I hope this is the right place for something like this. I think it's important for this to be SOMEwhere on SwedeSpeed in hopes that it helps another Volvo person avoid frustration.
I don't usually write reviews, and even more, I would prefer not to write negative ones, because I understand that one person's small negative experience does not necessarily mean that a business is bad. In this case though, I think it's worth telling my story. Anyone else looking to spend a not-insignificant amount of money on a new or used Volvo is free to make his/her own decision, but I hope that you'll read this first if you're considering buying from Red Bank Volvo in New Jersey.
If you think I might be a random quick-to-anger used car buyer who wants a crack price for his old beater, do be sure to check my sig. And I'm happy to send pics of the '09 to anyone who doesn't believe that part.
Looking/Used car valuation:
I bought my previous XC70 at Red Bank. It was not what I'd call a pleasant experience, but they had the car I wanted and I was in a hurry. I drove down from CT to look at a newer (2015.5) CPO XC70 T6 Platinum and figured that if it was good, I'd have them look at my car, with the full knowledge that I'd get less than from a private sale. I liked the '15.5, and they're getting harder to find, so I had them give me a price on my '09 XC70 T6. I take extremely good care of my cars, this one was basically perfect (and better looking than any used XC70 on the lot, as well as in better shape than when I bought it at Red Bank), and up to date on maintenance with records, with ~80k on it. I knew what I could get privately, but I was willing to take a significant loss on my car to just get the deal done that night.
Eric Gartley came back with a price for my car that was lower than even the lowest Blue Book/NADA value for a car in good condition - $5000, I think. I've bought and sold a lot of cars, but even I was a little shocked. Still, I figured that with $1000 or so to my benefit, either on my car or on the '15, I could manage, especially if they could get me decent financing. Eric was uninterested in doing anything to help finish the sale. He wouldn't give anything more for my car, he wouldn't come down more than a couple hundred dollars on the (relatively high, compared to others available) price of the '15, and he wouldn't even look at financing options. There was NO interest in selling the $29,000 car to me.
I left annoyed, but ready to list my car privately. If I sold it, I'd check back. I had three solid offers for my asking price of $11,500 within the week, and eventually sold it for around $11k to someone I liked and who I thought would treat the car well (and who is now on SwedeSpeed!).
Sales:
Upon returning to Red Bank, I went to a different salesman, Bob Simons, and immediately offered a price that I thought was fair. It was accepted with no problem, so I was satisfied. Keep in mind that Eric said that there was basically NO room in the price of the '15. Never be afraid to go to a different sales person if the first won't budge. This is not the first time I've experienced this sort of thing. This was on 11 November 2019.
Paperwork/contracts/financing:
When it came time to sign the papers, I did, on 13 November 2019, and I had Red Bank get me financing. I even accepted the (lowered from retail) lengthened CPO contract. Though it wasn't the case on my last XC70 from them, they said that they'd need me to give them $350 so that they could transfer my old CT registration with personalized plate to my new car. They said it was required with a CPO car to prove financing, and whatever wasn't charged by CT DMV would be returned, so I didn't complain, even though I would have preferred to deal with it myself so I could have it done same-day.
Here's where my real problems start. It's been nearly three months since I bought the car and my registration still isn't transferred. I had been calling monthly or so, and then decided to switch to email so I could include the operations manager, Christopher Jagich. At first, they said it would be done soon and blamed my VIN check, something I did personally the day after I bought the car. The also blamed the CT DMV, so I went to my local branch to ask. The DMV had no record of the new car, and they verified that my personalized registration was cancelled when the new owner registered my old car out of state. The DMV worker also told me that “that's ridiculous and you should be calling that dealer every day.” That led me to press the issue, and Bob told me that there had been something wrong with the title (why doesn't a Volvo dealer have a valid title for a CPO car on the lot?!?), but that was fixed on 12/19/19. This was January. Since they had waited so long with the title, my insurance information was apparently expired. That was also blamed for the delay, even though it's a five minute problem (call my agent, have him email proof, done). On the 15th of January 2020, they said they deal with this problem “right away.”
On the 30th , after more back and forth and giving a deadline of 2/4 (because I'd be leaving town for weeks), I received a registration. It was generic (not my personalized plate); because it wasn't a transfer, it was almost $75 more than the correct registration would have been; my car STILL was not correctly registered; and they still had my $350. It's currently on its third NJ temporary plate, which will expire while I'm out of town.
