Kelly Volkswagen

RYLEY PELLS, in sales, knew even more than i did about VWs, and i’m a) a total car freak who reads up about everything to do with cars, and b) was looking to buy my 5^th VW. While they didn’t have the exact car i was looking for, they were incredibly supportive about helping me find the car i did end up buying, even tho’ it was at a different dealership. Bravo, for being more devoted to the actual car and customer, than competitive and skeezy.

My 2001 VW Passat came with two special lug bolts on the rear that needed to be removed with a special key. The cars come with this key but I did not have the key and I needed to do a brake job on my car. My plan was to take these two lug bolts out, throw them away, and replace them with standard bolts. I was able to get one out on my own but the other was a bit stripped so I needed the key to remove it. I decided I would go to the dealer and simply ask them to remove the one bolt and replace the bolt with a new bolt (which I provided). This would seriously be a 1 minute job. I can probably remove a lug bolt and put a new one back in in about 20 seconds (without power tools). This seems like something I would expect the dealer to look at me and say «we are happy to help.» I pull into the service center, tell the clerk what I need done, he says OK, let me get your contact info and VIN. He gets that info, takes the key, and tells that he will come get me when it’s done (apparently it needed to go into their shop to have this extensive work done). After 45 minutes the clerk comes back to me and says «I have to talk to you, your brakes are so bad that I am not legally allowed to let you leave. You can have your car towed from here.» I responded «I told you I need that bolt removed so that I can do a brake job.» (I was metal on metal for a few days.) He responded «you can also sign a waiver stating that we told you this and then you can drive out.» I said «OK, I’ll sign the paper.» Ten minutes later he came over with an invoice. He said, «here is the total.» I look down at the paper and they charged me over $ 20 to do this work. Now I have purchased new cars before and I have spent time at stealerships before, I know they are out to take as much money from you as they can but this was insane. This is such a quick and painless service that I assumed they would have said «don’t worry about it, it’s on us.» If they had done that they would have earned a life customer. I throw my CC on the guys tablet and said «I can’t believe you are charging me $ 20 for that service.» The guy runs my card, gives me a receipt, and never had me sign the paperwork saying that I was warned about my brakes. I get in my car and begin to drive off. I thought to myself I had better check to make sure they actually did the work so I stopped before I left the parking lot and there it was, the new bolt. The funny thing, it was not the bolt I provided, it was chrome and I gave them a black bolt. I throw it in reverse, head back to the stealership and ask the counter boy why they did not use the bolt I provided and he said «Oh, they must not have seen it.» He tells me «can I have your keys, I’ll have them change it.» I give him my keys but then in just seconds reason snaps to my head and I realize that I am not interested in waiting another 55 minutes for them to replace the bolt just so that I can be refunded $ 5.50 (that was their cost for the bolt), I purchased mine for $ 2.99 at an autoparts store. Let this be a warning to you, avoid stealerships whenever you can, especially this one.

DO NOT SERVICE HERE!!! I own a vw, brought it in for service, received a complete check up sheet which included a battery test. My vw was not ready that afternoon so they gave me a loaner. I picked up my vehicle the next morning. When I put the key in the ignition it didn’t turn over right away but it had been cold out, I had my daughter and dog with me so I left, I returned home less then .5 from the shop. And did not drive my car again until the next morning. When I turned on my car it wouldn’t start, it took several tries, I called vw and took my car in immediately they hooked the vehicle up to discover a very low battery. The day before battery was perfect condition. The only rational explanation is the service team had to have left a door open or a light on all night killing my battery, or they damaged it in the service. Vw offered me nothing when I asked for manager I was told he was off sight but said he’d take 15 percent off a new battery. $ 209!
I called Batteries and Bulbs across the way, they sold me a battery $ 149 and installed it free along with checking my alternator. I called customer service at VW was told someone would contact me, no one has.

