AutoSavvy Windsor — Local services in Windsor

We bought a 2019 Subaru through Autosavvy in Windsor. We’d never bought a rebuilt title before - so we were actually pretty nervous about it and tried our best to do our due diligence. They did a really good job answering all our questions and making us feel good. And we ended up buying the car. They talked up their warranty (I think it was around $3500 (the car was 16 or 17k, I can’t totally remember)) and told us it literally covered “everything”. I remember them saying “even if your stereo stops playing, just bring it in, and it’s all covered.” It made us feel a lot better knowing that, being a rebuilt title and we didn’t know the future, that for $3500 we could take the guess work out of it. So that was really the selling point for us. I’m not a car guy, and it put both my wife and my’s minds at ease. We asked lots of questions - “it covers literally everything,” they kept saying.

We took the car home, and within a few days noticed some fluid on the ground. We took it to an oil change place and they said we had a transmission leak and to take it back to the dealership. We did, and I thought whatever they did would be covered by the warranty we bought. The guy at auto savvy said it wasn’t covered and gave us a bill of $400 or so. I was annoyed and he came back and lowered it by 1/3rd. I gave up and paid it.

Soon afterwards the brake light came on. We took it to a Subaru dealership who identified a brake fluid leak. Before we even had time to take it in to autosavvy, the check engine light came on. At this point, I’m worried we had bought a lemon and I took the car to our mechanic (Auto Repair Experts - they are awesome), and asked him to go over the car fully. He did and found there were was a leak with the rear brake caliper and hose and problems with both rear wheel bearing assemblies. About $1800 in repairs. He looked up the car and noticed that it was from the Midwest or east coast and identified right away that rust was the issue of the wheel bearing and brake fluid leak. And that (and most importantly), that this takes years…and was already a problem when I bought the car. I’m okay if autosavvy didn’t know that. But that’s on them. And that’s why I bought a warranty.

Andrew the mechanic called autosavvy to figure out the warranty stuff (this would most assuredly be under warranty, right?) - and it turns out they sold the warranty to a 3rd party company called “Endurance” - who quickly denied the claim saying “that stuff wasn’t covered.” Infuriated, I called autosavvy and worked with Trinity (she was always really nice) who worked with my mechanic getting pictures and stuff sent to them. Autosavvy came back and said “file a claim with Endurance” (which they knew we already had). I was pretty upset and she came back and said that “management was willing to cover 50% of the repairs.” I was still pretty upset, but ultimately, didn’t feel like I’d get any better of a resolution (which was infuriating to me) so I reluctantly accepted their offer. A little more than $800. I was super frustrated with the whole process so far.

It gets even more stupid - because after our mechanic did the repairs and I paid him and asked Autosavvy to reimburse me (which they told me to do), I got this response: “After talking with management about a reimbursement, we were approved to cover these repairs if we paid the shop directly. At this time, we are unable to reimburse for repairs as that was not what was agreed upon at the time of approvals for coverage.” WHAT?!?!?!?!

I responded with this message: “This whole thing is crazy to me. Like it boggles my mind. I'm a small business owner. My name matters. How I treat people matters. I would never ever treat anybody like you guys are treating me. Do you guys do this to everybody???”

Trinity responded with this message: “We have been approved to reimburse you the $849.63”.

I would never buy a warranty from these guys. I would never buy a car from these guys. They’ll sell you a warranty knowing full well they have no intention of...