NOTE: It was at this point that I finally received my Volvo on Call trial information. This was supposed to be included with the sale of any CPO Volvo, but I didn't know that at the time of purchase, and Red Bank did not offer the information. I happened upon it on the Volvo site, so I asked sometime in December. Pushing for it a couple more times, I received it in late January.
When I pointed out that the registration was still wrong, my solutions were not accepted (I could do it, but at this point, I'd need to be reimbursed for my time and miles, AND I reminded them that they told me it was not possible for me to do it personally, OR they could send someone up to CT to do the transfer in person). Though Chris mentioned that they intended to refund my $350, neither Chris nor Bob offered any solution for actually finishing the registration. What Chris did do is to tell me that “[he] can not control how the DMV and 3rd party companies handles and process titles and registrations or how long it takes.”
With no solution presented, and no end in sight, I wrote again to both Chris and Bob, reminding them that they said I wasn't supposed to do the registration and that I didn't want to jeopardize my Volvo CPO warranty by doing it myself. Of course, I also mentioned that I was not in the habit of donating time to a dealership to which I've already spent many thousands of dollars, especially after waiting eighty-some days. I asked that someone explain whether or not the original “requirement” of the dealer registering was true or not. If true, they needed to continue the registration. If not, I asked that I receive written confirmation that my warranty would not be affected and that I receive some sort of compensation for the time spent (and miles driven). Failing any help, I would have to pursue outside resources.
The response I got was one sentence with misspelling and no punctuation, and did not directly address any concerns or requests: “When you finance at the dealer we are required to due registration and make sure the lien is applied to the vehicle . Bob”
At this point, I'm at a loss. The dealership told me that they had to do my car's registration. It took around 80 days for them to finally do it wrong, and now they seem to have washed their hands of the matter, leaving me with an un- (or incorrectly and incompletely) registered car and apparently, the responsibility of doing the transfer myself. Due to my own scheduling conflicts and the hours of the CT DMV, the next time I will be able to do anything is 25 February, 2020, or 105 days and four(?) car payments after I bought my XC70 from Red Bank Volvo.
So I'm just going to leave this here in case someone searches. There are lots of dealer options in the Northeast- save yourself the trouble and go to one who cares about you and your business.
I don't usually write reviews, and even more, I would prefer not to write negative ones, because I understand that one person's small negative experience does not necessarily mean that a business is bad. In this case though, I think it's worth telling my story. Anyone else looking to spend a not-insignificant amount of money on a new or used Volvo is free to make his/her own decision, but I hope that you'll read this first if you're considering buying from Red Bank Volvo in New Jersey.
If you think I might be a random quick-to-anger used car buyer who wants a crack price for his old beater, do be sure to check my sig. And I'm happy to send pics of the '09 to anyone who doesn't believe that part.
Looking/Used car valuation:
I bought my previous XC70 at Red Bank. It was not what I'd call a pleasant experience, but they had the car I wanted and I was in a hurry. I drove down from CT to look at a newer (2015.5) CPO XC70 T6 Platinum and figured that if it was good, I'd have them look at my car, with the full knowledge that I'd get less than from a private sale. I liked the '15.5, and they're getting harder to find, so I had them give me a price on my '09 XC70 T6. I take extremely good care of my cars, this one was basically perfect (and better looking than any used XC70 on the lot, as well as in better shape than when I bought it at Red Bank), and up to date on maintenance with records, with ~80k on it. I knew what I could get privately, but I was willing to take a significant loss on my car to just get the deal done that night.
Eric Gartley came back with a price for my car that was lower than even the lowest Blue Book/NADA value for a car in good condition - $5000, I think. I've bought and sold a lot of cars, but even I was a little shocked. Still, I figured that with $1000 or so to my benefit, either on my car or on the '15, I could manage, especially if they could get me decent financing. Eric was uninterested in doing anything to help finish the sale. He wouldn't give anything more for my car, he wouldn't come down more than a couple hundred dollars on the (relatively high, compared to others available) price of the '15, and he wouldn't even look at financing options. There was NO interest in selling the $29,000 car to me.
I left annoyed, but ready to list my car privately. If I sold it, I'd check back. I had three solid offers for my asking price of $11,500 within the week, and eventually sold it for around $11k to someone I liked and who I thought would treat the car well (and who is now on SwedeSpeed!).
