Open Road VW Manhattan

We recently worked with Jose Mendez to purchase a used car here and the process was much smoother than other dealers we have worked with in the past. Have only had the car a short time, but are pleased with it so far and enjoyed working with Openroad.

I would love to give zero stars, but unfortunately I cannot. I brought my car here for service and to replace a valve that was leaking. This job consists of taking apart the engine. Got my car back and what happens? Stalls in the street and doesn’t start. I get it towed back and they tell me I need to replace my engine, but they are not at fault for it. What?! I have never had engine issues and suddenly after they’ve put their hands in it, my car is on its last limb.
I have contacted VW of America and waited over an hour to finally get to speak to a regional manager, after telling them I have involved the press. The lady was nice but didn’t help me or reassure me.
I will never own a VW after this. Not because of the car, but because the customer service is so poor. I’m at 135k miles and I need a new engine, but it’s not their fault. Unbelievable. My car is old but I know much older cars that have never required a new engine.
Stay away. Take it to your regular mechanic. These people truly do not care about you.
I’ve been without a car for almost a week. They explained that I needed a new engine today but are making me wait until TOMORROW for numbers. You’re kidding right?
Like I said, stay away.
Update: I am also reporting them to the Department of Motor Vehicles for passing my inspection and the car breaking down on me minutes after being passed for a state inspection!

No stars — We went in for a new battery and were told they would have to keep the car overnight to make sure there was nothing else wrong. They didn’t tell us what this would cost. $ 500 later they said we would have to replace the timing belt and the rear brake pads. We took the car (with 68K miles) to a repair shop in Stone Ridge and were told the timing belt should be replaced at 120K and the brake pads were fine. Be careful with them.

This dealership is one of the Best out here in New York City, they are respectful, honest and straight forward, in particular the dealer which I like to refer too as «The Blue Eyed Kid» Keith Hernandez, he’s Awesome and he will not try to steer you wrong, he’s honest and trustworthy and he’ll tell you like it is, with all due respect, whether you purchase or not, he wants you to have a good experience at Honda. See Mgr. Joe Chacha and Finance Mngr. Chong Yoo… believe me, you will not go wrong here and you will be a proud Owner of one of the most Reliable Vehicles on the road!!!

This review is for Amanda Ciborski who truly turned what was a pretty bad experience around into an awesome one. Amanda answered the phone when I called about a warning light illuminating on my VW Golf. She was great, explained what was needed to diagnose the problem and the costs. When I went into the dealership though, things went awry. I was greeted by a pretty aggressive person with a clipboard, Kevin Baker I believe his name was. And there it began. I had no idea that I should ask for Amanda. I’ve been to dealerships in the past and there isn’t a commission system. Well Kevin called me later at work and informed me that I needed $ 900 + worth of repairs. When I asked for a breakdown he turned abrupt and nasty and impatient. He made one of the repairs sound like if I didn’t do it right this second my engine would blow and cause the car to be totaled. I was at work, and getting a simple, clear explanation from him was impossible. I went later to the dealership after work to pay for the «emergency repair». I was greeted by Amanda who informed me that I should have come directly to her. I frankly am still puzzled by this. I asked, are they on commission? No. Regardless, she explained the needed repair completely, logically and knowledgeably. She helped me prioritize the other repairs and worked on the price so that it was modestly reduced due to me having already gone to a Queens based dealership and receiving erroneous information. She gave me her cell and email and followed up with me the next week. I needed to space out the repairs as I don’t have a great deal of money and had just started a new job. She was empathetic and communicative. I will come back to the dealership because of her, but only because of her. So the 5 stars is for the service I received but not for the general level, please keep that in mind and be sure to ask for Amanda if you can.

Claus R. Jacobsen’s business card says «Brand Specialist» on it and he is certainly that and more. He is the utmost professional. He is as articulate as understanding and this allows for a stress free experience. Ask for him by name, I’m sure he will exceed your expectations.

Anthony Casabianca was patient, and extremely knowledgable about the entire line of VW products, and had a sense of what I’d enjoy driving. No pressure. Was very accommodating with the test drives and personable. Leased a ’16 Golf Sport Wagon, they even found one in the color I wanted and had it in a day. Very satisfied.

I purchased a used car here (not even a VW) and it had several problems a few days after picking it up. I reached out the to Tim the sales manager. He was beyond great and said «bring it back». A true business professional and made sure I was 100% happy and took care of every little issue. If you’re ever looking to buy a new or used car and have a great experience check them out.

I’ve been calling for 2 weeks and can’t get anyone to call me back. I bought a new VW Jetta and didn’t receive a spare key. The parts dept. charged me $ 400 for an extra key. What a ripoff. Volkswagen is not very reliable. The cars are getting recalled and the poor Customer Service. What a mistake I made.

Please don’t ever get your car serviced here! At the 40K check-​up they overcharged us by 100%. The bill came to over $ 1,200 and that is after we made the guy take off $ 200 worth of services we never asked for. Over $ 600 for labor cost just to change oils! We understood that since its Manhattan it was going to cost a little bit more but to be charged DOUBLE what Long Island, Brooklyn, and Queens quoted is highway robbery. To top it off, my car is affected by the TDI emissions issue. They obviously are looking to make money anyway they can now.

