Pohanka Honda of Capitol Heights

My husband and I purchased a 2020 Honda CR-V from Pohanka Honda in Capitol Heights, Maryland and this was easily our worst car buying experience EVER. Prior to arriving, we had a great experience with our saleswoman who had two models of the vehicle we were interested in pulled up to the front awaiting our arrival at our request. We quickly decided on which one we wanted and began the paperwork. This is where is started to go downhill. We repeatedly mentioned through text, email and person we were not interested in financing through Honda as we already had it line up through Navy Federal Credit Union. When we began our paperwork, questions about what our rates, payments, etc would be, with our Credit Union. I again reminded our saleswoman we had financing line up and weren't interested in this and she stated these questions were just part of the paperwork and were required of her by her manager to ask us. While chatting politely with us, she started laying out papers for us to begin signing and told us both they were the "standard papers to get the ball rolling". Our mistake was not paying more attention and instead trusting her. Once through with her, we were taken back to finance and the finance worker began asking what our rates were with Navy Federal and after telling her we are not interested in Honda financing, she told us we could get a better rate for us and since my spouse is active duty, secure us an additional $500 off our purchase price. We again declined. While signing papers with her, she did an outstanding job of explaining every piece of paper we were signing was. Next, we sat and waited for her to call Navy Federal Credit Union and verify the check issued to us for the purchase. While waiting, I decided to go through my email. Imagine my surprise to see an alert from Credit Karma telling me I had a new hard inquiry on my report. I opened my account and lo and behold, Pohanka Honda had run credit checks on both myself and my husband despite us stating numerous times, we were not interested and had secured our financing. The manager on duty had come into the room at this point to assist the finance person with something so I asked why a credit check was performed without our consent and after a moment of appearing flustered, he began to rifle through our papers and pulls out the forms our sales person told us were just "standard papers". In tiny writing on the bottom, in a very large paragraph, it states by signing, we are applying for credit and authorizing them to run credit checks. There was nothing across the top of the paper or anywhere else clearly visible that this is what the paper was for or that it was an application of any kind. This didn't sit well with either of us. The manager began to stumble through an explanation stating it was the general managers policy to run credit checks on everyone who buys a car just incase their bank check doesn't clear. I requested to see a copy of the policy and after leaving the office with glass walls, we watched him walk around for a bit and return to tell us he couldn't find it and he wasn't sure it was written down. When further questioned, he then stated they did a credit check because of 9-11 and the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REQUIRES them to do it to prove we are who we say we are and that we aren't terrorists. What he was referring to is the Patriot Act. Anyone with a slight knowledge of the Patriot Act knows this doesn't require or allow car dealerships to run a credit check on customers without their permission. We argued rather heatedly with him over the topic and at one point he told the finance lady since we were "bending him over a barrel" to just cancel our sale. At this point, all papers had been signed, the check had been authorized by our bank and filled out with all of their information. I was more than thrilled to do this and to this very minute wish we would have, but my husband just wanted the whole thing to be over. We walked out of there with not only a godawful experience, but also with a car that in the grand scheme of things, wish we wouldn't have bought from them. We truly believe this company is hiding behind the Patriot Act in order to see if the customer will qualify for Honda financial services and then encourage them to finance through them instead.

I used to go to this dealership for 90% of my car maintenance needs. I had an older Civic so I needed more than just the routine oil change and alignment. The dealership was able to fix any issues I had and always had the parts in stock needed for my repairs. The waiting area has more space and entertainment options than some of the other dealerships in the area. There's a kids area, computer room and multiple tvs. Price wise this dealership probably falls in middle but on the higher side ("upper middle class"). It can be a little pricier than others so I would highly suggest weighing your options first. The staff that I have encountered have all been very helpful and able to answer any questions that I have.

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Lack of communication between me and the company

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First the good news about  our new car buying experience at Pohanka Honda of Capitol Heights.  The price was fair and the salesperson was outstanding.  She was a true professional on all accounts and provided exceptional follow up, especially dealing with some minor body work on the rear bumper.  Other than that issue the car was delivered in
perfect shape and have had no issues, what we expect in buying Honda vehicles.   I would also add that Pohanka Honda facility is a polished, modern up to date showroom and has a great auto service waiting
area. 
But now the bad news.  The follow up after the purchase was totally lacking.  We were given temporary MD tags but were told
not to worry, as we would get the Virginia registration quickly.   Who wants to drive on temporary tags?
Well after two weeks of waiting I called the dealership and was told that they only process Virginia registrations every two weeks but insure it was done on the following Monday (which by the way was a Federal holiday).  If we had known it was going to take that long I would have gone to VA DMV the next day and completed the registration ourselves.   Well another week went by and still no Virginia registration.  So I contacted the General Manager of the dealership to ask the status and find out what had
happened to our paperwork.  He agreed that two weeks was too long and would ?FedEx? the delivery of our registration
package.  Finally a plain brown envelope arrived 5 days later via first class mail that contained a photo copy of the
Virginia registration.  The enveloped came unsealed and did not have a return address of the dealership.  Our address was handwritten with had no other information identifying that the registration material had come from Powhanka
Honda.  I found this to be very unprofessional.  Well this isn?t the end of the story.  At the end of the week we received a letter from the Arlington County Virginia, Office of Commissioner of Revenue stating our vehicle had been registered in Arlington County and we would now have to begin paying personal property taxes to their jurisdiction.  I couldn?t believe it as we?ve never lived in Arlington County.   We have be residents of  the City of Alexandria for the past 15 years.  I'm not sure how a mistake like this could have happened but would hope it was not the fault of Pohanka Honda.
We believe an auto dealership should provide a positive across the board buying experience.  This was not the case at Pohanka Honda.   On a final note we were contacted by the dealership and Honda Corporate about how our buying experience, two days after the sale.  At the time our response was positive.  If only they had called us this past Friday I believe our response would be much different.  As it stands we would not buy a new vehicle from Pohanka Honda again.

They have free coffee, donuts and free WIFI. A comfortable waiting area. They have a free shuttle service. I will continue to go there.

Great. Had good and honest service from folks who genuinely cared.

They're efficient. They don't try to teach you basically but they only provide you the service that you would request.

They were the lowest price we found. They were close. They seemed friendly. The place could definitely be prettier, but I'm not going to move in, anyway.

From start to finish the entire transaction from vehicle search,pricing, pick up, and financing was the smoothest car buying experience I've had in 23 years.

I like them and think that they run a pretty good operation. They give me a ride to the office and they pick me at my office at the end of the day when I give them my car for servicing. They ensure that I meet the same person for the duration of my vehicle ownership to help improve our relationship. I have not used the waiting room, but the room where I talk to the person is fine. They are polite and clean. They treat you professionally and appear to be concerned about what's going on. I have no quality issues. They offer services like a ride to the metro stop or a drop to the office. I have recommended them to other people.

Pohanka is a big company. They do a lot of body work. They were very responsive. The issue there was that we were very anxious to get the car back. They kept us informed with the progress that they made. It as very hard for them to get parts because of the nose dive of the parts manufacturer.

I really like the service department that this dealership uses. They did a great job of fixing my brakes, even though I went home and I could still hear the squeak, I called them and they were very helpful and responsive about it. I took it back in and they fixed the problem right away. Their staff is great and very well trained. I am very pleased all around.