Carter Volkswagen

My girlfriend and I bought a brand new GTI from Carter a few years ago. The service was great, the process was easy, and our sales rep was helpful and not pushy at all.
Since then, I have gotten the car serviced routinely and have been provided excellent service. When there have been charges outside of warranty, they were always clearly explained to me and I have never felt that anything was shady or a surprise. I’ve used the shuttle and loaner cars, and it has been effortless on my part in both cases.
Having sold cars before and knowing how difficult (but important) clear, honest communication and great customer service can be in this environment, I am impressed that Carter has been able to deliver this consistently high level of service. I’m hoping to move up to Audi with my next car purchase, but I would recommend buying a car here to anyone.

Horrible parts service. Close to being illegal and I considered contacting the states Attorney General. Here’s why; I own an Audi A4 which shares some parts with the Passat of the same vintage. I call and state I drive an Audi and I’m looking for a specific part that their website says they have. Before I could explain that this part in question is also a Passat part, the «gentleman» on the line quickly and rudely says, «This isn’t an Audi dealership!» I respond, «Yes, I know. This part is for a Passat but it also works on my Audi.» «Oh, ok.», he says. I ask if it’s in stock, as the website says it is, though you can trust the inventory system. He says it is so I make my way down to them. Now, this part in question is listed for $ 54 (pre tax) on Carter VW’s website. I get there and am charged $ 75 (pre tax). I tell them that the website listed it for $ 54, and he says they don’t price match. I say, «Yes, that’s fine. This isn’t a competitors website, it’s YOUR website, Carter VW parts in Seattle.» He asks to see my phone so he can verify, but then says, «Sorry, I don’t know what to tell you. If you want it for $ 54 you can order it then have it shipped to you.» Really??? You’re holding the part in your hand and say I have to ORDER it from the same place I’m standing and wait 3 – 5 days to honor the price??? Now, I understand in some cases of web deals and such, and if the part was in a remote warehouse, or even if the website price is outdated, but the part is on the shelf 10 feet away and none of these happen to be the case. On top of all this, instead of just making the customer happy, given all the info and the situation, and honoring the web-​listed price, he just smugly stands there with an ‘I’m right and you’re wrong, take it or leave it’ look on his face and asks if I still want it. Of course I purchase it, as its vital to getting my car running properly, vowing never to come back to them. I even noticed a look of shock and disbelief on the cashiers face as she apologized for having no authority to remedy the situation. I can’t speak on the service of the other departments at the Carter owned dealerships, but as to their parts department, it’s awful.

It’s gone way down hill over the last few years. The service staff has poor communication and lack good customer service skills. They don’t provide regular updates on status or completion times.

This is the second time I’ve taken my coveted 2003 Eurovan Weekender in for maintenance service and feel very well taken care of. My first experience was with Eric the Service Manager last year, and second was with Bart this week. Both took their time in explaining what they found. I appreciate the thoroughness since I take extremely good care of my car since these are a rare find nowadays and cannot be replaced! Bart really was patient and spent time talking through some of the items they found. The little things mean a lot — they looked through everything! So my car’s maintenance plan is well considered and I know I can enjoy the best designed road tripping car on the planet for decades more to come. Break light was out and I didn’t know it, I said I’d replace it myself so I’d save on labor costs and the mechanic went ahead and did for me anyway. That little $ 8 bulb + 10minutes of his time made me a loyal customer. It would have taken me 45minutes to get in there to accomplish the same thing. BTW, I drive from Bainbridge Island for their customer service, from appointment making people to in-​service staff was better than closer dealership options, so I will continue to make the trek!

When my 2014 Golf TSI would not get out of park, I was pretty freaked out. Luckily, Carter Volkswagen came to my rescue. I called the service center and reached an extremely courteous and knowledgable mechanic who talked me through some possible issues and clearly instructed me through next steps.
When I arrived with my car, the staff was ready to process my repair and hooked me up with a loaner car within 15 minutes. That means that only an hour after my car completely failed, my day was back on track.
I received a call when they identified the issue – a malfunction with the computer that controls the transmission. They predicted a 2 – 3 week window to repair it and offered me a better loaner car, which I took them up on.
Ultimately they completed the repair in two weeks. Again, when I arrived to pick up my car, everything was ready to go.
Highly recommend this place!

