Capitol Honda
17 reviews
Santa Clara, CA
"I had one of the best car buying experiences here, and I wasn't expecting it! I came here with my boyfriend looking to test drive the G37s…" read more »
19 Reviews for Capitol Honda
I had my best car buying experience ever last night.
It all started with Caltrain. I was heading home from work early on Friday night. After hopping on the 5:33 bullet train to get to Capitol Honda (CH) with hopes of arriving at the dealership before 7, I was greeted with the announcement that there had been a fatal accident on the train lines and to expect delays. What an understatement. Fast forward to 9:00 when I finally arrived at CH. Hung, the internet sales manager, was sympathetic of my situation and my desire to get the deal wrapped up Friday night so I could have my weekend. I test drove the car, we went into his office, quickly agreed on numbers (went through the Costco auto buying program) and then went over to finance. The finance manager was courteous and thorough without pressuring me to purchase unneeded add-ons. We got through all the paperwork quickly, and before I knew it we were in the parking lot and I was driving off the lot.
I would seriously recommending using Hung in Internet Sales to get your next Honda from if you are in the San Jose area. I was shocked to find all the negative reviews here about CH, but as far as their sales department goes I found no flaws and was 100% satisfied with them.
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Customer: "Hello? I'd like to schedule a service appointment for this Saturday."
Capitol Honda: "Sure, our first available time slot is 7:45 AM."
Customer: "Um, no. I'm still recovering from my hangover and trying to hold onto the last vestiges of a peaceful, fantasy-filled sleep around that time. How about 9:00 AM?"
Capitol Honda: "Okay, 9:00 AM this Saturday works. What's the problem?"
Customer: "Well, the Maintenance Req light is on, and I have around 80,000 miles. I think it just needs a check-up."
Capitol Honda: "Okay. We can do that."
Customer: "Oh, also the fuel gauge warning light isn't turning on anymore. Can you check into that?"
Capitol Honda: "Umm, well, if you want any actual service done, you have to drop off your car during the weekdays. That's when we do service work."
Customer: [Shoves his eyeballs back into his head] "Ummm...what do you mean you only do service work during the weekdays. This isn't a warranty service. I just want you guys to fix the fuel gauge light."
Capitol Honda: "Umm, I know, but we only do actual repair work during the weekdays. We have to call Honda to analyze the problem, and they're only open on the weekdays. Plus the parts department can only order parts during the weekdays."
Customer: "Wait a second. Your service department has to call someone at Honda to figure out the problem? What are you paying your mechanics for then? What's the use of an inspection service if you're not going to actually fix anything that comes up during the inspections? You have your own parts department. Are you saying you have NO parts in there so you have to order them? You don't even know what parts you need right now if any."
Capitol Honda: "Well, that's just how it works. We need to call Honda and parts can't be delivered during the weekends."
Customer: "I've been going to Capitol for the past few years now. When did this happen?"
Capitol Honda: "Well, I've been here for at least a year, and it has been that policy for as long as I've been here."
Customer: "THEN I WANT MY FREAKIN MONEY BACK BECAUSE I'VE SUPPOSEDLY HAD BRAKE JOBS, LIGHT BULBS REPLACED, OIL CHANGES, WINDSHIELD WASHER BLADES REPLACED, ACTUAL SERVICE WORK DONE DURING THIS TIME!!!!!! According to you, none of that could've happened!"
Capitol Honda: "Sir, if you're going to be upset, I can't help you."
Customer: "UPSET@#&*@^*!!! You haven't seen upset. What you said makes no freakin sense. I must have paid thousands of dollars in maintenance fees and parts. All on Saturdays!!! Did this happen or not....were these repairs made or not???!?!?!!?/"
Capitol Honda: "Well, that's all I can say."
Customer: "I'm never coming to Capitol Honda again.....ever."
Capitol Honda: "Well, I'm sorry sir. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Customer: "How about a lobotomy?"
Click
Absolutely absurd. There's gotta be something missed in the translation.
"[Ms. Capitol Honda Lady], what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
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Car shopping sucks in general. This review is for the entire experience I had at this Honda dealership.
