Essential Ford of Stuart

Stop using them 3 years ago, thought they had changed ? Nope Had several recalls on my 2013 Platinum Fusion , had been avoiding Advantage due to several poor experiences before but gave in to avoid driving to Had several recalls on my 2013 Platinum Fusion , had been avoiding Advantage due to several poor experiences before but gave in to avoid driving to Fort Pierce. Huge mistake , they did the recalls , left screws lose from the plastic guard they removed, in discovering this I also noticed the felt guard had been torn. ( everyone reading this knows where this is going ) I took back to Advantage they said I ran over something. I said really? I did not see any impact marks forward or behind the puncture? They said well you hit something . A bit confused I said the car sits 8' off the road, how would I run over something missing the front trim shroud, then have it jump up and puncture a hole, and set immediately down and leave no marks after? Then I look at the pictures that Ruben sent me and it would appear as the lift that they pick the cars up with was the same shape as the puncture ( I know it couldn't be right) well just ask Ruben, it was not there fault, offered to " discount the repair" , my reply " I would rather put a GUN in my mouth than let Advantage ever touch my car again . Not the first poor experience, however , I can tell you it will certainly be the last !!!! This is my 7th new ford, wont be my last , but Advantage will never see another DIME of my money. More

Poor Service department These guys are the worst! They never know what the heck they are doing and they always have the wrong info! I have two brand new Ford vehicles and the These guys are the worst! They never know what the heck they are doing and they always have the wrong info! I have two brand new Ford vehicles and the battery went bad on my edge, they told me that the battery was not included in the warranty! Really??? Even if its wasn't wouldn't you just replace it after some one bought two cars from your dealership in one day??? What ever Ford's warranty sucks anyway, I was really trying to stay with American cars and have been driving Ford all my life guess I really need to rethink that scenario!!! More

Horrible I made an appointment to have my vehicle looked at 7 days in advance and dropped it off the night before. I stressed the need to have my vehicle back I made an appointment to have my vehicle looked at 7 days in advance and dropped it off the night before. I stressed the need to have my vehicle back at the end of the day. They called me at 8:20 am and talked me into having a diagnostic test run on it. I already knew what was wrong, and had a quote for $850.00 elsewhere, but agreed to the diagnostic test. They didn't run the diagnostic until after 1:00 pm and the quote was over $3000.00. A COMPLETE waste of my time. I won't have them do the work, not just because of the outrageous price difference, but because they told me there was no guarantee they could get to my vehicle the next day. What a joke. More

Can not get service department to contact me. Called service department twice and was told to leave a message which I did. They never called me. Called again and asked to speak to the service mana Called service department twice and was told to leave a message which I did. They never called me. Called again and asked to speak to the service manager. I got his answering machine and left a message for him to call me. Have not been contacted! More

P0A7C Error Code on 2010 Fusion Hybrid I bought my 2010 Fusion Hybrid with 54,000 miles on it in January 2015 from Carl’s Buick in Stuart. The wrench light began coming on when I was on th I bought my 2010 Fusion Hybrid with 54,000 miles on it in January 2015 from Carl’s Buick in Stuart. The wrench light began coming on when I was on the highway. There was no loss of power so I just thought it was an indicator reminding me of the 60,000 mile service. I took the car to my mechanic in June to have to the 60,000 mile service performed. The wrench light came on again the first time I drove on the highway to West Palm. I had checked a couple of Fusion forums online and found a Bulletin for the Hybrid that described my situation. The bulletin called for a software update the fit the manufacture date of my car. I took the car to Advantage Ford in Stuart on 6/27 to see how I could get the software update performed. I got there around 8:30 am. I spoke to Dan, the customer service manager, and showed him the bulletin and said I wanted to have the software update performed. He checked my vin for recalls and said there weren’t any outstanding recalls. He then told me that it would take about 2 – 3 hours to diagnose the issue and it couldn’t be done on Saturday because they didn’t have anyone working that could do the diagnosis. I asked if they could just check the computer for the error code. He said they couldn’t, it wouldn’t be there. They would have to recreate the issue. I didn’t want to argue and said I would have to figure out a time to come back. I was driving home and thought I would stop at my mechanic, Advanced Auto Repair in Port St Lucie. I told Frank my issue and asked if they could pull the code from the computer. He walked outside and plugged his computer in and found the code P0A7C in the history. That is the error code mentioned in the service Bulletin. I took pictures of their computer showing the error code, Don’t you Love camera phones? I drove back to Ford and talked to Dan and showed him the error code on the computer. We then went and talked to Ruben the Head service writer. Ruben said they would do the software update for the $125 diagnostic fee. I thought it should be covered under the 100,000 mile Hybrid warranty and he said no. We went back and forth for a while, so I just gave in, I just wanted to get the problem solved. Lo and behold there was someone there that could do the software update. I paid the bill and left. I just drove the car on the highway on Thursday night and the wrench light has not come on so far. I’m glad I got the issue fixed and I’m glad I went in with the error code. They would have charged me at least two hours of diagnostic time which would have been $250 when I pulled the error code for free with my mechanic. I probably could have stopped at Advanced Auto and had them pull the error code for free as well. Good luck if you use any dealer, my experience has always been that they will try to perform as much work as possible since the service writers get paid based on the dollar amount they write. I know someone who was a Dealer service writer. Advanced Auto Repair in Port St Lucie is one of the Best mechanics I’ve found in the area. More

