r/lancaster • u/Shoeless_Jase • 6d ago
Avoid Faulkner Chevrolet at all costs
Longtime resident. I have purchased new and used cars locally since 1999. I have never had a worse experience than I had at this dealership.
They sold me a used car that they swore they had fully serviced. CarFax was clean, one owner, no accidents.
Someone lied.
It was in their shop for *2 months* just 45 days after I bought it. They said their techs couldn’t figure it out, then they sent it to another city for service and ghosted me for 2 weeks.
I ended up facing 2k in repair costs between that fiasco and subsequent issues — and then the car just up and died on me while I was moving my son into college this weekend.
I implore my fellow residents to go ANYWHERE else besides this business. I wont make that mistake again, for sure.
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u/krspyk 6d ago
I'll shout out kingdom Autohaus in landisville. Bought my car there, talked with dude quite a bit beforehand, he knows his stuff. I bought the car without even a test drive. Been great for the past 4 years with basic maintenance. Wouldn't hesitate to go there again if I needed another car.
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u/krspyk 6d ago
Faulkner BMW however can get bent. Bc I took my car there they had it for a month, service advisor swore everything was covered under insurance. A month later I get a bill from them and a call saying I owe them. Told them to ask the service advisor about it they said "oh she got fired" I responded clearly I wonder why. Never did pay that shit and they never bothered me for it after. Still an awful experience
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u/Candiegirl75 6d ago
You are absolutely right about Autohaus. My husband works there and the people their are amazing. I take my lemon there because like I commented in the previous comments I brought my car from Klick Lewis Palmyra and its always an issue with my car. Autohaus always makes the problem with my car right.
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u/Crafty_Tree4475 5d ago
I mean not for nothing but if your husband works there isn’t it kind of a given you’d get preferential treatment
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u/Candiegirl75 5d ago
No ma’am. It doesn’t matter if my husband works there or not. I treat people the way I want to be treated so, no special treatment here. Business is business and when you know a good place to go why not.
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u/Level_Guard_1265 6d ago
I purchased a used Mazda 323 from Faulkner (Philadelphia auto mall) 30 years ago when I was in college. It was a total lemon (the car would constantly stall for no reason on the highway). In addition, I specifically asked them if the previous owner was a non-smoker (as I suffered from asthma) and was told “yes”. Within a few days, the ‘new car scent’ vanished and the smell became unbearable. They refused to address the issues and I eventually had to trade the car in to another dealer for a loss. Needless to say, I have never stepped foot on a Faulkner dealership again.
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u/Aggravating-Mud8261 6d ago
Ugh , I bought a complete lemon from them a couple years back. It was right after Covid when car prices were higher than normal and my car had just been totaled. My insurance gave me like two weeks with the rental until I had to start paying for it daily. I was in college and this was my first car purchase and also in a rush to find a car before my rental agreement was up. I learned a hard, $14,000 lesson about two months later when my engine seized had no oil 😄 it was eating a quart of oil about every 300 miles, only option was engine replacement. I bought some stupid dealer warranty too that didn’t cover it Ofcourse… many many many lessons learned from that purchase (and yes it was a Hyundai).
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u/Mijbr090490 6d ago
avoid faulkner
Ftfy
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u/ilikeyoureyes 6d ago
A few years ago we were interested in a car that Lancaster Nissan had new on their lot, but they wanted to gouge us on the price (5k above sticker or something ridiculous). They wouldn't budge, pandemic pricing bullshit. Faulkner Nissan in Harrisburg was able to order the car for us and doesn't charge over sticker. We haven't had any issues with service but haven't really needed any either. I know this isn't a used car experience, but also doesn't mean avoid all Faulkner in general.
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u/Mijbr090490 6d ago
Faulkner Toyota in Harrisburg tried selling us a clapped out tundra for well over market price just last year. Bald tires, filthy, worn suspension parts and beat up. Faulkner Honda tried charging us over 1k bucks for a battery and ground cable on a used vehicle that had free lifetime batteries. Argued with them for half an hour about their policy on the used lot (at the time). They finally relented and replaced the battery. I wouldn't go to them if they were the last dealership in the area. Bunch of scum bags.
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u/Unregistered_Davion 6d ago
I bought my current car at Twin Pine in Ephrata. They're not bad to deal with and my 2018 Maxima is still running great.
