Minuteman Volkswagen

Service department, led by Derek Liberty, is the only reason I’ll give this a second star. I’ve bought three cars at Minuteman — trading #1 for #3. We sold #2 at the first opportunity we could after the TDI scandal broke, but we’re stuck with #3 with no relief in sight. Sales folks are rude, demeaning, and frankly, it comes directly from Tim Pullo being allowed to set the culture.
If you have to have a Volkswagen, look elsewhere. But seriously, look at other brands.

My parents have purchased two cars here when they lived in MA and I have purchased two cars here as well. The staff is always friendly, and the service department is always knowledgable. As with any car purchase there are always going to be less than ideal, yet the sales person we had (Charles) was a delight and fought for us tooth and nail.
Though we could not get into the car we really wanted, we were made a fantastic offer on a car that turns out to be one of the favorites we have ever had. I am pleased with this little outpost in Bedford and will continue to buy my VWs from them in the future.
Areas of Improvement: less of a gang-​up when presenting the back office finances, a little more clarity on terms, focus on being a little more detailed oriented when writing down information and delivering the car (we were delayed in receiving the car because of a dealership clerical error — it happens, but it shouldn’t have).
Look forward to seeing you in a year when we need to replace our other car!

Sales guys very nice, Eric Kaminski was extremely knowledgeable and helpful would give him 5 star rating. What ruined the experience for us was Jamie Benti, general sales manager. Jamie is rude/​argumentative and tells staff and customers they are wrong. We bought a Jetta and were told we will get a $ 2000 loyalty bonus, when we came in he told us we actually don’t qualify for it and the staff was wrong and he will «take care of them!» Ultimately we got the bonus because a different manager previously approved it, but not until Jamie told us how it’s costing him money and that he would never have signed off on it. This is one of many conversations that Jamie did not handle professionally and clearly did care about customer loyalty or the customer experience… will never do business with Jamie again… if I see him at any dealership I will turn around and walk out.

After leasing three cars with Minuteman VW you would think the 4^th would be a breeze. I have to say that Mark the sale man and Jamie the sales manager were very nice and helpful. But Jeff the finance manager was awful. Very rude and not helpful. We received almost $ 3k bill a month after we purchased our new car. Jeff response was well that what you owe and was not helpful in trying to get this taken care of. When you buy a new car all financials should be disclosed and he did not. It took going above him to the sales manager Jamie to get it rectified. Which Jamie did. Jeff was so rude that he would not shake and or say things like have a nice day. Some people should not work with the public in a sales type manor. He is one of them. We will not purchase another car from minuteman. Jeff ruins this place and experience.

We were in town for the weekend and got a flat on Sat afternoon. Was happy to find a place open on Sunday to replace the temporary spare for the trip back.
Upon arrival, instead of discussing what we needed done we were told to go to the lounge. It was pretty slow, no other customers, so after waiting ten or fifteen minutes while the two staffers had a chat, I asked where we were in the process. One employee said she only took the keys, and the other said he was waiting on the computer.
Asked again a few minutes later and the computer guy, Forrest, sighed and put a blank piece of paper on a clipboard and told me to «write down your information». Um, specifically what information do you need? «Name and address». I did that an he started typing, but he inexplicably ignored the start of my last name (eg typed Mahon instead of McMahon).
I guess it went downhill when I asked Forrest if he was actually an employee. Jamie Benti made an appearance as the person in charge and had convinced himself that the problem was that I didn’t want to give Forrest my «information».
I told him he was not understanding the situation, and after he withdrew with Forrest to consider his options he informed me that they were refusing to fix the tire.
So we were forced to keep driving on the temp spare to find a place that was open and, more importantly as it turns out, prepared to do actual work.
So kudos to Minuteman VW for making someone drive extra miles on a temporary spare. A new level of VW service, not just inconvenient but increased danger.

