Thumbup to Volkswagen Springfield

[JST]

Helped a friend buy a used Mazda Tribute this weekend. Given the number of negative dealer stories we so often post, I thought I'd post a positive one.

We bought the car at VW Springfield (Virginia), the same place I bought my GTI. In both cases, the level of BS was very, very low, the salesperson was honest and forthright, and there were no games. The contrast to a number of other local dealers that we visited this weekend (e.g., Rosenthal Mazda) was dramatic. Moreover, the used cars were all actually priced reasonably (by which I mean with some reference to their value, rather than seemingly being dictated by the size of the sales manager's bar tab from the night before).

The experience wasn't perfect, but perfection is unlikely in any car dealer.

I'd recommend them to anyone in the DC area looking for a VW.


(I also sat in a Phaeton. I have no desire to own one, but I'd *really* like to park one in my living room to use as furniture. Man, that's a sweet interior.)

[clyde]

The contrast to a number of other local dealers that we visited this weekend (e.g., Rosenthal Mazda) was dramatic.

Hmm...I bought my RX-8 from Gaithersburg Mazda, which is part of the Rosenthal group and they were pretty straightforward and honest. The closest to being underhanded was negotiating the price without orally indicating that the destination charge and their own "processing fee" of $99 weren't included in the numbers on the offer/counteroffers. They were listed next to the figures though. I knew that was going on, though, and I had been factoring in that combined amount. Then, when we "had a deal" and the price of the car plus destination and their fee was what I was nearly happy with, I played dumb and said I wasn't aware that those items were going to be added. I intimated that I would really hate to have to kill the deal over it after they had been "so kind and helpful" and we had all put in so much time. At that point, the manager came over and said that he would give me my price (the previously agreed figure including destination and their fee) if I promised to give them a perfect score on the post sale survey.

I have a hard time saying that they were decietful by trying to pull this, because it was listed alongside the written offers and counteroffers, so it was there to see for anyone paying attention. It wasn't like they appeared out of nowhere while at the F&I guy's desk. Still, for someone that didn't know any better it would have cost them an extra ~$600 after they thought that they had a price.

[JST]

The contrast to a number of other local dealers that we visited this weekend (e.g., Rosenthal Mazda) was dramatic.

Hmm...I bought my RX-8 from Gaithersburg Mazda, which is part of the Rosenthal group and they were pretty straightforward and honest. The closest to being underhanded was negotiating the price without orally indicating that the destination charge and their own "processing fee" of $99 weren't included in the numbers on the offer/counteroffers. They were listed next to the figures though. I knew that was going on, though, and I had been factoring in that combined amount. Then, when we "had a deal" and the price of the car plus destination and their fee was what I was nearly happy with, I played dumb and said I wasn't aware that those items were going to be added. I intimated that I would really hate to have to kill the deal over it after they had been "so kind and helpful" and we had all put in so much time. At that point, the manager came over and said that he would give me my price (the previously agreed figure including destination and their fee) if I promised to give them a perfect score on the post sale survey.

I have a hard time saying that they were decietful by trying to pull this, because it was listed alongside the written offers and counteroffers, so it was there to see for anyone paying attention. It wasn't like they appeared out of nowhere while at the F&I guy's desk. Still, for someone that didn't know any better it would have cost them an extra ~$600 after they thought that they had a price.

I've had a series of rather unpleasant experiences at the Rosenthal dealer in Tyson's. The salesman are a weird combination of extraordinarily pushy (one of them once stood in front of my car to prevent me from leaving) and totally uninformed. We spent 20 minutes on Saturday trying to get the guy to tell us what his asking price for a specific used car was--he didn't know, and had to ask his manager, who was not available.

[clyde]

I've had a series of rather unpleasant experiences at the Rosenthal dealer in Tyson's. The salesman are a weird combination of extraordinarily pushy (one of them once stood in front of my car to prevent me from leaving) and totally uninformed. We spent 20 minutes on Saturday trying to get the guy to tell us what his asking price for a specific used car was--he didn't know, and had to ask his manager, who was not available.

In a similar way, I had a bad experience with the used car people at one of the Passport dealerships somewhere in VA that resulted in distrust of all Passport dealerships despite the frequent good words I hear about Passport BMW.