Sales:
Upon returning to Red Bank, I went to a different salesman, Bob Simons, and immediately offered a price that I thought was fair. It was accepted with no problem, so I was satisfied. Keep in mind that Eric said that there was basically NO room in the price of the '15. Never be afraid to go to a different sales person if the first won't budge. This is not the first time I've experienced this sort of thing. This was on 11 November 2019.
Paperwork/contracts/financing:
When it came time to sign the papers, I did, on 13 November 2019, and I had Red Bank get me financing. I even accepted the (lowered from retail) lengthened CPO contract. Though it wasn't the case on my last XC70 from them, they said that they'd need me to give them $350 so that they could transfer my old CT registration with personalized plate to my new car. They said it was required with a CPO car to prove financing, and whatever wasn't charged by CT DMV would be returned, so I didn't complain, even though I would have preferred to deal with it myself so I could have it done same-day.
Here's where my real problems start. It's been nearly three months since I bought the car and my registration still isn't transferred. I had been calling monthly or so, and then decided to switch to email so I could include the operations manager, Christopher Jagich. At first, they said it would be done soon and blamed my VIN check, something I did personally the day after I bought the car. The also blamed the CT DMV, so I went to my local branch to ask. The DMV had no record of the new car, and they verified that my personalized registration was cancelled when the new owner registered my old car out of state. The DMV worker also told me that “that's ridiculous and you should be calling that dealer every day.” That led me to press the issue, and Bob told me that there had been something wrong with the title (why doesn't a Volvo dealer have a valid title for a CPO car on the lot?!?), but that was fixed on 12/19/19. This was January. Since they had waited so long with the title, my insurance information was apparently expired. That was also blamed for the delay, even though it's a five minute problem (call my agent, have him email proof, done). On the 15th of January 2020, they said they deal with this problem “right away.”
On the 30th , after more back and forth and giving a deadline of 2/4 (because I'd be leaving town for weeks), I received a registration. It was generic (not my personalized plate); because it wasn't a transfer, it was almost $75 more than the correct registration would have been; my car STILL was not correctly registered; and they still had my $350. It's currently on its third NJ temporary plate, which will expire while I'm out of town.
NOTE: It was at this point that I finally received my Volvo on Call trial information. This was supposed to be included with the sale of any CPO Volvo, but I didn't know that at the time of purchase, and Red Bank did not offer the information. I happened upon it on the Volvo site, so I asked sometime in December. Pushing for it a couple more times, I received it in late January.
When I pointed out that the registration was still wrong, my solutions were not accepted (I could do it, but at this point, I'd need to be reimbursed for my time and miles, AND I reminded them that they told me it was not possible for me to do it personally, OR they could send someone up to CT to do the transfer in person). Though Chris mentioned that they intended to refund my $350, neither Chris nor Bob offered any solution for actually finishing the registration. What Chris did do is to tell me that “[he] can not control how the DMV and 3rd party companies handles and process titles and registrations or how long it takes.”
With no solution presented, and no end in sight, I wrote again to both Chris and Bob, reminding them that they said I wasn't supposed to do the registration and that I didn't want to jeopardize my Volvo CPO warranty by doing it myself. Of course, I also mentioned that I was not in the habit of donating time to a dealership to which I've already spent many thousands of dollars, especially after waiting eighty-some days. I asked that someone explain whether or not the original “requirement” of the dealer registering was true or not. If true, they needed to continue the registration. If not, I asked that I receive written confirmation that my warranty would not be affected and that I receive some sort of compensation for the time spent (and miles driven). Failing any help, I would have to pursue outside resources.
The response I got was one sentence with misspelling and no punctuation, and did not directly address any concerns or requests: “When you finance at the dealer we are required to due registration and make sure the lien is applied to the vehicle . Bob”
At this point, I'm at a loss. The dealership told me that they had to do my car's registration. It took around 80 days for them to finally do it wrong, and now they seem to have washed their hands of the matter, leaving me with an un- (or incorrectly and incompletely) registered car and apparently, the responsibility of doing the transfer myself. Due to my own scheduling conflicts and the hours of the CT DMV, the next time I will be able to do anything is 25 February, 2020, or 105 days and four(?) car payments after I bought my XC70 from Red Bank Volvo.
So I'm just going to leave this here in case someone searches. There are lots of dealer options in the Northeast- save yourself the trouble and go to one who cares about you and your business.