Bob Penkhus Automotive Group Reviews

If you plan to purchase an auto (no trade, no finance) watch out for the old, the sales representative figured your taxes incorrectly. SCAM!! I had a plan to purchase a vehicle in motor city but before I went to close on an agreed upon deal, I thought I would check Bob Pinkess Mazda on Woodman. I was paying cash with no trade. Looked at a few Mazda 3's and drove one, a 2018, and decided I liked it so I made an offer. Can you get me 19k out the door? Answer came back 24 something and then revised down to 21.2k. I left with out making a counter. Later, at noon, I called the rep and told him if they can do 20k out the door I would write the check. He said let me check. He gives the proposal to a sales nerd (little Jerry?) who sits behind a counter and does this kind of thing all day long. Ten minutes later the representative calls back and says we have a deal. I repeat $20,000 out the door? He confirms $20,000 out the door for the auto I selected. Fantastic, start the paperwork, prep the car, let me know when it's ready. Yes sir!! We wait a few hours, I transfer money to my checking account and at 3 pm my wife and I go down to pick up the car and they say congratulations, and the offer sheet reads $20,000 with the word "Congratulations!" written next to the amount. I call my insurance, add the car to the policy. They fax the insurance card. We go look at it all prepped and shiny and then the receptionist with the Christmas (holiday?) lights wrapped around her neck drops a piece of paper on the desk. Salesman gets up walks away. Comes back and say, "your taxes were figured incorrectly you will need to pay $848 more." I said why were they figured incorrectly? He said, it's where you live. I said, I live in Colorado Springs at the address on my license that you copied this morning for our test drive after I told you that all of the information on it was correct. I ask to speak with a manager. I'm slow rolled for about an hour when a sales nerd, we'll call him little Jerry, appears and gets indignant about me not wanting to pay my taxes. I told him we had a deal. He told me we didn't have a deal and that I have to pay my taxes. I said I gave you an out the door offer and you took it. Well I didn't know your address. It's on the copy of my license you're holding in your hand little Jerry. He wasn't little Jerry until he bravely threw the salesman under the bus as the man who computed the offer incorrectly. Sales reps don't compute offers. Sales nerds do and they do it all day. Why would they believe that I lived in unincorporated C-Springs? They're either criminal or incompetent. Either way steer clear of this pack of clowns. They were convinced that we were just going to suck it up and pay almost a $1000 more than agreed upon. We did in fact have a deal but little Jerry ran back behind his windowed enclosure that sits high above everyone else to work on his math skills. Pathetic. I've never seen a more unprofessional pack of goofballs. How many of you would just write the check? Don't do it! It's only a car. I wasted the entire day but they shall not ever have my business!