The guy who helped us was an obvious newbie because a) he didn't know what he was talking about half of the time and b) he couldn't stand his ground. I was able to haggle with him to lower the price of the '06 Honda Civic Lx that they were purchasing and he gave it to me for the most awesome deal ever, a price that none of my other friends who recently purchased their Civics could beat!
Now here comes the bologne part. All the sales guys have this head honcho whom they report to and run their price quotes through in order to solidify the deal. The dealer who was helping me that day said that he needed to talk to his boss before we signed our papers. The boss comes out in his white suit, alligator-skin boots, and cocky smile, and tells me that the price I wanted was ridiculous. He left our table shortly after and my sales guy started apologizing. Anyway, long story short, I left the lot with my '06 Civic with the lowest price that I fought over with the sales guy anyway because he just couldn't take it anymore. LOL! I'm not really sure if he still works there....
Anyway, car dealerships are just a total nightmare in general but the experiences are so comical. You'll definitely get that semi-celebrity feeling when you step out of your car in their lot and tons of sales guys swarm you. Hahaha!
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Bad Honda service department - BAD!!! They totally ripped me off and took advantage of my complete ignorance of how a car works....and this is my rant about my experience:
I took my car in for a tune up before a SMOG test last June. I hadn't had a tune up in a while, so I was expecting the bill to be bigger than normal, but I was completely floored when Monalisa, my "service advisor," called and told me they wanted to perform close to $2k in repairs. She told me my front breaks were gone, my rear breaks were close to needing replacing, and I had a serious leak in some part of the car I'd never heard of before. She also tried to tell me that my timing belt was overdue to be replaced, but I knew for a fact that I had gotten it replaced only a couple years ago. That should have tipped me off as well as the front break thing - I had absolutely no trouble breaking, so at the very least she was exaggerating to scare me into accepting their assessment. And she did scare me. I had visions of spinning out of control and then bursting into flames. Like the sucker I am I said OK (except I didn't have them replace the rear breaks)...I really didn't know any better plus I didn't have the time to go carting my car around for a 2nd opinion. Afterwards I didn't notice any improvement in my car's performance, but I assumed that was just because my car was old or maybe I damaged it somehow and it would never run as well again.
Then, 9 months later I took my car in for minor service at Anderson Honda in Palo Alto. What a difference!!! The only phone call I got from them was to tell me that my car was ready and I only had to pay about $200 - plus that included them replacing my cup holder. They also checked my breaks and said my rear breaks were at 50% and Honda doesn't recommend replacing them till they reach around 25% so the Anderson rep said I still had plenty of life left in them. I wonder how much higher that percentage was 9 months prior when I was at Capitol Honda. That alone pretty much confirms for me that the staff Capitol Honda are a bunch of liars, but I also noticed a drastic improvement in my car's performance after the MINOR service performed by Anderson Honda. After I took it there, my car accelerates quicker and the mileage has improved - it's now as good as it was when I first got it. I wonder what exactly my $2k at Capitol Honda paid for....
*Update*
I just got my car back and I've changed it from 3 stars to 4. The service advisor (Mona Lisa) deserves 5 stars by far!! She pointed out to me what kind of shape my car is in (which is *excellent* btw ;) and when I should expect to get new brakes, tires, etc. I asked briefly about how to keep my tires inflated properly and she spent 5 minutes talking to me about the right way to do it and if I was ever in doubt, to just bring it back and they would take care of me. Thanks! Oh and I also got a free carwash at Capitol Premiere, sweet!!
However, again, the building itsself just lacks some personality and isn't super inviting, but it is a car dealership...
******
I'm sitting here right now, waiting for my car to get serviced. The place is clean and all, but not very inviting. I had to leave their waiting room because they blast CNN on the tv (which I have a serious problem with) and the seats are uncomfortable. They also boast free dsl wireless... however I am using Penske's (which I think is across the street) because I can't find anything for them...
However, my service advisor was VERY welcoming (this being my first time here) and alerted me of a recall which I hadn't even heard about yet. Since I live a few blocks away, this will be my new service center for my 06 Honda Civic and it will do just fine... but I still miss Anderson.
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Extremely bad customer service, no respect to the customer, horrific experience.
I saw an ad from this dealer for a used BMW M3 (from a Honda dealer!) so I called in the morning and talked to a John Tran, who claimed ot be a fleet manager. I ascertained the car was there and made an appointment with him to see the car at 1:15 same afternoon.
