Palmetto Alfa Romeo - Fiat — Local services in North Miami

PEOPLE - read reviews before you go there. If only I knew that before leasing a car. WHY I WENT THERE? I wanted to give it a shot and I started looking for a new car 6-7 month and pretty much knew these people. Customer service? WHAT IS THAT? I went there on the rainy day less then a month ago. I was so excited and happy. They did not have 2018, they had only 2017 and 3 left in stock. "THESE ARE THE ONLY ONES WE WILL HAVE 0F 2017'' Which now I know is not true as on the space where my car used to be (inside) there is EXACTLY the same car. Next thing - everything looked fine, they were friendly until the moment I put my last signature on. Also I was advised by Jassiel that they have an Excess wear and tear protection plan, which I found out at the end that they dont. I told him and the manager that I need it. For what they said "Its a new car, Alfa Romeo doesnt even have any charges yet esteblished for cases of dent and i don't need it. I believed them like all other 90% of customers would as We understand that the Italian Luxury car dealership needs to have specialist who would explain EVERYTHING to you. Here bad things come. Apperently my car had some computer issues - on the dashboard was an engine service light on, sensors error and some other stuff I don't even know, the horn wasnt working, DNA sport system wasnt working, breaks worked bad, Harmon Kardon sound system had some problems in the front left speaker. They gave me another car to drive while they are fixing it. I was so happy with my purchase so did not care about it at that moment. After 3 days I finally got back my car and I was promised to be given the owners manual. Nothing was given and I was told that everything is electronic right now and it is in the cars computer. (So will see after 3 years if they will charge me for not having one printed version). Soon as I got back home, all the lights appeared again. I called Jassiel and said to bring it back and they will give me another lease car to drive while they are fixing it. OK I guess. I got there and what do you think? I had to driver to Alfa Romeo repair center myself in order to get it fixed and it took me about 2 hours. So I was a little bit pissed but still happy with my dream car. What do you think happened next? Right! It appeared the next day. I called Jassiel and he was like "My friend, bring the car, we will give you another one to drive while we are fixing it" I was like OK, what else can I do. He was like "Come at 9, my manager will be there, he will assist you". I mean , when you hear that you trust it. Silly me. I got there Monday 9 am, late for my work, expecting to get a car. NO WAY. There was a young guy who was not informed of ANYTHING and I guess now that he does not know how to work with customers either. He told me that the manager would come only at 12. EXCUSEE ME what??? Ok, I am more then pissed now. After his conversation over the phone with the manager in spanish (which i understand) I wasnt happy at all. They desided to forward me over to the Alfa Romeo repair center again. I spent there almost 3 hours. Still think that the front collision sensor is not working, but I guess its ok. There is a scratch on the wheel which was there after it. I took a picture of it. I mentioned it but got ignored. Well its ok, as long as I have a proof of it. Another thing I was promised - my car registration quote" would come in an orange envelope to your home address". Here 3 weeks passed and I called him. He is like "Yes my friend, it is ready, come here" When I got there, there was a charge of 118$ for it. I was like isnt it should be included? He was like in order to reduce your monthly payments, we had to not include it. I asked to show me the contract and he said he doesnt have it. So I ended up paying it after he FOUND the contract. Yuhuuu So UNPROFFESIONAL. EVERYBODY. Starting from the managment!!! financial contract was filled out wrong!!! At the end I have hours spent at the shop, over 100 miles driven to them. Manager were ignoring me all this time, hard to...

A Review of Palmetto Alfa-Romeo Fiat.

TL;DR AT THE BOTTOM...

I went in on March 20th, 2020, with the intention of purchasing a 2016 Maserati Ghibli SQ4, the very same one I own at this very moment. I spoke to a gentleman by the name of Patrick, we got to the car, did a look around, did the credit check, test drove, typical things you’d expect to happen at a dealership. Finally all the paperwork was ready to sign in the finance office.

I then met the finance manager. We talked for a minute while he organized all the paperwork. I was then told by him that the rate the bank gave me was based on buying an extended warranty, because the bank “wanted to see me own the car for a while”, which was a bold lie, no bank will ever say that. A GAP Policy was also slipped into the contract without my knowledge. I then signed all the paperwork not really looking deep into it, as I was there for a good amount of time by that point and was in a rush to leave and get home. This part was completely my fault for not looking deeper into the contact, I could’ve easily saved any future headaches when going to trade in the car in the future.

