Upper Valley Honda

This is the third vehicle we have bought through them. This is the first new vehicle, however. We met with Lorriston Fennel, who was absolutely great. You could tell he was honest and actually held our interests in mind. The whole process was quick and easy.

Thank you for a pleasant experience purchasing my CR-V EX-L (trading in a Honda Pilot.) From start to finish Upper Valley Honda made the car buying experience easy, smooth and enjoyable. Chase spent a lot of time reviewing the car itself including showing first-hand how to operate bells and whistles plus he stayed well past his typical sign off time. Thank you to Craig for being easy to work with as well as his willingness to be direct and responsive to my type of car buying, Thank you to Kyle because he made the paperwork portion fun plus he thoroughly explained everything. The entire experience was stress free. The car is spotless and fun to drive. I couldn't be happier with my purchase. This is the third Honda vehicle I've purchased from Upper Valley Honda. Great job!

Assisted my parents in trading their leased ‘18 Odyssey for a ‘21 Pilot. We scheduled an appt with Ben on 4/13 at 9:30am. The appt was made days earlier. Upon arrival Ben was working with someone else. We had to wait and then he had to excuse himself a couple of times, for several minutes at a time, to continue to assist her. My parents were offered a trade value for their car. While we were waiting for Ben to return from his other customer we ran the Kelly Blue Book numbers and realized the trade offer was way too low. Unfortunately we were unable to proceed with negotiations that day as there was not a single sales manager or general manager in the store. We were not advised that this would be an issue prior to the appointment. Ben’s day off was 4/14 so again we had to wait an additional day. They came back and offered $1000 more. My parents weren’t thrilled but they needed to get the trade done so they accepted. On 4/15 while with the finance manager he reviewed the back end protection and warranty products. As the vehicle is leased my parents opted for the Sentinal product. They had previously had Safe Ride (an excess wear and tear warranty) and the manager asked if they would like to again. He verbally reviewed coverages at which time he stated that key fob batteries were covered under this warranty. At this point my father speaks up and says he wants the coverage and he inquired about 4 fob batteries that he has to replace and pay for on the vehicle they were trading. We were advised there was nothing that could be done as it was a Honda (manufacturer) issue. I directly asked for a service credit in the amount of the 4 batteries and was told he couldn’t do that. I asked to be contacted by the general manager and that never happened. I attempted to locate the GM’s email address and it is nowhere to be found. I contacted Honda and they did not have that information either. I filed a complaint with Honda regarding the issue and still did not get follow up from the GM. This forced me to file a complaint with the VT Attorney General Consumer Division. I received word from the AG on 4/26 that they had reached out to UV Honda and asked them to contact me. I received a call from Steve less than an hour later. I told him it was a bad time and he would not accept that and pressed for me to deal with the issue in that moment while I was caring for a sick family member. He told me that fob batteries weren’t covered under Safe Ride but offered a free oil change. I accepted wanting to be done. Until I read Steve’s reply to my AG. Complaint. He wrote: “ Good Morning, The Lyons did purchase both safe ride an sentinel. Neither of these products nor the factory warranty cover key fob battery replacements. In review of their service history I see no replacement of said batteries. I do see normal service and factory warranty repair items taken care of. After a conversation with their daughter this morning we are covering their first service on the new Pilot which cost $60 to offset the four batteries they purchased for the fobs @ a cost of $40. This is a gesture of goodwill on this matter.” 1. Honda covers fob batteries under factory warranty for the first 6 months of ownership per page 9 of the owners manual for both the traded vehicle and the new vehicle. Not sure if then incorrect information is the result of a lack of knowledge of the product or deceptive sales practices. 2. I cannot find any independent information for Safe Ride. At the time of the original purchase we were not given information about what this covers. It is not online that I can find and when I used the online chat tool on the UV Honda website I was told I’d have to speak with a member of their team. I declined as already the story has changed over and over again. It seems we are at the mercy of whatever UV Honda decides they want to cover. 3. Steve inferred that we were making this up. My parents verified that they paid cash for one set of batteries and didn’t have the service repair order any longer but found credit card receipts for 2 batteries replaced 3/3/2020 priced at $8.40 each. The issue here is NOT the $33.60 that my parents spent on items that should have been covered. This is about repeatedly receiving misinformation, being lied to and being dismissed. UV Honda clearly has no problem taking advantage of elderly and vulnerable people who can’t or don’t remember what it is they are being sold on the back end. Seems the hope is to collect the money for the coverage and then charge customers for items that they said were covered. The coverage on the ‘18 Odyssey was just shy of $1,000 and yet they weren’t given the chance to use it as they should have been. This issue is still unresolved. Finally, almost a half hour prior to Steve reaching out to me on 4/26 Ben sent an email to both of my parents and asked them for perfect scores on their customer survey. That was not cool and definitely not earned.

