House of Cars CT — Local services in Meriden

TLDR: The House of Cars manager, Al, is a person who cares more about money instead of trying to help customers who want to buy a car from him. Very rude and disrespectful if you try to negotiate pricing.

If I could leave a zero star review I would. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to House of Cars looking at their Nissan Murano SV. After meeting with Ezra and doing a test drive, we decided that we would like to buy the car. Ezra was very nice to us and talked us through everything. When it got to the price, we tried to negotiate a cheaper price since they have had the car for quite some time. There used to be a time where car buying was built around negotiating prices and car dealerships were happy to sell cars. Not this place. After some back and forth with Ezra, he called over Al, who I believe to be the manager of the dealership, to talk pricing with us. Al was very straightforward with us about how he will not lower the price of the car because he was more concerned about losing out on money. I respect that because you have a business to run, however you have a customer who is willing to pay with cash right then and there for a car that you’ve had for well over a year. He refused to lower the price so we walked. We called a few days later to try to negotiate again and the salesperson we spoke to told us that he would bring the price down to 13k from 13.7k. At that time that price did not work for us so we ended the call there. Fast forward to yesterday, we called to try to talk to them again and we were told that they were busy and they would call us back. No call. We called about an hour later and we were told again that they were busy and would call again later. No call. We went in this afternoon to speak to them again because we could go through with the 13k offer. We spoke with Milo who seemed very happy to help us. When we brought up the offer of 13k he called over Al and he said that he remembered us because we were “the people who’d tried to cheap him out of the car.” We blew it off because we were very interested in the car but when he came back to tell us he could do the 13k he told us “I’m losing money on this car so if you drive off this lot with this car and something goes wrong do not bring it back here because I’m losing money on it and will not fix it.” I was appalled. Still interested in the car, we went out to view it one last time and when we asked about the detailing they provide on all of their sold vehicles, Milo told us that aal probably would not do it since he’s already lost money on the car. I am completely taken aback by this dealership. Here is a car that you’ve had for over a year and here I am as someone trying to buy this car and you as the manager are being rude and disrespectful to a customer because you’re not getting what you want. Business is full of wins and losses. Sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don’t. But I am appalled at how we were treated. It left a bad taste in our mouth about the whole experience and we left without buying the car. Nothing about this experience was Ezra or Milo’s fault, it was all on Al.

Things about the Nissan Murano SV: the first time we looked at the car it looked like something was living under the hood; when we checked the oil levels today, it was overflowing; salespeople said that they have had multiple cars that were returned in a matter of months after they were sold (including this one); they did not sound please about us getting the car inspected...

If I could truly rate this dealership ZERO STARS I would. I wouldn’t recommend anyone who was even remotely desperate to finance a car or purchase a car at this dealership.

My experience started when me and my wife went to 3 different dealerships and finally came across House Of Cars with a 2007 YELLOW Mini Cooper that we were interested in financing. Test driving it went fine and we decided to go through with financing the Mini Cooper. I put a 2K deposit on the car and After all the paper work was finished we drove the car home. Not even a week later while driving back from New York the car had a misfire. I automatically pulled over and the next morning went back into the dealership with the car since it was under a warranty for 3 months just in case something like this would happen. Well apparently the warranty “didn’t cover” this exact problem that had occurred on the car. Therefore the dealership wanted me to pay over 1K in repairs for the misfire. Not only that, but they kept my car in their repair shop for about 3 weeks to a month and refused to provide me with a rental. They expressed that they only had 3 dealership plates and weren’t able to provide a rental while they did the repairs on my car. HOWEVER, the dealership plates were NOT being used for customers nor customers who wanted to test drive their cars. They used the dealership plates to their own advantage since it’s a family owned business. They would pick any car they wanted in their lot, smack the dealer plate on it and road trip with that car. So not only did I put a 2k deposit on the car but I paid over 1K in repairs and for a month! Paid for a rental all while still making payments on a car I was not driving for a entire month! AFTER, I finally got my car back and NOT EVEN A WEEK LATER OIL WAS LEAKING FROM THE CAR! I took the car back once again! And they “fixed” the leak, but OF COURSE! The “Low Oil” light reappear and ONCE AGAIN, I took it back to the dealership to tell them that there weren’t ANY leaks and the oil was still disappearing (meaning the car could be burning oil). All they did was added more oil just to tell me “come back when the light comes back on”. They did NOT fix the problem and wanted nothing to do with me. Before leaving their shop I told by standers who were looking into their cars that, purchasing from here would be a big mistake and left the dealership. When I left the dealership about 5 minuets later I got a call from the owner claiming he “forgot” to check something in the car before leaving. (Even though I knew this was a lie) I drove back and he indeed did not “forget” to check something on the car, but instead wanted to argue with me which was completely unprofessional and childish that he would waste my time and gas money. Point is, my car still has low oil and they refuse to do anything to fix the problem. I am currently taking legal actions against them and hopefully this is the last time they scam someone. Never come...

Buying a car can cause quite the headache. For someone like me who was scammed with the last car I purchased— let’s just say, I was very hesitant to begin the process of getting another one. But after two years of renting cars and using Uber— I knew it was time. So for months I saved up and looked on CarGurus to find a car within my price range. It was slim pickings and nothing on there really stood out. Until I saw a car from House of Cars. The most beautiful Volvo with everything I wanted at a price that most dealerships couldn’t beat.

I rated this dealership based on many factors—customer service, car knowledge, ability to take responsibility for mishaps and quality of car sold. Were there issues that arose during this process? Absolutely. Buying a car, like life, isn’t always easy. The reason why I gave Eraldo and his team 5 stars is simply because whenever there was a bump in the road (pun intended), the team at House of Cars did everything they could to either rectify the situation or come to a mutually beneficial compromise. THAT is how you garner customer loyalty. Towards the end of the car buying process, I had found a car that was just like the one at House of Cars. The dealership was considerably closer to me and regardless— I still chose to work with House of Cars. My patronage is given to those who deserve it and have earned it. I know, without a doubt, that I made the right choice to stay with House of Cars.

I should also mention that I got pizza when I was getting something looked at on my car. However— for this part, and this is said in that really fast voice at the end of the car commercials while they read the fine print— your experience may vary.

Thanks for everything, Eraldo! My new car, whose name is Beast, is the love of my life and I can’t tell you what it means to be able to get out there and do what I love most— drive. All thanks to...