San Diego Auto Connection

Terrible! Don’t buy anything from them. especially a ridiculously priced extended warranty, they tried to sell me. After I bought my car, and then called back for service issue, they wouldn’t return my calls.

I found a 2013 Toyota Prius C in red priced unbelievably low that I fell in love with on the website. I sent an email for more information and specifically asked for them not to call me but to email me the information I requested. Promptly the next day, the Internet manager Paul contacted me via email like I requested. This set off a chain of events that led me to fly to San Diego where Jose picked me up in my car and drove me to the dealership. I could have test drove the car but I was unfamiliar with the city and didn’t feel comfortable driving. Jose being amazing kept on driving sensing my discomfort. Once at the dealership, the process was smooth taking 2 hrs from starting my test drive to walking out the door keys in hand. Special thanks to Jose Lopez for making sure my car was cleaned, all parts on/​in the car, gassed up and ready for take off. Oh and how can I forget the finance department for working a sweet deal on the interest rate! I got a hell of a deal and I’m telling everyone who will listen.

I just got done with a great transaction at San Diego Auto Connection.
I traded in my old 2004 Prius at a decent trade in value.
I think the negative reviews are people that don’t know how to do business in things like cars.
Of course people offer low when buying or state high when selling, that’s buy & sell 101. Also prices change when someone actually sees what the seller has or what they are buying.
With some negotiation, as anyone should be doing when buying things like cars, I got a very good price on a 2013 Prius.
Everyone working there was very friendly and a pleasure to do business with.
I always hear of negative experiences at car dealerships yet not for me at SD Auto Connect.
**In no way was I offered anything or convinced to do this review**

To make a long story short about a car from the dealership and after sometime the car had a catalytic converter issue. Took it to the dealership and got it fixed. The same issue happened to me again and that too was resolved. After sometime my car had an engine problem. Took it to a shop and had a new engine installed. A week or so later I had put the car up for sale and sold it to Auto Connection. I took the car to them they inspected and liked what they saw and ended up buying the car. I give it to them the receipts to all the problems that I had. Recently fixed during the sale and told them of such problems as well.
Week or so later, the company filed a lawsuit against me for resetting odometer, which I had no knowledge. The sales representative called me and started to dragged me on the floor talking down on me and where I was from. He even told that THIS IS AMERICA, you wont get away with this and to go back to my country. I went to the dealership to resolve the issue and they only incited the fire further. They served me and took me to court. I would not recommend doing any business transaction with these guys as they seem to take advantage of other people and are hard people to deal with.

I came here to sell my Honda Civic after taking it to CarMax and getting a lowball offer. This place offered me a couple thousand dollars more than CarMax would. Their offer was actually a little bit higher than Kelley Blue Book. Bill was one of the easiest people to work with and kept me well informed of the entire process. I would definitely come here again to sell a car as the transaction was smooth and as seamless as could be.

Everyone here is super nice and professional. I got the car I wanted and sold them mine and got what I asked for. We came in just to look at new cars to see what I would eventually like to have, but immediately saw the car I wanted left with it that day. I believe the car sales person that helped my husband and I out was Carl. I don’t remember, but he was great! Very knowledgable and super nice. Ian the guy who deals with the finance stuff was just as amazing! thank you guys so much I absolutely love my car and couldn’t be happier!

Horrible !!!
lier’s Scamming dealership. READ THE REVIEWS! it’s just like everyone said. They tell you they are giving you your asking price and then. LIER
We are selling our Truck on Craigslist they called several times and ww were told that they wanted to buy our truck. We told them we had a offer at $ 17,500. They told us they would give us that. We told them not to play games we were trading in our Truck to buy another. They said he will give us $ 17,500 if not $ 18,000. We said don’t waste our time they said they wouldn’t. Well we drive 40 minutes to them and they said the appraisal guy that said he would give us more wasn’t there today and that the most they could do is $ 17,000. They are nothing but lier I wouldn’t trust buying a car from them .it’s just like all the negative reviews are saying. I wouldn’t believe one of the positive reviews they probably are asking friends to put those in. Who wants to buy a car from a place that treats people the way they do. Just think what type of lemon your going to get stuck with. .Buyer beware

I give this place a zero. The sales men was disrespectful too a point where I just had to get up and leave. I’ll never do business here after my experience here. They call you on your Craigslist add wanting to buy your car and try a rip you off and treat you like you don’t know anything about car buying. If I remembered the guy’s name that help me I would of listed his name. But stay away from this place and go to a real car dealership if your looking to buy a vehicle.