I just purchased a car from Minuteman this past week and could not have been more pleased with this dealership. I special ordered a car that I knew would take a while to arrive, but the dealership happened to get one in that was nearly identical to my order. Eric contacted me right away, held the car for a day so I could test drive it and they were more than fair on the sale price and valuation of my trade. Timmy, the store manager, is also great to work with. All in all, thumbs up for these guys.

I had the pleasure of working with Shirley Perry. She was kind and considerate and got me the best deal on leasing my brand new 2015 Jetta s. I would recommend this dealership and her wonderful service to anyone!

i honestly do NOT understand these low reviews. my son and i went in to get one of the very popular Golf GTI’s — a 2015 model — and they beat the best Quirk offer by a mile, and i mean by a mile, the deal is crazy and the team there is awesome. we were also getting out a used hyundai with some body damage and they beat the hell out of multiple competing offers, basically taking a wash on it (though they may make some money, but unlikely)…we dealt with timmy and mark in sales, rafael and another guy in finance, and all of them were great. the location is great, space is clean and nice, and the entire process was smooth and fast — even the haggling was smooth.
after recently purchasing a slew of cars in the past few years — from bernardi audi in natick (also great), bmw of sudbury/​herb chambers (also great) — i’d put the communication style and professionalism on par with both of those luxury dealers.
as a point of comparison, the quirk vw sales guy we dealt with earlier in the day was literally pulling brochures out of drawers to figure out the basic features on the best selling vw out there… frightening.
minuteman does some real volume in vw, so i will be advising folks i know to go here first before driving out to the big regional dealers.

I dropped off my VW Jetta for 20K service and told Gary that I needed to have my car by 1:30m for a 2pm appointment. He said that it wouldn’t be a problem. I used their shuttle service so I was stranded without a car. No call came by 1pm so I called many times to find out the status. Nobody picked up and the only way I got a hold of someone was to use the online chat site to ask for help. Even then, nobody called.
I finally got someone to pickup at 1:40pm and was then told that the car wasn’t finished. They said they would send a shuttle right away but it is now 1:55pm and I haven’t heard from them since.
If I had been told that the car wouldn’t be ready by 1:30pm I would have rescheduled — no harm done. But this isn’t cool at all.

Have been waiting 2 weeks for a title to come in on a car we purchased… no luck yet. Total joke. If I was told at the start the title would be held up that would have been more acceptable. But I was not. So now 2 plus weeks later my car is still sitting on the lot. And I’m still waiting. And yes the deposit has been cashed. and financing is done… But I’m still what? Waiting. YES!!!
Would not go through this company again

