Carco Sales and Finance

STAY AWAY!!!
This is the worst car dealership I’ve ever encountered. I purchased a vehicle from them about a year ago, but they’ve been calling and harassing me all week saying I owe them $ 500 from the down payment of the purchase. My records show they cashed both checks a year ago, so I had to come down and clear this up personally. Their excuse was they must not have logged it when it happened. What the hell is going on at this place.
Now I have to speak on the entire nightmare experience. For one, I live in LA so I traveled down to SD to check the SUV out, Carco wouldn’t budge on the price. I was in a hard spot so I purchased it anyways, at their price. Left them a down payment of $ 1000, one $ 500 check with the current date and one $ 500 check post dated for the next week. Both checks went through after the following week.
I send them a certified mailed payment from my credit union for the vehicle, tracking says a woman at Carco signed for it. Carco calls me saying they did not receive the payment yet. They were saying if they don’t get the payment they will have to take action against me. I’m like what the hell is going on, it says this person signed for it a few days ago. They said she doesn’t have it. Then a few hours later they call and say yes she had it on her desk and had been sitting on it all week. Sorry. WTF!!! Totally UNSAT.
The next month my transmission went out on the SUV. I paid $ 4K for a new transmission. Mike tells me there’s nothing they can do about it … Serious? He then offers a $ 500 good will gesture. He ends up only sending me $ 300 instead of the $ 500. at this point I’m just happy to be done with Carco forever. Until they began harassing me this past week.
So my advice would be to stay far away from this Carco Sales & Finances place. They’ve given me far too many headaches. Please check their FB page, looks like there are a lot more customer complaints on there. I wish I would’ve known.

Best place ever! They helped me find the perfect car and they even help me set up my insurance. They went above and beyond to get me a good car payment plan. Their customer service is awesome. Id recommend this place to anyone who is looking to buy a good inexpensive car.

So this is part 2

I still have not gotten my remote and does not look like mike and the crew at carco are as good as I thought, I don’t think they care so this is for you people that may do there.
I’ll post on what happens next

Yea i purchase a car from them a couple months ago and there speedy customer service was excellent they were able to get me great deal and my car is still running great up this day.

On Unilocal I always find nothing but complainers from people that never do their research. I jumped on
and trader and the reviews were fine. After test driving several cars from various places I’ve not had any issues with my purchase here. If you’re here at carco like I was you need credit and down payment help so please pull you’re heads out of you know where as they’re taking the bigger risk.

Thumbs down! They will act so polite until you fall from their trap. The regret is always in the end but at least I learned a lesson. You need to please them really hard before they fix any problems. Always have a car expert with you before you shop. Be careful service members, you will be taken for granted!
— carco victim

The only reason I bought a car here 5 months ago was because a friend of mine bought 4 cars from there and had no complaints. I recently brought it in due to the check engine light being on. I brought it to my mechanic and he said a lot of work needed to be done, when I brought it back to the dealer they said they couldn’t find anything wrong with it, and the check engine light wasn’t on. 3 days later the check engine light is back on. I decided to have my family mechanic fix it… I regret buying from here but I suppose… You get what you pay for. My only regret is not buying a legit car, and dealing with higher payments for something reliable. I don’t trust anyone that works here or anything that comes out of their mouth. Beware.

