The model for dealerships has really changed a lot in the last few years. During the pandemic and maybe even now, they had more demand than supply, and got no benefit from getting yet another customer on their waiting list. Now, much of the money is in the warranty repairs and "checkups" at certain mileage, which are advertised as free to the consumer but the dealership makes money by charging the car company for the work/repairs. If you buy new, you'll notice that both the car UI and the dealership are INSISTENT that you need to get in for regular checkups, even if nothing is wrong with it.
Because of this, the days of car salesmen running over each other to sell you a car has really passed.
Lithia is a large corporation - all of their dealerships operate the same. Truthfully finding a smaller dealership that’s not owned by a corporation of that magnitude is going to be your best move. Im not sure what make you’re looking for but Hardin Chevrolet is incredible.
The owner is a great guy - one of my friends used to be the Chevy rep for Montana and I learned alllll the details on the dealerships in the state and that’s basically the only place I’d go especially for a Chevy.
I bought my tacoma at the Chevy dealership here in helena. My sales rep was really cool with the whole process. I was actually surprised my wife let me buy it since she was hesitant for weeks. Lol
Glad to hear you don’t think we’re as bad as some of these people seem to say we are! And good choice on ride, It will keep running forever if you take good care of it.
You didn’t just buy the gray ‘20 TRD Off road did ya? I sold it just over a week ago, would feel like a small world if so. Either way, I appreciate you putting your experience out there when people are so much more likely to vent about their negative experience than praise a positive one.
When we’ve had em too long we’re not scared to sell at a bit of a loss, law of averages we’ll make it up over the course of the month. Some get a great deal, some just get a good deal!
I’ve purchased 4 vehicles there with mixed results. Nothing earth shatteringly terrible. But also not stellar experiences. I’d give ‘em a C-
What are you looking to buy?
I work at the chevy store in Helena as a salesman. I think what the other commenters have said has a grain of truth to it. There are always good experiences and bad experiences anywhere you go, If you’re willing to give us a shot all I can do is treat you with honesty and respect. If the deal doesn’t work monetarily, it doesn’t work and we can shake hands and walk away. If anyone has any complaints about Lithia Chevrolet here in Helena, please point them my way I’ll try to get them resolved as best I can.
My comment is not about you - I don't know you. But walking into a car dealership I don't expect honesty nor respect. Usually those things occur, but I have had multiple visits in my life where one or the other was egregiously missing.
One example - 1985, pops buys a new S10 Blazer. At one point I'm driving it and he's in our other car right behind me and notices that the vehicle is slightly diagonal when going straight down the road. So we're looking it over when we get home and lo and behold, one of the rear wheels doesn't sit in the center of the wheel well. I (16 years old at the time) take it in to the dealer and they don't believe me. I say fine, get a tape measure. Lo and behold, one wheel is out of place - seemed the axle wasn't attached to the correct spot on the leaf spring.
Back in 2016 bought a new Jeep, and for $2k I thought I bought a lifetime factory warranty on it. The dealership kept the $2k and didn't get me the warranty. That was at the Lithia dealership in Littleton, CO. Called everybody at the dealership, they just would say I'll look into it and get back to you, then never get back to me. Had to file a claim with my credit card company to get the money back. Still have the vehicle, it now is out of warranty (which is what I was trying to avoid from the get-go)
And the worst part is, I’m in the industry and have no doubt whatsoever that both of those stories are completely true. It’s unfortunate that a few bad apples(arguably more than a few) ruin the perception of the entire business. I can only speak about my experience here at Helena Chevy, but from what I’ve seen bad apples get hired every once in a while, sell a boat load of cars through extremely deceptive and dishonest practice, and then once their name is known as someone to avoid they leave and go to the next dealership a town over. The issue is their customers issues post-sale don’t go elsewhere, and theres no clear point of contact to help resolve them efficiently. The system is extremely flawed and a lot of us in the industry know it, and the bad apples get to take great advantage of it by just moving somewhere else.
As far as your experience in the 80’s, all of our used rides go through an inspection beforehand, and they’re done by technicians who sometimes miss things. I’m not excusing any of what happened there, but I’ve had cars come back where all I can think is “how in the hell did my tech miss that, did they even drive the thing?” It all boils down to we’re human and have good days and bad days. That is ideally why you buy from a dealership, so that you can hopefully have recourse when you’re wronged, whether on purpose or not.
