 AWD Pro S while repairs were done on my vehicle for the past two months. Which I am very thankful for. However, during these past few months I experienced communication issues with the text communication feature Volkswagen of DTLA uses to interact with their service customers. Often times when I replied to the text no one would reply back, which led to them having my car a little longer than necessary. Phone communication also was daunting, often the individuals I needed to speak to were not there when I called and my voicemails were never returned. It didn’t bother me too much because I had that courtesy vehicle, but it was still an annoyance. A good chunk of the two months was due to parts being ordered and shipped for my car, and then the actual repair. I was told they had to disassemble a good amount of the vehicle to do the work. One thing that really bothered me today when I finally was able to pick my car up was that they gave me the vehicle with a maintenance light still on the dashboard, and when I asked a representative about the light - I was told that it’s due to a headlight/foglight not working. To my dismay, I asked if I could give the car back so the headlight/foglight could be repaired as well, the representative told me it wouldn’t be a easy job - that they would have to remove the front bumper to replace it. This immediately became bothersome because they just had the car disassembled for two months and never thought to have called/text/emailed me to ask if I also wanted them to repair the headlight/foglight in addition to all the other work they were already doing on the vehicle. So now I have to find another time to put my car in for a repair. I have not had the best time doing business with Volkswagen of Downtown LA, but I do appreciate how they tried to make up for the initial mishap by allowing me the use of a courtesy vehicle and giving me a complimentary oil change. I just wish communication was better, and the service was more thorough, but thank you Ryan Maldonado and Danny Chavarria for all...

I purchased a 2017 Volkswagen Golf at VW DTLA on 10/17/2020. During my initial inspection of the car, my family and I noticed an obvious long water mark on the inside of the roof. We suspected there was a water leak problem so I expressed my concern and asked VW DTLA team about it; they responded that it was just a regular stain (stressing it was NOT a serious problem) and did some quick fix that took them less than half an hour. After VW DTLA team brought the car back, I asked them about the root cause of the problem; however, they couldn’t provide a clear answer yet reassured me that it had been fixed.

Just one day after the purchase (10/18/2020) the water mark reappeared (first picture). I immediately booked a service appointment at VW DTLA the following weekend (10/24/2020) to have it looked at. After waiting 6 hours for my car to get inspected and serviced, this time I was told by VW DTLA team that the inside of the roof wasn’t clean so they simply cleaned and dried it; and the problem was supposedly “fixed for good”.

After being told that the water mark problem was resolved TWICE, on 11/07/2020, I drove my car for the first time in the rain and after about an hour, the back of my car was SOAKED! The rain water was dripping through the roof into the trunk so I had to immediately went home and put my car in the garage to prevent further damage (last three pictures).

At this point, I’m furious and extremely unhappy with my purchase and service experience at VW DTLA. I was very straightforward to VW DTLA team from the get-go when I asked them if the water mark problem was serious (and inquired them repeatedly about the root cause) because I wouldn’t have made the purchase knowing otherwise. VW DTLA was not being honest about the issue BEFORE I purchased the car and they lack the professionalism and courtesy to fix the issue AFTER my purchase.

I sent my feedback privately to VW DTLA team through the link they provided me via email on 11/07/2020 but haven’t heard back from them since despite this being a serious problem. This just goes to show how little VW DTLA cares about their customers. I surely wouldn’t want to do more businesses here nor will I recommend this dealership to my family, friends, or anyone else unless VW DTLA takes whatever action is necessary to rectify this situation.

UPDATE as of 12/04/2020: VW DTLA reached out to me on 11/12/2020 and offered to have another look at my car and promised to have my leaky roof fixed for good. Their service manager Curtis Rost was very professional and helpful. He offered me a loaner during the time my car was in service to compensate for the amount of hassle I had gone through, which was very courteous of him. My car was at DTLA service center from 11/16/2020 until 12/04/2020, since they had to order parts that took days to arrive. It came back to me today with brand new headliner, which made me extremely happy because this headache is finally over. I would like to thank Curtis and his team for taking care of this issue with utmost professionalism...