One further thing to note is that I tried to cancel the policies at the dealer two separate times until i came back the third time and finally had someone do the cancellation process. The first time, the same finance manager who did my car deal, claimed to not have any cancellation papers (even though they’re printable), and said he would get back to me via email the next day to come sign them. Spoiler Alert: He didn’t, not exactly surprising. The second time I met the GM, who told me the accounting department was closed on weekends, and I would have to come back that Monday to sign the papers, whether that was true or not, I didn’t really know. On May 18th, the third and FINAL time I came in, another person by the name of Daniel helped me out. He called the respective companies that my policies were attached to, and printed out a form to cancel them. We both signed the papers, I got my copies, and that was the end of that. Daniel gave me an estimated 20 Days to receive a refund check from the Companies, and I will be dropping by the dealership very soon to check on the status of the check. I’m very disappointed that I had to go through a few hoops to cancel some policies, and I’m also disappointed that the finance manager can blatantly lie to customers without any hesitation. I expected full honesty and transparency coming into this place.

Although my car-buying process at Palmetto Alfa Romeo-Fiat was fairly painless, there were still some shady practices inside the finance office that I think people should know about. I may personally never do business with them again, but I don’t hate any of the staff members of Palmetto Alfa Romeo-Fiat.

TL;DR: Very straightforward process purchasing a car, but be wary of any deceptive practices used by the finance office. Double check all of your paperwork, and don’t let them tell you that extended warranties are needed for your loan rates, because they aren’t. When you do get stuck with a policy, be prepared to go through some effort to get them canceled.

UPDATE 2: After some advice, I decided to call the company who supplied the warranty. They indeed confirmed that my warranty was cancelled, processed, and the check was mailed on 7/1. I can finally move on without having this whole thing in the back of my head.

I removed my previous update due to exceeding the character limit. here’s a summarized version for transparency reasons:

Update 1: Went into the dealer to check the status of my refund. Accountant didn’t know what i was talking about. I assumed that meant that it was never filed. Wrote an angry update on...

Purchased a brand new Alfa Romeo Giulia...was so happy. So excited. I didn't care if they jacked up my previously negotiated monthly rate by $40 on my lease. I was just happy to be able to hop in my new baby girl. I should have read the reviews and gone elsewhere to get her though. I let the convenience of a dealer in my back yard guide my choice though. Big mistake. That night I picked up the car it was not cleaned and I had to go with my sales guy to get $20 worth of gas put in the car to complete the fill-up. Let's just say it was not the high-end experience--actually it's the kind of experience one would expect from a mom and pop dealer/owner. I was so happy with my new lady though that I did not care at the time.

Amongst my issues included having to go back days later to get my floor mats and manuals (I had to come get them despite being told they would bring them to me). Then my paper tag expired. I tried to pick one up the weekend before it expired. I was turned away because there was still time for it to come in. Ok I guess. It's understandable. I guess I have a higher expectation of what customer service should entail but I understand businesses have to watch the bottom line. It was impossible for me to come get it the day it expired but I had to make arrangements to make it happen. When I got there I was asked again "does it expire today"? And when I said yes, the lady sent the salesman to confirm what I said IN FRONT OF MY FACE simply to have him confirm that it was in fact expired. I was flabbergasted. So incredibly rude.

Two weeks later I get a call from my sales guy Jazz letting me know my tag had arrived. Here's where it gets tricky. While negotiating the price of my car I was doing so the whole time using the old "TTT" adage (tax, tag, and title included). Apparently this was ignored. As when I walked in to pick up my tag I was charged $230+ for it. Their excuse was "oh, sorry we don't do that." I've leased six vehicles prior to this one and have yet to have been lied to and deceived like this.

This is not standard business practice at South Motors BMW, Mercedes Benz of Miami, Lexus of Kendall, or any of the Rick Case dealerships. All places where I have leased or purchased from previously.

Buyers: be aware of what you are buying, what you should pay, and WHERE YOU BUY IT. Judging from other reviews I sure hope I never need service on this car. This place is full of dishonest people and they don't play by the same rules as others. Perhaps because it is smaller dealership they nickel and dime you after the sale and use deceptive tactics to make more money after the fact. If ever a warning applies it's here....