Andy Valadez

Had a very positive purchasing experience with Andy & Raffi for a ‘24 VW Atlas. My wife was in need of an upgrade and our Cherokee had bee a good car for 7 years, but we needed more space with a growing Raffi for a ‘24 VW Atlas. My wife was in need of an upgrade and our Cherokee had bee a good car for 7 years, but we needed more space with a growing family. We came in to browse around, Castle didn’t have the Color combination with the features we were hoping for. Andy & Raffi found had an atlas that met all our needs in our second choice of color, and worked with us to make the deal worthwhile to close the door. Listen, they still initially low-balled our trade in and had a few fees in the final markup that weren’t necessary, but every dealership does this to wide their margins. What I think is important is that when it came time to make a deal, they were willing to bump up our trade-in value to something closer to what our online evaluation was. I didn’t expect it to match perfectly because of the used car market. They also removed some of the fees we thought were unnecessary. Long story short, if you show them you’re serious about making a deal, they seemed more than pleasant to work with. As an added bonus, because we continued to explore neighboring dealers inventories to see if we could find our color, we had to come back on a Saturday with our kids to complete the deal (Neighboring dealerships in Palatine & Elgin were fine, but could not match their number on the same trim level). Raffi & Andy worked quickly and supplied our two kids under 4 with mini soccer xxxxx & sunglasses to keep them entertained while the process played out. All in all, great experience and it will certainly be a starting point for us in future. More

Report | Print

Shady Dealership, Steer Clear! !!!! We purchased a 2017 Jeep Cherokee from salesman Andy Valadev at the end of November. I specifically asked why this vehicle hadn’t been sold in t !!!! We purchased a 2017 Jeep Cherokee from salesman Andy Valadev at the end of November. I specifically asked why this vehicle hadn’t been sold in the appx. 3 weeks they had it considering we had been looking for a vehicle like this for months and every time we called or went to see it, it had just sold. Andy responded “the market is slowing down”. I asked him explicitly if anything was wrong with the vehicle we were interested in purchasing, he said “no”. However, when we test drove it the engine light went on. I asked him about it and he agreed to take a diagnostic test when we arrived back at the dealership. The code that appeared was not major and he said it was because the car had been sitting for a while. We agreed to leave it overnight and pick it up the next day, so their mechanics could check it out and confirm the code’s evaluation. When we picked it up the next day, their repair department confirmed what Andy told us. It was ALL A LIE and a VERY EXPENSIVE ONE too! We told Andy, we were purchasing the vehicle for our 16 year old son as a birthday gift because he needs a reliable vehicle to drive to and from school & practice which are an hour each way from our home. We told him that our son leaves for school around 5am and doesn’t return home until around 10pm, during which it’s dark outside both ways. Therefore, he needs a dependable vehicle not only because of his situation, but because he’s a new inexperienced driver. Andy assured us it was. Fast forward three weeks later, my son is driving home alone late at night and the vehicle breaks down! It won’t move nor turn over. After 2 ½ hours we were able to get it towed only to find out it needs a new engine. We searched unsuccessfully from December 2023-February 2024 looking for an engine. We couldn’t find one anywhere in or out of state! Finally, we found a place out of state to build us a new one. Then we had to ship it to Illinois and find someone to install it for us with a total price of $8,200 additional dollars over the cost of the vehicle. So now it’s the end of April, 5 months after my son gets his first car and he finally gets to drive it. SHAME ON YOU CASTLE VOLKSWAGEN AND ANDY VALADEV! They knew the vehicle needed a need engine and chose to not be forthcoming with this extremely imperative information. It’s dealerships like this one that continues to give the car buying experience a bad rep. I should have known that something was wrong when they NEVER followed up with us after buying the vehicle to see how things were going. In my over 35 years of purchasing several vehicles, every dealership I’ve ever purchased one from ALWAYS made a follow up call within days of the purchase, even the rinky dink dealerships. But NO, not CASTLE VOLKSWAGEN or ANDY VALADEV because they knew they sold us an overprice, unreliable, and unsafe vehicle that put our son’s life in danger! On top of it all, they refused to throw in a full tank of gas upon purchase because they said “we were already getting a really good deal”. I don’t understand how businesses and their employees can lack such integrity and professionalism. However, I do understand karma and I hope this review and the other steps we plan to take will get you just what you deserve! More

Report | Print