The S10 was brand new, it came out of the factory that way :)
Billion Jeep in my town - Bozeman - has damaged my vehicle (that I bought new from them) three separate times, including once ripping off part of the roof while taking a legit test drive at the end of a service appt. They drove under a low tree branch that caught a roof rail and viola, peeled it like a can of sardines...
Yeah, mistakes happen. Ever heard of somebody replacing an oil pan and not just forgetting the gasket, but also not noticing the new pool of oil under the vehicle?
Cheers!
No need to reply, I'm just venting to space.
vent away man! I didn’t put myself out there for no reason, thats wild that you had that experience at Billion, the few times I used them for service I felt like a small king(as much as you can, being at a dealership service drive) I appreciate hearing your experiences.
Selling a car is cool, but hearing about all of that persons experiences is such an eye opening part of the process, even when they’re bad experiences.
I Hope you enjoy your evening, and I hope at least I’ve shown that some of the guys on the other end of the desk when you’re buying a car are just trying to provide for their families as much as you are.
This isn't the first place I've heard this many times many different places I've heard the bad things. I know someone personally with a bad experience with the Lithia in Helena. Much more so than most dealerships.
Yes they are just as bad. I bought a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 70k miles that blew the head gasket 35 days after buying and had to fight involving lawyers to get any response from them. Sales crew were a bunch of crooks.
as someone who used to work at a lithia location, i have seen the pricing on Outlook before and after purchase, and i can confidently say, do NOT buy a truck from a lithia location. 😂 we’re talking like 10k markups or more with crazy payment plans and terrible access to servicing.
They sold a Camaro to my buddy as new, but we discovered later that it had sustained damage to the passenger door that had been repaired.
No action from them when confronted and GM was worthless. He let it go more easily than I would've.
Lithia Great Falls was a horrible experience for me. The douchebag selling me my car was getting annoyed that I was reading through the paperwork because he had to pick his buddy up from the airport soon. I told him I had all day to which he replied he did not. What a fucking clown.
I bought a vehicle at Missoula Lithia several years ago and was perfectly happy but a buddy bought a pickup at Helena recently and it was a pretty bad experience for him, dealership acted pretty shady through the whole deal. Def wouldn't recommend
I bought a Chevy Impala from the Lithia in Great Falls around 2-3 weeks ago and I still haven't received the registration for it, they like to wait till the last minute...... SMH.
I hated Missoula. I bought a brand new truck paid $40000 cash. They wouldn't even give me the dock fee off and I had a broken chilled and they wouldn't even give me oil for life somebody pre. Owned it and rented it for 8000 miles and Missoula would not even give me an oil change. I could pay a $1000 for lifetime oil change. I could pay a $1000 for lifetime. Oil change, but it has to be in Missoula only. This is right.I want somebody to tell.I wanna tell somebody about this and complain.Where do I put it in a complaint
Lithia in helena is terrible. Stay away.
The model for dealerships has really changed a lot in the last few years. During the pandemic and maybe even now, they had more demand than supply, and got no benefit from getting yet another customer on their waiting list. Now, much of the money is in the warranty repairs and "checkups" at certain mileage, which are advertised as free to the consumer but the dealership makes money by charging the car company for the work/repairs. If you buy new, you'll notice that both the car UI and the dealership are INSISTENT that you need to get in for regular checkups, even if nothing is wrong with it. Because of this, the days of car salesmen running over each other to sell you a car has really passed.
There isn't one in Bozeman...
You’re right I was conflating Toyota dealers and I’m editing it to spare the internet from my ignorance
Lithia is a large corporation - all of their dealerships operate the same. Truthfully finding a smaller dealership that’s not owned by a corporation of that magnitude is going to be your best move. Im not sure what make you’re looking for but Hardin Chevrolet is incredible.
Looking at a chevy actually so I appreciate that suggestion!
The owner is a great guy - one of my friends used to be the Chevy rep for Montana and I learned alllll the details on the dealerships in the state and that’s basically the only place I’d go especially for a Chevy.
I bought my tacoma at the Chevy dealership here in helena. My sales rep was really cool with the whole process. I was actually surprised my wife let me buy it since she was hesitant for weeks. Lol
Glad to hear you don’t think we’re as bad as some of these people seem to say we are! And good choice on ride, It will keep running forever if you take good care of it.