Bob Penkhus Volvo/Mazda: Let me say this is my personal experience that has happened to me for the last 2 months dealing with Bob Penkhus: Also, if you are from a Bob Penkhus dealership, DO NOT CONTACT me at all regarding this review. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing you can say that I want to hear. Thank you. Myself and my wife, were referred to Bob Penkhus Mazda @ Powers stating that we would be taken care of. Now mind you, this was from a close friend of ours. We have bought a total of 5 cars from the Penkhus name within the last 15 years. So, this negative experience came to me as a surprise but it was a HORRIBLE experience. Let me list the cars for you that we have purchased from a Bob Penkhus Dealership: Mazda 3 Mazdaspeed 3 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo MR Mazda 6 Mazda CX9 I also own a FD Mazda RX7 so I love the brand that Mazda itself produces. Let me slip in here as well that if you decide to do business with the Bob Penkhus Dealership @ Powers please take my recommendation that Brian Garside or Jeff Huston are FANTASTIC sales people. Their character and personalities are FANTASTIC. I loved working with them. Also, another gentleman I would highly recommend if you need service done there is a Jason Grebas. His work is ABSOLUTELY above all the rest I have ever encountered in my experiences with cars. Now onto my negative experience. So, this started about 2 months ago, we were looking at trading in my FD RX7 and our Mazda 6 for a 2017 Volvo S90. We were in negotiations for a while with the Manager Doug and he was doing a fantastic job of trying to find us really good #’s for our trade-in. During the time that Doug was still working @ Bob Penkhus, the wheels were in motion and we were getting answers. The final # I got from Doug on my RX7 was $17000. Which was a little low in my opinion but I was willing to work with it. Then our next highest # on the Mazda 6 was around $22000 - $23000. So, I was upside down but I was also willing to work with that. So, everything was going smooth. Suddenly, Doug for whatever reason he had, decided to leave the Bob Penkhus dealership. So, we were in limbo. During a period of less than 2 weeks, we drove up to the Bob Penkhus dealer on Powers 4 times. No joke, it’s a decent ride from our house, about 45 minutes give or take due to traffic. Out of the 4 times, we got no resolve. On the 4th time, it was in the evening on a Friday night, the manager that stepped in to do the job was a guy named Verne. They did run our credit that evening with our permission, so we thought we were good to go. We were told it was high confidence that it was going to work. At around 8 pm when they close, we were told they are so close and their working on it, so we should know something by the next day on Saturday. No joke, we were not told anything and the following week we were told to deal with Bob Penkhus Volvo @ Motor City. So, dealt with a great guy there named Bruce. Wonderful gentleman, very knowledgeable. He was the middle man for us dealing with a Manager named Matt. Now this is where the story goes South. I am Air Force Veteran and a Federal Employee. So, I use the tools that are available to me. One of them was the USAA preferred pricing. The MSRP on the Volvo we were looking to purchase was around $64000. No chump change. So, the USAA pricing got it down to $53000. Which was AWESOME!! So, I did my calculations and this is where the numbers where at that I was seeing. Not from Bob Penkhus Dealership. Mazda RX7 Trade-In. From Doug - $17000 - I owed at the time $18800 on my loan. So, $1800 negative. Mazda 6 Trade-In. From Doug - $23000 - I currently owed $34000 so I was $11000 in negative. USAA Pricing on Volvo - $53000 - MSRP was $64000 so I had $11000 to play with in a matter of speaking. So, total on the loan amount should have been $65800 before taxes and nothing else. I was 100% ok with this. At a calculator, this is what I would have been paying: Loan Amount: $70000 Interest Conservative @ 3.9 Length 84 Months Total Cost: $80102 Monthly: $954 Even though a lot, I was ok with this. Really wanted closer to $900 but I was willing to accept. I was then informed by Bruce, that Matt @ Motor City could get me to the lowest payment of $1200.00/MTH. That is INSANE. I could literally buy a Lamborghini for that price. So, there was some “not so professional” numbers going into the bank. So later that evening, Motor City decides that they are going to run my credit without me signing any documentation that states I give them permission. They had my credit ran by them and by other banks a total of 9 TIMES!! That is crazy. I could have called USAA and got my 1 credit app ran and been done with this whole fiasco. Nope I didn’t think ahead so that was on me. Now after they did all of this, I was told I wasn’t happening. Ok good deal. So, I tried to still make a deal with them. What an idiot I was. I found a lesser vehicle, a 2017 Volvo S60 R-Design. MSRP showed $51000. Now, I told them this and they were working on the deal. Somehow, I checked USAA and got their pricing @ $45000. A difference of $6000 to eat up some of my negative equity. Now here comes the CRAZY #’s. Seriously. MSRP - $51000 USAA Pricing - $45000 RX7 Trade-In - $20000 Wow $3000 more AWESOME!! Mazda 6 Trade-In - $24000 Wow ok so doing A LOT better. Was loving this. So with the numbers, this is what it should have come out too: $45000 + 10000 negative equity = $55000. Now taking 2000 extra from the RX7 would now take that loan amount down to $53000. No joke, called the banks after this because Bruce informed me that NO bank would do a loan that was almost 20000 upside down. WHOA!! That was not what I was seeing. Should have only been about $2000 over MSRP. So come to find out, they submitted a loan app to all banks for $68000. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!??? So also to find out, that on Bob Penkhus website, it was now showing the Penkhus Price @ $45000. So virtually I didn’t know this and the bank was like whoa, why would we do a loan for almost 20000 in negative equity?? Right, NO ONE would. So overall this experience has been I think the WORST in my life. I am sorry for you consumers that read this that it’s that long. My apologizes. To Bob Penkhus and his professional staff, you guys really need to take care of your customers better. This is a sad state of affairs. But alas, I am not done. I actually spoke w/ their GM and owner Robbie Penkhus. In a nut shell, I was told he has the #’s and we can meet and he will show me them on a “screen”. I guess I can’t really read properly. So, I told him via the phone call that I wanted my $17000 for my RX7 that I was told in the beginning. Not to mention, that I was told my Motor City it would be $20000. So once again, I tried to meet in the middle. There was no apology from Robbie nor would he say that they would honor the deal. He would meet with his Used Car Appraisal gentleman and let me know by this morning some time. It’s now almost 1300HRS and no phone call. Also, I was told by Robbie yesterday that sometimes they have to show different #’s to banks to get approvals on situations like this. So basically the way I took it is they need to fudge #’s. So not only do banks see what the dealers want too, but apparently I do as well. So I’m sorry for all the negativity here for you consumers but I hope this will help you when your making a Automotive decision in regards to the Bob Penkhus Dealerships. Thank you all for your time and good luck on your Car Buying experiences. Sincerely, Joshua E Bufkin

Inept finance department at the Powers location. Paid cash for a used vehicle, drove it for over a month, then was told I had to pay another $2000 before receiving the title, based on a higher quoted price on a worksheet by the salesman that I had signed. Finance person stated that he wondered where the 'missing' $2000 was, and had I paid it by credit card? Makes no sense, but I guess he thought I put $2000 on a credit card, and another $14,000 paid by check. I didn't want to argue with him, I just wanted the title and be done with it. But I bet if I hired an attorney, I would have won. Ridiculous. If you pay cash for a vehicle, and drive it off the lot with a bill of sale, one would assume the car is your's.