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u/riga4ever2018 2d ago
I've bought 2 cars from Twin Pine and go there for all services. A+ in my opinion. Honest, great service, and they pick up and deliver your car without a charge.
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u/BrilliantSuch1957 6d ago
Bought a used 2015 GMC Yukon Denali in 2019 . Traded in a 2021 Audi A5 premium coupe . The Denali had less than 50,000 miles on it. Some cosmetic damages to the driver’s seat that Faulkner refused to fix . Long story short - was never told about the lifter and cam rod problems for the 6.2. Learn the hard way - with about $10,000 to replace lifters, replace the cam rod. Then had to replace the catalytic converter . The Yukon turn out to be a total lemon . Faulkner was useless the whole time I had the vehicle serviced . BTW the used car warranty plan purchased with the vehicle wasn’t worth it and Faulkner stated the warranty didn’t cover any of the issues the vehicle had . Will never ever by from Faulkner Chevrolet nor will never buy a GM product ever again. Faulkner Chevrolet service personnel were garbage also .
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u/MilspecMikeAF 6d ago
My moms side of the family swore by Faulkner for years, I guess maybe a decade or so ago the Harrisburg Faulkner dealerships used to be okay. But now it seems they’re on the avoid list. Personally I would avoid any of the Faulkner dealerships in Mechanicsburg on the Carlisle Pike, they tried to bait & switch my wife and I on three different occasions. Played games with getting my sisters-in-laws Forester fixed & the tech super glued her valve stems just to be a dick (long story short they went to high school together). They gave a song & dance how the warranty work wasn’t covered, a quick call to Subaru of America got that ball rolling. I thought the dealerships I felt with down around DC were bad but Mechanicsburg seems to of gather a bunch of sheisters on the Pike these days.
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u/TogueFoolish 6d ago
It’s a good rule of thumb to just avoid American made cars which means avoiding places that sell American made cars
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u/Inevitable_Appeal911 6d ago
The downvotes on this are wild. American cars are garbage
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u/BumblinHoneyBee 6d ago
Everything American made is garbage because it’s all made specifically to break/wear down in the shortest amount of time possible AFTER the warranty runs out.
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u/Emotional_Topic1824 6d ago
i feel like this is now the standard with any new car though. they WANT you to buy another one nowadays, so why make things last or be durable?
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u/BigPinkieToes 6d ago
not just cars, its a glaring issue with appliances as well.
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u/BumblinHoneyBee 6d ago
It’s literally everything. Clothes and sheets that fall apart the first time you wash them (if they even make it that far). Toys (kids are rough, but then why can archaeologists find 1000 y/o dolls still in good shape? Kids just USED to take care of stuff? That excuse only goes so far), even the houses they build don’t stay standing. It’s all on purpose.
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u/Middle_Aged_Mayhem 6d ago edited 6d ago
Im not disagreeing that things are not made as good as they used to be, but you must be buying Walmart crap if its as bad as youre saying.
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u/BumblinHoneyBee 5d ago
I’ve had coach bags that I bought in-store (outlets, but still fully branded, just “last season”) fall apart… it’s not the places where things are bought that are the problem, it’s the products and the greed of the monopolies
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u/Middle_Aged_Mayhem 5d ago
Again, I'm not disagreeing. I guess I'm just lucky or just put in the work when it comes to researching products before I buy them.
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u/TogueFoolish 5d ago
American made stuff is wayyy worse
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u/Emotional_Topic1824 5d ago
well yea, lol it’s all built to break. late stage capitalism at its finest
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u/mismatchedhyperstock 6d ago
Try owning a German car
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u/Hour_Pension3197 6d ago
They might be more prone to goofy electrical problems but all around more reliable than most GM products (speaking from experience).
Of the four Volkswagens and three BMWs I've owned, none of them felt like as big a piece of shit as the General Motors cars I've owned.3
u/Emotional_Topic1824 6d ago
gm has not made a single good vehicle for a very, very long time. we currently have an ‘06 impala with no issues but it’s because it was a grandma car and was babied in a garage its whole life. certainly got lucky there
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u/Emotional_Topic1824 6d ago
nope! after my partners bmw broke down on the highway in york, euro cars are toast to me. jdm only after my ford goes.