If you plan to bring your trade-​in car, good luck.
Not the best experience ever with a guy from sales (his first name starts with T).
He kept asking information about my trade-​in car when I was not ready to share it. Car buyers, know something: only share information when the person also gives up some information. That is how it works.
But he basically wanted to know «everything upfront». I was literally walking in and he asked: «Hi, how can I help you?» «Are you trading in a car? Oh yeah? Which one?». He didn’t even ask my name before about the trading in thing. And that kept like this on and on until the time I went home.
He kept asking kinds of question I was not comfortable to share to a stranger. «Where do you work? What car do you own?»
Man, I’m sure you had the best intentions of knowing about me, but the way you asked these questions made me really uncomfortable.
I’m also sure that Carter has been in Seattle for 40+ years for a reason. It’s a great (and fair) company. I wanted to talk to someone I could rely. I’m happy to give more constructive feedback upon request.

I recently took my 2012 Golf TDI in for a 30,000 miles service. I made my appointment on their website and chose my own service that I wanted them to do and scheduled my appointment time for the same day.
When I arrived they were ready for me, they offered me a loaner car for the day for FREE!, which I did not need. They called me when the service was completed and offered to pick me up from work for FREE so I could get my car.
The service sheets that were provided afterwards were very thourough for only a 30,000 miles service. I did not even realize I may need new tires soon, which is good since winter is here.
Best customer service and quality of work I have ever encountered. I will continue to bring my car here for years to come. You have earned a customer for life.

After a year and a half out of college, it was time for a car. I’d been saving money and an upcoming job change meant that I would need to commute to an area not served directly by transit at the times needed.
I exchanged a few emails with Bill Stutzman about my budget, cars I was interested in, etc.
We met and he gave me a full rundown of their inventory. Once I settled on the fact that a moderately priced certified pre-​owned vehicle was what I wanted, we checked it the inventory. Bill was straightforward and helpful– never pressuring, but transparent about the stock and their qualities.
A day later, I rolled out with a 2012 Jetta SE 2.5. Great car and well appointed, it had it all — Bluetooth, leather, heated seats, alloy wheels, a bunch of great features.
Also — the car had fewer than 8500 miles. Almost a brand new vehicle
The best part? Bill worked with me on price and with my short but nearly perfect credit history, got me the same rate offered by my granola crunchy low– rate credit union. Score!
Their certified pre owned vws come with a 2 yr/​24 k mile bumper to bumper warranty. It’s a German car I plan on driving for a while, so I ponied up a bit for the 5yr/​72k mile warranty that covers everything but wiper blades, tires, brake pads.
All said and done, I drove off in what amounted to a new car at an incredible price given the mileage and top-​tier package and warranty on the vehicle.
Thanks to Bill! Great service, transparent, and left knowing that I’m in good hands.

New car buying experience might be ok there, but this is really really bad place to service your car. My 2014 Jetta had air conditioner problems since day one. I took it there 4 times (!) to fix it and they claimed they inspected and located all leaks (different places every visit), fixed and then after several weeks a/​c stops working again. Scheduling repair involves one to two weeks wait time, and with broken a/​c in the 90 temperatures this Summer it’s just unacceptable. After the last visit for a scheduled maintenance, they didn’t even reset the maintenance reminder (may be they just reparked the car and didn’t do any service?). Never going to go there again.

