Rio Auto Group

Do not buy a car from them!!! They sold me a car that had the check engine light on. I test drove it three times for well over 50 miles and each time they reset the check engine light so I wouldn’t see it. I only realized this after I had made the purchase. The engine was running at 180 degrees during each test drive when it should have been running at 200. That is how I know that they were resetting the check engine light before each test drive. The check engine light came on a day after I bought it. It cost me $ 700 to get the care to pass emissions and when I brought them the bill they wouldn’t reimburse me. The car also had four tires on it that weren’t even the proper size for the car. One of which had a bubble on it the size of a golf ball. All four tires had to be replaced. On top of all of this, before I gave them the $ 600 deposit to hold the car for me they told me that they would give me a one year warranty on the car. After I gave them the deposit they then said a warranty would be an additional $ 1500. I then told them I wanted my deposit back and they said it was non-​refundable. The car I bought from them was a 2006 Volkswagen Passat for $ 6000. I’ve had to put $ 3000 into it in the first 6 months of ownership. These guys are complete crooks. This review doesn’t even come close to expressing my actual frustration with Rio Auto. On top of all this when I went to the DMV to transfer the car into my name they had forgotten to sign the title. I live an hour away from them!!. I called them and asked them to come out here to sign the tile and they said they aren’t legally allowed to sign the title outside of the dealership. Really!!! I had to drive a two hour round trip to have them sign the title. These guys aren’t only unethical but border line criminals. I wish I could give them zero stars.

DO NOT BUY HERE!!! YOU WILL LOSE THOUSANDS!!! I’m active duty and just returned from a 3 year tour in Japan. We were in a tight pinch needing a car. Since we only anticipated being in the US for one year, we were looking for something that was reliable, but inexpensive. Using USAA’s car buying tool, we found Rio Auto Group. I visited their website and found a car that might fit our needs. We found a 2005 Equinox. It had been smoked in and was not in great shape on the interior, but it sounded and looked ok mechanically. So, we started the process to buy it.
1. The salesman asked us where we saw the car price? We had found it on
and it was listed at under $ 7k. He asked how we would pay for it and we said we would pay for it using USAA financing. He suggested we use his financing. Curious, we filled out the forms and after he coordinated the interest rate with his financers, he came back with a higher price on the vehicle. His argument was the monthly price was still the same, so raising the price $ 1k was ok. No, it is not. We kept with USAA and moved forward. That was the first sign something might not be good. Of course, they pushed the extended warranty as did USAA when I spoke to them, but we declined. Not sure if that was a good decision or not. We will see.
2. The BIG issue is that only 2 months after buying the car, we started having stutters and transmission issues. I assumed it needed a tune-​up. I took it to a local mechanic and found out the head gasket was blown and the transmission was shot! I wasn’t sure what to do, so I contacted the dealership. I took it back to dealership and Joe took the car and had mechanics «look» at it. He told me that he would be willing to put a new motor in, if necessary, with no charge for labor. They told me it wasn’t the head gaskets and they replaced he radiator, hoses, etc. they charged me $ 500. When I asked for a recipe to was told it was unauthorized repairs so they couldn’t give me a receipt. The car drove ok but the the heater didn’t work. I took it in and a mechanic said the hoses weren’t hooked up correctly. One week later, overheating and sputtering began again. This time a real mechanic confirmed that the head gaskets were blown! Such a scam place! DO NOT BUY HERE!

After finding a good deal on an Accord on
, I drove in to take a look and test drive. It had been on the lot for a while despite being a year old car and I quickly found out why; the former rental had been rode hard and put away wet. The front and rear seats were stained pretty badly, there was body damage by the driver’s side door and the tire pressure sensor monitor was alarming. With these issues in mind, I asked the salesman to remedy them before we could continue with a deal, and he was more than happy to oblige and told me the car would be ready in a few short hours. I gave him my phone number and asked him to call me when it was ready and I’d make the trek back down to Manassas.
Hours later, the phone never rang. I decided to call up and ask for my guy but when he didn’t answer his phone, I called the main line to inquire. I was told that, of course, my guy was gone for the day. I was a bit confused, because he said he’d be there. No worries, I thought, and asked about the car. «Oh, that one? Yeah we sold it pretty much right after you left.» Of course! The car was supposed to go get cleaned up an fixed but instead, it went right back on the lot. And to top it all off, they didn’t even bother to call and tell me it was gone and maybe offer me something else to get my business. What a joke. I hung up and went to an actual dealer where I bought a car that I’m very happy with after dealing with a salesman actually interested in making my experience a good one.
Thanks anyway, I guess.

