East Side Auto

Reviews 4

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Shane Q

I had a chance for one of those "too-good-to-be-true" deals, and I got it. My experience was much different that others, and Id like to clarify a few things: 1. When I called, they made it very clear that they deal in Insurance Auctions, so most, if not all of their cars have salvage titles (usually flood). They also explained that they go through them and restore, then sell. Understanding this is key. 2. Its not a flashy dealership, theres not some guy hanging over you forcing you to buy their cars. you can test drive, inspect, and they even encourage you to have it checked out by your own trusted mechanic. So, if you want some plush carpet dealership with people who have nothing better to do than to hover over you, this isnt your place. HOWEVER, if you want to look at some cars that are in considerably good shape, and prices well below book value, then this is the place to look! 3. If youre looking to haggle with them, consider this: a. just like the vehicle I purchased, just about every car has 3 people wanting it, so your lowball offer is probably not going to fly. Take the price theyre offering and be happy. b. if theres something that obviously needs to be repaired, ask for a discount if you deal with it. I got money off because I was willing to do the brakes myself. 4. Im not sure about others experience, but I called them in the morning, and the salesman went OUT into the lot to visibly ensure it was still available. I then called just before I left to look that afternoon... again, he visibly checked to make sure it was still available. Ive seen the big dealerships leave ads up for weeks for cars that are gone. That is not unique... its a pain, but its part of car shopping. CALL and VERIFY. if the person is not willing to visibly CHECK that the car is still on the lot, move on to another dealership who will. Their staff was professional and courteous. Willing to answer any questions. My salesman was a busy guy, but was happy to stop and answer any questions I had. He didnt hover, but I also didnt have to hunt him down... he was easily available and visible. I took the time to look into the carfax of the vehicle I wanted. I was able to find its history, and even had an idea of what they paid for it at auction. That still didnt bother considering the price tag. They had to purchase it, ship it to their facility, repair and refurbish... even at the price they were asking, Im sure they were making money, (THATS why theyre in business!) but I was saving money as well! One last thing. Contact your Insurance company regarding the vehicle, to ensure you can get the proper coverage on it. I had no issues with my insurance company, but there are stories out there. Be ahead of the curve, and get it straight regarding coverage. Thanks East Side Auto! Great deal! Ill definitely be back when Im in the market again.

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A Private User

Buyers Beware I would never purchase a car from East Side Auto again. First of all, I would like to caution anyone thinking about buying a salvage vehicle. ALWAYS get your own inspection of the vehicle first. The dealer is required by law to take the car to a state inspection but this is NOT an inspection of the safety, mechanics or structural integrity of the vehicle. The state simply compares the reciepts the dealer has for the parts to make sure none of them are from stolen cars. Take the car to be inspected. Secondly, East Side Auto ripped me off. I bought my first car for a total of $11,500 after taxes and fees. That is a lot of money to me. Five months later I found out that the car wasnt safe to drive because the structure of the vehicle was not fixed at all from when the car was salvaged. Think about it this way: I found out that East Side Auto paid $7,400 for the car when it was salvaged. I paid $10,495 for it. When a car is salvaged, it means that the insurance company wont pay to fix it because the cost of repairing the damage is more than the car is worth. So this car needed about $8,000 worth of repairs. If East Side Auto had repaired the car to a MINIMUM level of safety, they would have spent at least $12,000 total. If they sold it to me for $10,495, they clearly didnt fix anything but how the car looked or they wouldnt have made a profit. I tried for a month to negotiate and to get them to buy the car back at a fair price. They did buy it back, but it was not fair and they were incredibly difficult to work with. I lost $2,500 on a car I had for 5 months. So basically I paid $500 a month to drive a car that would have seriously injured anyone in the car if I had been in an accident. East Side Auto clearly knew about all of this and they didnt care. I told them that I would be writing reviews online to let other consumers know what kind of business they are running. Buying a vehicle at East Side Auto is throwing your money away. They wont stand behind their warranty. They will tell you anything to get you to think that they arent responsible for the repairs.

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Casey Callan

Well as Jerad said, I too saw a too-good-to-be-true sale on a six cars that I really was curious about so I went in to check them out. Turns out they only had one of them and the rest sold. If this was the case that they sold, they should definitely be updating their website to let people know. That is not the only thing that I encountered that was disappointing. They sent me through the back garage area where they are working on all the cars to go to the lot by myself, which has to be a safety issue, and I was told to look for the salesman. I could not find him for ten minutes so I went back inside. They found him for me and he brought me to look at the one car they had that I liked. He said it was a salvage title like all the cars on the lot (past experiences with salvage titles=BAD) so that was a disappointment to find out but that will happen most places. The salesman then went to grab the key, gave them to me, and said here take it for a ride. He did not ask for my license to get a copy and the car had no plates. I could have been 15 years old for all he knows or a felon without a license and he would not have known. I just had a very poor experience here at East Side Auto and want to make sure people are aware of this before deciding on coming here for a car.

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Gene Behnke

Bought a car at East Side Auto about a year ago and so far no problems. Good value, good price. Also, transacting the car sale was by far the easiest one I had ever done. Great support staff. I really took the time to scrutinize the car inside and out, top to bottom. (I was under the car a couple times looking things over). Customers have to remember these cars were previously compromised in some way before they purchased and restored them. I think they did a good job restoring the one I bought but if you are an idiot about cars and dont know what to look for, you may want to try other places or bring someone with you who really knows what to look for. Paul, my sales guy, was forthright in answering questions. Before buying this car I drove other cars and on some he wanted my opinion in case anything needed to get checked out. Seemed like he was looking out for customers cause he wanted them to have a good experience. I dont think you should expect that from everyone; although, all the staff seemed to be genuinely friendly and helpful, but that is why I say if you havent taken the time to educate and understand what to look for bring someone with you that does to help ensure you have a good experience too.

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