Full review text opened.
DealerRater - May 28, 2026
I purchased a certified pre-owned vehicle from Ocean Mazda West Kendall on April 24th, and at first, everything seemed great. The sales staff was friendly, accounting was pleasant, and the buying experience itself went smoothly. Unfortunately, everything changed just one week later.
A week after purchasing the vehicle, my husband noticed that the front left side of the bumper was starting to come off. This made absolutely no sense considering the vehicle had no scratches, no impact damage, and no signs of any accident that would explain the issue. We immediately contacted the dealership, and the first response was essentially to deny responsibility and say the car “wasn’t like that” when we purchased it only days earlier.
My husband eventually had to mention that he serves in the Army just to get them to agree to look at the vehicle. We brought it in on a Thursday, but they said they couldn’t do anything because they had no loaner cars available. We agreed to bring it back the following Monday.
The dealership then kept my vehicle for 8 days, claiming that the “wrong part had been ordered.” After all that time, they finally called to say the car was ready. My mother picked it up, only to discover that the bumper STILL had a noticeable gap. Hermes, the employee we had been dealing with, told both my mother and me over the phone that this was “as good as it was going to get” because the sales managers had already decided they were not going to spend the money to send it to a body shop.
Imagine hearing that after taking on over $30,000 in debt for what was supposed to be a certified pre-owned vehicle.
To make matters worse, my mother got home and the bumper had already started coming apart again. When I called Hermes back, he told me there was nothing else he could do and that I needed to contact the sales managers directly. I left multiple messages for management and nobody returned my calls.
Later that same day, Hermes called me back and said he had spoken with management and they had finally agreed to send the vehicle to a body shop. I was extremely relieved and thanked him. He told me to bring the vehicle back Monday, May 25th. I drove 45 minutes to the dealership only to find out the service department was closed for Memorial Day. The receptionist contacted Hermes, who apologized and said he would speak to management the next morning to see if someone could pick up the vehicle since I live far away.
The next day, I was told that “nobody” could pick up the car, so my mother once again had to take time out of her day to drop it off herself.
Then, only one day later, Hermes called saying that a “mobile body shop guy” had stopped by and fixed the issue. That immediately sounded suspicious to me. Sure enough, when my mother picked up the vehicle today, the bumper gap was STILL there. It also appeared that glue had been used to hold it in place because there was visible glue residue that had never been there before.
The dishonesty throughout this entire process has been mind-blowing.
I also made it very clear that I needed the vehicle back before June 5th because I have an out-of-state trip planned. Interestingly, the first thing Hermes asked my mother when she picked up the car was, “When is she leaving the state?” At that point, it honestly felt like the priority was simply getting me out of town so they wouldn’t have to continue dealing with the issue.
This is a CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED vehicle. A bumper that repeatedly falls apart should be properly repaired by the dealership — not temporarily glued together to avoid paying for a body shop repair.
I will absolutely be escalating this matter further.
If I can give anyone one piece of advice: please think twice before purchasing a vehicle from this dealership.
First picture of when my husband first noticed, second when they "fixed" it the first time, and third picture of when the "supposed" mobile body shop guys "fixed' it