Awful customer service. The salesman gave me the keys and let me take the car out on my own. when I made an offer for $ 10,000 cash, which wasn’t far off their asking value, he pretty much said no and that was it. no room to negotiate here. Forgot to mention the car smelled like an ashtray, the engine was rusty. It’s my experience that places like this buy cars for very cheap, with issues, and they are out to get suckers.

I worked with Shawn C. in getting into my VW Beetle Convertible this past weekend. He was immensely helpful when I had thought I would be unable to purchase the vehicle. He got me a great rate and a low monthly payment without being pushy, and even followed up a few days later to see how it was going! I would recommend this dealer to friends!

Absolutely Not! Unless you want to waste an entire day at the dealership, only to be treated like you are missing half a skull do NOT go here! Very unprofessional, no negotiation, and unless you have great credit the prices are ridiculous. Save yourself time and SEVERAL hard credit inquiries to your credit!

I had a friend purchase a vehicle from Rio Auto Group and she loved it, bragging how she got her 2 year old car for the price of a 6 ear old. She seemed really happy with her purchase experience as well and I had been contemplating the idea of a purchasing a new car, so i strolled in with absolutely no intention to buy anything that day. There was a Hummer H2 that I was all over immediately. The salesman was able to answer all my questions, provide helpful buying tips, and it was just an overall great atmosphere. Within an hour of stepping foot in the dealership, I got a great price for my trade-​in, a great deal on the Hummer, and nearly instant loan approval. These guys are great and definitely know what they’re doing. I will recommend them to anyone in the used car market. They’ve got an impressive inventory.

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT BUY — THEY COST ME THOUSANDS — PLEASE READ REVIEW FULLY.
On September 13, 2014, I visited Rio Auto Group in order to look for a good used car for my little sister to congratulate her on starting college. A 2003 Lexus ES300 caught my eye, and their salesman Shawn pulled it around for me to take a test drive. I drove it around for 20 minutes or so, and was impressed — it drove well. There was a few sounds and knocks — but nothing big. I did inquire about the oil change sticker, which indicated that the oil hadn’t been changed in a couple years. Their salesman Shawn assured me that they had looked the car over mechanically and that there was zero issues — his exact words were «We take care of everything right here before we put the car out».
We agreed on a fair price, and I paid the man for the vehicle. Foolishly, I trusted their word that they had mechanically looked the car over. I’m used to dealing with big dealers that really do have mechanical inspections, so I trusted a bit too much — this time, I definitely paid for it — please read on.
8 days after purchasing the vehicle, it broke down and would not start. I had it towed into a shop, where the nightmare began. The mechanic informed me that the vehicle needed about $ 3,000 worth of worth — valve cover gasket, camshaft seal, timing belt, both front struts were blown, and many other items that added up to the total. Additionally, my mechanic informed me that the oil had, in fact, not been changed in years and was close to non-​mobile. Finally, oil was weeping out of the motor clearly — he actually brought me into the back to show me how much oil was coating the undercarriage of the vehicle.
I contacted Shawn, my salesman at Rio, and told him about my situation. He instantly became defensive and combative, alleging that I should have just brought it back to Rio instead of taking it to a mechanic and perhaps they could have «worked something out». He asked me to fax him my receipts for all the work. I faxed them the receipts, as well as the contact information for the mechanic that I took it to, and Shawn said he would talk to the owner.
After a few weeks of silence, I followed back up with Shawn with another email — again attaching all of the receipts for the $ 3,000 worth of work that had to be done. Once again, silence.
It has now been two months, and I have hired a lawyer to look into my legal options concerning recouping some of my losses. However, odds are it’s going to cost me more than it would be worth to get my $ 3,000 back.
DO NOT BUY A VEHICLE FROM THIS DEALERSHIP. If you’d like to see any of my receipts or see any of my paperwork, I’d be more than happy to provide them to you — just contact me. I just want to ensure that no one else has to go through what I went through.
Thanks for reading!