Cooley Motors

I do not recommend this dealership to anyone who wants to weigh their options.
My wife and I went to the Mazda dealership without an appointment to test drive a car, and the sales team was very accommodating. However, after the test drive, things started to take a turn. After we discussed prices and payment (as a side note: the sales rep made a comment that «we can’t hide the money,» which I thought was peculiar), my wife and I wanted to take a day to think about the purchase — this is not some impulse buy. The sales rep started to real pushy and tried to guilt trip us into buying the car right then and there.
Ultimately, we went with a different dealership, and when we informed the Cooley sales rep of this. He hung up on us. His «manager» then called (I put this in quotes because I cannot confirm that was who called) stating that there was a weekend deal and would give us another $ 500 off of their offer price. When I refused, he then offered to take off $ 750, which still didn’t match our other offer. Even if they did match, I wouldn’t want to deal with these people anymore.
So, if you are shopping around and want to consider your options before buying, I do not recommend this dealership.

Incredibly unhappy with this place. With an office near Cooley, it was convenient to drop off the car for the day and have general service performed on my VW. No problems there. It was when another issue popped up (non-​standard service) that my relationship with Cooley turned into a month-​long fiasco.
I dropped my car off and was told that there was an issue with a door sensor and that I’d have to bring it back the following week. I brought it back and was told that they weren’t sure what was going on and a service manager would have to look at it. The next day, I dropped off the car, and I was told at the end of the day that the manager wasn’t available that day and that a traveling service rep would be in the following week to look at the car. Same story for four different visits. On one day, I got to the car and someone had reclined the passenger seat the entire way back as if they had napped in it. When I picked up my car the fourth and final time, there was a light — that had never been on before — glowing on the dash indicating a new issue! I was incensed and the maintenance department claimed the light had always been on.
I relayed the story to a high-​level employee at my place of work, and he relayed a similar story about his experience with the service department.
I’ve had many cars (I love cars), and I’ve been to many service departments. Never have I dealt with such unprofessionalism, laziness, and dishonesty. I will never return to Cooley. I’m trekking to the next town over for VW service after this experience.
(By the way… the other VW dealer/​service department found and fixed the issue in a day.)

I want to give a shout-​out to Vinnie Varano — the nicest car salesman I have ever dealt with. We had bought my son a Golf TDI (one of the diesel VW’S that are part of the VW controversy) from another dealer last year. He loves the car. We went to Cooley Motors two weeks ago because we were looking for a car for my daughter and saw a used gas powered Golf that was in terrific condition. Before we even began discussing the «new» Golf, once Vinnie learned we had a car that was part of the VW diesel issue, he questioned whether we had enrolled in the Volkswagen TDI Customer Goodwill Package. We had not. Vinnie immediately got us the information to register and gave us information to help us fill it out. That simple deed has put $ 1,000 cash in our pockets.
We then told Vinnie we were interested in the gas powered Golf. He showed us the car, got us the Car Facts report, showed us the maintenance records for the car and answered all of our questions before we took it for us a test drive. And then he gave us a very fair price for it. We put a deposit down on the car and in less than 24 hours we had a car loan, a new registration and my daughter was happily driving out of the Cooley Motors parking lot with her new car.
I highly recommend you speak with Vinnie Varano at Cooley Motors if you are in the market for a car.

