Lithia Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Santa Fe

I have given the Lithia service department repeated attempts at fixing my car. The first attempt they replaced one strut and some other steering and brake parts as well as an alignment. After paying the $ 1500 bill, I was told by the mechanic that the other strut was in as bad of shape as the one they replaced. I spoke to the service manager and asked why both struts weren’t replaced, or why I wasn’t informed before completing the service work (everyone knows struts are typically replaced together due to wear.) We worked out a deal to have the other strut replaced.
Taking the car back for the next appointment, I discovered they did not return all the chrome lug nuts on the wheel. I mentioned that and they said they’d take care of it. After leaving the car for 5 days, I waited for 25 minutest to get tended and pay the bill. The bill included the cost of lug nuts which I promptly said I will not pay … and they obliged. When I got out to the car, I noticed that one of the lug nuts on the other wheel was now no longer chrome. I walked back in, waited 5 minutes to talk with someone, then another 20 minutes while they gave me back my chrome lug nut. I paid the bill and left.
Not more than 100 yards down the road, I heard awful noises coming from the front end. After spending some time diagnosing the conditions under which the noises occurred, I returned it to the service department. I was told I had to leave it until they could find time to look at it.
I chose to return home instead, leave a message for the service manager and write this review. What is disturbing for me is the complete lack of road testing after such extensive and critical service work is completed. The service manager promised they would fix the car tomorrow and have it done by the end of the day. I’m debating if I should. But small claims court can be a bigger nuisance.
If you chose to use the Lithia service department, be aware that it is not much more than a roll of the dice whether the work will be performed properly and completely, much less satisfactorily.

Drive the hour to ABQ to get your car serviced. My first experience here, it’s 5pm said the car would be done at 2:30 and another car owner standing here that was told the same thing. They don’t answer phone when call to check on vehicle really an extremely poor experience. Only giving one star because can’t give none… my last time here for certain!

While I have had two pleasant car buying experiences here over the years, my experiences with the service department have been just awful. I will NEVER use this service department for anything that isn’t covered by a warranty. They are disorganized and non-​responsive. It’s incredibly frustrating.

AVOID THIS DEALERSHIP AT ALL COSTS!!! Horrible customer service. Sales person was not at all considerate of my needs in a vehicle. I had a specific vehicle with options I required but the sales person (Richard) tried to sell me a different vehicle that was on the lot even though I was very specific with my requirements. Sales person Richard had no motivation to sell vehicle to me. Tried to get me to pay more than verbally agreed commitment then find out they would not honor their verbally agreed price after driving an hour to get to the dealership. I ended up having to call Jeep Corporate office to find out why I was being charged ABOVE MSRP value and way above price shown on the
build website. Jeep Corporate actually had to negotiate for me just to get this dealership to sell the vehicle at fair market value. The only reason I used this dealership was because it was my only choice locally. During the build process, I requested at least an update, phone call, or something. When I called Richard to find out status, he shunned me off to Crystal and was told to contact her. Never heard again from my sales person Richard.
When the vehicle was delivered to me, the Pre-​Delivery Inspection was falsified and not completed as required. I drove the brand new vehicle off of the lot and had to pull over to the side of the road as the tire indicators were saying the tires were dangerously over inflated with 64 lb. of pressure! The tires should have been correctly inflated to 36 lb. This was a very dangerous situation and very concerning to me that a dealer would lie and fraudulently sign off on a PDI and allow a customer to drive a vehicle in such a dangerous condition! When I took delivery of the vehicle, it had a paint run/​blemish on the door panel. When I brought it to my salesperson Richards attention. His reply was «all new vehicles have flaws». Yes, this is the answers I get!
My overall experience at this dealership was that the employees could have cared less if I purchased thru them. The most annoying part is having to sit in the noisy showroom with music blaring overhead when trying to conduct business on a professional level. A small office with a decent desk for customers is absolutely needed. I did not feel welcome at all and was never even introduced or made mention about the service department or that they even existed.
1 month later: My temporary registration tags expire today. I called the dealership and they didn’t even turn in the paperwork to licensing until 26 days after I purchased vehicle! Their excuse? «We were waiting for your check to clear on the purchase of the vehicle and we were too busy». That was a month ago! When I called and told them I need to drive the vehicle properly registered/​licensed, their reply was «we’ve been doing this over 20 yrs. and never had a customer get stopped for non-​registration of a vehicle. You have nothing to worry about». Never mind the fact I have to get to work tomorrow and can’t drive my new vehicle legally! These are the answers they give. Never mind the fact that not only it’s illegal, but if I got into an accident, my insurance would not pay a dime if the vehicle was not registered! Again, this dealership could care less.
I was given a survey from the dealership and I relayed this same info. and checked the box requesting a manager to contact me. Again… not a phone call, email, letter… nothing.