Called before the July 4th holiday to discuss repairs to my Rx7. Upon the technicians return and my own, I spoke directly to the service technician (Matt) and explained the modifications that had been made to the car. He told me to bring it in after the holiday. I then spoke to the service manager (Jerry) and, once again explained the modifications made to the car. He told me to bring it in. After I paid to have it towed down there, they said that they did not want to work on it because of the modifications. The Service manager will not even help me out with the towing to return the car to me. Said he could provide credit for future service. There will be NO future service at Bob Penkhus.

My husband and I made a cash purchase, was backing out from the dealership, was summoned back into the dealership and the Manager, Matt Canales, accused us of stealing a SNOW Brush. When I asked what he wished to accomplish, he said he wanted to discuss it. If I needed a brush, I would have asked; since we were walking around with our brand new brush, removed from the vehicle I was trading, I didn't need a snow brush. We have owned a local business for 18 years. He humiliated us in front of customers and all of his employees. The only word I can find to describe his behavior is BIGATORY/IGNORANCE. There is no way my husband would have been humiliated in this fashion if he had been Caucasian. I am sure the manager would have said "let him have it." But since we were African American and just paid cash for what we wanted, we were accused of stealing. Bob Penkhus/Charlie Allen (General Manager) since you didn't have the decency to return my call, maybe you can respond to my request here. Matt Canales deserves to be terminated; please terminate his employment, UNLESS you condone this type of treatment of your customers!

Never buy a car from Bob Penkhus, and here's why. I came in to buy a car from them while my husband was deployed overseas, they took full advantage of this and sold me a Jeep for 23k, which I two days later had appraised at just 15k, why? Let me tell you, the roof leaks in two places, the tires need replacing, the sway bar links were loose and the alignment was off. I made them take it back, reluctantly, and VERY rudely. They messed me around for over a week, the manager is beyond rude and nothing short of a scam artist. I finally got another vehicle from them yesterday after countless phone calls and literally having to drive down there every single day to be ignored for hours and pushed around from salesman to salesman. They already have that Jeep back for sale, this time for 26k. So, beware, just don't go anywhere near them!! The manager is a piece of work, and they love to bully people into service warranties they don't want, with the threat of not closing the deal otherwise. To top it off, their 165 point "inspection" is a 5 minute look over and they do the bare minimum, to include selling tires that already need replaced immediately. Stay far away!!!

So irate! I took my car in because it was making a funny noise (user error). I dropped it off on a Wednesday evening because I was not going to be around Thursday when it was scheduled to be looked at. I was set up with a tech Wednesday to do a ride along to see if he could figure out the problem. He couldn't at the time. Around 2pm Thursday evening I get a call about the problem. I tell them to fix it. This is when I was told that the parts for my car would be special ordered and that they would not be in until Monday. I was blown away. My issue with that is that it never came up Wednesday. They never said that if parts were needed to be ordered, because your car is so new (2011), we will have to order them. No one ever said you will be out of a car for about five days. I wanted them to put it back together and I was going to pick it up, pay for the parts that I was told later, were special ordered so I had to pay for them, and take my car somewhere else. I should have! I received no call Monday about my car. I called Tuesday after 11 am and the service chic gets on the phone and says "Oh yeah, we'll have it done by the end of the day today." I ask her why that would be because she told me Monday. I asked her why no one contacted me Monday to let me know they were not done. She replies," Let me look at my call log and see, I called this number (my home number) at 3:40pm yesterday." I'm furious now because she says that she has a log saying she called my house and no one called! I say, no, I have a phone log as well and I was at home, you didn't call me. Then she goes into making oh sounds and mumbling about she thought she did and she doesn't know what happened. The kicker is, I gave them my cellphone number and she had previously contacted me on. So… now she lies about calling my home number? She never even said she left a message. Probably because she knew she was lying. She left a message on my cellphone Thursday. So, not only did they not call me early in the morning Monday to say they didn't receive the parts and would not be done, but they lied about calling me. She said the parts eventually came in around 2:30pm Monday. However, she said the car would not be ready until the end of the day Tuesday. That means they knew Monday morning that they weren't going to be able to fix the car and no one called then. Plus, this job should not take all day. What I'm getting is that no one touched my car Monday when the parts came in and they did not start on it Tuesday morning either. I guess my car isn't important. It's only about $700 plus tax... nothing to them. I will never take my car there again unless it has a warranty issue. I took my car in for services such as oil changes and rotations (I drive a lot). No more. I will no longer pass along their name to those who are searching for cars either. I like Mazda's but this service department is lousy. I had a good buying experience but lying to a customer is not good business. Keeping my car for six days is one thing, however; my major problem is the lie and then the lack of communication. I should not have to call them to chase down my car. They need to get more competent people in there as well. Obviously those that are working in the service department at the desk are overwhelmed and cannot handle the task they are assigned. Lying is not the answer. Had she admitted she forgot to call me I would have been upset but it is different than outright lying to me.