A Better Way Wholesale Autos — Local services in Naugatuck

A Better Way had a specific vehicle I had sought after for a long time listed online. I did my homework and research on both the vehicle and the dealer. I read the online reviews, many of which were positive, but also the negative ones cautioning buyers of various reasons. For all intents and purposes, I was prepared, and knew what to look out for. I’m quite familiar with the vehicle purchasing process, from a variety of types of dealers, including wholesale dealers, which can be quite different from a usual dealer. I had previously selected the vehicle, and prepared myself to provide outside financing to purchase. I had read and understood ABW’s purchase process, clearly shown on their website, so all I needed was a dealer that wanted to introduce me to my truck and help sign some documents. I could have called the dealer, and been picked up by the next person to answer, but instead I used the website information inquiry tool to contact the next available dealer. This simply requires the dealer to send an introductory message telling you to get back in touch, but for me, this identifies the dealer that’s proactive about making a sale... a hustler, if you will, instead of someone waiting for the phone to ring. Anna introduced herself via email, and encouraged me to call at my convenience to see if she could help. I returned her call within the hour with a few simple questions, clarification of the purchase process, and a request for a few necessary documents. She was prepared to answer my questions about the vehicle, was extremely knowledgeable and upfront about the process, and provided me with my documents within minutes of our conversation. I provided the information necessary for the $1,000 non refundable deposit on the vehicle in order to ensure it’s availability, and understood that it would be returned to me only after the purchase was complete, or taken off of the purchase price. I scheduled an appointment to inspect the vehicle later that week, as I previously understood that wholesale dealers do not always keep inventory on site, or sometimes make necessary repairs while the vehicle is listed for sale. This was the case with my vehicle. Anna informed me of all notable vehicle deficiencies, and identified a few minor items being repaired or replaced. I traveled from Boston to meet with Anna and inspect the vehicle. When I arrived the vehicle was out front, and I found Anna busy as her desk with another client. She quickly and politely introduced herself, handed me the keys, and allowed me to begin my inspection. Anna greeted me outside with the vehicle maintenance history information and answered a few questions about the vehicle, but also admitted her unfamiliarity with the vehicle. This was firstly due to my vehicle’s rarity, but also because of the sheer volume they deal in, which makes vehicle specific familiarity difficult. I appreciated the honesty, and had done my homework regarding the vehicle in expectation of this. I was satisfied with the condition of the vehicle, including the proposed repairs, and arranged for the purchase on Saturday. I chose to forego any price negotiations, as the vehicle was already listed at a fair price, noting that wholesalers typically make their money from volume (not individual sales), allowing them to list vehicles for just about as low as you’ll find them. A quick visit to her desk for a few signatures was all that was necessary for her to draft the purchase order and receive approval from the sales manager. When I returned on Saturday as scheduled, my vehicle was repaired as promised and ready for pickup. Anna swiftly introduced me to Trooper in the financial department, who got me on the road in less than an hour after passing a few papers. A quick handshake and a good photo with Anna handing me the keys to my newly achieved goal, and I was gone. This review thingy has a character limit, so while I could go on about how awesomely Anna exceeded my expectations, you’ll have to go find out yourself. Extremely pleased. Highly...

