Ball Auto Center Pre-Owned, National City CA

I really enjoyed searching for a car here. The salesmen were VERY friendly, funny & not pushy. I totally DISLIKE pushy high pressure sales people. I was treated very well by this establishment. They respected my needs, my price, my monthly payment, down payment etc. If you are looking for a car look in their direction!

Just bought a car a month ago, they ran way over the limit with credit checks, also my transmission went out completely on the freeway. Been calling them and it keeps dropping my calls. Had to drop it off at the service center.strongly would advise another dealership. Not what I expected to happen, especially this early.

Brian really went that extra mile to get me a car. All the staff is friendly.

On July 9,2020 went to look at a 2015 Mazda CX5 (JM3KE2CY0F0546451) they had on their website on their lot. When we got there, they said the Mazda was just put on the lot and was getting refurbished. They then took us up the street to the maintenance lot, and they were able to find out the car was sent off-site to get reupholstered, as the previous owner had a dog that "ate the backseat", and to come back the next day to see the car.

Next day (July 20,2020) rolls around and go back. The car was there, it had not been cleaned up or anything, and had a "wet dog" smell to it which was attempted to be covered up with heavily sprayed floral scent. Test drove the car anyway, and otherwise it was in good condition. Was told I could come back in a few days when the car was detailed to see it again.

Arrived back on July 12,2020 and the car was cleaned up, still had an overpowering floral scent. The price was in budget and decided to purchase the vehicle. After getting numbers and paperwork in process, 2 other women showed up to look at the car. At this point I was signing the paperwork agreed on, and they still allowed them to drive and test the car out. I've never been to a dealership that even pulls something like that. Cont.on to finance dept up the street and got official paperwork and be on my way.

Come Thursday July 23,2020 I get a phone call from Edgar, Finance guy I signed my paperwork with. He told me that I needed to come in and re-sign everything. I asked him what was going on, and he told me, the car was now 12k (not the listed 14k, and what was on my original paperwork), and couldn’t tell me why all of a sudden it dropped and also that my "paystubs I provided were fake and made in Microsoft Word". Now this is where things continued to get sketchier and sketchier. I don't even think that’s legal to say to a customer, which Naval Legal will be looking into this part, and beyond insulting. The new magic car price and my "new" payment terms where completely different from the original signed paperwork. I asked him who/what/where/why, and he told me he had to call me back. That night no return call.

Friday rolls around (July 24,2020), and I called him 2x with no response. He called me back a few hours later, and still no exact details needed but still wanting me to go in and re-sign new paperwork. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable with that, with no hard details and blindly going into a situation, On top of being told I'm making my own paystubs. I told him he could forget it and take the car back, and give me my down payment back, and that all of this sounded very sketchy and unethical. He told me he would call back. I told him I would bring the car back at 5: 30PM. I get a text that another person, Diego, would meet me at finance and help me from there. When Diego arrived, he asked what was going on and I told him everything and how I would take my business elsewhere that’s appreciated. He mentioned that no one else in finance/dealership there wanted to help him because they didn’t like him, or like helping each other, so he didn't know what was going on. Things just don't add up, they accuse you of things, and no one likes each other at this place? They need to get their act together. I'm not one that will accept being treated in this manner or be pushed around/taken advantage of. There were 0 apologies from any of the accusations they put on me or anything. Take your values, ethics and business elsewhere.

Wouldn’t even give it a rating. Alex the salesman was extremely kind and this review has nothing to do with him. GABRIEL the “assistant supervisor” or “assistant manager” WHATEVER he is=problem.

We were about to leave after viewing our finance options with the company as it was the first lot we were at that day and wanted to review our options. Mind you—I had just convinced my fiancé this was the best option for us but wanted to go look at a more gas efficient car because that was our original plan just to appease him even though we both knew we were coming back for the vehicle we just got options for. Alex left the room to get his business card for us and then in came Gabriel.

The conversation at first was ok. He asked what we wanted price wise and we explained to him that we just needed to look around a little bit more and do some research bc the last car we bought had an open recall on brakes that didn’t work and we almost lost our lives (all air bags deployed, fire department was called in). That’s when he began pushing. At first I didn’t think much of it because that was his job. But by the eighth time you tell someone the same thing and the someone ignores you and repeats the question you just answered, your annoyance rises. It was to the point my fiancé started raising his voice as did Gabriel (wether he noticed or not I’m not sure).

Once we walked out the room we saw Gabriel head to Alex and heard “it’s a good thing I got out of there if not I would’ve taken advantage of them” roughly along those lines. Key words: them, taken, and advantage.

We finally left after getting Gabriel card and Alex’s card, but by that time me and my fiancé were completely deterred from buying from the lot altogether.

Now comes the best part—the day after we bought a car. Double the price, more tech, yet still affordable, all because we didn’t want to go back. I got a call at 5: 58PM from Gabriel, I told him we already financed a car and his attitude changed. Told him it was a Nissan Sentra SR and also told him over the phone the whole reason why we did not go back to purchase their car selection. He said some where along the line “well it is what it is” and as I was about to say good bye he hung up on me.

I don’t care if I was about to end the call he hung up on a potential client. He is beyond rude and unprofessional.

A lot of things could’ve helped the situation. Mentioning that the car is older and we felt kind of unsafe due to our recent misfortune. Gabriel could’ve suggested seeing another car a bit out of our range with better safety features. But no. I told him “it’s like buying a laptop you just don’t buy one int he spot without looking at the specs and making sure it fits your needs””

“Um well actually I do”

Um well actually that’s a lie because no sane person would do that, but ok.

And the list goes on and on.

I would not recommend coming here at all. All they care about is obviously money. If you’re looking for certified pre owned cars go to Toyota on Main Street and ask for Hector. He is a great salesman; joking around, taking time to answer questions, not pressuring you to make the purchase, and even helping spot any inconsistencies on the vehicle that may be a safety hazard and will even work with you to fix it either on the spot or with a due bill!

Old school shifty sales tactics. Sales guy was nice at first but got pushy and was trying so hard to give me a “deal” and wouldn’t let me leave. That “deal” he gave me was crazy expensive for a used car. I can’t believe there are places that still operate like this. Just as a side note they also do paperwork by hand which takes forever. The whole place is outdated I wouldn’t recommend.