At this point, I’m not thrilled with my experience. Emmanuel was great to work with & I love my Pathfinder except: It was dirty when I test drove it. It was supposed to get detailed while I signed paperwork,but that either didn’t get done or was done very poorly. There was trash in the seat pocket, the area between the center console and the seats wasn’t veryacuumed, the visors have an orangish tint at the bottom where somebody with makeup on their fingers touched them often, The bottom of the cupholders & other areas are coated in ick. The area between the inside and outside of the cargo door is coated in thick dirt. The ceiling is covered in marks and stains. It just feels grimy, and that’s not the way a newly purchased vehicle that cost over $30k (before interest!) should feel. The AC they said was fixed before I bought the vehicle is very much not fixed. It doesn’t work at all. I sat in the dealership for 3hrs yesterday, only to be told it wasn’t fixed and someone would call me today with info. Nobody did, so I called at the end of the day & was told it will be at least a week until they receive the parts & they don’t have a loaner available. It was 90 degrees outside yesterday. No AC in 90 degree weather is so awful, and the vehicle is getting ever dirtier from having to drive around with the windows all down. . The vehicle locked me out this morning while I was leaving to bring my daughter to school. I started the car, then jumped out to help her and the doors all locked behind me with the car running and with my phone & work laptop in it. I used my Google voice line on my personal laptop to call the dealer to get information on the roadside assistance plan I had purchased, because the information was also locked in the car. Nobody was available to take my call, so I left a teary message asking for a call back. I never heard back from them. It was a 2hr wait for roadside assistance through my insurance and I missed an important meeting, as well as a meeting with my boss because I wasn’t able to use the authenticator on my phone to access my work email. I mentioned the issue on the call regarding issue #2 and was told to watch YouTube tutorials or call Nissan. I had already read the entire user manual and watched many YouTube tutorials during the two hours I waited for roadside assistance and already knew at that point that it was not due to a vehicle setting and that it was not supposed to function that way. The lady I was speaking to said I needed to take it up with Nissan and that it would only fall under the dealer warranty if Nissan determined that a part needed to be replaced. I went to 7-11 this evening and the vehicle wouldn’t start when I was leaving the gas station. I was able to jump it to get it started, but it will not hold a charge and Is currently sitting in my driveway completely dead. I’m a single mom with a very small support system in the area where I currently live and I’m not sure how I’m going to get my daughter to school in the morning. I have owned this vehicle for exactly 6 days and I’m starting to get really concerned about the vehicle itself and the lack of concern/urgency/response from the dealership. I will be calling them first thing in the morning about the car not starting because I’m afraid it could be a bigger issue than the battery itself. They didn’t detect battery issues during the 100 and however many point check they do prior to selling the vehicle and there were no low battery or battery issue alert’s from the vehicle prior to this happening. This is the first vehicle I’ve ever purchased on my own. I’m just now getting on my feet after being unexpected laid off from my employer of 10 years and the subsequent 14 months of unemployment that followed. I left the dealership last week feeling so independent and proud of myself, but now I’m starting to feel like I maybe didn’t do enough research or the right type of research and missed something that’s going to end up costing me things I don’t have any extra of right now, like...

Very unfortunate experience at Auto Savvy today. We came in at 6:15pm, google states they close at 8. Seemed right from the get go we were too much to handle and truly felt like there was no care for why we were there. I told Amy who greeted us I got my car payoff taken care of and was there to make a deal but didn’t know exactly what suv we wanted to go for and wanted to take a look at a list of 5 we had made up after looking at the stocked inventory. Their inventory is extensive and they have great prices so we wanted to do our due diligence. This however seemed exorbitant to Amy and like we were a burden to her keeping her from being able to leave to go home. Literally stated “I will only pull up 3 cars for you as we’re closing” once again google says 8… I worked in the car industry for years and it was very odd to hear that someone didn’t want to stay to make a deal when we were so excited about the ascent on the lot. Working in the industry as long as I have, I was waiting for a “well let’s work some numbers” or “great I’m glad you found the car you liked would you like to start the process? Etc…” there was none of that. Literally pushed out the door and told to “go look around the lot at the others I wanted to look at” walking alone in the cold with my wife and 5 year old daughter looking at locked cars. What a joke. Came in and got pushed out the door with what felt like zero care or effort when I had cash in hand plus a paid off trade in for a deal right then and there. At this juncture, I appreciate seeing the cars we were able to look at (the 3 she stated she only would pull up) but I would never buy a car from here with the treatment my family and I received. Going to purchase an ascent from a dealership this weekend that responded with care immediately. What a shame.

UPDATE EDIT:

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED BY THIS DEALERSHIP. On the promise from the owner/ceo and Nicole in finance I was promised a better experience and a fixed visit from my last review left. Promised a “deal I couldn’t refuse” and “anything they can do to obtain my business” to “make the situation right” The absolute opposite experience today once again!!! Calebb was fantastic and this has nothing to do with him or his customer service (the only bright shining light here apparently). Thank you Calebb for being the one and ONLY positive part of this visit.

CHRISTIAN the GM was an absolute nightmare of a human being and literally stated my experience and what I was saying about wasting my time due to the slap in the face offer I got after all the promises made was “unfair and an unrealistic view of their dealership” which absolutely got the best of my frustrations to which I started arguing with Christian stating the communication I had WITH OWNERSHIP AND NICOLE (head in finance) and what that communication entailed and he blamed me for the miscommunication of information regarding the deal and cars at hand spoken to Nicole and ownership… then I GOT SHOED OUT THE DOOR ONCE AGAIN. I was fuming so I didn’t hear whether he said “okay this is done” or “okay you can leave” but either way he was OVER dealing with me… are you KIDDING me?? True bait and switch tactics with even worse motives. Absolute waste of time, space and energy. I’d give my money to the nearest forest fire than ever step foot into this horrendous place of vile customer service and negativity. Either an overhaul or serious corporate training is needed or this business is heading to the ground FAST based on who they have speaking to their customers. Maybe have the GM learn a thing or two from Calebb about customer service as he himself stated upon me leaving at my vehicle “(I’ve never seen Christian talk to anyone like that before)” so maybe take a step down from your high horse Christian and learn something from someone who actually knows how to speak to a customer. From Amy giving the same treatment to today with Christian this place is FULL of people who don’t care about you and show it readily on their face. Truly pathetic. AVOID THIS PLACE...