Jake Thiewes

Review of Volkswagen of Springfield

A friend asked me to accompany him to look at, and...

A friend asked me to accompany him to look at, and hopefully, purchase, his first-ever new car. After not owning a car for many years, he thought someone with more experience would be helpful to bring along. So, we checked out Sheehy VW as he was interested in VWs and their inventory appeared larger than other local dealerships.

After meeting with salesman Charles, we test-drove a GTI SE and he explained various features of the GTI as well as the Jetta and Golf. We inquired about their processing fee and were given a whopping $799(!!) as the answer. We thanked Charles, went to lunch, and discussed.

My friend elected to go with a Golf, but in the loaded "Wolfsburg" trim instead of the lesser "S." Sheehy did not have any in stock, but Alexandria and Ourisman Laurel appeared to each have one. We called to verify, also asking about processing fees. Laurel was cheapest at $299.

Charles claimed they would reduce the processing fee to match Laurel. Seveal pricing breakdown sheets later, the fee was still never reduced. The cars we had found could perhaps be transferred, but at a fee of $300. $300 to transfer a car 30 miles? Get real. But, he also claimed the cars at both dealerships were spoken for "by TDI buyback customers." If that were true, wouldn't those cars not be listed for sale thanks to a deposit on that VIN?

I finally got tired of the runaround, especially after realizing Charles had wasted about an hour of our time discussing pricing when we didn't even have a VIN written down. He ended up trying to push my friend into a Jetta or GTI, when he clearly wanted a Golf Wolfsburg and several were available.

We walked out, called Laurel, and drove the 30 minutes north (at a cost of far less than $300) to purchase the gray Golf Wolfsburg that, in fact, was not "claimed" by anyone. We paid a reasonable processing fee and were given approximately 0% runaround, and he drove away for a few hundred below invoice pricing.

After the experience, I'll stay far away from any Sheehy-owned dealership and recommend all others do the same.