Port Charlotte Honda

Excellent service

I use Port Charlotte Honda for routine maintenance.

.

unknown

unknown

unknown

I went there to diagnose a and quot;check engineand quot; light. For an hour, I sat in a beautiful waiting room, watching TV, and eating a free donut. Nice. The service manager then insisted I sit in his office and proceeded to give me a list of $1800 worth of repairs that needed to be done. I told him that they had been done already to which he replied and quot;No they haven't, we checked the database.and quot; Well, they were done for half the cost by an independent garage, but any mechanic who looked at the engine would see that the work had been done! And, the check engine light? $450 for the part and $200 to put it in. Here's the kicker: the list price on the part was $300. It's experiences like these that gives dealerships a bad name.

I like their availability.

I have a new car, so I get all my service there. They are well. I did price comparison and they did good.

I would NEVER buy or lease from this dealer. I recently moved to Florida from PA. I had 2 leased cars ending and wanted to get a new lease on a new car. I pulled up and there were many and quot;salesand quot; and other people outside. A young man named Shawn asked if he could help. I explained why I was there and asked an initial question regarding how I go about ending a lease that came from PA. As he had only been there 3 weeks he said let me get some help from Yves, he is more experienced and will surely have answers for you. In the course of conversation we asked our questions and also let them know we would be getting 2 cars within the next few weeks. Also that we had been leasing 2 cars every 3 years from the same Honda Dealer in PA and were looking to find someone like that here. These 2 and quot;salespeopleand quot; were either too inexperienced or I don't know what to understand that if they gave me superior service that they would be guaranteed 2 sales every 3 years.
In any event in the course of dealing with them, here are the things I did not like:
1) My info on my leased car was taken as if it was a trade in, I kept saying but it's a lease, at the end I just turn it in, why do you need this info? No explanation, just continued to ask questions.
2) My Social Security info was taken which I expected, but I was never given the mandatory paperwork to protect me which was one of the 1st things I got at the dealer I ended up leasing through.
3)Their initial offer on pricing was incredibly ridiculous, we're talking almost 3x what I ended up paying elsewhere and with large amounts down and I had told them I wanted to do a zero down offer. I also have excellent credit(an 863 FICO), so there is absolutely no reason I shouldn't get the best rate which means a lower price. On a Civic LX their offer to me was for $330 per month with $3000 down to $500 per month with $1000 down...do you think because I am originally from out of town that you can take advantage of me, are you serious?
4) In the beginning of the conversation everything in regards to the car I was about to turn in was wow what a nice car, great car looks brand new, etc. As soon as they started talking money that car turned into a negative.And everything was based on that car including the new price I would pay as they asked my current payment on that car--even though that car was more expensive to begin with than the car I was looking to get now.They were all about how that car was going to make my new one cost more. I reminded them that I leased it and yet they still were making it a factor.
5) Excuse after excuse was made as to why I was getting these high offer amounts until I got to the point that I told them I was insulted to even think they could realistically expect me to consider any of them and especially with the lame reasons they were dishing out.
6) The sales manager came over and further added insult to injury stating to me that well of course the salesman has to go for the most they can get as they have a family to feed. He made a point of telling me thatand quot; we all need to calm down, well actually you and you (meaning myself and my husband) need to calm downand quot;. I was not screaming, yelling, making a scene or anything of that sort...but he made it clear to me that WE were at fault not he and his team.
7) The price then amazingly dropped from a high of $500 to $279 with $1000 down.
At this point I really did not want to deal with them, I told them I would think about it and hold that price for me for 2 days to which they agreed.
I then checked out other dealers in the area. Over the next few days while I was making my decision, first Shawn called me. I will say that he apologized for the ridiculous figures thrown at me saying it was a computer mistake. (Oh no one looks at something priced ridiculously high and says oh wait that can't be right before presenting it?)When I asked him was the deal any better he said and quot;oh it's what we talked about , just what you wantedand quot; I said I was talking a lot less than what you offered me so what is the deal? He was unsure and hadn't even bothered to refresh himself on the offer that was originally made to me. I gave him a price and said get back to me when you get to that. I was assured he would get right back to me. Nothing.
Two days later Yves called me, knew nothing about Shawn calling me and wanted me to come in. He also could not even give me the prices talked about when asked. I told him I didn't have time for this and if I wanted to come back in they would know when they saw me.
Two days later Paul the Sales Manager called me because and quot;it's the end of the month and we really want to make a deal with youand quot; was the message I got on my voicemail.
In the meantime I went 30 minutes down the road to Venice where I was treated professionally, given a test drive and full description of the vehicle, then taken inside to work a deal. Paperwork was signed and explanations were given every step of the way as to what they were doing. Oh, you're turning in a low mileage lease, well we can maybe work something with that , let's check that out. Reasonable offers were made. A deal was signed at a price that was in line with where I wanted to be...MUCH lower than ANY offer made to me at Port Charlotte Honda. The salesperson was knowledgeable-able to tell me that the one particular color I was interested in didn't come on the model car I was looking at...whereas at PC Honda they had no idea why they couldn't find that model in that color.
All in all I have never seen such a bad operation. I came in wanting to be a customer for life and I left with the thought that I don't care if they are 5 minutes from my home, I will take the extra drive to go anywhere but here!

I would recommend them to others only if they have purchased a car from them otherwise their prices are a little stiffer than the competition. It is better to have a coupon and it has got to be something that they are looking to do at a reasonable rate, otherwise the prices tend to be a little stiffer.

My experience went well and I ended up with a good deal because I'd done advance work and was ready to buy a good deal when it was finally presented. Haggling over price is the same as it's always been in the car business.

I like them. They are upbeat and enthusiastic. They are really helpful.