So we purchased a car from there about two months ago and the sales person was awesome but everything else wasn’t so great as far as just the process and the issues that we’ve had. And for a place that’s considered a dealership I am very concerned that how good the mechanics are at this point because you would expect that when you put six grand down on a car and still have a loan for almost 15 grand on a car that’s worth only about $10,000 because you’ve purchased a three-year extended warranty that you’ve already had to use that first of all the price would be lower, which is minor but second of all the car wouldn’t have had troubles in broken down twice already. The first time we took it back to them and they ended up putting a new alternator and a new starter in it and they said as a courtesy they put a new battery in And luckily our warranty that we purchased for almost 3 grand covered that so that was good that we purchased that. But when we went to go pick up the car the first time it ended up having a broken windshield and so we ended up having to wait for somebody from a company with windshield replacements to come to the house because I didn’t want to wait an hour away by the way where this place is located from us For another week or so for the windshield to get replaced. So after the windshield replacement is when we had our first issues where everything electrically was going crazy with indications and all of that so that’s when we took it in to have. We found out the alternator and the starter have both failed for some reason And that was weird after a window replacement, but it took about a month to get the car back because they had to send it to a specific dealership that dealt with this type of vehicle because they couldn’t finish the work. So we get it back and it runs OK and then maybe a month later just recently it doesn’t start again so it Got stuck installed on a main road and sounds like it now has very bad mechanical issues which deals with the starting of the vehicle, which I think is interesting because they replaced the alternator and the starter the things that start and run the vehicle so I don’t know if they messed that up or not but Now we have to have it towed to another place luckily close by because I’m not going an hour away again to fix the car for the second time and they’re saying that our continental plus extended warranty that we purchased for almost 3 grand might not cover everything so now we’re kind of worried about getting screwed on that even though the car needs to be fixed so this was a $10,000 car had low mileage and supposedly was in great condition. We did a test drive seemed to work fine. They always seem to work fine but obviously there’s always something wrong. This is probably the fifth time I’ve dealt with car issues from a an authorized dealership not a third-party not a person a person not a trade, but an actual purchase with a loan That the cars have broken down. Needless to say overall, the experience with this car has caused nothing but worries loss of time luckily not too much loss of money yet but now we’re just always worried that the vehicle is gonna be reliable or not if it gets fixed so they pretty much sold us a shit box that was only good enough for a small test drive and everything under the hood is not even penned captor screwed down. You can pull all of it off all the plastic and everything so yeah that’s our experience and I’m only not bringing it back to them becauseI don’t trust the mechanic at this point and for good reason obviously and it’s just too far away, but the sales person was a pretty cool guy, and he was on top of his stuff. UPDATE: 08/06/2025: We have had the car in the shop since the last part, so maybe a month or a bit longer? THey called us today and said its ready to pick up again. So third time is a charm I hope and Dave, the guy that is in Service btw is an awesome gentlman. He got us in and hopefully everything is good. We shall see but I did go up a star for that. It was deserved....

10/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND

I purchased my 2016 Subaru Legacy with 95,000k (approx) miles on the car in April /May 2024. After putting down a significant amount of money (due to personal credit reasons) I put down almost half the price of the car. Upone arrival to pick up said vehicle & signing paperwork, I had to wait 2-3 hour for a clock spring to be put in the horn(in order for the horn to work) of the car the said was ready to drive. I was almost late to my new job because of this, a week or two go by and I notice I don’t have windshield washer fluid so I bought some, filled it up, attempted to spray and nothing happened. The washer fluid hose wasn’t there (Safely issue #1). Later in the same week the exhaust started making a loud rattling noise(Safety issue #2). I called the dealership making complaints about these issues and was told I’d have to wait until the end of July beginning of August 2024 and was advised by their service department that I can take it to another dealership and have a diagnosis done there and it should be covered under the warranty and pay the deductible. I took the car to Mitchel Subaru in Avon complaining about the issues I was having and they said that the deductible would be the same price to fix the hose on the car and that the issue I was having there were unable to duplicate. I advised A better way of this they said if the problem persist to contact them or go to Subaru (again for a safety issue that should be or should’ve been addressed immediately) in the next few weeks the car was losing power shut off and stalled on me twice I contacted A Better Way and they advised me that they weren’t available for appointments until November-December. Well in that time I spent $540 on parts for the car $620.00 in diagnosis fees $400.00 on labor. The car needed a catalytic converter before I bought it they tried to cover up the rattling noise coming from the exhaust it needed a washer fluid hose so in case my windows were dirtied I can clean them without having to worry about my safety. They haven’t done anything to attempt to fix my solution but send me everywhere else with a warranty they sold me that doesn’t work! It doesn’t cover anything that needs to be fixed on the car at all! I’m in the hole almost $17k+ and to find out after I purchased my vehicle that this “dealership” is being sued by the attorney general’s office! I’ve honestly never been so disgusted and at a loss for words for the lack of customer service, support, lack of concern, attempts to fix the safety issues with the car that should’ve been fixed prior to me getting it! I would never send anyone here! EVER! I’ve recorded conversations with them and I’m patiently waiting for the lawsuit to drop or channel 8 or channel 3 to call me back for my story on this issue with this dealership. Cheaters liars & swindlers will never prosper & you A Better(Worse) Way Auto will have your day & pay for every single customer you’ve wronged with the cars you’ve sold! Then to gas light me & say you’ve put almost 20k on the car… sir it’s a car it’s meant to drive and I’m driving to pay it off and pay for these diagnostic fees for a car that shouldn’t have been sold and a warranty that’s...