I purchased a used Volkswagen Golf here. They were very helpful and nice but in the end they sold me a car that needed a new transmission IMMEDIATELY, like it broke before I even got to my first oil change. I paid more than the KBB value, they would not come down on the price, only to have to shell out thousands in repair costs. I thought since they’re a Volkswagen dealer they would make sure the used cars they sell are in good condition but nope, they don’t give 2 shakes about customers, just profit.
Maybe it’s because I’m a female first time car buyer with limited car knowledge so they thought «bullseye! here’s a real sucker. sell her the piece of junk we don’t want to bother repairing» so yeah… would not recommend to anyone! especially not first time buyers or those who don’t know a lot about cars. Bring your mechanic or someone who knows VW’s if you dare buy from them

Great car buying experience! No pressure, and an overall easy experience. Had been looking for a long time for a car, and really had been turned off by all car salespeople in the past. Carter was different. We worked with Michael Cappuccilli who made the whole process transparent and easy. Would definitely recommend Carter VW to anyone.

Came here to get my car serviced because the engine light was on. Took me 2 weeks to get an appointment. They were not sympathetic to an emergency.
Bart the service guy was very nice but not very clear on the pricing when discussing over the phone. Also wasn’t very confident when explaining to me the problem. Told me the price and I asked, can we just do the required maintenance right now see if that’s the problem because that’s out of my price range, said sure sure it’ll be probably $ 800ish. Okay that’s fine.
Calls me the next day with my car ready to be picked up saying it’s going to be what he quoted me at $ 1500! Obviously it was too late for me to disagree because they already did ALL of the work, not just the required part of it…
Disappointed that they weren’t very transparent upfront but the experience was overall fine.

Worked with Miles and Ted on the purchase of a Jetta Sportwagen and both were easy to work with, after the usual back and fourth we came to a fair deal and Miles was very good at explaining the purchase and loan terms to my son, a first time car buyer. Also kudos to the other sales person Daniele who was dealing with a real A#$%^&@ behind us, patience truly is a virtue.

I had a fantastic experience buying my Jetta from Carter. The sales team, finance team, and manager were all extremely friendly and helpful throughout my deciding process. I visited quite a few dealerships around Seattle, and the service was night and day between those and Carter. I felt like a valued customer!

We purchased our 2011 VW Routan certified used from Carter in March 2015. These cars don’t seem to last long at lots and when I found this car with under 36k and for under $ 20k we took the first ferry over from Kitsap to buy it. The car buying experience went very smoothly with our sales rep Donnielle.
However, what hits it out of the park for me is the follow up service. We had to get the 40k services and decided to go with the local VW dealership to avoid the ferry and higher King County tax. I was then made aware that they couldn’t find the key to remove my lug nuts and that they key wasn’t given to us at time of purchase. Since we leave for a long road trip next week, this was absolutely necessary. So I called Carter to find out how to rectify this and spoke with Dan. He generously offered to take care of this for me for free if I could get the car over. When I found out the cost I called Dan back and told him I would come today — and he said he would take care of it to avoid any more hassle for me to take the ferry over. He spoke with the service advisor here at Paar and told them he would cover the cost.
This by far is the best follow up service we have ever received from any dealership EVER. We have purchased new and used cars a dozen times in the last 15 years — and the service Dan has provided is second to none. My jaw literally dropped to the floor that he would try to make it less inconvenient for me. Like who does that. If you are in the market for a new or used car– please look no further.
This is a great dealership to buy from; a true testament to why they have been around for so long. Their follow up service and taking care of their customers is worth any extra cost over another dealership. Although we aren’t going to be in the market for another car for another 4 – 5 years– you can bet when we are we will be buying from this dealership ONLY. Thank you Dan for renewing my faith in good customer service.

