McGrath Acura of Downtown Chicago
reviews and complaints

We bought the car December 29th. We drove away from the dealership, and it's been parked outside since. Yesterday, we drove the car and the check engine light came on. The overheating light also came on. This morning, when we went outside to start the car, it wouldn't start. We've been calling the dealership, but we've been getting the runaround. Nobody wants to talk to us about it.

A couple of years ago, I bought a 5-year warranty for my Acura MDX 2016 from McGrath Acura of Downtown Chicago. This warranty was supposed to cover various things like rims, tires, dings, dents, scratches, and engine maintenance. They even promised to top off any fluids if they were low in my vehicle.

One day, my tire gauge sensor alerted me that my passenger front tire was losing air. I immediately drove to a nearby gas station and discovered a small hole in my tire. The next day, I made an appointment with the dealer to get a new tire. However, they surprised me by switching my original warranty, which I had signed with an ink pen, with a warranty that looked like a cute t-shirt design. They also transferred my signature from the paper to a tablet using my finger.

Now, they inform me that this new warranty only covers dings and dents, but not scratches or chipped paint. As a result, I had to pay $1,755.30 on October 28. The salesperson responsible for this switch was named ***.

Aug 13, 2020, I took my car across the street from my job to McGrath Acura. I had made an appointment for 4:30 because there was a problem with my driver seat belt buckle. I couldn't get it out, so I decided to take it to the dealer. The young woman I had spoken with earlier had already left for the day, so I had to explain the reason for my appointment to another lady. After that, a guy named *** helped me. I told him about my issue, and he took my car to the back service area. About 15 or 20 minutes later, *** came back and informed me that I needed a whole new seat belt assembly. It would cost around $350.00, and they would deduct it from the $192.00 I had already paid just for them to look at the issue. They also mentioned that my car would have to stay there for 2 days until they got the part in. I declined their offer, got in my car, and left.

On Saturday, I had an appointment at another Acura dealership in *** at around 8:30. However, at 8:45, the service guy at *** approached me and told me that he had managed to fix the problem with the buckle. He showed me where the seat casing was cracked and explained that it could be addressed at a later date.

I traded my 2018 Acura RDX for a 2022 RDX at McGrath Acura of Chicago on April 25, 2022. After 30 days, I kept following up with them about paying off my vehicle because Acura Financial called me, saying my payment was late. I talked to *** and *** a lot, but it didn't help. Finally, on May 28th, *** told me that the office forgot to pay off my car. *** emailed me a tracking number on Friday the 28th, which said a label was made. Just so you know, after the 30th, my credit report would have shown a 30-day late payment. To avoid a late update on my credit report, I made an online payment for the car I traded last month. Today, on May 31st, I spoke with Acura Financial, and they said they haven't received it yet. If it arrives today, it will be put in a lock box and not processed today. I'm on a fixed income and couldn't afford to make a payment for the car I traded, plus the payment for the new car I bought. This whole experience has caused me a lot of anxiety and stress. I've called many times, but I can't reach a manager. So, as of today, Acura Financial still hasn't received my payoff.

I went to the store to buy my car lease on Feb 19. 2021. I thought it would be easy--pay the leftover amount on the old contract from 3 years ago and drive home. But then they changed the value of the car by adding $1939.15, making it $24757.55 (Fees and taxes not included). In total, I paid $27080. I only realized this problem a few weeks later when I found my old contract. When I contacted them, they said it was Acura's system that gave them that number and told me to call Acura. So, I checked with Acura Financial Service, and they confirmed they only received the original value of $22818.40 from the contract 3 years ago, which is the same amount on my Acura financial system's account page. Then they said the sale was closed and they couldn't do anything about it. They passed the problem to a general manager who is on vacation. At the end of the conversation, one guy said it was a charge from the dealership to cover the fancy showroom, electricity, and free coffee. But that's just ridiculous--a $2000 charge from one customer for free coffee. No one there admitted it was a problem and they just passed it around. From talking to them in person, it was clear that this wasn't the first time they did this. No one even wanted to look at my original contract to see the agreed upon value.

