Shelor Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford- Christiansburg VA

Visit Geno's Garage for Truck accessories.

The most recent reports are at the top of the list; the oldest are at the bottom.

Sales=Don't Know, Service=Poor, Parts=Don't Know, bought there=Yes, scv_there=Yes, Buy_DaimlerChrysler_again=Yes,
I bought a new van from Shelors,from a print ad that advertised the dealer's best price for the van. It was a last year's model still on the lot, the price was excellent, and I bought the van at the advertised price with no problem. However, they do not seem to have these ads any more, so no new purchases.My poor experience was with service. I brought my 94 Lincoln there to have the head gasket fixed. They talked me into a $4500 new engine. I am not complaining about that; I agreed to it. But 1)when I picked up the car there was a terrible hissing noise from the rear - by coincidence BOTH air bags that operate the pneumatic suspension system had brand-new slits in them, and had to be replaced, for another $2500.The car couldn't be driven, and I had the work done. I could not prove in a court of law that they slit the airbags, however, the chances that my car came across this damage just as the car was being driven out of the repair area is ZERO. I could not afford to junk the car, since I had just paid $4500 for the new engine. 2) They had drained all the coolant from my air conditioner when they put in the engine. They did not replace it. When I had another repair place add coolant (for $200), the air system also had a brand-new mysterious leak, and all of it leaked out. I cannot afford to fix it, the risk of bringing my car back to Shelors, so I now drive it without air conditioning. To be fair, the engine works. And the new airbags on new suspension works just as well as the old ones did. 3)The service department is now arranged so you can't see where they take your car, and you can't see the building in which the work is being done. There is, therefore absolutely no way to observed what's going on. I strongly recommend against leaving a car there for even ten minutes.
The Ram Van has been great; it has taken my family to Yellowstone from VA 6 times. I took it to Thompson's Chrysler Plymouth for service and they replaced the engine (I wore out the first one) very competently and inexpensively. The first year I had the van, Shelor's had separate service for Dodge, and you could see the guys working on the car. They did perfectly good work. When they changed to the new system, when your car is whisked away to buildings as much as 1/4 mile from the waiting room, the serious problems began. If Shelor's wants to be known as an honest shop, they need to stop taking the car away. The temptation for the guys(workers and managers) to cheat is too great when they are out of the customer's sight. There is no accountability except to the manager, and his responsibility is to drum up profit. The customer never sees the worker or the manager, only a "Customer Service Rep" whose only job is to talk/sell to the client, and smooth things over! Don't go there.
Submitted by: Sandra Jaronski      bohr137[a]aol.com
Number of dealership visits=4, Last visit date=Sept 2003, Date report submitted: Oct 11 12:11:47 EDT 2004

Sales=Avoid, Service=Don't Know, bought there=No, scv_there=No,
Have been to Shelor twice now. The first time went to look at one vehicle, ended up looking at a completely different vehicle. Told salesperson wasn't sure what we wanted, wanted to think about it, ended up staying there for more than four hours, while they did their bait and switch tactics. Ended up telling them no, will not do anything tonight since weren't sure it was what we wanted, and went to leave, got really mean sendoff. Second time we went back 9-20-03. Knew exactly what we wanted this time, done research, etc. Found perfect vehicle, and they go into negotiation mode, told sales lady what we were willing to pay. Gave sales lady all pertinent information, so that we could let them do what they had to do, and call us back later. Well they do not like this, they don't want to let you leave the showroom. This is their sales tactic (HIGH PRESSURE). They asked us how much of a monthly payment we wanted ( this is one thing I don't like to tell them, just tell me how much you want for car) They will not do anything until you tell them some kind of monthly payment, so we finally told them something that we were sure they could not do. Well after we tried to leave four times, sales lady kept going to meet with the sales manager, he finally wants to talk to us, we go into his office, where he proceeds to badger us more. Says he does not understand why we would drive two hours just to look at vehicles, and how upset he was that we had wasted his sales lady's and his time. I proceeded to tell him that this is a big decision for us and not going to make it in one day. They always try to give you the (TODAY ONLY DEAL) Told sales manager wanted to think about it for couple of days. Then he says you told sales lady that you would work a deal today if we can get payments within your range. DID NOT TELL HER THAT. We actually had a discussion with sales lady specifically about that. Yes they got the payments within our range, but they also extended the amount of time to pay them, which we did not want. We would have rather had the higher payment in the shorter time than the shorter payment for the longer duration. They tell you that they will give you rebates, etc. then ask you what payment range you want, then they get you right back to the price they were going to sell it for in the first place. Well to make long story short, the sales manager of the DODGE BUILDING was very upset when we told him we were not going to make a deal tonight, and he then said to us "OK, LEAVE AND DON'T EVER COME BACK. Well, I'm with the Toyota guy, Shelor can kiss my @#$@#$ because I will never set foot in Christiansburg again. This is a poor excuse for a dealership, to tell someone to never come back. Like every person that walks thru their door is going to buy a car today. Like I am the only person that has ever wanted to come in and just look around and try out a few cars. I told these people that I did not want to stay and negotiate, but they insisted on wasting their time and mine, when I was only trying to save both of us time. These people are ___'holes and do not deserve a business license. Furthermore this sales manager talked to me this way in front of the Sales Lady, and other customers that were in the store. I STRONGLY DO NOT RECOMMEND THESE IDIOTS TO ANYONE. I would rather drive the vehicle that I have until It crumbles into the ground than to buy anything from them.
Christopher Mills    sytncwm[at]excite.com
Number of dealership visits=2, Last visit date=9-20-03, Date report submitted: Sep 21 02:38:59 EDT 2003