I received a call from «Chris» to come up and take a look at an Audi S5 Convertible. On-​line it looked good, and I asked about a trade for my S6. Predictably he said he would need to see it etc. I agreed. I would have preferred to work with Chris, over the phone he seemed reasonably professional.
Minuteman is about 26 miles from Boston, and it took about 45 minutes to get there.
Audi S5 convertibles are rare so I felt it was worth the trip to take a look at it. The S6 is rarer still, and my thinking was perhaps, there would be an opportunity to make a deal. I had test driven the S5 a few years before and wanted to compare the feel, and go from there — considering it had been a few years and I am partial to convertibles — I couldn’t rightly recall just how small it was by comparison.
I pull into this dealership and instantly I realized that this operation was not managed from a «corporate» perspective. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. What could be good about it is that the opportunity of a deal is sometimes a better bet. The bad thing about such an organization is that things can go unpredictably wrong, and staff can be prone to be more inept and unprofessional.
Unfortunately, it went wrong.
There was a poorly dressed greeter, looking person with poorly applied make-​up leaning against a car in the «showroom». I was still on a business call when she was sprawled against some car in this «showroom», peering out. She had a ridiculous expression on her face.
I spent a few more minutes on the phone, exited the car and made my way towards the «showroom». The woman asked if she could help me, still looking ridiculous.
I asked for Chris, and she said one moment. She sauntered over and returned with «Chris», who was wearing a very pastel blue shirt.
Immediately he passed me over to this same greeter-​girl saying, «Dima will take care of you», without another word he practically ran full speed for the other side of the room as if taking cover from some aerial assault.
It was a disappointing start, considering I had spoken to Chris a few times already and didn’t want to deal with any drama — and this chick reeked of drama.
I follow her to her desk which was a mess, and sat down.
She sits across from me glaring at me.
Me: «I test drove this car, the S5, a few years ago, I liked it, it has been a while would like to see if we can work out a deal…»
She interrupts
Dima:” Well you are already going to other dealers driving the car, I don’t want you to waste my time or yours… why discuss things further?“
Me: «Well, it was a few years ago, when I drove it, curious how small the cabin is compared to the feel of the S6 — I would be interested to see what you would give me for it — if I feel like the S5 would work for me.»
Dima:“How much you want for your car?“
Me:“How much will you give me?“
Indignant Tone
Dima:”…humph…you tell me, you may want $ 50,000???
Me:” …it’s not worth that… the book value is perhaps $ 24,000…whatever book value is…“
Dima:” We don’t go by book value…”
…and she gets up with my license to make a copy, at this point I was frustrated with the attitude and the way this whole process was going… she didn’t ask the year, miles etc… then comes back and says…
Dima: «will you buy this car today… put the money down… her mouth hung agape as if she was catching flies»
I am like, what dimension did I just walk in here… is this woman stoned?
Now more frustrated, I said «look…why don’t we establish if I like the car first… can we just go outside and see it?» «We can then go from there»
I mean what a joke.
She paused as if to think about it.
This lazy ass gets out of the chair and we walk to the car… I get into it… and right away realize it is just too small… no need for a test drive… no need for further discussion.
Told her it wasn’t a good fit, not worth taking the drive.
That was it.
The worst sales person I have ever encountered. You have to sell the cars on the lot and try to make a deal.
You don’t take them to your desk and try to close a deal without showing the car, or asking any questions. It was strange.
She had it in reverse… and had me looking at the wrong car altogether due to the cubic inches within the S5 cabin.
You gotta take some info, qualify your customer, show the car, and go from there.
I see how they have a low rating, glad I didn’t get any further in the buying process with this outfit.
I can only imagine how bad things can get.
The inside of this S5 also was extremely busted. I recommend detailing the car, or at least washing the cars you have for sale — customers will appreciate it, and you may see an increase in your numbers.

I went to Minuteman planning to lease a Jetta; 2 weeks later I’m driving a Mazda (from another dealer), so that may tell you something about my experience here. Although it’s a low slung building surrounded by cars, I’m not even sure this is actually a car dealership, since their goal seemed to be getting me out the door as quickly as possible without a VW. The saleswoman who greeted me asked if I was interested in a sunroof and leather seats (I’m a woman, so of course I wouldn’t care about the transmission, fuel economy or any of that guy stuff!). She jotted down «leather» and «sunroof» on a slip of scrap paper then went to get a guy who proceeded to say, «Take a card, and when you know what you want, give us a call.» Huh? He wouldn’t give me any prices, told me it was up to me to decide what I wanted to pay (yeah right, how about $ 5 a month?). He also made a crack about my age (!) and said, «This is a big step for you.» Then he went away. As the saleswoman was giving me her card, I asked which cars on the lot were available for lease so I could take a look on the way out. She asked with a tone of irritation and contempt, «Well what are you looking for? Which model?» I said, «I don’t know, how about an S?» She then said almost angrily, «The S doesn’t have leather. Look, there are XX models…» counting on her fingers like she was talking to a stupid and stubborn 5-​year-​old. At that point, I just got up and walked out. Truly bizarre. Even more bizarre was that the guy called me three weeks later. Why? They clearly didn’t think I was VW material.