Watch out for these sharks. One manager makes an offer to buy a car which I rejected. They then called me an upped the offer. When I arrived to complete the deal, that manager was conveniently not there. Then another manager swoops in an low balls me even though the agreed upon price was in their system and the acquisitions associate I had been dealing with was there and backed me. What a bunch of double dealers. NEVER AGAIN!

I bought a jeep from them nine months ago and never updated my Unilocal from 3 years ago I ran into Gabriel of all places at Mammoth Mountain and he asked if I would Unilocal them out! My 2004 Grand Cherokee Limited had just over 56,000 miles on it when I bought it 9 months ago, it just clicked 60 000; so I thought I would update my review.
I saw the Jeep at the tent sale at Qualcomm Stadium it didn’t sell at the sale and I came back Monday after already getting prequalified from Navy Federal. I was informed that they are a pretty set price store so when I offered them a thousand less was immediately told no that the market value for this low mileage Jeep was right where it should be. I was practically licking the paint off the jeep. I ask to speak to a manager, Mr Brown agreed to lower the price after I pointed out a couple of flaws on the vehicle, window struts on rear window, and an uneven worn tire.
I was given a thousand off the tent sale price turned in my check from Navy Federal when was driving the same day.
Ian did a great job in finance getting me in and out in under an hour. I did buy a warranty because I’d heard that Cherokees have electrical problems down the line and I’d read reviews from Edmunds and Kelley Blue Book that verified that information. Ian helped me select the high tech warranty for those issues should they arise.
Mr. Zimmerman the finance director followed up with me a couple days later to verify that my paperwork has been sent off to the DMV and everything was done. Fernando my salesman followed up with me at 1 month 3 months and 6 months intervals and asked me for referrals and how the car was running, great salesman. Hardest working guy I know next to myself! He’ll always gets my referrals
All in all a great experience. I bought 11 cars at various dealerships in my lifetime this was by far one of the easiest transactions, I’m so glad I went back there. It may not be the Range Rover that I was looking at back in 2013 but it’s still my blue dream thanks SDAC.

*** Excellent Customer Service ***
#1 out of the 7 other car dealers we tried! (Others will remain nameless)
Hassle free car buying… YES I said it. HASSLE FREE CAR BUYING.
You want by name praise?
General Sales Manager Gabriel
Sales Manager Fernando
Sales Representative Romero
These guys were really easy to talk to and definitely willing to work with us no matter how long it took and most importantly our budget. We spent 3 hours with them and at no point during that time did they try to pressure us into something we weren’t 100% comfortable with.
This is the kind of treatment is what I would want for my daughter, sister, girlfriend, mother, hell even my grandmother.
We wanted and bought a 2013 Chevy Spark for the perfect price (I won’t tell you it out of respect to them, but I will say it was a killer deal). All and all we got exactly what we wanted for the price we wanted.
They treated us with the utmost respect, my hat is off to those gentleman.
Honestly, thank you!
I will come to them next time I need to buy a used/​new vehicle.

Zack did an amazing job at getting us the best price for our car. He was very professional and courteous. The process was very straight forward and took less then I expected. Great place to sell your car. Ask for ZACK!

Don’t ever go here, full of lying scammers!!! I am pissed at myself because I saw their horrible Unilocal reviews and still went there, this company trolls autotrader & craigslist calling you saying they are in desperate need of your vehicle, will give you what you are asking, total BS! Please listen to the numerous negative reviews on here saying the same thing and don’t waste your time, you will get there and they will low ball you! What a sleezy, scummy company do yourself a favor don’t ever go there and give them your business!!!

