ICAR Automotive

This will be a mixed review because whereas the Manager Feras was great to work with and the car was a great used car, I can't really recommend small independent used car dealers and therefore the **** review. As a buyer, you must become at least a pseudo expert on the make, model, year and the series of the car you want before going to any dealership (be careful buying any car if it is in the first year of a series, even with Japanese brands). It takes hours of detailed research just for this process alone. After that, you absolutely need to get the Carfax (only use "Auto Check" as a supplement, not in place of a Carfax). ICAR provided a free Carfax on my car. My recommendation: Only buy a car from a dealer who gives you a free Carfax on their website. I'm estimating that may limit your dealer choices to less than 5-10% of all independent used car dealers and even many new car dealers (especially on specific models where they don't want you to see the bad news). The Carfax on my car was highly detailed because the car was always maintained by a new car dealership mechanic, with the entire service breakdown listed (not repeated visits to oil-change or brake-repair shops). Next is the test drive and the last is taking the car to be tested by a highly qualified mechanic which you pay for (typically $100-120), preferably a new car dealer's service center (must be for your specific brand) or a specialty shop who deals with limited brands, yours being one of them. If you don't do all these things, you will regret it 95% of the time.

I bought a used Honda Pilot from them almost a year ago and it was the worst experience I’ve ever had buying a car. Not even 24 hours after purchasing the car, the check engine light came on. I took it to my mechanic and they said it needed a new transmission. Of course I called Icar to let them know what was going on. They told me to bring the car to them because my mechanic was probably lying, so I dropped the car off with them to have their mechanic take a look at it. The next day I called them because I hadn’t heard anything and they still hadn’t had it looked at. A week goes by before I hear anything and I was told it needed a new transmission and I needed to call the warrantee company. I called them and they informed me of my rights as a buyer in Colorado with the lemon laws in place and they went ahead and filed the paperwork to have the transmission replaced. They had my car for over a month fixing it. I called to inquire about it but was always told it’s still at the shop. Finally we got a call that we could pick it up. Then it was time to register the vehicle and these people at Icar did not send in the proper paperwork and I had to get 3 special extensions for my registration because they kept saying they dropped off the paperwork and it was all lies. After 3 months of trying to get the car registered because of Icar’s inability to send in the paperwork, my car was finally registered. It was a nightmare. Don’t go there. I’m only one of many stories that you can find by googling their business.

The business is similar to many smaller dealerships, they buy auction vehicles and don’t fix anything that you don’t point out and take to the shop yourself. Also, the vehicles are very rough on the lot. The car I went to look at wasn’t ready as was promised... it took a while to pull it out of the Tetris maze. The price was very high and they even have a sign saying they will raise the price if you insist on a discount! I didn’t buy the vehicle and would recommend you go elsewhere.