I had such a great experience at Carter. After being given a slimy sales runaround at University VW, I emailed Heath Bauer to express my interest in a specific car at a specific price. He confirmed that they could meet my budget with that car, and I test drove and signed paperwork the next day. Heath was very nice, didn’t have any gross car salesman vibe at all… he understood what I was looking for, didn’t pressure me and made it quick and easy to get my lease taken care of.
Everyone at the dealership was friendly, genuine and helpful. I had a quick repair for a recalled part last month and found the experience to be just as easy. They offered a courtesy shuttle and gave me a referral for an auto body shop that could fix a scratch on my bumper. I even ran into Heath and he remembered details about our interaction– again, so friendly and seems to truly enjoy his job.
The free car washes for a year are an awesome added bonus. Plus, when my car battery died (due to leaving my headlights on overnight– my one gripe about my «fully loaded» jetta is no auto headlights) my free roadside assistance was also a great experience. MUCH smoother than when I’d gone through Allstate the last time this happened with my old car.
Once they get their (much needed) remodel they’ll be a full six star rating in my book. They have a customer in me for life! I love my car, love the price that I am paying, and can’t wait to shop here again!

My fiancé and I came here today looking to buy a pre owned car preferably a Volkswagen jetta tdi. The salesmen who helped us, ted reich, was awful.
We told him what we wanted and our price range. My fiancé also was loosely looking for a new car for himself and was very interested in the Volkswagen cc. Ted begrudgingly took us to look at one but quickly reminded us it was out of price range and hurried us over to the jetta. We liked the black jetta as it was the color I wanted but ted continued to push the grey. Finally we were able to test drive the black one. This guy sat in the back (and was the worst back seat driver) he huffed and puffed if I missed his last minute turns and had a prescribed route.
We get back we tell him we only have a few more minutes and will fill out credit report and all that lengthy paper work online since we’d like to compare prices and check out a few other car lots. We ask him wat approximately would be the monthly price for 5 year plan «is that an offer?» No… «We’ll my manager in there is not gonna be happy if this isn’t an offer» but can you just tell us a guess? He takes us inside and puts the paperwork for the credit report in front of us. My fiancé tells him this is exactly what we don’t want to do right now and Ted Reich exasperated throws his pen on the ground and shuffles his papers around «okay okay have a good day». We leave.
And we bought a car at chaplains in bellevue that same day for my fiancé. You lost a sale Ted…

Finally… a Volkswagen Service Department that does it right. Let me start by saying, I have had the worst experience at University Volkswagen, Auburn Volkswagen and Pignataro in Everett. I am not going to get into all the issues about the other three, because this review is about Carter Volkswagen in Ballard and the service that Mark and crew preformed on my Eurovan. My wife and I have been shopping for months looking for a new (2015) vehicle, a grocery getter, a crossover or a large SUV. We couldn’t find one on the market that matches the Eurovan for visibility, roominess and just plain appeal. So we are going to keep the Eurovan.
Here is our review:
Pros: Told us the truth the whole way through. The service I asked for was done completely and spot on. They alerted us to potential problems down the road. They gave us a loaner because the work was taking longer than expected. They did not blame Volkswagen for making a vehicle that is not «service friendly». They let my three restless kids sit upstairs, watch movies and eat snacks on the house. Let me tell you, they understand service. I felt like Carter Volkswagen hired the Super Nanny to advise them on setting up their waiting room.
Cons: Not much, maybe took a little too much time, but they rectified that by giving us a loaner car. The price was a little high, but I don’t mind paying top dollar as long as I get good service and it’s done right.
We will go to Carter every time. Thanks Mark for the wonderful experience you guys run a great Service Department. My kids thank you for the movie and snacks while we waited.

We had the best experience at Carter VW!!! Graham Satterlee was incredibly helpful! My family had a list of needs for our new vehicle, and Graham helped us find the perfect car for our family at a great price. The entire experience was positive, friendly, professional, and the best part was that we got a great deal on a quality SUV. I will definitely buy my next car from Graham. If you are looking for a sweet ride, with a hassle free sale, go see Graham.
Also, I feel like I am driving a spaceship and it’s awesome.

updated: the manager contacted me and resolved this to our satisfaction. We still won’t buy or get service here, but appreciate her effort.
We bought our vw here, used, 5 years back. We brought it in this week and the estimates, not even guaranteed to fix it, were exorbitant and hard sell typical dealer prices. After a 150 estimate fee, and nothing resolved, we will never return. They could have cared less about keeping us as customers.