SPECIALTY AUTO

"I purchased a Volvo from this dealership over a year ago and the experience has been disappointing to say the least. First off, most of the cars we test drove were in disrepair- be ready for that. The car I purchased didn’t include items that were in the description- timing belt, new tires, air conditioning. The AC never worked. Bob did end up fixing these items (except the ac) but after I had already driven the car and a lot of back and forth with this dealer. I live about 3 hours away, so this was a huge pain and a waste of time. There are so many repairs that need to be done on this car now, I’m moving on. Ultimately this was a huge headache and a lot of time wasted on this car. I have purchased many used cars and this has been by far my worst experience."

"Bob is a very genuine man. Show respect and honesty and you will surely receive it back. I went initially to look for an XC90 but found it wasn't what I was looking for. He let me look at and test drive any car without issues. I ended up buying a 2005 S80 with 74k miles for a fair price in great condition. Bob was always accommodating when I wanted to get 3rd party evaluations on the car before purchase. He replaced the timing belt and the tensioner (unknown to me, the tensioner is also very important). I pointed out a couple of small issues and he fixed all of them with no hassles and a smile. He even went above and beyond to create me a second brand new key and another radio unit since he had one that was no use to him. I would not hesitate to go back for another vehicle in the future if I decide to grow my Volvo collection."

"TLDR: Don’t have Bob or Tommy perform any work on a vehicle you’re planning to buy. HAVE SOMEONE ELSE DO THE WORK. Had a disappointing experience attempting to buy a car from Bob at Specialty Auto which I’m relaying here to help other avoid making the same mistake. My partner and I travelled a few hours to view, inspect and test drive a used 2007 Volvo XC70. We had a third party mechanic inspect the car which he deemed to be in good shape with a few exceptions. It needed a strut replaced, there was a code for an rpm sensor, the fabric on the A pillar was hanging off, a parking light was out, and one of the stereo speakers wasn’t working. Bob assured us he would be able to make those fixes and we negotiated a price for the purchase. We came back a few days later prepared to purchase the car. Bob told me he and his mechanic Tommy had replaced the battery, starter, and strut. We took the car for a test drive and it failed very quickly going into “Limp mode”. We slowly limped our way to the 3rd party mechanic who found a slew of new codes including a disconcerting one regarding the Turbo Sensor. He noticed the dipstick handle was newly broken off and had been clumsily reattached with a screw. He also noticed the strut was replaced with the cheapest strut possible. Based on this new information he advised us not to buy the vehicle. While driving back from the mechanic to Speciality Auto the car completely stopped running forcing us to make an emergency pitstop on the side of the road and making it obvious that this was not a car we should or even could buy. Bob came to pick us up, refunded our deposit and dropped us off at the train station. Bob seemed to think the issue was simply one of a hose clamp not being properly reattached which may be true but there were too many red flags to make the purchase. Some other red flags included black smoke pouring out of the tail pipe while we watched Bob attempt to start the XC70. This may be a small detail but the car interior had also not been cleaned. There was still the hair scrunchy of the prior owner hanging from the mirror and pine needles in the trunk when we came back to make the purchase. The experience was extra disappointing as we were excited and ready to buy the vehicle with cash in hand but due to shoddy workmanship and carelessness we couldn’t make a purchase. We gladly would have payed an authorized Volvo mechanic to do those repairs and in the future that’s what we’ll be doing. We also spent a few hundred dollars on travel, and a significant amount of time including an unexpected overnight stay in Boston due to the faulty car. Bob told us this had never happened to him in all his years of dealing cars but that did little to remedy the sour taste of the experience."

"We bought our high mileage 14 year old Volvo from Bob almost exactly a year ago and it's been absolutely fantastic (knock on wood). Bob is super honest and friendly--and really accommodating too. It's really refreshing to have found a used car dealer with such integrity."

"I recently moved from Honolulu to Nantucket and I have to say without a question that Robert's professionalism and helpfulness was beyond anything I've ever experienced from a used car dealer. He helped me navigate the complications involved with registering a car here in Massachusetts as well as made the process of actually getting the car to here in Nantucket as simple as possible. If you're thinking of all about purchasing a car from specialty auto I'd absolutely do it. Not only was the process simple, the car was fairly priced and way better condition that I ever expected and immaculately clean as well."