I arrived at the dealership at 1:10PM, asked for John Tran, then I waited, and waited...
and waited...
and waited...
10 minutes later, some guy came out and said Johnny was having lunch and I should wait a little more as he'd be right out.
so I waited... for another 15 minutes. Then I left.
The car was there on the lot, I was looking at it as I was leaving.
You shouldn't make your customer wait for almost half an hour when he comes in to buy a $40K car. Heck, any amount of money for that matter. Even if you were eating, finish up in a couple of minutes and come out, or come out yourself and greet the customer and politely ask to make him comfortable while you finish up what you're doing.
As I was leaving I saw someone coming back from a test ride with other customer, with a badge named John and he was Asian. There could be more than 1 Asian John's but...
That's half an hour of my life I'll never get back. And an individual - John Tran and a dealership I'll never buy from.
They get 1 star because I can't post this thread with no stars. But really they get zero or negative stars.
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I had a great time getting my Honda Hybrid. Thanks for the water and the ability to get me hooked up with the powder blue with custom white leather seats. NICE!!! Matt Adams rules.Oh yeah it takes hours to buy a car so be prepared there is no fast lane at the dealership. When i went back to get ???? whatever it was I was greated by Steven P.with a hand shake and a "WELCOME BACK". (PS this is HONDA and if you are looking for a specific Toyota....this is going to shock some of you....but ......they may not have it.)
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I know I'm a college student, which means I don't exactly exude money. I'm probably not the best kind of customer a car salesman can reel in. That said, I'm not surprised that it took 20 minutes of me walking around their showroom until someone even said "Hi" to me and even offered help. But I'm not complaining about that--I expected to be ignored coming in.
However, I didn't expect that the guy who would "help" me would be a complete asshole. I asked to see their Honda Fits, which I was interested in. He started off by saying he didn't have any in stock, because they're quite popular and that they're "sent in from Japan". He sounded like an asshole already but supply and demand, so okay, fair enough.
Then I told him I was just choosing cars still, not dead-set on buying just yet, but I did ask for a quote for a Fit, which I got online. Then he continued by giving me that hand-clasping and shoulder-shrugging thing. You know, the one that says "Shit man, don't ask me, I only work here."
I also asked if I could see the Civics then, which I was also considering. Then he proceeded to tell me how I should have called beforehand to set up an appointment before coming in, blah blah blah. What the fuck? I need an appointment to see your goddamn cars? I don't want to buy one or even test drive one, just LOOK at one.
The motherfucker could have just POINTED in the general direction of the Civics and I would have been happy. Instead he talked to me like I was wasting his time and that he didn't want my fucking money. I understand that I'm a first-time car buyer and probably quite ignorant about things but good lord, don't be condescending or talk to me like a goddamn retard and just shoo me away.
"At least it's better service than Capitol Honda" is going to be my new Yelp motto.
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Bought my Civic here in 2001: it was my first car-buying experience, and in hindsight, I could have done a whole lot better, what with this "internet" thing and all.
Anyway, foolish little thing that I was, I would actually keep bringing my car in for service here, until that one day when I picked my car up only to find a gigantic crack halfway up the passenger-side of the front windshield.
Now granted, there was a 4-inch crack down below the wiper-blades that had been taken care of about a year before this incident (by "taken care of", I mean, my uncle took a diamond-headed drill bit and drilled holes into the windshield to relieve the pressure along the crack, and prevent further growth of the crack), and once I acknowledged existence of "prior" crack in windshield, they kind of waved their hands at me and claimed ignorance.
The least they could have done is admitted that they banged my windshield (or otherwise did something to exacerbate the crack). Instead, they cost me $300 for a new windshield, and have lost me (and my family) as a customer forever.
Recently we wanted the Fit. Since the color we wanted was not available, we put in an order for a car. We negotiated on a price and were told by Hung Phan that it would arrive in around 2 weeks. Sounds great! Set price.. set time..
After 4 weeks, we didn't hear anything. We contacted Hung Phan and we were told that the car is in high demand (yes, we know it's in high demand, that's why we ordered it). We were told it'll be another 6 weeks. I felt our car was sold to someone else offering more..