This is an odd review because I bought a car here, but it wasn’t a VW. I bought a used Honda CR-​V which was a trade-​in they got from someone. I was very happy with the low-​pressure sales, quick turnaround and above all, the great deal I got on my new (to me) car. I had a bit of time to look around the dealership and it was very impressive… lots of glass, fancy coffee station, comfy chairs, light and bright. It’s too far away for me, but I can imagine it being a better spot for an oil change than your local Jiffy Lube. I told them what I wanted to walk away with, and how much I wanted to pay, and they finagled it to make it happen. I feel like I got a great deal.

If you need to bring your car in for service, this is NOT the place to go to. They are AWEFUL! Rachel listed off 4 or 5 things that she recommended I fix/​replace BEFORE any technician even looked at my car. I literally pulled into the service garage and not 3 mins later she had a list of repairs… for example, she told me I needed a new timing belt. I usually go to Boston VW in watertown but recently moved to beverly. I asked her to check with them to see when the last time I had it replaced. She said she checked and I needed a new one. It felt real sketchy so I called Boston VW and asked, they replaced it 8 months ago with a 1 year warranty. So I immediately called and told them not to do anything. They tried to scam me for more money. I will NEVER go back to Kelly VW in Danvers. I’ll drive all the way back to Watertown.

This review is for the service department.
tl;dr — this service department’s incompetence is almost unbelievable.
Where do I even start? I made an appointment to bring my car to them about a month ago because it started shaking when idling. They brought it into the garage, and, after having me wait in the waiting room for FOUR hours, told me that they hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet, and wanted to keep it to look at it longer. I asked if they had a loaner car to give me (which should be standard) and they said no, all of them were out (which, I assume, is because they keep everyone’s car in their service department for so damn long).
I tell them that I need a loaner car to get to work, and they promised that the second they got one in, they would call me.
So I got a ride home, and after a few days, they call me saying it’s my engine (no word on the loaner car). I tell them to go ahead and fix it (covered under my Fidelity warranty). I ask again about a loaner car. They say they still have none available, and again promise me that they will call me asap once they get one in.
I call them the next day (FIVE business days after I dropped my car off) to check in, and they told me that there’s actually nothing wrong with my engine, but rather, my transmission is shot. (How is it possible that your PROFESSIONAL mechanics took 5 days to catch this???)
Oh, and they got a loaner car in that morning but had already given it away –_​_​_​_​_​–
Frustrated, but wanting my car back, I tell them fine, please just fix it. And to again PLEASE in the meantime let me know about a loaner car.
I check in the next day and they have a loner car available, so I rushed to go pick it up (actually got it this time!).
A few days go by without hearing from them. I call to check in at about mid-​morning (at this point it’s been about 2 weeks since dropping my car off) and am told that the service guy who has my file is out, but he’ll give me a call as soon as he’s back in. Big surprise, he doesn’t call me.
When I do finally get in touch with them a day later, they say they’re just waiting to finish my transmission.
So again I wait.
Fast-​forward a few MORE days (now THREE WEEKS since dropping off my car), and I get a call from service. I’m praying they’re just going to say that my car is finished. NOPE. They say that over the past few days, they found 2 other things that were wrong with my car, totally separate from the transmission, that are NOT covered under warranty, and they already fixed them. Oh, and it would add an extra $ 500 to my bill. When I get upset and say that no one asked me or even told me about this, they barely apologize and say that it’s been hectic there, and they thought that someone had called me. –_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​–
DO NOT GO HERE FOR SERVICE

This review is for SERVICE. The facility is beautiful, but the service is below average. I took my car for service, and a month later the oil began to leak. I took my car there TWICE to repair a noise coming from the rear hatch, and both times they claimed to have fixed it, and both times they failed — and the noise actually got worse. Took the car to Boston VW, and they found that the oil was leaking because it hadn’t been capped right, and then they found that the noise was coming from a totally different place — so Kelly failed at all repairs. Not good! Also, the lady at the front desk had no customer service skills. It was just an all around bad experience.