Avoid at all costs. This dealership does not honor its promises and refuses to put things in writing (considering that they do not honor their promises, possibly a canny, if shortsighted, business strategy). The worst experience I have ever had in fifty years of buying cars.

Loriston Fennel was a great dealer to work with over the internet. I blindly purchased a hot vehicle that I have been scouring the entire country for and found the unique color and MSRP price point I was looking for (although I think the additional $495 VIN Etching fee was not necessary). Loriston had great communications with me through email and over the phone and he provided me with all the required information I needed to know about the vehicle and what to expect during the process to get the deal signed, sealed and delivered. All the paperwork that I needed to sign was sent to me FedEx. The entire process almost took 3 weeks because of all the back and fourth but we got the deal done. Loriston kept me updated with photos and videos of my car, up to the point when I had a transport company go to the dealership to pick it up. We had some issues regarding wire transfer of down payment but Greg in Financing did a great job sorting all that stuff out. Did do try to upsell you with stuff but I only opted for the tire/wheel protection package. I later found-out that the insurance doesn't cover curve-rash so anyone that's going to buy this package thinking the insurance will cover you for this, but be forewarned. It's probably not worth buying it as an extra option.

Had a scheduled appointment to look at a used car, set up the day before. My wife and I arrived 1/2 hour early after an hour drive only to be told that they had sold the car an hour before our arrival. Never received an email to let us know. We wasted two hours of a Saturday.

I purchased my first car at Upper Valley Honda during December of 2020. Michele Robinson was the sales associate who helped me leave the lot with my very own car. She was wonderful and the others in the building who helped my make experience simple and stress-free I greatly appreciate. Overall I would say that I could not have had a better experience buying my first car!!

Michele Robinson was amazing to work with. She listened to my needs & wants & worked very hard to accommodate my every need! If you want a great deal & an amazing experience go ahead her!! Upper Valley Honda is the Bomb!

I was very pleased with my salesman Chase and then Kevin who helped me through the process.Top notch guys who know there job very well. I felt very comfortable and pleased with the whole transaction Chase showed me all the special features the 2021 Honda Accord has to offer ,I was very impressed.Thanks guys for a 5 star buying experience.

My experience at Upper Valley Honda was pretty much as expected. It's a dealership! They want to make as much money as possible, however they can. I worked with Loriston Fennell on my purchase of a used Honda CR-V and he was exceptionally courteous and straightforward. Very businesslike and efficient. However, he is a new salesperson (on his fourth year) and still uses sneaky tricks to make an extra buck for the dealer. Make sure you inquire about any unspecified fees on your deal and DON'T pay the "VIN-etching fee" for "theft protection." It's bogus. They did take it off mine when I asked, so that's a plus. Their standard admin fee is pretty high, it seems, but can't be helped. Overall, I am satisfied by my purchase and the experience was okay. Not amazing, but also not terrible. I would say if this dealership has a car that you want, it's worth checking out, but if you're at all flexible, I would shop around a bit more for other dealers in the area. McGee Family Used Auto across the street has excellent deals and total transparency!