Wasn't convinced this wouldn't happen again so I asked for a stock # of the car or something to verify that we are actually going to get a car, but no response. Left a voice message and email, but nothing. There were times he picked up his cell, but he simply told us he would email us in 30 minutes.. and nothing. Thanks for wasting our time.
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Another incident : I've walked around on their lot one time and saw this dealer on the phone saying "yea, we just got the car, there are 5 people looking at it right now, you should come down now".. clearly there was no one looking at the car.
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Another Incident : Years ago, when I went alone (21 yr old), they refused to give me a test drive because they are "busy." They even refused to give me a brochure.
When I came with my father, the deal went smooth. Gave me a test drive and straight forward talk on how much the car is..etc. went smoothly.
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I did my oil change there and it was fast. Only took 20 mins. The price is OK, around $37 including tax. The people who worked there seemed to be very nice. I'll go back again.
When I bought my car a couple years back, I sent emails to every Honda dealer in town asking for a quote. It was the very end of the model year, so I was expecting the dealers to quote me a price somewhere below dealer invoice.
Everyone in town sent me a quote in the $16,000s, except Capitol Honda. Their sales department sent me an email touting their fabulous "special" deal of "$1500 off MSRP", which put them a full six hundred dollars over everyone else. Did they really think someone who went to the trouble to email every dealer in town wouldn't do any price comparisons?
I really wonder whether they make a practice of this.
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Whoever had Marvin help him must have caught him on a good day.
I helped my brother buy a 07 Civic a few weeks ago and the Capitol Honda folks used a dearth of high pressure tactics in order to make the sale. We wanted to drive the car and make a decision later, but the salesman and the sales manager my brother worked with used all kinds of underhanded tactics (trying to take advantage of my brother's obvious inexperience buying cars) in order to get him to walk away with it. In the end we ended up with the last laugh because we paid cash for a car they wanted us to finance at 15%!!!
I liked the dealership layout and the selection but the sales staff there are your typical sleazy used/new car salesmen, rest assured when I shop for my next Honda it won't be at Capitol, Stevens Creek was much better.
I've gotten my last two cars (both leases) from Capitol Honda, and each time the experiences have been relatively smooth. The first time, back in 2004, I found a lease deal featured on Honda's website, went in, and was able to get my 2004 Civic the same day with little problem. When the lease expired this past Spring, I decided upon getting an Accord (moving up the ladder, yeah!). Although they had an Accord LX lease special advertised nationwide, I wanted a V6.
After extensive searching online through local dealerships and car buyer forums, I located several dealers advertising lease specials for an Accord V6. However, they were all either in the Midwest or on the East Coast. After asking for a quote via the internet, I went in to Capitol Honda, mostly because it's my closest Honda dealership, and because they had met my needs the first time.
After acting interested in financing a purchase and listening to some of their offers, I let it be known that I "may" be interested in a lease. Then I gradually came to spitting out the special that I noticed online. After a few moments, I was told that she could meet the advertised price. So from there, everything went pretty smoothly. The internet "manager," as she was introduced, didn't seem to waste my time, though because she was gorgeous (I think her name is Sienna) I certainly wouldn't have minded chatting with her all morning. Although the color wasn't available that day, they said they'd drive it in from Redwood City that evening, and sure enough, I got a call the following morning to come pick up my car. So based on that, I would probably give it four or even five stars, considering what you can expect from a car dealership.
However, that wasn't my last experience dealing with Capitol Honda. Two months ago, I accompanied my friend to purchase a Civic. He also had gotten an internet quote and had made an appointment with some guy named Dewey. After arriving, we took a glance at the very car he wanted and was ready to sign papers. They had worked out the price and the finance options. However, after about ten minutes, Dewey came out to announce that they wouldn't be able to offer him the previously agreed upon finance rate. Although his credit score was certainly high enough (mid 700s), it was due to his limited credit history. Although I thought they factor your history into your score, I don't know enough to know if he was bullsh*tting or not. Anyway, after assuring us that no other Honda dealership would offer him the lowest rate either, he asked if my friend still wanted to buy the car. I, meanwhile, still maintain that when it comes to most Hondas, leasing beats purchasing.