I took in my 2011 Mazda 2 because it was jumping when driving. It didn’t matter what gear I was in. It would randomly hesitate. I could be on the highway or in city traffic and the car would lurch. I did not have a check engine light on. My complaint was that the vehicle seems as though it was starving for fuel or air. This is in the service paperwork at the time of drop-​off.
The shop had my car for 2.5 hours while I waited. I was told by the service coordinator that they couldn’t find any issue. Nor could they replicate it. Then she proceeded to tell me that there was no history available for my car there. I told her that All of my vehicles get regularly serviced by a friend over the last 20 years. He is an ASE certified master technician for a local Adirondack Tire.
I told her that I did bring in my car the last time I had a check engine light on. I haven’t had any issues in over 4 years. The car has ran beautifully.
I contested that there was certainly an issue. I had asked if they used a portable scanner while driving the vehicle. That would freeze frame when something was out of normal operation. She then told me «I know you have knowledge of vehicles but we have Mazda certified trained techs here, they can’t replicate the issue!»
As if I was imagining the issue and wanted to waste time and money. I told her «Hence why I brought the vehicle here!» I certainly thought that they (Cooley)could figure it out.
She then got the service manager.
He repeated all she just said. I said the issue is there and I brought a fistful of money to fix it. He was nice enough to not charge me for not figuring it out.
I was left with «until your car breaks down and theres a check engine light to diagnose we really can’t help you here». I left saying this is outrageous. You basically don’t want to stop, figure it out and fix the issue now. Instead wait till theres possibly further damage? I couldn’t believe this!
The next day I took my car to my friend with Adirondack Tire. He drove the car and felt exactly what I had described. He said it was definitely fuel delivery. Then he pulled all the spark plugs. There was rust on all the plugs. There was water in my gas tank. He found a bad gas cap was to blame. He figured it out in less than a half hour.
I guess that Cooley is not the best place to bring your vehicle for service. I actually thought it was. I am very disappointed.

We arrived without an appointment, with the idea that we wanted to test drive both VW and Mazda. We were away from home by a couple hours, and wanted to use our time wisely, as we were looking for a manual transmission in a new sedan.
Alfie met us at the door, chatted for a minute, and had us test driving new cars before we’d been there ten minutes. We drove 7 new cars before lunch time, never with any pressure. As we left for our next dealer, Alfie asked if he could have an email address and our last name so he could contact us if he was able to find a car that met our needs. A very enjoyable visit to a clean dealership staffed by nice people.
I reached out to him the following week with questions on a couple of the cars we drove, he replied promptly by email, we agreed on a fair price on a new car and received a generous trade on our current car. They beat my hometown bank by a full point for financing.
We picked it up this morning, and so far, we’re very happy.
I dropped one point off for the «video demo of our car» with the business manager, which turned out to be a cartoon about how much better life is with an extended warranty. While I understand this is part of the business, I’d have preferred to work with Alfie on finishing the paperwork and skipped the movie.
TL/​DR — had a great experience, bought a great car at a nice price, but could have passed on hearing about extended warranties masquerading as a discussion of the features of my car

This place has by far the best customer service of ANY VW dealer in the area. They fit me in their busy schedule to help me with a headlight concern. Thank you Cooley your service department is the best!

I took my car to Cooley in September to have the brakes, water pump and timing belt changed. When I dropped my car off, the car’s key fob was working normally and without any issue. However, when I picked the car up, the car’s key fob wasn’t working at all.
I ended up bring the car back to Cooley a few days later to have someone try and figure out why the key fob wasn’t working. No one could tell me why the key fob had stopped working, but someone did try to sell me a new key fob at a cost of $ 300.
Overall, my experience here was horrible. I dropped my car off with a working key fob, and the car should have been returned to me with the same working key fob. The fact that it was not is unacceptable. Someone at Cooley obviously broke my key fob while working on my car, and Cooley should have fixed it. At this point, I’m stuck with a broken key fob because I took my car in for service here.

Bought a CX-​5 this past weekend. The salesman, Huffy was informed, great demeanor — no pressure — and had no agenda. He was there to make the sales experience focused on us. The sales manager Andre was fair and took the time to explain payment options that would benefit us — no pressure, again, just information. The amount they offered for may trade was fair and the amount they came down on the MSRP was fair. Did I cut the best deal ever (Per CarGURU, or KBB, or Edmunds)? No — nobody gouged anyone, but they were fair and forthcoming, and it was a good. fair transaction. They had integrity, and offered helpful info, another example — Steven int he finance dept. advised to consider not to pay the loan early even if we could — reason NY customers are protected against negative equity — so the loan in effect ensures we’d never pay more than the car is worth –if, God forbid, it was totaled. I went here because a friend of mine recommended them… I was not disappointed. I came ready to walk away as there are other cars and dealer to look at. In the end, the comfortable, knowledgeable approach, the fairness and transparency of their sales manager and the outstanding value of their product kept me there and I made a deal that day. Icing on the cake — they have a DMV there and we were able to drive off the lot with the car, two hours later — they are pros who know their stuff and could not have made it easier or more pleasurable. I will definitely have both of my kids go there for their cars. It should be noted that I spent 16 years in banking and am a tough negotiator who knows his numbers… just so you know I’m not some easily impressed intimidated person… so when I say all of the above, it is genuine… Huffy was great from beginning to end, as was Andre and Steven… I could have negotiated harder but when dealing with folks who meet reasonable numbers in their first offer I have to respect that — they didn’t try to confuse, blow smoke or baffle or low ball and in turn, I respected their integrity and took a fair offer while if they were less than straight forward, I’d not have hesitated to draw a hard line and go for the rock bottom, walked out and gone elsewhere. Their fairness garnered them a bit more than I would have if they were lesser businessmen. I highly recommend them — as long as this management team is there — you can’t go wrong.