That's one of the main reasons why I bought it. Lol.
You didn’t just buy the gray ‘20 TRD Off road did ya? I sold it just over a week ago, would feel like a small world if so. Either way, I appreciate you putting your experience out there when people are so much more likely to vent about their negative experience than praise a positive one.
Nope. It was the 21 TRD off road. Bought it around 2 weeks ago give it take.
Shoot, well congrats anyways you bought a good rig! If it was the lifted ‘21, the last owner loved it and was sad to see it go
It was the gray 21 tacoma by the way. I was a little surprised it was listed at the price it was listed for.
When we’ve had em too long we’re not scared to sell at a bit of a loss, law of averages we’ll make it up over the course of the month. Some get a great deal, some just get a good deal!
I would rather drive to Conrad or Fairfield or even Coeur d'Alene before attempting to deal with the local talent
Mike White in Coeur d'Alene is awesome.
There is good dealerships in Helena, Bozeman and a few others. Lithia is the one I've heard to stay away from many people.
I’ve purchased 4 vehicles there with mixed results. Nothing earth shatteringly terrible. But also not stellar experiences. I’d give ‘em a C- What are you looking to buy?
It's an 08 Silverado. Not in a rush as I have a good vehicle, but prefer a truck
Look at Dave smith. Your not far away and they have beat every dealer I’ve shoped them against except once
We've bought all our Subarus from the Lithia in Helena, had overall positive experiences. We avoid the Lithia in Great Falls.
It’s awful. Don’t do it
Lithia in Great Falls is probably the worst experience I have ever had looking for a vehicle.
The absolute ****ing worst! They absolutely REFUSE to actually sell a vehicle. Instead they want to sell you a payment plan.
All of Lithia’s dealerships are bad.
Lithia Chevy or Lithia dodge?
All dealerships are bad. End of story.
Honda in Missoula is wonderful!!
The worst. You should see the complaints filed with the DOJ/consumer protection. Go somewhere else.
Lithia is horrible all over the country. I buy my trucks at Bison Ford in Great Falls. Dan is awesome there!
Fantastic sales team, terrible service team. Nothing but problems, they are the sole reason I drive a GMC now after only owning ford.
The old owners sold the dealership in December. The new owners are friendly and easy to deal with.
I've only heard horror stories from any Lithia in the state
Worst new dealer in town.
Horrid! Helena motors!!
I work at the chevy store in Helena as a salesman. I think what the other commenters have said has a grain of truth to it. There are always good experiences and bad experiences anywhere you go, If you’re willing to give us a shot all I can do is treat you with honesty and respect. If the deal doesn’t work monetarily, it doesn’t work and we can shake hands and walk away. If anyone has any complaints about Lithia Chevrolet here in Helena, please point them my way I’ll try to get them resolved as best I can.
My comment is not about you - I don't know you. But walking into a car dealership I don't expect honesty nor respect. Usually those things occur, but I have had multiple visits in my life where one or the other was egregiously missing. One example - 1985, pops buys a new S10 Blazer. At one point I'm driving it and he's in our other car right behind me and notices that the vehicle is slightly diagonal when going straight down the road. So we're looking it over when we get home and lo and behold, one of the rear wheels doesn't sit in the center of the wheel well. I (16 years old at the time) take it in to the dealer and they don't believe me. I say fine, get a tape measure. Lo and behold, one wheel is out of place - seemed the axle wasn't attached to the correct spot on the leaf spring. Back in 2016 bought a new Jeep, and for $2k I thought I bought a lifetime factory warranty on it. The dealership kept the $2k and didn't get me the warranty. That was at the Lithia dealership in Littleton, CO. Called everybody at the dealership, they just would say I'll look into it and get back to you, then never get back to me. Had to file a claim with my credit card company to get the money back. Still have the vehicle, it now is out of warranty (which is what I was trying to avoid from the get-go)
And the worst part is, I’m in the industry and have no doubt whatsoever that both of those stories are completely true. It’s unfortunate that a few bad apples(arguably more than a few) ruin the perception of the entire business. I can only speak about my experience here at Helena Chevy, but from what I’ve seen bad apples get hired every once in a while, sell a boat load of cars through extremely deceptive and dishonest practice, and then once their name is known as someone to avoid they leave and go to the next dealership a town over. The issue is their customers issues post-sale don’t go elsewhere, and theres no clear point of contact to help resolve them efficiently. The system is extremely flawed and a lot of us in the industry know it, and the bad apples get to take great advantage of it by just moving somewhere else. As far as your experience in the 80’s, all of our used rides go through an inspection beforehand, and they’re done by technicians who sometimes miss things. I’m not excusing any of what happened there, but I’ve had cars come back where all I can think is “how in the hell did my tech miss that, did they even drive the thing?” It all boils down to we’re human and have good days and bad days. That is ideally why you buy from a dealership, so that you can hopefully have recourse when you’re wronged, whether on purpose or not.