So, buyers beware. My wife and I sold our 2008 Audi A4 Convertible to Kelly Volkswagen and leased a 2015 Passat (we received an average lease deal on the Passat). The selling price of our Audi was low, actually $ 12K. (It was a beige color — sorry to whomever paid full retail for this vehicle). The sales manager assured us that the retail price of this car would never be met thus lowballing us on the sale. My bad for being so believing, but low and behold, the Audi was listed at Kelly Volkswagen for far more than what we were told. I felt bad… really bad as I had been betrayed (and that I had let myself be betrayed). I wrote to Brian Kelly to let him know of my displeasure and what did he do? He called my wife on her mobile phone and blasted the heck out of her and explained the used car business. What nerve. He could have talked to me directly or responded in writing or, he could have made the personal call and not yelled at my wife. Am I boycotting all Kelly brands? You bet. For a well to do local businessman he showed no decorum or decency. He’s a shameful man…

This review is for new car sales, not service. I’ll post a review of the service department (hopefully) a year from now.
What’s to say? It’s a car dealership. It happens to be a very clean car dealership, if that matters to you, with sales people who were friendly, competent, not particularly pushy, and able to answer my questions without fail, honestly, the first time, which should matter more.
Maybe most importantly for most, Kelly was able to meet a price on the car I wanted that no other dealership even came close to. It probably helped that I knew exactly what every other dealership was asking, and exactly what I was willing to pay, as the final numbers were wildly lower than the initial price they quoted me; if I had simply taken the first offer, I would have been — not fleeced, but certainly at the high end of the market.
(Also worth noting, Kelly was _​not_​able to come close to the number I was looking for on my trade, so I ended up selling my old car to another company the day I leased my new car, which was a bit of a pain but put an extra 20% in my pocket. And they do the hard sell on the finance extras: are you _​sure_​you don’t want the wheel protection package? What about the turn-​in damage waiver? You’ll get absolutely soaked if you don’t buy the turn-​in damage waiver!)
So: if you’re looking for a new Volkswagen, and you’ve done your homework, absolutely give them a look-​see.

I recently leased a car with Kelly VW and had an excellent experience. I worked with Jackie Amodeo in their sales department and he made the entire process smooth and straightforward. My experience with the service department has also been exceptional. Definitely the best dealership I’ve done business with and I recommend them to anyone and everyone.

I have a 2010 Tiguan that has been very high maintenance since the day I bought it pre owned. BUT I love my car and it is worth the headaches. Fred in service is an outstanding advisor that I trust and who listens to my needs for the car. He is knowledgeable and gives me all my preventative maintenance advice but never sells something the car doesn’t need.
My experience has been lovely with the dealership, which since being rebuilt is beautiful. There is a gentleman who works valet and shuttle, I believe his name is Kevin and he as well has been outstanding. He always greats people with a warm smile and he is always running around to see how he can help you.
Very good job Kelly VW :)

