Balboa Motors

619-282-6622

5901 Mission Gorge Rd San Diego, CA 92120

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Reviews for Balboa Motors

Ratings_icons Balboa Motors is to be avoided.

Stuart R.

Would not recommend this dealership. I purchased a used 2005 Frontier 2/8/09. Got a good deal on the truck but everything else went downhill from then on. Had to take the truck back twice, at their request, once to put the correct temporary registration on the windshield, then a week later they asked me to bring it back again to take off the license plates as I was told the wrong plates were on the truck. Met Ray, the owner, he told me then I would be getting new plates & registration soon. Over a month later I received another phone call from the dealership telling me I owed another $193.00 for the registration. When questioned I got a song'n' dance from the Sales Manager, Ed Martinez. He told me the $193.00 owed was due to penalties as the previous owner had paid the DMV with a bad check. I told Ed that wasn't my fault and then he said the $193.00 was not for penalties. Spoke with the DMV the next day & they said that there was &193.00 owed due to penalties that was holding up the registration process. Ed sent me a letter, at my request, trying to explain the situation. Now saying I owed $173.00. He claimed he usually estimates the license & registration to be $250.00 on all vehicles he sells but made a mistake on my sales contract, being off by $109.57. He wrote he can't always estimate to the exact penny! I wrote him back telling him I expected the dealership to pay for their mistakes & to get me my license & registration promptly. On 3/27/09 I received another letter from Mr. Martinez telling me the dealership had paid all the fees & penalties & to have the truck re-smogged, (they would pay for the smog), & "the matter would be put rest" ,I "would receive my plates & registration". All through April & May I called the DMV. I was told they were behind in their paperwork but I would receive my plates/registration shortly. Got my title in late April. On 5/14/09 I got another phone call from the dealership telling me they had my plates/registration. I first was told they had received them in the mail but when I ques-tioned that they then said they had gone to the DMV & picked them up. Then Ray got on the phone & told me that I owed him $173.00 & I would not get my documents until I paid him that amount. I attempted to read him Mr. Martinez;s letter saying the matter was put to rest. Ray refused to acknowledge the letter & then proceeded to tell me I had got a good deal & I had tricked Mr. Martinez when I purchased the truck. He also said I was smarter then Mr. Martinez. I told Ray he had signed off on the deal but he told me that if he had been on the lot the day I purchased the truck he would not have approved the deal as he thought I was not a nice person & had lied. I again attempted to reseon with this rude man but he said I would not get my documents unless I paid $173.00. He then hung up. I have filed a complaint with the BBB & the DMV. The DMV is now processing my claim. They said they mailed plates & registration to me in late March??? The DMV is now processing me new plates/registration. Would I recommend this dealership? What do you think? Read some of the other reviews about Ray Rafiei, the owner.From my experience he is not to be trusted.

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Ratings_icons Balboa motors??never again

Tommy K.

Well, In august 2008 I bought Subaru 2003, from Balboa Motors. The very next day I notice that I cant open my trunk with original key, so I went back to them to see why.They told that lock is stuck and that they don t want to deal with this problem!! Hello! I bought this car yesterday!!! Also I bought warranty for the next 3 years , or 36000Miles. Also they promised me to fix anything wrong on the car in that period of time!Just 2 months after that , I notice disturbing noise from the steering system, so I came back to Balboa Motors, cause I have warranty on the car, and Ray ( owner) told me that every car in his dealership is making the same noise like my car. What are you talking about Ray? So, again, no use of my WARRANTY!! And I went to Subaru dealer and fix that , of course not for free!! A month after that turbo pipe got cracked.Balboa Motors refused to fix that to, like it s my fault... Mechanic in Subaru dealer said that car was sold to me with a small crack which after a 3 months got bigger.. Price of the pipe is $363+ taxes, and + labor.So around 600 Dollars!Again,I can t use warranty in BALBOA MOTORS! I never get CAR FAX, I never get spare key!They never mention that this Subaru 2003 has aftermarket parts whole exhaust system was after market.
I really don t recommend this dealership to anyone, they do not check cars before they put it for sale. Subaru Dealer confirm me that there is no way that they checked this car! Just in a 3 months after I purchased this car I had already more than a $1000 to invest in repairs. Really BAD DEALERSHIP, hope that you won t have problems like me. I filed already complains to BBB, and CONSUMERS AFFAIRS CA.. So states agents can invest their business. If you have same issues with car purchased there feel free to contact me:
tommy-kopas@net.hr

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Ratings_icons Wonderful Car.

