Where to begin...I bought a 2002 VW Jetta from Hopkins Automotive on 12/10/2008, the day I took the car off the lot the check engine light came on. I called the salesman that sold me the car, and he had me setup a service appointment. I went into the service department and they put my car on the Diagnostics machine and told me that I would have to schedule another service appointment to get it fixed. 2 to 3 weeks later I took the car up there and they had it for over a day and within 5 miles from the dealership the check engine light comes on again! I called the service department right away and they told me to give it a few days and see how the car is because they said that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the car. (umm ok) A week later I called them and told them that the check engine light was still on, and they set me up with another appointment. 3 weeks later they had my car for another day and a half, and what do you know, the very next day the check engine light comes on again! This time when I picked my car up Russell in the service department told me that the check engine light isn't covered under my warranty, and I told him that I expected it to be fix because this has been an issue since the day I took the car off the lot. I called the dealership and asked to speak to Tom Hopkins and was told that he was with a customer and the receptionist asked to take a message. I explained to her what was going on and she told me that either Tom or she would get a hold of me the following business day. Well neither of them called me instead it was Russell from the service department, he asked me to bring the car in so he could scan it to see what was going on. I took the car to the dealership and after an hour of waiting Russell comes up to me with a piece of paper with fault codes on it. I asked him what diagnostic scanner they used because before I pay to have any work done to the car I want to make sure that I have correct information, and I told him that after the last 2 times they "fixed" the car I didn't have an confidence in what they are telling me and that I would take it to a VW dealership for a 2nd opinion. This must have offended Russell and he rudely said "FINE GOODBYE" I had to remind him that I needed my keys.

To top all that off, I received a phone call from the dealership a week before my temporary tag expired asking me if I had the hard tag to my car. I was in New York at the time and told her that I would have to call her back to let her know. When I checked I didn't have the hard tag, so they had to order a duplicate tag which wouldn't be in before my temporary tag expired so I would have to come up there again to get other temporary tag!. Mind you that they had 6 weeks to register the car from the time I ran it through inspection to the date that my temporary tag expired. The receptionist gave me some excuse about only being about to register 3 cars a day at the DMV, well that's one hell of a sales record if it takes 6 weeks to register a vehicle!

So buy a car here if you like headaches and hassles, They will never get my business again. And I will tell anyone that I know that's looking to buy a car to avoid this place like the plague.


And a note to the dealership - It is very shady to turn off a check engine light for a test drive! Own up to your mistakes and don't let you service monkeys treat your paying customers like dirt!!!