One word: Slimy. After searching Auto Trader online, we found a truck that seemed to meet our needs that was located here. My husband, our two year old daughter, and myself cruised over yesterday to check it out. With my husband carrying our daughter, and me right behind them, he was greeted in English by slimeball #1, and I was greeted in Spanish, by the same guy. Clearly my husband is white (6’4, blonde hair, blue eyes) so one would assume he speaks English, and though I’m not blonde, I in no way resemble a Spanish speaker. It was obvious I was with my husband, who replied to the guy in English, and that if nothing else that would be an indicator that I too spoke English, so why this ding-​dong felt the need to greet me in Spanish was annoying– not a good first impression. I reciprocated his greeting with an irritated, firm, «Hello.» Next, we meandered about the lot searching for the truck we’d come to see. Prior to finding it, we were greeted by slimeball #2. Greasy in appearance, and reeking of horrid cologne, I reluctantly shook his hand. We told him we were here to see a truck we found on auto trader and he pointed it out to us. The price they had listed on the truck was $ 3K MORE than what was listed online. My husband asked if this was the same truck, and we were told yes it was, and likely there was a sale on it when it was listed. Okaaaaaay. After surveying the truck’s exterior, it was obvious this wasn’t the one for us. This «clean beauty» was anything but! Major dings, scratches, rust, and overall ugliness combined with the ridiculous sticker price was more than enough for us to walk away. My husband and I shared a relatively private chuckle about the pricing coupled with the condition in actuality vs that of online. Slimeball #2 with his giant bat-​ears (um, no one was talking to you!) inquired as to why we felt this wouldn’t suit our needs so I piped up saying that the truck was pretty banged up and WAY over priced for the year, and mileage. Douche McGee (I think that’s what he introduced himself as) decided this statement was his cue to argue with me LOL. I about died! Here he is trying to make a sale and for whatever reason he decides this is a good time to check me on what I know about used trucks telling me, «Well IT IS an 11 year old truck.» Actually, moron, it was a 10 year old truck, but not all of us were fortunate enough to have passed 1^st grade. Anywho, I politely explained to him that we had a vehicle that was 15 years old and it was in better condition than this one. He scoffed at me and with major attitude said, «Well we can’t make everyone take care of their cars, it’s a work truck, that’s what you get.» What?! LOL it was a tiny little 4-​door Nissan Frontier, not some jacked up diesel Dodge Ram 2500 LOL. No longer interested in arguing with Douche, I rolled my eyes and walked away with my toddler. Enter slimeball #3. This dude, for real, had his shirt unbuttoned nearly down to this belly button, bushy chest hair blowin in the breeze and his gut spilling over his pants! Could not have fit the slimeball car dealer bill any better! Pure comedy! Apparently it was obvious that Douche was failing miserably at solidifying any remote chance of a sale and chest & gut was now stepping in to try and woo us with his skillz. It was clear to both my husband and I that we were wasting our time here and all we wanted to do was leave but being a nice guy, my husband attempts to politely «yeah yeah, sure» chest & gut so we can bounce. While this is happening, Douche is standing literally a foot away from me next to a bush planted just outside their office, spitting! I’m holding my daughter’s hand and she’s dancing and hopping around (as two year old’s do) right next to this guy, and he is REPEATEDLY spitting into this bush RIGHT NEXT TO US!!! I was repulsed and appalled. Clearly the guy had zero sales savvy and no use for me from our previous exchange, but to stand there with his hands in his pockets, as if he’s part of the conversation my husband is engaged in and not even a foot away from me and my daughter, spitting into a bush, not once, not twice, but probably about 6 – 8 times, is despicable! If a bee had flown in his mouth, I could understand the spitting, but this casual spitting thing that just seemed to be some gross habit, was inexcusable. At any moment my toddler could have decided to investigate this nearby bush and would surely have been in the line of fire of Sir Spits-​Alot! So disgusting! It took all my strength and every drop of class I had in my being to NOT flip out on this guy and spit on him myself! He should be ashamed of himself, and so should his mother! No couth! Anywho, my recommendation is that unless you’re also a greasy, uneducated, classless douchebag, I suggest shopping elsewhere, anywhere else! Bait & switch pricing, rude, ill-​mannered sales people, and just an overall sense of barf is the best way of summing up this «establishment.» Did I mention, slimy?

Zero stars! I only put one because i had to. Mike is the sketchiest person I have ever done business with. Don’t do it, you will regret it. Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie. His office is ghetto, stains on the carpet & he tries to cover it up with gold chains around his neck. & none of his cars work correctly!
We rest drove about 4 cars& all of the engine lights & service sounds came in during test drive. We ended up getting a xterra for the time being, seemed in good condition, left went directly to the gas station to fill it up & it broke down at the gas station not even
An hour after we left, not only that but he lied & sold us a salvaged title.
He is the biggest joke we have ever met, if u think u are getting a good deal from him KEEP LOOKING! WALK AWAY & DON’T DO IT! There are so many reasons this place’s highest review only has 2 stars.