As a loyal Acura brand enthusiast for almost 6 years (and two RDX's later), McGrath Acura of Downtown Chicago is an example of how to lose a customer for good. After trading in my old RDX for an upgraded 2019 A-Spec, they put the wrong VIN on my paperwork and delivered the wrong vehicle before driving off the lot. They then tried to blame me and said I owed them money - even though I had the paperwork in hand. After calling Acura corporate and telling them to deal with this, they apologized for the mix-up. This should have been my first indication this dealership lives up to its reviews online. Fast forward to owning this beauty for less than 2 years and I have brought the car in a total of FIVE times for Apple *** connectivity issues. On the SIXTH time (because five times is just an appetizer for the main course apparently) they finally acknowledged there was a problem for a vehicle I pay a pretty penny for not to be able to use the entertainment system at all. Each and every time the service manager, Sam ***, has provided horrible customer service - including telling me it's my fault, telling me there is "nothing they can do" and that "this happens all the time" and fails to follow up on promises and answer voicemails in a timely manner. After letting them know they have two options: cancel my lease or fix this issue for good, Sam assured it was fixed yet didn't even have a technician assure it was fixed by riding along once it was "fixed" for the 6th time. This is the final straw. After taking the vehicle back for the SEVENTH time, I walked in and asked to speak to the Service Department Manager, Justin ***, who copped an attitude when I asked if I could have the General Manager's business card by replying "maybe...let me see if he has a business card" I pay $700/month for a vehicle and they refuse to fix the issue - combined with *** poor customer service I will never purchase or lease another Acrua during my lifetime.

I got a problem with my 2017 Acura TLX, still under warranty. I took it to the emissions testing site on 7/30/22, but it got rejected 'cause some monitors weren't ready. Then, on 8/1/22, I brought it to McGrath Acura Chicago, where the mechanic said I needed to drive it more, maybe go on a road trip. I usually drive it around the city, not so much on the freeway. So, that week I put about 100 miles on it and went back to the testing site on 8/6/22, but it got rejected again. I added another 300 miles and went for a third try on 8/13/22, but still no luck. On 8/15/22, I went back to the dealership, and they kept my car for 6 weeks. They said they were driving it and doing some testing, but it was hard to get updates. They mentioned escalating the problem and that the director would call me, but that never happened. Finally, I managed to talk to the manager, and he said nothing was wrong with the car, but they couldn't clear all the monitors. He had no solution except to keep driving and see what happens. I agreed to pick up the car on 9/29/22, but no one from the service department was there to talk to me. They left the car with barely enough gas to reach the gas station. On 10/3, I contacted ***, and he quickly diagnosed the issue. He fixed the car and even offered to take it to the emissions testing site for me, all in one day. I wasted so much time and ended up paying $475 to fix something that should've been handled by the dealership's service department and covered by my warranty. I want a refund for the amount I paid.

l paperwork were missing from my copy. When I contacted Holly Altier about this, she said she would look into it but never got back to me.

Furthermore, the car I purchased had several issues that were not disclosed to me. The brakes were squeaking loudly and the tires were worn out. I had to spend additional money to get these issues fixed.

Overall, my experience with McGrath Acura of Downtown Chicago was extremely disappointing. The lack of transparency and honesty from the staff, especially Holly Altier, was unacceptable. I would not recommend this dealership to anyone looking to purchase a vehicle.

We wanna tell you about this bad experience we had with McGrath ACURA in Downtown Chicago. They totally tricked us and did some shady stuff. We bought a shiny new ACURA RDX 2019 model from them on October 6. When we were about to pay, the finance guy convinced us to get an extra warranty from the fourth year to the seventh year. He said the regular warranty only covers the first three years or 50,000 miles. He promised that if we canceled the warranty within three years or before hitting 50,000 miles, we would get a full refund. We asked him to write it down on the purchase order and he did. We had to pay an extra $2542 for this warranty.

Fast forward to June 13, we decided to cancel the warranty. We were told it would take about two months to process the refund. But when we called in August to check on the status, the new finance person said they couldn't find the original purchase contract with the warranty. We sent them a copy of our own records with the handwritten note and signature from the previous rep. After going back and forth a bunch of times, they finally issued a check for $1,783.18 on September 28.

We called them again to ask why the refund wasn't the full amount. They said it was prorated based on the years and mileage. We talked to the manager to try and sort things out, but even he couldn't figure out what was happening. He said he was new too and couldn't give us the full refund because the warranty company wouldn't allow it, even though we had a document signed by an Acura employee promising a full refund.