Due to previous purchases from Cooley in the past, we took a quote from a different dealership to Cooley, where they agreed to match the quote. Salesman Dan Durivage was excellent, worked out the details, picked the car and color and agreed to pickup the next business day.
When reviewing all the paperwork to sign on the day of pickup, it was noticed the monthly payment was $ 50 more than agreed upon. Finance person was apologetic, but stated he didn’t realize the payment price would be an issue (because apparently everyone has an extra $ 600 a year they don’t care about). He then brought in the GM, who was arrogant and rude, comparing Mazda’s quality to that of a BMW or Mercedes, when I pointed out that for a 3 year lease, the «quality» of the car shouldn’t be a huge factor, he didn’t have much to say. He attempted to push a different car on us, that we already advised we were not interested in and he stated that we were «beating him up over $ 5-​$ 10», which I had to remind him was in fact $ 50 not $ 5. Ultimately we left, without our down payment, because he claimed it had already been deposited and we could receive a check the next day, which was also false as now they are claiming 10 business days.
In discussing our major distaste for the practices of Cooley, numerous people have stated the same sentiment, and everyone has agreed that the GM is extremely rude, unprofessional and even have stated he is the reason dealerships get their bad reputation.

I called about 2 weeks ago to order a spare key and extra paint for my car. The parts guy was nice and seemed to know just what he was talking about. He said it would take 7 – 10 days before the key would arrive and the paint a little longer. He said they would call to let me know when it was in so we could set up an appt for the key. 2 weeks later… No calls. I was leaving for vacation. So I give them a call… This guy can’t find order in the computer. Acts like it was never placed and can’t find it anywhere. Tells me to call back when I had cars VIN number handy. Because who calls standing next to their car!!! I hang up pissed… I get a message left an hour later… They have parts. I can come pick them up whenever I want. I have no confidence in this place… Where they ever going to call!!! What it if was a part I needed!!! I have no desire to ever use them again. If they are this irresponsible with a $ 180 key and paint can … What happens to stuff that really matters! Too many other great places for my little Vdub in the Capitol district!!!

When my 2003 Mitsubishi Galant died early last week, I decided it was time to get a new car. I did lots of research and narrowed it down to a Honda Civic, a Toyota Corolla, and a Mazda 3. I had a certain amount of knowledge about the first two, but I had zero experience with the Mazda 3. When I told my boyfriend Steve that I wanted to test drive the Mazda 3, he said there was no way in hell we were going to Cooley – even though they are literally a mile away from our apartment – because he’d been to that dealership on business a few weeks prior and had a truly nasty run-​in with the Sales Manager Josh. He said, «that guy’s a dick and you’re not giving him your money.» But last Tuesday, when we were out test-​driving cars, we stopped by a business Steve works with and found out through the rumor mill that Josh had been fired the week before. So we went to Cooley after all, and I test drove the Mazda 3 and just fell in love with it. Zach was my salesman and he did such a great job. Everyone there was obviously so relieved that Josh had been fired. We had several people come over to us during the sales process and apologize profusely for how Josh had treated Steve. They also gave me a FANTASTIC deal, and then on top of that, bumped me up a model from the Sport to the Touring, just because they were so grateful we gave them another chance. The paperwork was over and done with in ten minutes, Zach was very helpful with all the bluetooth programming in the car, and I couldn’t love my new Mazda 3 any more than I already do. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone, even if you’d had a bad experience with the former Sales Manager, because they are eager to fix their reputation and are 100% about customer service now.