Used car buying is never going to be a great experience. They way I figure it, you have a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ shot of ending up with a decent vehicle. The bottom line is you just never know if you are dealing with a slime ball who is trying to pawn you off a piece of garbage. But sometimes, it’s your only avenue.
I found this place through
. They had a vehicle that met our exact needs, and that I couldn’t find elsewhere. I was preapproved through my credit union, so I went in knowing I wouldn’t have the stress of haggling with them on the interest rate or the headache of finance paperwork. My credit union called them the morning we visited to make them aware we were coming. When we showed up, the vehicle was being washed for us.
We took is for a test drive with Alex, looked under the hood, inspected for flaws (there were quite a few) and reviewed the CarFax (no charge). They had just put a new battery in that morning as it had been sitting on the lot awhile. There were a few major flaws (a missing visor which they fixed before we drove off), but because the price was already so reasonable, there was not much we could negotiate off. The radio was broken, so he offered a stock radio or $ 100 off.
I did get the schpeel that the price online had been knocked down $ 1,000 as a «few days only» special. I was told the owner was returning from Switzerland and wanted to reduce inventory before he got back, and as soon as the gal who ran the website came back in on Tuesday, it would be bumped back up. We bought the car on ⁹⁄₂₄ and it is still listed online as of today as being in their inventory… and for the same price.
They also spoke Spanish to each other in front of us. I don’t like that at all. I speak English, you speak English, so let’s all speak English. That made me wary.
Also, when it came time to put down the down payment, they wanted to shuttle me to my bank to get cash, because of a «fee» that was charged to run my debit card. I said «how much is the fee, I will pay it». «I don’t know», they said, «Like $ 100». WHAT? I have never heard of that in my life. This also made me very wary, receipt or not, I am not handing over $ 1500 cash. We argued about it for ahwile, I told them it was a deal breaker, and lo and behold, it was only a $ 25 fee, which they covered for me.
I know you are saying «why are you giving this 3 stars with so many complaints?». Like I said, it is a USED car dealership. I am ranking this amongst others of it’s kind. It could of been worse.
Proceed with caution. Also check out their record on BBB at

Called to see if I could test drive an Acura TSX I was interested in. Guy says «are you buying it?» I said I don’t know — I’ve never driven one before. He said — we don’t just let people test drive — the numbers have to work out and everything. I said I was paying cash. He said if you like it, are you willing to buy today. I said no, I’ve only test driven one car. He said — you’re too early in the buying process — and that I should contact him later (which I will never do). He said he didn’t want to «jump through hoops». I said, I didn’t know letting me drive one car was jumping through hoops and that I would just take my business elsewhere and stop bothering him. Business must be good if you can turn people away like that. p. s. Kearny Mesa Acura let me test drive a car today — and they didn’t give me a hard time! Much better business model.

Disappointed… been trying for several weeks to get them to honor the extended warranty they sold me.

I have had such a great experience at Carco recently. I just bought a car and the people at Carco made sure the process was easy. They gave me a few price, financing, and vehicle options and encouraged me to make the best choice for me (not them). After picking out a car that worked for my family, I was quickly financed (I have terrible credit) and was out the door within the hour. All my requests were met to make the car as perfect as possible. Even after taking possession of the car and owning it for a few days, I still received terrific customer service when I had questions and concerns. Carlos and Mike Siry were absolutely wonderful. Mike is compassionate and very respectful, and Carlos has delivered first class customer service. They have ensured my trust and loyalty. I hope you’ll give them a chance next time you’re shopping for a pre-​owned vehicle.

This place is a joke. I honestly don’t know how they are still in business.
When I walked in the door, a young, smiling white girl, they probably saw dollar signs because they thought I would be a moron.
Even though I called the day before, they had «sold» 3 of the 4 cars I asked about. Really, you sold 3 cars in a hail storm – and specifically the 3 cars I showed interest in? The 1 remaining car was priced at 2500 more than advertised online and they weren’t willing to honor their online price because it stated that prices were subject to change. Sleazy.
One of the cars I looked at was apparently involved in an accident on the lot and would take 3 weeks to fix. Why would you show someone a damaged car that won’t be available for 3 weeks?
When I found a car I could possibly be interested in, I wanted to talk numbers. They made me look around and then sit in the office for almost an hour while they «processed my application». They wanted me to put down a down payment of 33% of the price of the car, would only given me a 36 month financing term, and could not give me an exact number as what the interest rate would be, but rather gave me a 10% range. If you’ve processed my application and you’re telling me what my monthly payments would be, you know what interest rate you would be financing me at. I could possibly understand 1 percent (which still wouldn’t make sense), but a 10% range? None of the numbers were adding up at all.
Not counting the fact that the manager had slicked back hair, a gold chain and a leather jacket, there was definitely something sleazy going on. I sat there for awhile, for my own amusement, telling the guy that something wasn’t quite right. When flattering me wasn’t working, he began insulting me. Seriously? Does that tactic every work?
I ended up walking out, sick to my stomach at how ridiculous this place was. They must have thought I had the IQ of a gnat. Thank goodness, I don’t. When I got home, I did the math as to what my payments were for the length of the financing term, the approximate interest rate was 37%. In the course of the 3 year term, I would have paid over double the amount that financed. What?!? I don’t even think that possible.
It was my first car buying experience, and I was scared to go anywhere else. Was every car dealership going to be like this? Thank goodness, they’re not. Who would have imagined that a used car lot in Chula Vista would be sleazy? Haha.