Sunnyvale Volkswagen

Reviews 3

RO

Robin Zhang

In short, a seemingly clean used Volkswagen was nearly sold to me without any disclosure of the major problems with the vehicle and its history. Sam K was very kind and attentive to me, but the time and money that I wasted here due to the dealerships dishonesty was deplorable. I was looking at a 2008 Volkswagen Rabbit S that they posted on Autotrader and various other online used car search engines. It had a detailed clean Carfax with no reported problems or accidents across its entire 1-owner history. The car looked very clean and well-maintained in the pictures and in person. The dealer also provided me with a record of the 120k mile maintenance that their service department had just performed. I felt pretty confident about the car with this information, but I still wanted to take the car to an independent mechanic to be sure. An inspection by an ASE-certified mechanic revealed numerous serious problems with the car. The immediate problems included: major rear cylinder head oil leak, corroded battery terminals, dirty air filter, discolored brake fluids, excessive drive belt pulley movement, excessive harmonic balancer vibration, cheap tires, and a dead turn marker bulb. Repairs for these problems were quoted at about $3,000. However, the mechanic told me to "stay away from this car" for an even more serious issue: the onboard computer revealed a history of startling fault codes. At some point, the doors, airbags, and steering column had been REMOVED from the car. Furthermore, the data bus had a "leaking" code (i.e. the internal wiring had been altered and scrambled). The mechanic attributed the likely cause to an unreported major accident that had damaged the wiring and internal components which required the removal of the doors, airbags, and steering column for repairs. This car was not in a suitable condition for driving without immediate costly repairs. Either the dealers service department had completely missed all of these major issues or the sales department actively tries to sell used cars regardless of existing issues and without informing potential clients. Both inspire little confidence, but the latter is more likely because the salesmen were unsurprised and dismissive when I showed them the report. Plus, they did not want their own copy because they were not going to fix the problems! The car is worth less than half of what they are selling it for - they would not even lower the price after I learned about the $3,000 repairs needed. Their lack of disclosure and regard for the dangerous problems with this vehicle suggest a culture of dishonesty and borderline unethical behavior when it comes to used vehicles. Even the mechanics, including a former used car salesman, were surprised to discover the behavior of Sunnyvale Volkswagen. I would advise against ever considering purchasing a used vehicle at this dealership regardless of how cosmetically good the car may look, how clean the Carfax may be, the work of the service department here, and the cars price.

A

A Private User

I put 0.5 gallon of diesel on my car, accidentally. The car was towed to their facility (at their advice). When we got there, the service manager *started* the car that I got towed so I did not have to run the engine - before learning of the problem! They gave me quote of $360-ish to replace the gas filter etc, which we agreed on. Later in the afternoon, they called me and tell me there is $100 extra for disposal of the contaminated fuel that *they* didnt tell me in the first place. I said I was surprised it was that expensive, but if there is no alternative what can I do. Very shortly afterwards I called them again to delay doing it while I was doing my research (since I am suspicious of the price), and they declined - saying that they already started doing it; I told them that they are scamming me and everybody in my company will know about this. We got into a pretty long argument. I called my other mechanic, whom told me that the whole ordeal would have costed me *NOTHING*; he would just have got the contaminated fuel out and fill it with new gas. I got a call from Sunnyvale Volkswagen right away, saying that they would waive the $100 fee - recall that if I didnt fight for it, this would have been charged on my credit card. I called another VW shop (I didnt tell them that my car was already serviced), and they told me it should have costed me nothing since it was only 0.5 gallon of diesel, I just needed to fill it with the highest octane. If I still wanted to do the extra work with them anyway, total cost is $50-75 including parts & labor. I have checked with co-workers, who also gave negative reviews to this company, saying that they tried to get them to buy services they dont need, spend unnecessary $$$, and different people at that company would give them different list of work needed. I am willing to pay for a good service, I am just not willing to pay for what is beyond what I need, especially if it is overpriced. This was my last business with Volkswagen VW, both for service, and for buying or selling my car. I am not coming back. And this probably will prevent me from buying VW or Audi ever again.

LI

Linda Angela Hoecker

Super disappointed. Prior to my VW I had the same Honda for 15 years. It came to mean reliable, dependable, mechanically solid. When it died I went to VW and fell in love with a Golf GTI. Not even a year later the car has had body repairs due to the wrong glue, an emissions issue (not the diesel) and then an engine harness. Ill shorten things here but the engine harness was the last straw for me, the part had to come in from Germany. Im familiar with Germany and you can overnight parts. But lets back up, while waiting for a few hours for the techs to tell me what this check engine light was going to be, they decided they should send me off with a courtesy car. Okay thats great, sucks that this new car, the car that is my fun, hot hatch back will now sit at the dealer while I pay monthly payments, while Im in a Jetta. During that time the rental got a ding. Fine, stuff like that happens, and the guy calls me to say "hey you have I dent in the car", my response "ok", him "well were going to need to fix this and youre responsible", my response "ok", not sure what he wanted from me. Thats what insurance is for... Fast forward a few weeks, I hear nothing from VW, no estimate, no update, no surprise. I call, couldnt reach a person directly and was put into voicemail. Fast forward another week and I call my insurance and find out that there was a payment already processed. What? Why wasnt I in the loop. This was a small ding and now there is an agreed upon $1300 - $1400 bill? Few more weeks go by and finally hear back from VW. They tell me that insurance made a payment and there is a balance. My response "ok". Him "how do you want to pay?". "Send me a bill!?" Irritated mostly because of the lack of communication. Coupled with the fact that I would not have had the Jetta rental if the car didnt throw check engine lights. Missing my Honda, once they design a Civic that doesnt look so weird Ill go back. Besides my regular mechanic shuttered when I told him I got the Golf and said get rid of it in 3 years. To avoid the dealership experience, I will.