Anyway, after some deliberating, my friend decided to sign on the slightly higher finance rate. By now, my friend had told Dewey that he only had about thirty minutes before he had to leave for a work meeting, and that if the paperwork couldn't be completed in that time, he'd be glad to come back tomorrow. Dewey assured us that it would be done well in time. So we sat. And waited. And sat. And waited. Thirty minutes later, we went looking for Dewey. He claimed that it would just be a minute. After another ten minutes, with my friend already late for his meeting, we started walking out. Dewey chased after us with some papers in his hand. When my friend asked what the wait was about, Dewey claimed that the finance manager had really "slow" handwriting. C'mon, I could've come up with 68 better excuses than that.
Anyway, just a tip for any potential car buyers...always request a quote online first before walking in. When you do this, you will be dealing with an internet "manager," who is able to to offer you lower prices due to their higher sales volume. The showroom dealers (who you encounter if you simply walk in) simply aren't able to give as low of prices, and will force you to go through more haggling just to come down from their ridiculous first offers.
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My recommendation is go to los gatos honda, or stevens creek. los gatos is smaller, but has better customer service and same pricing. Capitol just has good location. thats why people put up with their crappy forrest gump salesmen. This midget named duey duck, or daffy duck tried to sell me a civic for a really good price but then tried to gouge me on the financing at 8% even though I was putting down 10k and my credit score was 730+. when i said i wouldn't accept it he got all butt hurt and told me he would talk to his manager. a half hour later he says 7%. i was pissed but the car was a gift for my wife so i agreed. I think he was still bitter so when he went to get the paper work he made me wait another 45 minutes. I walked out he tried to stop me but i gave the tiny guy the finger. I called up los gatos and they said they get a ton of business from capitol because of losers like him. sure enough they sold me the car for the same price but the financing was at 2.9%. my recommendation is go to capitol first so that your experience at any other honda dealership seems like heaven. its like when a decent looking girl stands next to her butt ugly friend. she looks so hot in comparison. same thing with this situation. capitol honda is the butt ugly friend.
If you need a HONDA you have to drive out to Capitol expwy automall. . . i had the best service from a salesperson named Marvin (you should ask for him if you plan on buying a car). He was very professional and had a lot of knowledge about cars.
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I'm a cash buyer who arranges the deal via phone before I set foot in a dealership. I had the sleaze bag "salesman" commit to me that the car would be ready and I would be in and out in less than 30 minutes. I waited for 2.5 hours while they peppered me with a sequence of lies as to why the car and the paperwork weren't ready.
It amazes me that even with such a simple transaction these people still managed to let their true colors show. Pathetic.
We bought our minivan last year, but I was totally lied to by the salesman. My husband had negotiated the price and ordered the Odyssey touring. He was out of town when it came in so i went down to pick it up. When they were showing me the van, it was nice, but as I was asking about the features, I saw that it console in the second row and no 8th seat. My only requirement was that it HAD to seat 8 people. The salesman was like, oh you can order an extra seat and take out the console. I still wasn't convinced and I was ready to leave and not take the car, but then he said he'd check with the manager to see what he can do. So after talking to the manager, they offered to sell me the extra seat at cost. So i'm thinking that's ok, so they went ahead and added the cost of the seat to the car. So they order the part from the service dept, I go home in my new minivan all happy. Remember the selling point to me was that the minivan could seat 8 people....well they TOTALLY LIED, you can't seat 8 in the Touring model. I had to find out myself , because after 2 weeks, I call to ask where's my extra seat (they said it would arrive in a few days) the service dept tells me that first, there's no order for me and second, you can't put an 8th seat in the Touring model. WHAT the freak! I was fumming mad. Told my husband to return the car and get me a model that can seat 8. Well my husband went down several times to try to talk to the manager and we were offered a "refund" for the car seat, got a few extra things for the car. BUT that doesn't make up for the fact they freaking lied to me to get me to drive the car off the lot. Either way, the salespeople that work there either 1) do not know the cars they are selling or 2) freaking liars.
Would give them no stars but that's not an option.
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The car salesman who approached us was rude and insulting. We walked out before we even tested a car because of how dissapointed we were in the service we received. We even complained to the managment - they did not even placate us with how we were treated. I would not go here if you are looking to buy a Honda. They are much nicer at the Stevens Creek Honda dealer.
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