We recently worked with Jose Mendez at Open Road VW and had a great experience. I first contacted Jose by telephone. I had called all the other VW dealers in the entire city and he was the most responsive. I was looking for a VW Golf with a manual transmission — which is not a car that many dealers have a large stock of. He was very upfront with me and provided us with a competitive price from the start. We decided to purchase the car from this dealership and Jose was diligent and contacted me frequently by email and telephone to ensure that all the paperwork was in order.
The dealership located the exact car that we wanted and the exact color. Although there was a slight inconvenience (the car in the color we wanted had a mechanical problem), Jose handled the situation wonderfully and ensured that had a car at the time he had promised us. He was extremely thorough in educating us about the car — spending time showing us all the features included. He even followed up with us days later.
I am really happy that we met Jose — he is a really nice person and is working hard to make sure his costumers are pleased and knowledgeable about the cars they buy. I really feel like we could contact him months from now and he would know who we are and be as enthusiastic about helping us! A wonderful professional!

We had a very pleasant experience at Volkswagon of Manhattan. Claus leased us our Volkswagon Passat and he was very informative and patient. We did not feel any pressure to buy and were very happy with the customer service we received. The prices advertised were accurate and we were able to purchase a reliable car for a reasonable price! We would recommend Volkswagon of Manhattan if you are looking to buy a car.

After reaching out to several local dealers via email, I received some very impersonal canned responses from VW dealerships in Brooklyn, Long Island and NJ. The most personal response that I received came from Roger Germosen at Open Road VW in Manhattan. He was eager to help and quick to respond to every question I had and took me for a test drive when I came in. From start to finish he made the process of buying a car smooth and worked with me to ensure that I got the deal I wanted. I don’t normally write reviews, but this truly exceeded my expectations of what the experience of purchasing a car would be like. Eddie Lopez was super nice and had me in and out of the finance office quickly and painlessly. I would recommend this place to anyone in a heartbeat!
Thanks again guys!!!

Scott McCollum was the dealer who patiently test drove two VWs w us. Loved the smoothness of the drive and really appreciated the calm, relaxed service he offered w/​o any hard sell approach. Highly recommend.

Beautiful showroom and more importantly, consummate professionals here. These guys didn’t waste our time playing hardball and negotiating silly deals to swindle us.
Tim, the general sales manager, is personable and fair with pricing. We had visited a few dealers prior to visiting them and had one offer in particular we were considering. Tim saw the deal we were given and was able to match it. He was very patient and looked up and down at the numbers with us multiple times.
We also worked with Jeff, a sales associate — Jeff is professional, thorough, and good at communicating both in person and via email. Eddie the finance manager was highly organized which made signing the documents very easy… he also never rushed us as we were going through the lease documents which I appreciate.
This could not have been a simpler process. We closed the deal and picked up the car five days later (they had to get it from another dealer). They went above and beyond in delivering the car, even buffing out a couple of very minor scratches that were hardly noticeable. Very respectful, seasoned associates working here — this is not your typical sleazy dealership filled with young guys talking your head off and giving you ridiculous prices.
Don’t write this dealership off as being overpriced simply because it’s in Manhattan. We made that mistake and wasted our time at dealers in New Jersey, Brooklyn, etc. This dealership has by far the best service and very good pricing to boot.

I had a great experience with Claus. He was patient, helpful, and understanding about my financial situation. Claus and the finance team really worked hard to help me lease my VW Tiguan, which I’ve been loving! If you’re looking for a car I can’t recommend Open Road VW Manhattan enough. Go see Claus. You won’t be disappointed.

Had a great experience with Jose Mendez, really nice, patient and helpful. First time I actually had a nice time at a dealership without feeling too pressured.
Great job!

Needed something minor done and was immediately upsold to 4 or 5 useless other things starting with a «leaf clean out» for a cool $ 350.
even after calling a couple of times to explicitly tell them not to do the other work, but they did it anyway and charged for it bc they «didn’t remember» the subsequent phone conversation and ‘didn’t check their voicemail.” nice ethics…

Never been so compelled to write a review…
I tried really hard to keep an open mind about this place but was deeply disappointed. Not only did the service department keep my car for the entire day, they did not provide me with any updates until the end of the day. And asked me to come back a second day to troubleshoot with the technician myself. Out of the 3 issues I had encountered, they were not able to troubleshoot or fix any of them. One of which was the satellite radio module SirusXM had asked me to take to the dealer to swap out… turned out to be a hopeless case of being caught in a ping-​pong between dealer and SirusXM.
Honestly… why bother having dealers when they can’t uphold the brand values? VW, I’m going to Tesla next.

Round 2: really liked the car, but didn’t want the hassle of traveling outside of manhattan… big mistake. Another sales person said it’s the LAW to out down a deposit. Declined. Said I’d be 90% committed to the deal with 500 off since the car had some bumper scratches; manager wrote he’s 90% sure he would give me the deal. What a smug piece of shit. Looked at dealer fees and they wanted 300 for some zurich security fee? I asked what it was and she said its a Sticker they place so the car can be tracked. I said please do not put it on the car, but she said its dealership policy. Not cool. Won’t finance through VW, but since I declined the deposit, girl wants me to give her my credit card to show «ammunition» to the general manager that I’m committed to buying the car. Don’t worry, my signature on a legal document wouldn’t be enough right?
— I walked out. I personally beg you to not bother. Looks nice, but it’s run by a bunch of day clubbing idiots. Please Please please take your business elsewhere. Unless you really love giving away your money.