Sales=Fair, Service=Avoid, bought there=Yes, scv_there=Yes,
I Hate Shelor beyond words. I tell everyone I come in contact with to avoid Shelor. I have a classic for everyone. The car I had was Toyota Corolla, It SUCKED along with Shelor's ability to fix it. I traded for a used 1998 Jeep Sport 4x4 2& 1/2 years ago and have been happy every sense. I lost $2000 going to Shelor (I had to pay to get rid of that piece of %^$# Toyota. Buyers beware SHELOR is EVIL, put them out to pasture where they belong.
Number of dealership visits=14, Last visit date=2000, Date report submitted: 24 Mar 2003 18:45

Sales=Poor, Service=Don't Know,
Tried trading in my '00 2500 4x4 (5.9 gas) on an '02 2500 Quad 4x4 w/Cummins. It had $36,000+ price and marked up (adjusted market value)to over $38,000. Haggled for over 3 hours,in which 2 of them was spent sitting alone while the so-called sales person was hidden in the sales managers office. They REFUSED to come off of the adjusted price but did agree to pay off mine ($17,000). When asked if they would come down to around $32,000 they agreed but only after offering $13,000 for mine,once again making the financing price around $36,000. Was told that I WOULD NOT get a diesel financed for 31 or 32 thousand anywhere. Three days later found practically the same truck only different color at another dealership in Radford. Within an hour,had my truck traded for it and financed $31,600. Bottom line, Shelors will not beat any deal!!!!!!
Number of dealership visits=NA, Last visit date=NA, Date report submitted: 01 Jul 2002

Sales=Poor, Service=Poor,
Large inventory of vehicles on the lot. All vehicles have a $1000 "market adjustment" added to sticker price, but some people tell me they can get a good deal here. I have found the sales staff to be much better than they were in the past - pressure on customers appears to have eased, and they are willing to answer questions. Will order for trucks $1000 above invoice (Jan 2000) - considerably higher than other area dealers. Many vehicles have overpriced plastic doo-dads, which are installed and used to jack the sales price before the vehicle goes to the lot. Be very careful when talking about monthly payments. This dealership will try to load the payment with add-ons like life insurance, 3rd party warranty extensions, aftermarket accessories, and processing fees. By extending the loan to 5 years or more, they make the payment seem low, but you really should see what another dealership can do before you sign anything from Shelor.
According to local reports, service department still has problems - use caution, can be a crapshoot. Some people have an OK service experience, many do not. An archived RTML mail list thread from 1997 reflects the service experiences that are sometimes reported by Shelor customers. Things have not changed much since then.
Dave Fritz
Number of dealership visits=6+, Last visit date=Jan 2000, Date report submitted: 08 Jan 2000

Sales=Good, Service=Good,
I recently bought a nice used 1999 dodge ram from Kurtis Kemmerling (?) of Shelor in Christiansburg. Pretty straight up guy, answered all questions. Friendly transaction, recommended. Vehicle purchase price was ~$4,000 below blue book. Had dual pipe conversion done at their service center. Installation looked professional, sounds good, and I haven't had any problems. It's only been 2 weeks since I purchased the vehicle. Very happy with transaction, professional, no pressure. Recommended

Dealership Rating:
	Good sales department, good service
	Fair sales, fair service
	Conflicting or not enough information
	Poor Service or Poor Sales Department
	Avoid like the plague!!
	Don't Know / No Experience

This page was edited on: February 26, 2007