Used Car Centre

Reviews 4

CH

Charly Kirkwood

This spring, I was living on my own in Victoria and planning to buy a car and drive back home to Ontario. Im twenty years old and Ive never worked with cars or even owned a car before, so admittedly I am not the worlds most savvy customer, which is why I wanted to purchase a vehicle through a dealership rather than independently. These guys sold me a 2002 Kia Spectra, with full knowledge of the fact I would be driving it--also alone--across the better part of the country. The salesman who had sold me the car personally even gave me a hug before I drove off. My engine light came on a few days before I left B.C., and when I returned to dealership, Jim (the manager, I think) was pretty short with me. Everyone there reassured me that the car was fine. In Calgary, I brought the car into a Canadian Tire to fix a burnt out headlight, and I learned that the alignment was badly off and the tires were stripped down to the cords. The front two were at 1/32 and 2/32, and the back two were both at 0/32. (For those who know as little about cars as I did: 4/32 is the point where it is unsafe and illegal to drive on a tire). Every employee at Canadian Tire said that they had never seen anything like this before--that it was nothing short of a miracle the tires hadnt blown somewhere on the highway. If they had, its pretty likely the resulting crash wouldve killed me and possibly someone else if I wasnt alone on the road. This was terrifying enough, and I was realizing that the report from this dealership that I had assumed was a safety check was actually just an incident report of some kind. The distance I had driven, from Victoria to Calgary, was not nearly enough to warrant the kind of damage that was showing on the tires. I am giving these guys the (relatively pointless) benefit of the doubt and choosing to believe that they are simply neglectful and decided to send me off in a car without a safety check, rather than thinking that they sent me off in a car they knew could very well blow a tire at any moment. When I tried calling the dealership to at least get some compensation for the price of the new tires and realignment, Jim refused, yelled at me, and then hung up on me. He also hung up on the Canadian Tire employee who was helping me out when she called him back (as well as calling her a "little girl who doesnt know how to do her job"). He claimed this was because he hates Canadian Tire--I think it is also because he is a flaming misogynist. After over a month of calling and arguing and negotiating, we managed to get $350 back from the dealership. This did not cover the full cost of the new tires and realignment, to say nothing of the risk they put me in for the sake of 2000 bucks. I will honestly never understand how someone could hug a 20 year old with her first car and send her off without a safety check, on tires that could have killed her. These guys are not just terrible salesmen and business men, they are terrible people.

---

JE

Jeanette Mercer

VERY UNSAFE AND OVERPRICED CARS This is a HUGE warning to all young people that are looking to purchase their first vehicle and are unaware of questions to ask..This is NOT a place to go, they seem to take advantage of this position:( Instead of equiping you with a solid safe vehicle, they will sell you unsafe lemons with 20℅ tire tread, breaks and transmission that barely pass inspection!! When you purchase a vehicle here, you will get a 3 month warranty but when you try to access it for issues that may arise such as reving engines and jolting breaks, they will find a loop hole to not honour the warranty. Or like my young friend, they told her, the reving and jolting she was experiencing was from her loose gas cap! Again playing on her naivety and lack of knowledge of vehicles. Issues dont get addressed and go unchecked, then its not their problem when warranty runs out. Absolutely no integrity! They will sell you a car with very little tire tread, half a transmission and breaks that barely pass inspection. They sold my young friend a car with 20℅ tire tread and breaks, this is very unacceptable and not cool. The dealerships attitude on this type of quality is "well its legal". When I helped my young friend address the poor quality and lack service she received for her vehicle. The response from one of the associates was, "you wouldnt throw out your toothpaste if it still had 20℅ left in the tube, would ya". Some car dealership will just skim by to pass inspections just to make a wack load of money. Unfortunately at the expense of naïve buyers and for the most part innocent young people. But there are also great dealerships out there that still know what integrity means and care about the safety of their customers..... so word of advice to to the amazing young people out there looking to buy, be very AWARE of this dealership, find another place to get your car. ALWAYS bring someone with you when car shopping, ideally somebody with car buying experience.. Guaranteed: someone from this dealership will respond to my review and this response will only validate my legitimate concerns because for one, a good business wouldnt have to argue or justify their action, they would recfity those actions

---

WI

William Underhill

My experience with Reg Midgley / Used Car Center was extremely positive. I met Jim Massey, who was perfectly happy to show us two cars that were of interest to us without leaning on us to close a deal that same day. The car I decided I wanted had a couple of window issues; he said they would be fixed, and in fact, as I left the lot the first day to look at a couple of other possibilities on other lots, I saw that the technician had the inside door panel off and was replacing a stripped gear from the window winder mechanism. The other issue, a couple of chips in the windshield, he pledged that the dealership would repair them post-sale as their glass repair tech was only in on Thursdays. The CarProof report on the car was current, not months out of date, and he provided that as well as a mechanics assessment of the state of the power plant and running gear for me to look over as well as giving me the time to do my own look-over under the car and under the hood. At no time did he in any way mis-represent the cars condition to me; his professional, friendly manner made the buying experience extremely pleasant for me, and he was as good as his word on the glass repair. I closed the purchase on Tuesday, brought the car back on Thursday to have the chips seen to, and as promised, no charge for the work, which was done promptly and well. All in all, one of the most positive car purchases Ive ever made. Good folks here.

---

TE

Teia Dumaresq

W A R N I N G ! W A R N I N G ! W A R N I N G! Warning!!!!!! Do not trust these people!!! PLEASE TAKE MY WORD ON THIS. I can not express how traumatic this experience was for me! These terrible men ( Jim and Dave ) sold me a vehicle that was unsafe and unreliable. I had nothing but problems after problems with my car, after owning it less then 2 days! After driving it for only 3 weeks, the car broke down. When brought to their attention, they turned very nasty! They wouldnt listen to me and their manager (Jim) told me - "its my car, my problem" and hung up on me. They were also extremely disrespectful toward my Father and Grandfather. They did not handle the situation in the slightest and acted like complete children. They put me on hold several times without returning or would simply hang up. Im shocked they have been able to get away with this behaviour and dishonesty for as long as they have. Enough is enough! They have no class and are very WEAK business men. I lost a lot of money and was put in a very dangerous situation that could have ended very badly. I am one of many people who have made this public and its time to put a stop to these scam artists who are stealing from honest, hard working citizens. This needs to be public. DO NOT TRUST THEM. THEY WILL LIE,CHEAT AND STEAL YOUR MONEY!

---

---