Michael's Chevrolet of Issaquah

I usually dread shopping for a new car because of the all too typical high-pressure, say-anything-to-get-you-to-buy tactics employed by many auto dealers. Michael's is different: the staff is friendly, low-pressure and genuinely interested and motivated to make you the deal that fits your needs. Three weeks ago my wife and I were shopping for a replacement for our high-mileage SUV and one of the Chevrolets was on our list, so we visited Michael's one Friday afternoon on our way home from work. After an extended test drive of the SUV we were interested in we decided that it wasn't quite for us and thanked our salesman for his time. When we told him what the problem was -- that we just didn't feel quite comfortable in the car -- he suggested we try out a used Mercedes Benz SUV that they had just taken in on trade. Our immediate response was ""No way! We can't afford a Mercedes."" Our salesman said that he thought they could make an attractive deal and suggested we take it out on our own for a drive, which we did. OK, so we really liked the car, but again, knew there was no way they could match our price on this vehicle, which we checked the Kelly Blue Book value on while we were out. Again, we came back and thanked him, but said we knew there was no way they could put us in this car. That's when we got our first real surprise -- he suggested we take it home for the night (we live far enough away that this would be a really good test drive) -- so we took him up on it, mainly on a lark. Saturday morning we brought the Mercedes back and again said thank you,. but it's a Mercedes and handed him back the key. He countered by saying that they had run some numbers that morning and it would be worth our while to have a look, so we did. That's when we met Murph, the General Sales Manager, a genuinely personable and likable guy. The numbers still weren't what we needed, but he was genuinely interested in getting us into this car, which was ideal for us, so we went a couple of rounds of negotiating and finally got down to the point where we made a deal that suited us perfectly. All the while, we felt engaged and involved, but never pressured. Subsequently, we returned to purchase an extended warranty and felt the same sense of genuine interest and friendliness from the new Finance Manager, Michelle. If you have a new car in your future, you owe it to yourself to check out Michael's. Pros: Friendly, low-pressure, professional Cons: Not easy to find the first time more

In Feb 2010 I purchases a used 2005 corvette. Two months later I had to replace the entire clutch system for nearly $3,000. The next month the air conditioning system went out for a cost of $2,000. The dealership claims they could not know these things were faullty. Who else but a professional dealership could know the true status of a vehcle. Buyer beware rellly applies Pros: Corvette dealership Cons: Used car problems more

Unfortunately I was their loyal customers for too long (10 years) and it cost us way too much. Pros: best place to waste your money if you have too much Cons: persistent car problems more

They told us we were financed at one rate, then renegged on it two weeks later, that's two weeks we had already had the truck . Not only is this illegal, but then they had to personally attack my husband who was merely trying to retain the bill of goods he had been sold. cg Pros: we like the product. Cons: poor customer care. more