***************************BUYER BEWARE*********************************
On Monday August 11^th at around 5:30pm, I had gone to the dealership to pick up my GTI after I had brought it BACK into service for a TPMS light and a noise coming from the front suspension of the car. While I was there, I wanted to speak with someone in the sales department with a few concerns I had regarding my Certified Pre-​Owned car. My father had gone online and printed out the check list provided by Volkswagen and brought it in with us. Roughly 12 hours after taking delivery of the car, I had noticed quite a few issues including a broken passenger side view mirror cover/​indicator light, front bumper damage, rear bumper damage (from an impact), missing paint on the bottom of the rear hatch (bare metal exposed), a missing piece to the tail light on the hatch, a ding on the passenger side door (which I was told was taken care of, but was not) and deep gouges in the right rear tire sidewall. All four wheel were refinished because of heavy curb damage caused by the previous owner. I am very happy with how the wheels came out, but I cannot say the same about the rest of the cars issues.
After speaking briefly with the salesperson, he went inside to get his manager. As soon as his manager (Floyd) made his first step through the door, he instantly started being aggressive towards me and my father, asking us what our problem was and that he’s «not going to fix anything» and that he is «going to buy the car back right now» with his voice raised.
This took me and my father by surprise. Right from the beginning, Floyd was jumping down our throats and giving us an attitude even before my father or I had said ANYTHING to him. I cannot believe the lack of professionalism that Floyd had displayed. Both my father and I kept our cool and tried to be as reasonable as possible given the circumstances.
Floyd kept up his bad attitude and I was not buying into his intimidation tactics. We had tried to show him the Certified Pre-​Owned checklist we brought, and he said he didn’t «need to see it I fill those out everyday». Then Floyd should know that the very first item, labeled with the number «1» says «Body Panels/​Moldings/​Front & Rear Bumper: Finish/​Appearance/​No Visible Damage» and the second item listed on this checklist, noted with the number «2» states «Paint/​Trim: Finish/​Appearance/​Condition». When I pointed out the damage to the rear bumper, which is consistent with damage from a minor impact, Floyd immediately barked back at me saying «The CarFax is clean, there was no collision». Just because the CarFax is clean, does NOT mean that there hasn’t been a collision (sometimes people don’t report things to the insurance company). I am a licensed Damage Appraiser and know damage when I see it.
At the very end of this checklist there is a large box with «Customer Signature» written under it. Floyd told me that «the customer doesn’t sign this checklist, the tech does «. If this is true, why does it say «Customer Signature»? Also, under the area where the customer is supposed to sign, it states: «It is the responsibility of the inspecting dealer that this Inspection and Condition Report be completed in accordance with the WorldAuto Program Manual. The undersigned certifies that the inspection and reconditioning preformed on this vehicle meets all required criteria prescribed by the WorldAuto Certified Pre-​Owned program.»
I am disgusted with how my father and I were treated by the Kelly VW Used Car Sales Manager and how the dealership misled us. The manager even said «I’m not trying to be an asshole», but he was! This whole incident had made me so upset that I felt ill. I do not understand how any dealership could have someone like this deal with customers. I even stated to Floyd «I am surprised you have a job» and he replied with «Stop talking to me, we are done».
My fault in this whole situation is that I had put faith in Kelly VW to go through with what they said they would regarding a Certified Pre-​Owned car. I wanted to go with a Certified Pre-​Owned car because I believed that this would alleviate myself from having to go through the car with a fine-​toothed comb because the dealership was going to do that for me.

— – Follow up — –
After the issue I was having with the used car sales manager, they ended up taking the car in and doing repairs. Almost everything I brought to their attention was dealt with besides the right rear tire that had deep gouges in the sidewall…
I had spoken with a couple different employees of this dealership that I have mutual acquaintances with and they informed me that sometimes the dealership likes to «push cars through a sale» without doing the Certified Pre-​owned check. One of them even said that to their knowledge, the check never happened on my car. This is something that I feel is VERY important to know if you are considering purchasing a CPO car from Kelly VW.

Thanks, Kelly, for cleaning out my trunk of all my family’s belongings. I’d taken out the heaviest, priciest stuff before getting there (no easy feat for a pregnant woman with a toddler) but left the items I immediately needed for a quick reprogramming of a key remote that should have taken under an hour. $ 180 to have all my stuff taken AND get a new key remote is kind of steep though. Wish I’d had a little warning so our day wasn’t completely ruined. Oh but at least they vacuumed and washed the car. Because that’s what’s important.

I had an awful experience buying a car from Kelly Volkswagen in Danvers, MA.
I was told that the car I was interested in was in stock. When I was within minutes of completing a deal I asked to see the actual car and was then told that it was in transit and due to arrive within a couple of days. The salesman told me that if I wanted the car at the agreed price then I would need to complete the sale that day as it was the last day of the month.
I completed the purchase and thats when things got really difficult.
The car I bought went missing in transit from the «port». I was told it was on a train but could not be located.
Two weeks after I bought the car they located it.
Kelly did make my first car payment as compensation however they handled the situation poorly. They were not forthcoming with updates and I had to call for information daily.
I did not like the way I was spoken to by the sales manager Brandon Kelly.
If you would like further details please PM me and I will be happy to elaborate.
I would never shop here again and would never recommend them to anyone.
The car I bought is fantastic but wish I bought it elsewhere.