BUYER BEWARE! These Are Unscrupulous Thieves. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!! My naive wife took her paid for 2008 Focus to this dealership for an oil change. The car had very low miles but they convinced h AVOID AT ALL COSTS!! My naive wife took her paid for 2008 Focus to this dealership for an oil change. The car had very low miles but they convinced her it at all kinds of problems. They shuttled her into the showroom and got her into a brand-new Ford Explorer. She is from a foreign country and has no income, but they used a bogus credit application with my estimated income which was completely unverified. She was denied by several finance companies, but they squeezed her application through. They gave her 1/2 of the Blue Book value on the trade-in, charged her full price plus all kinds of dealer fees and service contracts, and locked her in at 13% interest. Now she has a $700 a month car payment for 72 months and with no job has no way to pay for this. THEY TOTALLY RIPPED HER OFF! The General Manager/Owner John Hall could care less and said "too bad." More

Liars Sales Person told me I could leave my old car there for a couple of days as getting both old and new car home that day would be difficult. Then they t Sales Person told me I could leave my old car there for a couple of days as getting both old and new car home that day would be difficult. Then they towed it. I had to go back and forth with them for over a month for them to finally say no they would not get my car back. More

I spoke to the internet dept and was told to see this salesman, I went there and spoke to him but he didnt know the functions or the answers to my questions. He kept telling me "Yes" its a good car bla b salesman, I went there and spoke to him but he didnt know the functions or the answers to my questions. He kept telling me "Yes" its a good car bla bla bla. OK a child could tell me this, I didnt expect a salesman to tell me this. He must have told me 3-4 times when you come back you are to only see me as if I was his property and that turned me off. I would not go back there, not at all. I purchased my car from Sunrise Ford. Much friendlier and more informative. More

I called this dealership to ask about a certain color and package on a new F150..I worked with the whom I thought was the salesperson but apparently it was the internet manager. I was told the truck I was lo package on a new F150..I worked with the whom I thought was the salesperson but apparently it was the internet manager. I was told the truck I was looking for was actually on their lot. So I drove 55 miles to see it. I got to the dealership and was switched to now a salesperson that knew nothing of the days I had worked with the internet manager and the internet manager took off and was no where to be found. I was told by the salesperson that he gets paid to get you in the door and will basically lie to you ( which I thought was weird that a fellow employee would say that about another employee) but needless to say the truck was not there. He did locate the vehicle we wanted and it was in another state. Thankfully he walked away from the desk and left the paper on the desk and I looked at it and found where the truck was at. I did give them the opportunity to sell me the car but they wanted to make 10k on me so I left. The next day , I called the dealership where the truck was at and 2 days later I drove 12 hours to NC to buy the truck. Thank you Advantage Ford for locating it for me , but the lies and the deceit kept me from buying from you. You better start listening to your reviews if you want to sell cars. With internet these days, people won't buy from one that has such bad reviews. Better luck next time! More

Lack of communication left us being treated poorly. Customer Service Manager on 1.24.14 night had NO CS skills and got pissy with us Customer Service Manager on 1.24.14 night had NO CS skills and got pissy with us More