Let’s face it, buying and selling cars is a stressful process. Everyone on both sides wants their best deal. My review is based on ultimately selling a vehicle to San Diego Auto Connection.
After listing my 2013 Ford Explorer for sale on Autotrader and Craigslist for just below the lowest retail price within 200 miles, I waited. Having been through this process on another car several months earlier I was not surprised to start getting calls from non-​private party buyers. When I received a call from Rachel at SDAC I listened to her spiel and kindly told her I would wait before investigating their offer. A couple days later I called SDAC and spoke with Zack, one of their appraisers. Of course over the phone they will suggest a purchase price range which sounds appealing, but be realistic and set your sights on the low end. If that’s not going to work for you, simply move on. I believe knowledge is power and felt it was worth 30 minutes of my time to get something in writing.
I dropped by their facility and Zack worked up an offer. Because I had done my homework I knew why certain features would be desirable and what reconditioning they might have to do (in this case, the rear bumper had been beaten up a bit where gear gets loaded into the back cargo area). I weighed out the option of spending weeks fielding scam texts and cold calls and hopefully get my asking price, versus being done and having a check in hand so I could move on to a new vehicle. If you KNOW how much cars like yours are selling for within a couple hundred miles, you need to recognize that’s what this dealership will have to go by, since they are turning it around for a profit. They have to make some money and pay for detailing and any parts which appear to be worn, so don’t fool yourself into believe they will give you full retail for the car just for the heck of it.
The bottom line is that Rachel and Zack were pleasant and forthright in their communications and I set my expectations to be realistic. And finally, Ian, their finance guy, is terrific to work with, and made the experience pleasant (and it didn’t hurt that he handed me a fat check!). I’d recommend these guys to save you some pain when selling your car, unless you have plenty of time and patience for the perfect private buyer to materialize.
My recommendation is to do your homework and communicate your concerns.

High pressure sales tactics like a Time Share Presentation. They troll Craigslist for people selling used cars. Phone verbal offer of $ 5k-​$ 7k depending on appraisal. After driving in for the appraisal they offered $ 3500, then went through three layers of sales managers each with increasingly higher intensity of scare tactics or threats while trying to leave. Waste of 3 hours.

Just bought a 2007 Silverado from them a few days ago. Driving to work the next day I felt extreme shaking when driving over 60 mph. After I inspected the front suspension, I noticed that there was a sway bar stabilizer actually MISSING!!!
*Update*
I received a call from the sales manager today 9÷28÷2015. Fernando said he will make it right. I must commend this company for taking customer concerns seriously. I will update and rate accordingly once the service is complete. Stay tuned.
I took my truck back in. They performed an alignment and balanced the tires. Everything seems to be running ok. They even paid for the part I replaced and through in $ 50 extra.
Like I said before, it is a relief to find a company that listens and responds to its customers.

Ugh, I hate leaving bad reviews. I genuinely think people deserve the right to make things better, but when I read the other reviews here, I had to voice up and advise any other customers that if you experience the following, then be advised its consistent — all the other reviews here speak similar.
I just listed my car on autotrader. I’ve never heard of this place before and a lady named Promise calls me to ask if the car is still available.
I’ve been around the block so I know when someone sounds too eager, I ask Promise for the low down. I specifically tell her:
‘Look, the asking price is this. If you drag me down there and try to negotiate or give me another price, I’m gonna be pissed. I don’t want to negotiate, that’s the price’
Promise: ‘No no, from what we can see, the car looks in great shape so you’ll get asking for it’
As I enter, I’m given the whole spin, a test drive, an inspection that was half assed. I’m then given a price 50% below my asking.
I flip out and tell the sales guy this is exactly what I told this place not to do. To which he responded ‘Yes I’m sorry, that’s why we get so many bad reviews cos our people bait and switch.’

I’m livid with this place — I put my car on autotrader and they contacted me to purchase my car for my asking price. I told them I would come down but didn’t want to haggle or get offered less for the car. My original post was for $ 40k because of the major upgrades I did on it. They appraised it like a car dealership would and offered me $ 24k…which was pointless and a total waste of my time.
Beware

It is unfortunate I am not able to apply a big 0 stars to this business.
They actually lied and told us that the 2010 Toyota Senna did not pass 3 smog tests. They would provide me with proof the next business day. That proof never came. I took this 2010 Toyota to my local smog shop and $ 51 and 15 minutes later it passed.
The real issue is that the owners of said Van are my cousins who are Military and deploying to their new post the day after Auto Connection purchases their van and then chose to tell them it did not pass smog which is their loop hole to reneging on the sale contract.
Some muscle head who insisted on calling me honey over and over is the classic example of a used car salesmen on steroids, literally!
DO NOT PARTICIPATE OR ENGAGE WITH THIS GROUP OF LIARS! Calling the BBB to report them!

Unethical sharks!!! Had my car listed for sale and they called me offering me full asking and I said I live far but I will come if your serious. They insisted it was serious and an hour and a half later through traffic I get there and after 10 minutes they have a check made out for $ 6000.00 less than I was asking and I was asking low Kelly Blue Book and with new tires and brakes
Very unethical and a waste of my time and my family who followed me down. DO MOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE SHARKS!
Also, I usually check Unilocal but I was so anxious to sell my car and they were crafty liars.