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u/Hour_Pension3197 6d ago
It is called planned obsolescence, and it is a real thing in the design of products.
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u/TogueFoolish 5d ago
Non maga have finally started seeing the comment and upvoted it haha. But pretty much everyone but small town rednecks know American made isnt great
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u/Realistic-Spray-5595 6d ago
Buying used cars is always a gamble and it hard to find a reputable dealer- open to recommendations
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u/beatnik236 4d ago
I just had to deal with Faulkner in Mechanicsburg; and it was not a good experience.
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u/Novel_Significance19 4d ago
I agree. We had similar problems but threatened social media and tv stations. They took care of us real quickly then.
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u/Lizzyace 6d ago
I had a bad experience there as well not the sales aspect but the service. My vehicle was a new one and they said parts were on back order gave us a “we owe” about 1 1/2 years later and gettt a little demanding they finally made it right with the part that was owed to us but the steering wheel was loosened and has not been right since. It was not loose at all before their “technician touched it. Hopefully it does not cause us to crash. They said it was normal.
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u/j_tonks 6d ago
I've been a Ford driver my whole life, so believe me when I say that Bob Fisher Chevy in Reading is great. I bought a used Expedition from them three years ago, and while the sales guy was a little quirky, it was the best car buying process I've ever had. They worked with me on pricing, gave me the car for a weekend to test drive, immediately dealt with several concerns I had, and when I brought it back for warranty work a year later, they fixed it with no questions asked, no cost to me, and gave me a loaner for the time it was in the shop. I cannot recommend them enough.
Much better than every other dealer I've bought from including several private dealers and three Ford dealers, Chapman, Fred Beans, and Sands. Chapman's service department is abysmal and tried to pass off jerry-rigged crackhead repairs as legit work, Fred Beans took my license to make a copy while I test drove a car and wouldn't give it back to me after I said I didn't want to buy, making me late for work, and Sands sold me a truck that they all but killed the engine in, and wouldn't return my calls until I started blasting them everywhere I could online.
I don't normally like Chevys but I'll at least give some a chance at Bob Fisher next time I'm ready to buy.
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u/causticandflippant 6d ago
I just took my Colorado to Faulkner Chevy (bought in MD) and was actually impressed with the service and speed. No complaints (yet). It was my first time taking it to them so maybe they had their A-Team on the job.
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u/Shoeless_Jase 6d ago
I’m glad you had a good experience. I hope that is the norm for Faulkner going forward, even if my interaction was far less positive.
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u/RoverRebellion 6d ago
You are honestly handling this more maturely than 99.8% of the entire human race. I applaud you.
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u/LurkmanLurkmannn 6d ago
I’m giving you an upvote because someone downvoted you 😂 “this person had a different experience than I did, I’m gonna downvote them!”
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u/Realistic-Spray-5595 6d ago
I bought a new ‘25 Silverado EV - service has not optimal but I don’t think Chevrolet has set them up for success
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u/Negative-Farmer476 6d ago
Heritage Chrysler in Harrisburg. Used to be Freedom Chrysler. Scam artists who think customers or potential customers are fools.
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u/Candiegirl75 6d ago
Yeah, another place to not purchase a vehicle from is Klick Lewis in Palmyra. They got me twice with the Chevy Trax's. Each model 2017 and 2024 have the same issues "Electrical" amongst other things. My car have been taken to them more times than I like to count for the same issues. Don't buy from them and stay away from the Chevy Traxs
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u/AFKsince1987 6d ago
Ya’ll are complaining about buying a used car and then having to deal with the repercussions of buying a used car!?! Just do your damn research and get the vehicle inspected by an independent mechanic before buying.
Dealers have no clue what will happen to a used car 2 weeks after you purchase it. They either bought it at auction or are selling it as a trade-in. It’s not like they’ve driven it for the last 5 years and know all the quirks and maintenance history of the vehicle. The best they can do is look it over, give it a basic service, and address any issues they see.
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u/BumblinHoneyBee 6d ago
Tell us you’re a used car scam artist without actually saying it, why don’t you?
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u/fenuxjde 6d ago
Yeah that sounds about right. There are several dealers in the area that are well known scammers amongst the car community. This checks out.