Smart Honda
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Customer Reviews of Smart Honda
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7 reviews
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Never-Ending Poor Experiences
by Kenzie on 03/13/2025I’m going to post 2 parts. First part is 3 years ago. The second part of my review is from my experience back in October, when I needed to get a recall fixed, so I didn’t really have a choice on where I took my car. From 3 years ago: Took… my 2018 CR-V(not purchased from "smart" honda thankfully) in for a regular oil change at 7am right before Thanksgiving, knowing from previous and experience it takes at least half a day for it(especially with the holiday), so I had a ride back home planned. I let my service advisor know of an issue with tire pressure in one tire, and asked her to check for leaks, and went back home via my planned ride. I told my advisor I was OK with any return time that day, but preferred before noon.. Around 11am same day, I get the notification text of some additional services that are needed on my 3 year old car, with 19k miles. I scroll through the giant list, appalled, and see the final cost of electing everything is $704. I received no phone call, just a text message where I'm able to select to accept or decline service for these $700 services. Being someone who knows little about Hondas, or cars in general, I accept all of the services, because cash is a moot point and I don't want to bring my car back in for a day to Smart Honda(and my fiance said "it's already in, might as well get it fixed"). Apparently, there is no issue with my low tire pressure in my front driver-side tire and they filled it to 32 PSI. I pick it up, it runs like it always has(it's 3 years old, not expecting a trainwreck). I later tell the minnesotan salesman I bought this brand new CR-V from about my maintenance adventure, and he tells me I was screwed over by Smart Honda and there were a few things that are not necessary 3 year old Honda maintenance items. I accept defeat and understand there's a few things on my receipt that a 3 year old car shouldn't have issue with. On top of this, reason 2 for going in was a leaky tire. Smart Honda said there was no leak detected. Not even 2 months later, I am dealing with 'low tire pressure' alerts and my tire is stupid low. I know my parents have had their techs do a sealant on some of their Honda tires, which is what I was hoping for when I told my advisor about my tire issue, so I'll more than likely be going in to someone reputable to get my tire checked and/or sealed. If I need service, I'll go anywhere but here; and my next Honda will be purchased in Albert Lea where I can trust their entire team. If you're going to suddenly ask for $700 in fixes, it'd be nice to receive a call explaining everything rather than tossing a giant accept/deny game onto your customer. MOST RECENT EXPERIENCE(Oct 24): took my same 2018 cr-v in to get a seatbelt recall checked. I’d like to point out they had no record of my vehicle here, even though I wrote the review above after my other visits(I also have receipts). Apparently, this comes with a “complimentary” oil change that nobody told me about, even though I did not need nor want one. I was irked to see on the video that the oil was changed, because I already don’t like Smart Honda. The receipt did not say complimentary oil change but the tech on video says it a couple times, and you can easily identify my vehicle by license plate, with a drip pan under it. My car has not been to any other vehicle shop since this visit. Come February, my vehicle started dripping oil. I brought it in, explaining the issue, and the tech immediately came back out almost in shock, telling me the oil plug was extremely close to falling out and clearly was not tightened properly, or wasn’t tightened at all. Great to know if it had fallen out, I would have been SOL with my infant in tow, and my engine would have been toast. I have another recall on my vehicle, but I will be driving clear up to MN so I don’t have to deal with the incompetence that continues to shine through at “Smart” Honda.Lie to you to make a sale
by Nick on 03/08/2025They tell you they only sell quality used cars but then when I breaks down on the way home they tell you it’s not their problem, that you bought a used car.Careless service
by Chris on 11/21/2023They're free 150 point inspection will leave you with a broken carI hope this didn't cause engine issues!
