Elite Auto Wholesale — Local services in Midlothian

UPDATED I got a call from the owner today and it went well. He explained himself reasonably and offered to pay for the parts plus a little extra for my trouble. This is an honorable approach and leads me to believe that it is possible to have been an honest mistake. To be fair, I did not call the owner before I made the review as I didn't think I would have the leverage to get anything out of it. The car was sold "AS IS" and the warranty clearly stated that it didn't cover the AC. Had I called before he may have offered me the same thing but its water over the damn at this point. I changed the rating from 1 star to 4. While the experience I had was well below optimal, his effort to compensate me goes a long way and shows that, if in fact there is a problem with the car from this dealer they will go out of their way to make you happy. The owner did not ask me to edit my review and deserves credit for reaching out and trying to rectify the problem. Worst post car buying experience I have ever had. I purchased a 2003 honda CRV from Fredy. It was listed for 6995 but I offered 6000 and he was ok with it. I noticed the oil pan was leaking and someone attempted to RTV the gasket and it seemed to leak only slightly. For the record, I don't take my cars to a mechanic;I fix everything myself. At this point I questioned it and Fredy assured me he had his magical mechanic look over the vehicle and fixed whatever issues may have been wrong with it. So we took it out for a test drive, in which Fredy drove around the block and nothing seemed overtly wrong with the vehicle. He even turned on the AC and said it blows cold air but at the time it wasn't hot out yet so it blew what was ambient air that wasn't hot at the time. To make a long story short there was a lot wrong with the car. The first thing that I found out was broken was the passenger window. Would have been nice to have a working passenger window but hey, lets just forget that even happened as I fixed it in 15 min. After that I noticed the AC wasn't working at all and of course that's not covered under warranty. After trouble shooting it myself I discovered it died a horrible death aka "black death" that CRVs are known to have(google it). I got a quote from honda and it was 2900$ so I bought the parts from NAPA which came out to be 400$ for the compressor/expansion valve and another 170$ for the evaporator and refrigerant lines. Luckily the condenser was changed since the vehicle was in a fairly significant wreck that he failed to mention the severity of. Also the engine light came on after about 100 miles. Of course it did since they cleared the codes before it was sold. No problem since I own a computer that reads engine codes. It ended up being the IMRC valve position sensor, the 3rd clutch transmission pressure switch, and a catalytic converter error message wich is normally just an O2 sensor. Total cost for that was 1000$ in parts. it took me about 16 hours of work to replace the air conditioning system(if you don't know what that involves it is a serious job), the IMRC valve position sensor, and the 3rd clutch transmission pressure switch. I know for a fact all this stuff was wrong with the car before it was sold and the engine codes were cleared because there were receipts in the glove compartment for all these tests that were done before hand including the failed air conditioning. Further I called the previous owner, since his information was in the glove, and he revealed all the information i needed to come to the conclusion that it is impossible that Fredy was unaware of these problems and that he dishonestly sold me a car that was clearly not in a position to be sold. It is dishonest to pass on mistakes that you make in business to the customer period- exclamation! This dealer is deceitful and dishonest as there could be. I would definitely avoid this shady dealer. Oh and the transmission fluid was a whole quart low. The worst part is there is more but I digress. I wish this would let me upload pictures! If i could leave no...

These guys are building a reputation as the premier spot for clean used cars in Virginia. From Subaru to Porsche and everything in between, they bring the best of the best.

Here’s why:

•They find the cars with the most potential: Look at their inventory and don’t be surprised when you find 1 and 2 owner cars with low miles, clean detailed Carfax and no accidents.

•They do whatever the cars need before putting them on the lot. This is not an understatement.

•They literally did thousands of dollars of maintenance on the car I bought prior to placing it on the lot for sale, some of it preventative - like the timing belt - just because they want the cars on their lot to be 100% reliable, and create the best experience for the customer.

•No pressure to buy. I came and saw one car and was tempted by a different car on their lot after I saw what they had done to it and drove both. I walked away from both, and drove to DELAWARE chasing a lower mileage WRX. The car I drove hundreds of miles out-of-state to see was nowhere near as well-maintained or prepared for sale as what Fredy and Roberto had on their lot here at Elite Auto Wholesale, despite all three of the cars I had looked at including the delaware car being one owner cars with good carfax reports. When I got back to Richmond, I weighed the options and came back and performed a second scrutinizing of the cars at Elite.

•I took the car on a second test drive and suggested an unannounced “pre-purchased inspection” at an offsite mechanic. Their sales manager not only agreed (right there at the end of the afternoon and helped drop off/pick up the car off-site with zero notice) - he called Fredy who said he would pay half the pre-purchase inspection if I liked what I saw afterwards and bought the car. Which gets into...

•They know cars. Everything they said had been done to the car was done, verified by pre-purchase mechanic inspection. The shop found one small thing that was Not an “inspection fail” item and Fredy actually expedited the car to The Subie Guy that night and had this done by mid-morning.

•Many secondary and tertiary car dealers are just flipping inventory that isn’t fit for a primary dealership lot. Not Elite Auto Wholesale. The level these guys go to make their cars 100% is unmatched by any used car dealer I have ever seen.

•For Subaru enthusiasts, do not sleep. These guys are low-key building a reputation as a Subaru sweet spot. They liaison with “The Subie Guy” (A highly rated Richmond Subaru specialist team who leaves no stone unturned) who does their pre-sale maintenance. If you buy a Subaru from Elite you are going to be happy. But this same level of attention to detail goes into ALL of the cars on their lot, whether it’s a Toyota Tacoma or a Porsche - and they do get some highly desirable luxury/sports cars as well.

Needless to say I saw this business from top to bottom throughout this experience, threw them some curveballs, and was impressed with their poise and finesse.

And all I needed was a daily driver - I’m not the Porsche clientele - but they treated me like I was.

Buy with confidence.

Would buy from again and recommend to family...

We were in the market for a Pontiac Solstice and a good minivan, and Elite had a Solstice on their website that I was very interested in. I emailed them to inquire about the car, and I received a very quick response from Fredy! We spoke on the phone and came to an agreement on the total selling price in a matter of a few minutes, so we decided to make the trip to Midlothian to purchase the car. I've had SEVERAL dealings with car dealerships in my life, the majority of them left me with a varying degrees of disdain for the car-shopping experience. Few have ever truly impressed me, and I've always avoided the smaller privately owned businesses due to the stigma and reputation many of them have. So my expectations were not high when I decided to make the trip to Elite. However, Fredy and the folks at Elite have helped prove my fears wrong! We met with Fredy, and we immediately went to look at the car. He had the car prepped and ready for us to go on a test drive before we even got there! Since we had agreed on a deal over the phone, there was no haggling over price, and the paperwork drill went VERY quickly! While completing the paperwork, we were jokingly discussing with Fredy our quest for a minivan as well, and as it turned out, he had another vehicle that proved to be too good of a deal to pass up! So, we ended up purchasing TWO cars that evening! He actually misquoted the selling price on the van, which was listed for more than $1000 more than his quote! Despite his error, he honored the price he quoted us. It would be an understatement to say that I am pleased with the entire experience at Elite Auto Wholesale! Fredy was very professional and personable, and their prices are VERY reasonable! If you're looking for a quality used vehicle with a hassle-free experience, then I would recommend checking out Elite Auto Wholesale! Ask for Fredy...he'll...