Carousel Motors Volkswagen

I recently bought my first car from Carousel VW and wanted to inform others of my experience. I’ve lived in town for some time now and have heard mostly negative things about this dealership but wanted to give them a chance to earn my business. First of all, I’m pleased with the quality of the vehicle I purchased and with the amount of time the salesman took to make sure I selected the right vehicle for me. He was patient and thorough and knowledgeable about the cars that were available. The dealership was quite busy with an end of the month promotion the day I bought my car. I purchased a car without an in-dash GPS but did ask about the possibility of adding a VW navigation unit after the sale. The salesman assured me that this was possible and quoted an estimate of $800. He was unable to confirm this, however, as the parts department was closed for the evening. After signing the paperwork I began to think about the various GPS options and decided that an in-dash unit might address my concerns about theft and having unsightly cords hanging in the car’s interior. I decided that I might like to go ahead with the VW unit so I inquired again about the price. At this time the parts department was open and I was quoted a price around $1000 higher than the original estimate. The salesman did offer to discuss this situation with dealership manager Mr. W. and also guided me through aftermarket options should I decide not to go ahead with the factory unit. He put in a significant amount of time and effort after the sale researching options for me. Despite the original miscommunication regarding the price of the GPS Mr. W. was only willing to negotiate a several hundred dollar discount on price. The $800 quoted was a non-starter as was my offer to “meet him halfway” on the price difference. He also did not apologize for the original mis-information regarding price. I did buy this car without a written guarantee of the cost of adding a GPS unit later and wish now that I had not done so. Coming from a customer-focused relationship with my previous car dealer I was perhaps naïve in this regard. Do I still love the car? Yes. Would I feel comfortable dealing again with Carousel VW? No. If you choose to do business with them I would caution you to have a written agreement regarding all aspects of the sale before you complete the deal. They worked hard to “earn my business” before the sale but have shown relative disregard at the management level for maintaining my satisfaction as a customer thereafter. At least I know now where I stand with Carousel VW and why previous comments I’ve heard from others in the community about the business practices of Carousel VW have not been positive. Mr. W. is the reason I won’t purchase here again.