We had an excellent experience in buying a VW Sportwagen from Minuteman. We had to replace a totalled 2012 Sportwagen and shopped for late model used and new cars across eastern Mass. Minuteman offered an on-​line price that came in 1,000 less than most dealers, including the dealer closest to where we live. I called on the price and spoke to the Sales Manager, Toby Simmons. He confirmed the price as real without any hidden costs. We live 45 miles from Bedford and Minuteman made it really easy to buy the car from home via email and the phone. We traveled to the dealership once to execute the papers.
Toby assigned our sale to Eric Kaminski who executed the entire car purchase process beautifully. We hit one snag in which the car couldn’t be registered on the day promised so Eric personally delivered the car on the following day to us in downtown Boston. Nice going. Highest marks.

My wife dropped me off yesterday to look at the 2014 Passat TDIs. My lease on my 2012 Jetta is up next summer, but I was thinking of trading before the 2015 TDIs come out. When I spoke to the salesperson and asked her if I could test drive the 2014 Passat TDI, she said flat out: «NO.» When I asked why, she told me that «they only had 4 and couldn’t afford to put miles on it». As soon as she knew I wasn’t going to buy that day the service seemed to go out the window.
I was furious and walked out.
That next business day I called the sales manager and told him how I felt about the whole thing and Jamie apologized profusely. He was truly sorry. And promised that if I came back he would make sure I got what I wanted. If I could I would give just the salesperson 1 star because the service department and the manager are great.
Nonetheless I am not going back on principle.

Bought a brand new 2013 GLI and was hassled to buy wheel protection, insurance — was uncomfortable. A year later I moved into the city and wanted them to give me a fair trade in and they wouldn’t. They don’t care about the lifetime value of customers and only care about short term sales. I will be buying VWs the rest of my life and I will not be doing it at minuteman. Was very disappointed and will encourage anyone buying a VW to do it elsewhere.

Took my car in for it’s 20k ck up & also a recall issue. Great service. Everyone I came in contact with was very professional & polite. My car was ready when promised. Absolutely no complaints.

I’ve had several bad experiences with the service department. The list is long, and I’ve given them several tries to get it right.
For example:
they were supposed to provide a shuttle to a nearby location. On the way back, the shuttle never came, and my 6 year old child and I had to walk all the way back in the rain.
All of the oil leaked out of my car after an oil change because someone there didn’t properly affix the parts. There are many more examples.

Dear Minuteman VW,
Your salesforce did not inspire much confidence. Paperwork for our new car was never organized and you could not keep track of how much we put down for our deposit. Despite your insistence that we make an appointment, you were unable to keep it when we showed up. Brochures, documents and check lists that help car buyers (and you) keep track of the steps in the process will help you and your customers.
Anyhow, thanks for the pretty car, I’ll go elsewhere for service.
Thanks, Regina

Second rate doesn’t even describe this dealership.
The one star goes to the guy in the financing department. Smart, straightforward and friendly.
Every single person was horrible. I went on the lot looking at an Audi. I drove it and the following week I came in and said I will take it if the rotors and brake pads were taken care of. I got an agreement and made and offer… They took it.
They looked like I had 5 heads when I said I will take it contingent upon the brakes and rotors. I suppose they don’t have many 25 year old young professionals buying audis.
They told me that the rotors and brakes were fine. Guess what? 4 months later (brakes that last up to 60.000 miles) the indicator came on and at the tune of $ 1500 time to replace the brakes.
Liars!
They were rude, when I told them the AC wouldn’t work. Sure enough I was right. The car was under warranty and after the service manager yelled at me… I went to Audi. I was disgusted on how they treated me. And lied through the whole transaction. This is the worst buying experience I ever had.
I went to Audi of Brookline to service the air conditioner. Free of charge! Even provided a loaner and they didn’t even sell it to me!
In this economy, bad haircuts, poor service, and ethics will ruin your business. I work in sales they can learn a lesson or two on referrals and good business practices.

I am in the market for 2 VWs; One TIGUAN and one GTI
Dropped in to Minuteman VW today; after spending a good 20 minutes in the lot and another 10 minutes inside no one seemed to be interested in talking to me… I mean no one was available at all in the sales dept to even ask… looks like business is so good that they dont have time for new customers!
Congratulations to Minuteman VW… Lost two sales today! My money is green enough for other dealerships…
Your mileage may vary…