by Mary on 09/16/2022I went to my dealer to get an oil change. After 3,000 miles my oil light came on. When checking the oil that was not a single drop on the dip stick and the stick looked as though it had been burned. My husband added 4 qts and we… contacted the dealer. We were told to come back in and get another $83 oil change at my expense and then monitor it every 500 miles and let them know if I am loosing any oil. I explained that was no oil in my garage or on the engine showing there was a leak. I called my dealer every 500 miles as recommended and even after speaking with the service manager I was told there was nothing they would do. I am looking to sell my Honda and will no longer visit or recommend Smart Honda of Des Moines to family and friends.Third Time Buyer
by npranger on 05/14/2016Have purchased both new and used Hondas from Clay Olson at Smart Honda over the last ten years. He's not a "salesman". He's a gentleman who has displayed honesty, integrity and efficiency many times over. Our last purchase of a new CRV EXL… AWD was done online with the exception of signing the paperwork and picking up the vehicle. I do my due diligence in looking at comparable vehicles, pricing at dealerships, and researching TMV with Edmunds and the like. Clay's initial price was well below his competitors' pricing and TMV. With the trust he has developed with me over the years I felt no need to "negotiate" any further. Smart Honda provided the means for us to submit paperwork to complete the loan app online. We were approved before we arrived at the lot. Our finance man was helpful, prepared and a pleasure to perform the sometimes dreaded task of financing. We were in and out of the lot within an hour. The 1.9% loan rate will allow her to apply additional funds to her much higher rate school loans. We have also been pleased with the service department's routine maintenance on our Hondas. Can't speak to more extensive service issues as with most Hondas, the need has not arisen. If you're outside of the Des Moines area, reach out to Clay. It may be well worth the drive.Do your homework before you come here.
by reedone on 03/04/2016The dealership itself is fairly nice and the staff are more than accommodating. I used to have my '02 Civic maintained here (years ago) and thought it was an okay/less than average at times experience. As for buying cars, I looked at… the following cars: Cherokee, CRV, Rav4, Outback and some others to a lesser extent. Now I ended up going w/ the Cherokee but I shopped around and got my best numbers on all of them and Smart Honda stands out. The vehicle MSRP I was looking at was ~30k and advertised at about 28.5k by most dealers. I wouldn't usually write a review on a car I didn't buy, but I was seriously insulted by how this dealership treated me, I couldn't help but notice at all the older people and soccer moms who have little/outdated know-how in the dealership. So, as I said I was treated very well for the everything up until we talked numbers (including a great test drive). While I wasn't sold on the car I did want to know what the local Honda dealership was at w/ the car (I had found prices elsewhere and simply wanted to test drive the vehicle at this point and see how it matched up with the rest). They offered me $500 off MSRP. I was stunned, they then acted as if it was a done deal and started to work on monthly payments and taxes etc. This may work w/ senoir citizens, but I wasn't very happy w/ that. Now, this car is advertised at almost $2k off MSRP on the websites of most dealers. So, I told them I've shopping around and can see the vehicle is advertised at substantially cheaper than what they're selling it for. Now, I told them ahead of time I was test driving these multiple vehicles. They started to tell me about how great the Honda CRV is and how horrible the other brands are. I was in shock, it's as if they didn't even register what I had said. So, while I was offended I'm a mild mannered guy and figured I might as well see what they're best price is just to know. I pulled it up on the phone and then told them the best price I had and where. They didn't bother to respond and at this point honestly moved on from insulting the Rav4 to Cherokee. The salesperson was a nice guy, throughout (mostly stepped aside) but wow the finance people had some unrealistic expectations. I told them I found this unbecoming and left. If you come here shop around and consider the Honda dealership in Ames, IA (It's the closest alternative) as well. You can still have it serviced here even if you buy elsewhere. Just something to keep in mind. Regardless, I found my expirence to be unique and can't believe it. If you simply don't want to sell your cars beneath MSRP (always aim for below invoice guys) then simply say so, no reason to behave this way. I would not have written my review if they had simply said they did not want to come down on their profit margins.Very impressed!
by lori38 on 02/11/2011updated 04/25/2025I had done a lot of research before going to Smart Honda. This included Chevy, GM, Ford and Kia, for a total of 5 dealerships before coming to Smart Honda. Clay (Olson) treated me with the most respect of any of the dealers in any… dealership. He answered every question I had. He was not insulted that I had researched ahead of time. He went out of his way to communicate by e-mail before my visit and went out of his way while I was at the dealership. The time I spent whith him was comfortable, informative and without any pressure what-so-ever. Another thing that impressed me was that when we went to the service center, an elderly lady was reading the paper and waiting for her car and he called her by her first name! I could go on and on about the wonderful experience I had at Smart Honda. I was very impressed!
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