Kelly R.

I just bought my 2002 Honda Civic at Balboa Motors, and I love it! I bought it in August of 2008. Every time I get in it I realize that I really got a great car. I even got it checked out by my mechanic and he said I bought a really good car, and it should give me no problems if I keep up on the regular maintenance.

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Anonymous

I purchased my 2001 VW Beetle from Balboa Motors 1/17/08. The windshield advertised that the vehicle was "Turbo" and when my husband asked the sales representative to show him the engine, he was told that you wouldn't be able to tell it was Turbo just by looking at it. After we purchased the car, we noticed that nothing on the paperwork said "turbo" and when we asked for proof, we were informed that the car was not, in fact, turbo. We let this slide because we liked the car and did not purchase the vehicle solely for the turbo engine. However, we had to wonder whether or not we paid more for this supposed feature.
When we went to drive the car off the lot, we noticed the check engine light was on. We were told that the problem was the O2 sensor and that they could fix the car the next day. We live an hour away from the lot but brought the car back quickly to get the O2 sensor replaced. We were told to leave the car for the day. We did, and were then told when we came to pick up the car that they had ordered the wrong part and we'd need to come back another day. We drove an hour home and then an hour back to the lot another day to get it replaced. They replaced the sensor, but a couple hours later the check engine light was back on. I called to set another apointment to bring it in and after it had been with their mechanic for 9 hours, I was told that the problem was a cracked air pump and that because the part was $450, they wanted me to pay $180 even though I had only had the car a month, the check engine light had always been on, and it was still under the 90-day warranty. They even accused ME of cracking the part!
I contacted an actual VW dealer and was told that there was no way I could have caused the part to crack. Cracks to the air pump happen because of age or a major front-end collision. Still, Ray at Balboa Motors insisted that I must have caused the damage. I reminded him that the check engine light had been on since the day I bought the car but he continued to argue that it was only because of the O2 sensor and I must have damaged the air pump sometime within the two hours that the check engine light was off. He said that they could not fix "every little thing for the life of the car." I replied that the car had NEVER been right and that I only wanted the engine fixed because I had bought the 90-day warranty and without this repair, the car would not pass smog.
Ray continued to get nasty and when I refused to pay for the repair, he threw the receipt at me and told me that he would not guarantee any of his work.
Ray at Balboa Motors was unhelpful, rude, and did not stand behind his warranty. I would STRONGLY caution anyone thinking of buying a car from this unprofessional company.

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Jisam B.

I bought my first car here almost 10 years ago. A Nissan Pathfinder that ran great with no problems. I decided to trade it in for something more fuel-efficient - a Honda Accord, also in great shape (and I was able to sell it for a good price). Since then I have switched into a Honda Civic, and most recently into a newer Honda Civic (all from Balboa Motors!). I always receive great treatment from the manager (Ray works amazing deals, and I think he really tries to keep customers happy), and I get fair trade-in values. I have recently moved to the bay area, but I think I'll make the trip down to SD to get my next car (I'm thinking about getting a hybrid). I know, I change cars a lot (what is that? 4 times in less than 10 years?), but with such great deals, I can afford to drive the car I want.

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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Julie C. | insider_guru Insider Guru | Rank: 538

We bought a Toyota 4Runner here about a year ago. We were pretty happy with the service we got (as much as you can be from a used-car sale :-) They gave us a good trade-in value and we got a great car....I would say that the salesman was nice, but aren't they all? We haven't had any problems with the car and are very happy with the purchase.

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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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