Laura Chevrolet Buick GMC of Sullivan — Local services in Sullivan

Buyers beware!!

If you plan to purchase a pre-owned vehicle from Laura, be prepared to pony up for an extensive bumper to bumper added warranty.. or prepared to pay for extensive repairs..

We purchased a 2016 Ford Edge the end of July, and was able to drive it for a month.. it has been in your service department since... until we are capable of paying for repairs that had to be done. The used vehicle lasted a month and made it to the first oil change before the flex plate cracked and caused a $6000 +/- repair bill.. on top of the $15,500 and the $1,500 in taxes we paid on July 28th.. And because the used car manager at Laura GM/Chevrolet was extremely arrogant, and down right rude.. we will not be dealing with Laura Auto Group ever again. His treatment of, not only myself, but my wife was downright unprofessional and unforgivable. The lack of integrity and lack of customer service from such a supposed upstanding dealership, was disappointing to say the least. As soon as we are capable of moving forward, we will not be back as customers.. This is the second used vehicle from the Laura Auto Group lot that has turned out to have internal issues and possible known issues from the manufacturer within 30 days,that were not disclosed. To add insult to injury, after paying $6083.00 for the repairs, I was traveling down the highway and the vehicle shut off... At 70 MPH!! And did so intermittently until I was able to get the vehicle back to our garage... Where it was discovered that the Negative battery cable was just sitting loose and the ecm connector wasn't fully seated.. that could have caused an accident or worse.. This is the second time we, as customers, have been poorly treated by Laura Auto Group... From what we gather, we are far from the only customers that have learned this lesson the hard way. We have heard more and more negative stories about the dealership here in Sullivan, Missouri... With all due regards, we will be taking our future business elsewhere. Their response "Hi Nicholas,

The vehicle you purchased had 144,062 miles on it at the time of delivery. On higher-mileage vehicles, we always offer our warranty products to our customers and encourage them to consider some kind of coverage. We offered you several warranty options, which you declined. The vehicle was brought back to us having over 7,000 additional miles put onto it in 32 days, which is particularly hard on a vehicle. We understand your frustration, but there's very little we can do in situations like these without some kind of warranty coverage on the vehicle. In situations like these, all we can do is help get your vehicle repaired and back on the road again. We've done our best to help you within our abilities."

First, we were offered little in the way of "Extended Warranty Options", for additional $$.. that may or may not cover said repairs.. Secondly, were also told we could purchase one later if we so felt the need.. lesson learned, as you will find every avenue to deny responsibility and avoid integrity.. you imply that someone wouldn't actually purchase a vehicle to drive.. A mighty expensive lawn ornament if you ask me... 7000 miles is hard on a vehicle? Considering the maintenance recommends an oil change at 10,000 mile intervals.. And, after speaking with Ford, TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN 2.0L EcoBoost - Rattle Noise And Cracked Flexplate 20-2212 implies that the flex plate in the vehicle was most likely already damaged, and within that 7,000 miles had completely failed... I'll admit that it may have been unbeknownst to myself and/or the dealership at time of sale.. but again, they feel no obligation to the customer.. I mean, at $15,500, plus tax and fees, you would imagine that a customer would expect to have a vehicle that would last more than a month, or 7,000 miles... and you could understand the frustration of that same client spending an additional $6,000 ($4,788 in labor alone), but refuse to accept any responsibility, and continue to fault the customer 100%...Because you lack integrity behind your...

Would not even honor their 30 day used car warranty since we did not buy their "extended" warranty at inflated prices. Spent over $30k on a late model GM vehicle that had a sporadic transmission issue that was discovered at test drive and reported as fixed with the fluid changes prior to purchase. In addition their shop that we waited days on at time of purchase to fully inspect the vehicle completely missed that the rear left shock was "locked up", and other shocks were leaking. Obviously a huge safety hazard as it prevents the wheel from raising during cornering over bumps. $1300 just in parts for new shocks. Turns out they also put the wrong fluid in the transmission (the Mobil fluid for the 8-speeds) which is wrong for this 6-speed transmission. Wife drove the vehicle for a couple weeks and noticed the transmission issues were still occurring randomly. She called Laura during the 30-day warranty period to notify them of the transmission problems. She then took the vehicle to the local GM dealer (closer to our home) who said they they couldn't get it to recreate the issue at the time they were looking at it but said that doesn't mean there isn't a problem. Flash forward another 2 months and the transmission problem has continued to get worse to the point there is no way it can't be diagnosed, so we limp it back to Laura expecting they will honor the 50% warranty on it since we reported the issue during the warranty period and it was the same issue present they were able to duplicate before they worked on it at the time of purchase. Service department was sympathetic, and does what they can on the price, but still looking at $4k for a new transmission. Speak politely with the sales manager, Mike, who says they will not honor their warranty because we didn't have the problem diagnosed within the 30 day period. Everyone knew there was a problem with it, but no one could diagnose exactly what it was early on (GM torque converter failures the full size trucks). Was fairly happy with Laura initially, but now we feel screwed as they obviously don't stand behind their own warranty. This sales manager is definitely off our list for future vehicles! Shame too; this guy apparently doesn't realize the value of repeat customers. Cost to them to honor their warranty was certainly far less than the markup on the new pickup truck I was planning to go them for this fall as we had a good initial sales experience. Buyer beware, this sales manager Mike only cares about you until you drive away, and apparently not about customer retention, although the guys in the service department I will say I feel treated me honestly/fairly in the recent final diagnosis on it, although I do wish they had been able to diagnose the real problem when the vehicle was being purchased and they "fixed" it with the fluid changes the first time. If they had, I wouldn't be buying a new transmission 4k? miles...

As a husband who has "promised" his wife a new car for the past three (she'll tell you it was seven - but don't believe her) years, it takes the right situation for me to pull the trigger. Fortuitously, I decided to look a shade outside the STL metro area and I found everything I needed with Laura Chevy (Buick, GMC, etc.).

Of course, the siren song that drew me in was the price on the internet - a far better value than any I had seen in my car-shopping past. After I made an initial inquiry I received a prompt and friendly response from Sonya Weeke (thanks for kicking it off Sonya!), who then passed me off to Faron Horlacher. Faron reached out via email (even though they had my phone number I never received a call until I called them. As either the youngest of the Gen Xers or oldest Millennial I appreciated this) and we decided to meet.

Side note: (as if half of this review hasn't been side notes - if I could make footnotes at the bottom of the page I would) I visited this dealership twice during business hours to scope out the car and spent 10-15 minutes on the lot both times and was never bothered once. My entire experience here was no/low pressure. The only time I was engaged was when I wanted to engage, which was to meet Faron to conduct a test drive, which he helped me with.

I have nothing but good things to say about Faron - he's knowledgeable, honest, and seems like a genuinely good person. I came in expecting that the great price I saw on the Laura website was a bait and switch of offers that mostly I (always a skeptic) wouldn't qualify for but he confidently assured me that they were all legit (they were).

Quickly, we agreed to a price and he passed me off to the the finance manager, Shannon Nelson. Shannon talked a big game - confident that the finance rate that he could get me was superior to what I could get through my bank; of which I have been a loyal customer for 15 years. I asked him to tell me what he could secure (again, me, a pessimist and skeptic at heart) and he totally backed it up - coming in well below the % I had been pre-approved for through my bank - thanks Shannon!

If you're still reading (I don't blame you if you're not, I'm a bit verbose - and honestly, I wish I had better things to do on a Saturday night than writing Google reviews, but my wife is out at a trivia night, enjoying showing off her new Tahoe) I'll be succinct...

...Give Laura in Sullivan a try and ask for Faron...