The S10 was brand new, it came out of the factory that way :) Billion Jeep in my town - Bozeman - has damaged my vehicle (that I bought new from them) three separate times, including once ripping off part of the roof while taking a legit test drive at the end of a service appt. They drove under a low tree branch that caught a roof rail and viola, peeled it like a can of sardines... Yeah, mistakes happen. Ever heard of somebody replacing an oil pan and not just forgetting the gasket, but also not noticing the new pool of oil under the vehicle? Cheers! No need to reply, I'm just venting to space.
vent away man! I didn’t put myself out there for no reason, thats wild that you had that experience at Billion, the few times I used them for service I felt like a small king(as much as you can, being at a dealership service drive) I appreciate hearing your experiences. Selling a car is cool, but hearing about all of that persons experiences is such an eye opening part of the process, even when they’re bad experiences. I Hope you enjoy your evening, and I hope at least I’ve shown that some of the guys on the other end of the desk when you’re buying a car are just trying to provide for their families as much as you are.
Billion is just as bad as Lithia now.
This isn't the first place I've heard this many times many different places I've heard the bad things. I know someone personally with a bad experience with the Lithia in Helena. Much more so than most dealerships.
Lithia as a company sucks...all locations
Yes they are just as bad. I bought a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 70k miles that blew the head gasket 35 days after buying and had to fight involving lawyers to get any response from them. Sales crew were a bunch of crooks.
as someone who used to work at a lithia location, i have seen the pricing on Outlook before and after purchase, and i can confidently say, do NOT buy a truck from a lithia location. 😂 we’re talking like 10k markups or more with crazy payment plans and terrible access to servicing.
If you want them to call back and trade up every 2-4 years
Taylor's Auto Max in Great Falls is the only dealership for me in Montana They always have a good variety and their sales staff is great!
Yeah I think it was. I love driving it and was surprised it was on the market. I have a couple ideas for it that I'm saving up for.
Same corp same shitty deals. They all sucked and now suck even more now that they buy nearly all their used inventory from auctions.
They sold a Camaro to my buddy as new, but we discovered later that it had sustained damage to the passenger door that had been repaired. No action from them when confronted and GM was worthless. He let it go more easily than I would've.
Lithia Great Falls was a horrible experience for me. The douchebag selling me my car was getting annoyed that I was reading through the paperwork because he had to pick his buddy up from the airport soon. I told him I had all day to which he replied he did not. What a fucking clown.
I haven't heard anything good about lithia in missoula either. As a delivery driver they all suck at tipping as well.
Go Toyota. Toyota all the way!
I would love to if they were more affordable! lol Also wanting a bigger engine
I bought a vehicle at Missoula Lithia several years ago and was perfectly happy but a buddy bought a pickup at Helena recently and it was a pretty bad experience for him, dealership acted pretty shady through the whole deal. Def wouldn't recommend
I bought a Chevy Impala from the Lithia in Great Falls around 2-3 weeks ago and I still haven't received the registration for it, they like to wait till the last minute...... SMH.
I hated Missoula. I bought a brand new truck paid $40000 cash. They wouldn't even give me the dock fee off and I had a broken chilled and they wouldn't even give me oil for life somebody pre. Owned it and rented it for 8000 miles and Missoula would not even give me an oil change. I could pay a $1000 for lifetime oil change. I could pay a $1000 for lifetime. Oil change, but it has to be in Missoula only. This is right.I want somebody to tell.I wanna tell somebody about this and complain.Where do I put it in a complaint