Select Auto

If you don’t have a minute to read this, I will get to the point: do yourself a favor and do not buy from Select Auto SF. I don’t care if you save a few dollars, it is NOT worth it. It will cost you more in the long run to repair the parts they said were new in the engine. Better to ride the bus than have dealings here.*
Things started off well enough, but then we purchased our used vehicle (June 2013). It was weekend «sale priced» at $ 6,000, down from $ 8,000. The Blue Book value on the car for purchase from a dealer is $ 6,000 assuming the car is in pristine condition. With the various scratches, chips, a noticeable ding, and a few holes in the leather interior, this one was not in perfect condition, but I didn’t really mind paying the asking price. She ran well, and had a new clutch the dealer Shaun said.
Then I took it to a mechanic after purchase.
The clutch was not new; it was on its last legs. The mechanic said that they might have replaced the disk, but not the bearings and that I would only have a few more miles then would have to replace the clutch properly with a new clutch kit. Also, we had the air conditioning looked at. The mechanic new right away that someone had already been messing with the air conditioning as soon as he opened the hood. Upon closer inspection it had a busted seal, no Freon (coolant) and was apparently missing some vital crew to hold the whole thing in place and was too on its last legs. He could not stop commenting on the fact that he had never seen someone come in without that screwed in place. Once the seal was fixed and Freon injected, we realized that the air was not regulating properly. The air compressor and another part was about to fail and that would cause «black death» meaning the failed compressor would shoot metal bits through the whole system and need to be replaced. These are things one might expect from a used car dealership, but I still was not expecting such blatant lies, particularly about the clutch being new.
I would have been irritated enough with that, but then came all of the problems with paperwork. Again and again there were things Shaun had forgotten to either get from us or things we turned in which were fine according to the dealer then rejected by the finance company. They had a new person take over for Shaun at Select Auto SF, and Kevin was the new guy for us to deal with. He tried to be nice, yet the paperwork dragged on. I emailed documents (as each request came in) to Select Auto SF along with a call to let them know it was sent, only to have the finance company they use, Lobel Financial, call me saying that they never received certain documents. Eventually I was told I could call Lobel directly. I spoke with a secretary who asked her boss to speak with me. I hear another woman shout back that they don’t deal directly with clients and that they only speak with the auto dealer. She then repeats this to me. At the time of this writing, Lobel has apparently decided to break this rule and it speaking with me directly to get this sorted out. The cherry on top of all of this is that it has been a month since we «purchased» the car, and we are still sorting out the mess of paperwork Select Auto SF left us with. Not only that, Jackie, the agent we are working with from Lobel, let us know that our payment was late. What??? Apparently because the paperwork is taking so long a notice wasn’t generated to bill us and they didn’t think to let us know ahead of time about it. I understand personal responsibility, but it would have been nice to have a little more warning that we weren’t waiting for something in the mail. Oh, then we got a call from ANOTHER person at Lobel, Karen, saying that we didn’t have paperwork in that had been previously been sent to Jackie. Plus the threats of repo from staff not familiar with the case. The ridiculousness over this deal just doesn’t seem to end.
In closing: don’t buy from Select Auto SF. All you will get is a busted car and a headache. Kevin has assured me that he is a different kind of salesman than Shaun, but all I know is that we overpaid for a car based on lies from this business. To add insult to injury, to hear a salesperson says that they will «take care of you» and try to «make it right» after all of this by ensuring my paperwork gets done, (which I did myself btw) it is almost too much. That’s that’s your job. It’s not doing me a favor. One more tip: If you do purchase from them, get your financing done ahead of time with your own bank if you can. Our other car is financed through San Mateo Credit Union and they are a delight to work with.
(*Please note that the dealer I first dealt with is apparently no longer in charge. The new sales manager says that they will be more honest in the future, but he never did anything to remedy the lies I was told.)

My wife and I bought a 2002 jaguar X — Type on July 17, 2013
Our experience buying this car was excellent. The new General Manager, Mr. Kevin Fonseca handled our transaction in a very professional manner. He explained in great detail not only about the car, but also the entire process. He walked us step by step. We never felt any pressure in buying this car. In addition, he was able to reduce the price of the car considerably. Finally, if you would like to by a pre-​owned car, please make Select Auto as your next stop. See Mr. Kevin Fonseca. He will work with you in a very professional and respectful manner. At end, you win by getting the car you want in a reasonable price.
Emanuel & Frances Andreas

I finally got my registration!

Buyers Beware!
I purchased a car from Select Auto in June 2012. I completely paid in full for the car. Initially, the salesman, Rich, said it would only take 6 – 8 weeks to receive my car title/​registration from the DMV. It has now been about 3 months, but I still have not received the car title/​registration.
When I followed up with Select Auto in August 2012, the manager, Mory, said there were some issues that still needed to be sorted out with the previous car owner before they could transfer the car title/​registration to me. Mory mentioned that everything would be taken care of by the beginning of this month, but I still have not received any updates. My temporary car registration also expires at the end of this month. The car is presently in my possession but I am unable to register and get license plates for it!
I have been completely scarred for life from my experience with Select Auto. As a buyer, I should have automatically received my car title/​registration as soon as I had completely paid in full. Instead, I’ve been spending the last 3 months of my life trying to deal with Select Auto and other venues (i.e., BBB, DMV Office of Investigations) to sort this situation out. Additionally, I am afraid that if there are no updates by the end of this month, I will have to spend even more time trying to deal with a situation that I should have never had to face to begin with.
I don’t know what I did in my past life to be cursed with such a frustrating situation, but as a warning to all Unilocalers, do not waste your time at Select Auto!

I wrote a «quick tip» the other day and I was just gonna leave it at that, but no. I can’t. I’m too mad!
There’s a 1970-​something Ferrari 308 GTS on their lot. I’ve driven by many times and noticed it, and this weekend my husband and I finally dropped in to take a look at it. The poor thing is in ATROCIOUS condition — they’ve let rain leak into its interior for SO LONG now that the entire dashboard, steering wheel, and driver’s seat are blanketed with mold and mildew. No, that’s not green velvet upholstery, that’s penicillin. Why the hell would they let that happen to an Italian classic? At the very least, throw a tarp over the fucking thing! Inexcusable. So anyway, while we were on the lot, we were pointedly ignored by some grubby-​looking dude wrenching around under the hood of a Mercedes sedan; nobody came out to talk to us at all. Strange for a car dealership, no?
Well, we left… but the condition of that Ferrari was still bugging me. So later that evening I sent an email to them via their website asking what the sale price on the car is. Probably not worth the expense it would take to repair and restore it, but I’m weird about cars — something like this to me is like adopting an abused animal and taking care of it. I want to rescue the poor thing!
This morning I received a polite, professional, friendly email response from them (that was sarcasm, by the way): «not for sale.» That’s it? That’s how you communicate with a potential customer? Rude! And why on earth would I be so stupid as to think that it’s for sale when there’s a (albeit mildew-​slimed) sale disclosure paper on the dashboard?
Sure, I’m definitely overreacting, but still… I’ll never come here again. If they let the condition of a classic Italian sports car deteriorate to this extent, that’s a clue as to how important the maintenance of ALL the cars on their lot is to them. I wouldn’t trust a car from this lot as far as I could throw it.