If I could give 0 stars I would. This is hands down the worst dealership service department I have ever been to! We took our Jeep here after the check engine light came on and we received a recall letter from Jeep stating that the cylinder head needed replacing (and that the check engine light would come on as a result). Firstly, it took 3 weeks to get an appointment. After finally getting the car in they kept the car for 3 days during which they did ABSOLUTELY nothing except tell us what we already knew, that the cylinder head needed replacing due to recall from jeep but could not do it at that time and we needed to make another appointment. Next available appointment was 2 weeks away. Thanks. We bring it back two weeks later and after they did god only knows what with it for a whole day they inform us that «there is nothing wrong with the cylinder head and we should come get the vehicle». On the way home the check engine light comes back on!!! We decide to return the car right away and bring the recall letter in with us, which clearly states that the cylinder head needs replacing because of the recall and that the check engine light will come on as an indication. Our service consultant was rude and had an attitude when we brought the vehicle back. They said they would have it fixed after 3 days, a week later and we still don’t have the vehicle back! NO offer of a rental car for our inconvenience, and because out commutes are in opposite directions we have had to pay out of pocket for alternative transportation to work. DO NOT GO HERE! If you live in Sante Fe go to Albuquerque, you will save yourself time, frustration and hassle even with the 120 mile round trip driving distance!

My two experience at Lithia have been interesting. I had a recall for reprogramming a electronic device. Made an appointment and arrived at the specific time no one even looked up or said «just a minute» they were engrossed in their other tasks. Finally another rep came over and got me checked in. This trip to reprogram took slightly over one hour.
The second time I had tried to make an appointment for a oil change. I called on Saturday afternoon and left a voice mail, never heard from that contact. On Monday I went to their website and entered the request again… no response. Later that day I filled out the request again but no one called back. Tuesday I went through the phone menu and finally connected with a live person, made an appointment for Friday. Wednesday I got a call from the service department about making an appointment??? They finally must have checked the website and backlog of service request.
Friday I went in for my oil change and I feel that they are understaffed no one was able to get me checked in for my scheduled appointment. 1:20 later my oil change completed. Good thing I wasn’t in a hurry. My former shop in KS had a lane that just did oil change and you were in and out in 20 minutes.

Seriously two weeks to schedule service this just tells me don’t have enough staff to properly service your customers, no way to select less than 1 star

Absolutely the worst Service Departmentexperience I have ever had. Initially, I had a hard time getting phone calls returned and a hard time making a service appointment, Tthe Service Advisor I was afinally ssigned was constantly giving me updates that turned about to be incorrect.
It took over a week to get the car fixed. I had to call two to three times a day to get an update, even though the advisor promised to call me with updates. Every time t talked to him I got a new excuse for why things were not getting done (service department had too many cars to service, technician got sick, advisor got sick). When I went to pick up my Jeep, the advisor sent me to the Parts Depertment to pay my bill. When I was finished paying, my advisor had disappeared. I had to walk the lot to find my car. My experience with other service departments is that they bring the car to the service area where customers are waiting.
Stay away from this dealer.

The service department never called me back. I just needed some warranty work. I even left a message for the general manager, off to albuquerque.

My husband and I went to just «look» at Jeeps. We wanted to trade in our 2000 Jeep for a newer Rubicon Jeep. Richard took us around and showed us all he had, which was considerable, and told us their features. He was very helpful and didn’t pressure us on anything. We decided we liked a 2014 Rubicon. We wanted bigger tires and a lift kit installed.
We spoke to Dave, the manager, the Service Manager regarding the right tires and Lift Kit; and Mark, the finance guy, regarding the trade-​in. They were all very helpful and concerned that we got exactly what we wanted. At every turn they checked to make sure they were doing what we wanted.
After some conversation about the various parts of this transaction we went ahead and purchased the Rubicon.
Mark said it would take 3 days to do the modifications, but it turned out being ready late that same afternoon.
All in all, this was just about the most painless and pleasurable car buying experience ever.

This group is despicable! Someone over there said I called them a liar. I did no such thing! I went hoping to meet the salesperson who seemed like an okay person, went to some trouble for me to locate a car that I could have delivered to the dealership if I wanted. Turns out I want, but on being told that the salesperson wasn’t coming to work by a couple of smokers in the parking lot I drove off without a test drive. Too much time, and I’d driven a really long way. So, I picked up a message from the dealership and the salesman said he’d shown up five minutes after I drove off. I never cussed anyone out over there, I simply felt disappointed that the salesman wasn’t there so left. Plus the test car wasn’t ready I’d need to wait to test drive a new Patriot. I drove from Taos, a 150 mile trip. These people have attitude and the red flags went up. Too bad I have to drive further south but it may work out perfectly anyway since I can double up on a pickup from the airport nearby.

What is it with these people? Is it a requirement on the resume’ to be a liar, cheat, and a hustler to work here? Every time I’ve come here, one or more of the employees is trying to ‘zoom’ me. Oh, and aspiring to be a greasy, creepy, salesperson is GROSS! Hey Lithia, I HATE THAT!!! If just want to look at a particular make of car, that’s all I want to do, look at it. I don’t want try drive, buy, or take it home, I’m LOOKING. If and when I buy my next vehicle, it will not be from you. You fooled me once, shame on you.

The service dept. has poor customer service. They can not explain the work they do and become hostile when you ask. They quote they give you for the work is sometimes twice what it is when you pick up your jeep. Don’t buy a jeep!