Long story short. If you’re going to buy a pre owned car from them double check everything. I bought a car & fog light was damage the sales guy kept saying I’ll get it taken care of. I shouldn’t have taken the car off their lot until I had it in Writting. Good luck.

I have been researching a used Volkswagen EOS. I contacted Kelly through the website, and exchanged emails over four days with Ryan, their internet salesperson. On Friday I indicated that the first day I could come by the dealership would be Sunday. I asked Ryan to please contact me if the vehicle sold on Saturday, as I had had several cars sold before I could get to dealers for a test drive (it being convertible season, they are flying out the door). Ryan and I exchanged another set of emails Saturday morning, and I reiterated that I did not want to drive 45 minutes for nothing. No word all day Saturday or Sunday am, and thus i left in time to arrive at the dealership when they opened at 11. The salesperson came over and told me it was sold on Saturday. I was furious, and asked him why I was not notified. The used car manager, Floyd, came over and immediately launched into the «I can get these cars all the time» speech. I told him under no circumstances would I give Kelly my business considering their attitude toward a specific request from a potential customer. He apologized for Ryan, and again reiterated that they would be happy to call me with any eos’ coming in. He seemed surprised that I would not be interested in doing business with Kelly, as if it was no big deal to waste my time. On
, someone else did a review where they were actually sitting in the dealership as the car was sold despite them working out a deal for the specific car. So, it appears that Kelly has little respect for their customers. I would suggest to you that you not rely on anything they say about availability of a particular vehicle, and only work with Kelly if you are willing to buy a different vehicle than the one you wanted.

Please bring this to the attention of Brian Kelly
I recently purchased a VW Beetle from Anthony Belmonte in your Danvers dealership. Anthony was professional, and extremely knowledgable about the car I was interested in. He made me feel very comfortable and gave me all the information I needed to lease my car. This was the first vehicle I ever purchased since my husband passed away recently. (he always took care of buying cars) Anthony went out of his way to call me to check on my car several times after my purchase and made me feel as though I could call him at any time if I experienced a problem. That meant a great deal to me.
I was in an accident shortly after my new car was purchased. A hit and run driver on Route 128 bashed into the L rear of my new car, while driving away from 3 totaled cars. After talking to Anthony, I had it towed to Kelly Collision where it was worked on for nearly 3 months. (trouble getting replacement parts)
I felt comfortable calling Anthony for advice when the repair was taking so long.
I still have some issues with the cost of the rental car I needed while mine was being repaired, and I am hopeful that Anthony will give me some direction to remedy the situation. I guess the point I’m making is that I have had a very enjoyable experience with your dealership thus far and I wanted you to know how much I appreciated Anthony’s efforts to make this purchase smooth and painless.
I was a Toyota owner for the past 35 years and swore I’d never buy any car other than a Toyota… but I thought this was the time to switch and I have been very pleased with my Beetle. Anthony was a big part of that switch for me.
I’m sure you value great employees and I sincerely hope that you realize what an asset Anthony is to your team.
Sincerely,
Mary Lou Binnall

I borrowed my friends VW the other weekend to go up to Boston from NYC to see my family and on my way back to NYC blew out a tire on 128. VWs require a special key to remove the wheels (anti-​theft) and my friend had lost the keys, so after a frustrating few hours, having the car towed to a tire shop who then told me they couldn’t help me and then finally to Kelly, I showed up at their doorstep feeling pretty stressed out (and $ 200 deep for towing costs). I explained the situation to them and they offered to just put the spare on for me. While I was waiting, I sat in the dealership, which is absolutely immaculate; the nicest and cleanest car dealership I’ve ever been in. About 30 minutes later, they told me my car was out front and handed me the keys. I asked them what I owed them to have the tire changed, and the manager smiled, told me that I didn’t owe them anything and wished me a safe drive back to NYC. Now THAT is customer service. I don’t even own a car and now I think that when I do get one, it’ll be a Volkswagon, sheerly based on how well I was treated at Kelly.