Honda of El Cajon

One star is not a low enough rating for this dealership. In September, I purchased a new 2019 crystal black Honda FIT, which I paid for in full. The car was delivered to me in the dark. The next day was the first time I saw my brand-new car in the daylight. I observed water spots/stains in various places all over the car, as well as circular, vertical, and/or horizontal scratches in the paint and plastic portions, all over the car. As soon as I made this discovery, I contacted Arcelia Vazquez, the Customer Relations Representative at El Cajon Honda, as well as the Costco Auto Program. Arcelia requested that we set up an appointment on Friday, so that she could see the vehicle and ensure that all the necessary repairs were made. I met Arcelia at the dealership. I showed her the damage on the car, and stated that there were water spots/stains and scratches over the entire car that had to be fixed. She assured me that all would be fixed and showed me to a waiting room. After waiting for 2 ½- 3 hours, I was told that my car was ready. I walked out to inspect the car with Arcelia. I discovered that none of the damage on the car had been fixed, and I again pointed out to Arcelia the areas where the most damage had been done. She stated that if I wanted those repairs made, they would need more time, and she sent me back to the waiting room. After waiting a short time, I saw Arcelia standing by my car and talking to a man. I walked out to the car and was introduced to Abe Nodarse, the General Sales Manager at El Cajon Honda. I showed him the damage, he took a few photos, and we discussed what would be required to repair the car. There were vertical and horizontal scratches over an entire portion of the hatchback, right under the glass. Abe indicated that they would have to hire a company with specialized equipment to come in and buff out the scratches in that small space, as they did not have the correct equipment to make the repairs. He did not specify how they would fix the extensive scratches made to the paint and plastic over the rest of the car, but as he indicated they were hiring a company with specialized equipment, and he had taken photos, I assumed it would be taken care of. Regarding the water damage to the plastic part in front of the windshield wipers, he stated that if they couldn’t fix it, they would replace it. We agreed that Arcelia would contact me early the next week, once they had found a company that could do the repairs. On my way home, I discovered 2 new gobs of a sticky substance stuck to the inside of the car: one on the passenger-side door handle and another on one of the dashboard dials. Over the weekend, I realized that I had several questions that I needed answered before anyone did any more work on the car. I contacted someone from the Member Advocacy Group at Costco. She referred me back to Abe to get my questions answered. I called the dealership on Saturday and was informed that Abe wouldn’t be in until Monday. I left a message with Jackie for Abe to call me on Monday. At around 12:00 pm on Monday, as I had not yet heard back from anyone, I called the dealership to speak with Abe. The woman I spoke with said he would be in at 1:00. I left an urgent message for him to call me when he arrived regarding the damage done to my car. At around 4:00 pm on Monday I called El Cajon Honda again, as I had still not received a call back. This time Abe was in and I spoke to him. He could not answer my key questions, his other answers were inappropriate and inadequate, and his behavior and demeanor were completely unacceptable for someone in his role. On Tuesday, I received 3 phone calls from Arcelia. The main message relayed to me was that both their head detailer and their GM, Michael Peterson, wanted to have El Cajon Honda could put clear coating on the car to fix the damage. With more help from Costco, on Friday I returned the FIT, obtained a full refund, and got my trade-in car back. BUYER BEWARE!

Our salesperson, Franky, was great! We went in to shop and look at inventory that the dealership had and Franky was great throughout the whole process. Being in the retail sales industry ourselves, we went into car-shopping ready for a lengthy and exhausting journey, but, luckily, we found the car we wanted and the salesperson we wanted to buy it from at the first Honda dealership we visited. Thank you Franky! We will most definitely recommend our friends and family to you!

It appear that the "appraisal review" was very poor, there was no negotiation on a offer to trade my 2007 Ridgeline to a 2010 Pilot. There was a 2007 used Ridgeline on the lot with an asking price of $27,000 and they offered my 15,000 on trade. It had about 10K less miles than mine (39k) and it was the top of the line model, but the 12 difference was absurd. They also sent out a false promotion ad which had enticed me to check out the offer. I don't like playing games with salepersons.