There really wasn’t even a spot to park our own car as there were over 250 used vehicles parked in rows all over the side lot — we though wow! We should have just come here first — nobody else had this many used cars and we had been up both rt50 and rt5! However because there was so many we did have to find a salesman to help even locate what was in our price range. His name was Dan and at first he was very nice kinda funny and sarcastic but so are we and he seemed to get that we were looking for a great deal so he went through the inventory by price to see what they had for us. While we were in at his desk this man comes out of the back screaming at the top of his lungs «I don’t give a fux what he says — he’s not gonna get the 1.9%, tell him to go someplace else!» Me and my husband looked at each other and then at Dan who quietly says that’s our Sales Manager. Really? No wonder there are no customers in here if that’s how he acts! Not only that but doesn’t the lender determine the APR? NOT HERE! We tried to not let his outburst effect us and continued on in finding a car that suited my husband as well as our budget. We decided upon a 2011 Kia Forte Ex Hatchback with only 36,000 miles that was obviously a lease turn in and was in very good shape just needed new tires. They were asking just less than $ 14,000 — and we figured with our trade (the GTI) we would be right in our financial comfort zone. Dan indicated that we probably wouldn’t get much for our trade maybe $ 500 (whoa!) so we went home and sold it to our neighbor for $ 2000. We needed my mother-​in-​law to cosign in order to get a lower APR because a few years back my husband had filed for bankruptcy and we told them this — also indicating that she is also 70yrs old and disabled so we really didn’t want to drag her around more than necessary.
At no time did we discuss the actual price of the car as I figured they would wait to run the numbers against the credit and we would go from there. The three of us went to Cooley early the next morning to get the ball rolling. We were in the showroom not more than 5 minutes before the Sales Manager again screaming loudly says ” don’t give a fux if this guy’s cousin owns a Ford Dealership you tell him to go sell his pos to him them! I will not buy his truck he can shove it up his ass!” Ok now we are like this guy cannot be for real… this is the worst impression to give your customers (yet again, hardly any to be found)
So as my mother-​in-​law and husband filled out the credit application I asked Dan — about negotiating the price of the car. He looked at me straight faced and said well you see we can’t go any lower than what we are asking because I have to take it to Mavis Discount Tire and get all new tires and brakes put on it — WHAT? I said but you have a service department. his reply was well they are too busy right now (with what/​who? — this place is empty!) I may not be the smartest person — but I am far from stupid… Why on earth would a dealership pay retail for tires and brakes and how exactly is this my problem? They would have to make the car able to pass NYS inspection no matter who they sold the car too. Next they tell us we have to comeback later so they have time to get the car repaired and the paperwork finished. I am still waiting for a number — and getting a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Since my husband had to get to work I later returned with my mother-​in-​law to «seal the deal». Their proposed «great» interest rate (5.1%-not) and payment was much higher than I had expected and at 72 months — to boot! By the time I convinced myself that we could handle the extra $ 30 per month the finance manager (Miles) takes back the worksheet and was like oops! I accidentally handed you the wrong one — here’s the right figures — now we are up to $ 310 a month for 72 months. I looked at him and said point blank — you must be kidding me right!!! The entire time they kept giving me the price with an aftermarket warranty from Allstate — I asked him to remove the extras and just let me see the price of the loan — wasn’t happening. Even though in fine print on the bottom and across the top the page stated «base payment with minus options $ 249» — I just couldn’t get him to discuss that with me. I looked at my mother-​in-​law and we both realized we were getting no place. I told him we would check into a lease instead. Then to insult us further he said well good luck with that with your credit and they don’t allow cosigners on leases (lie)! Guess what? We leased a $ 25,000 2014 Kia Forte with only $ 249 down and $ 249 a month — Thanks to Destination Kia

If I could give this dealer negative stars I would. I have never been so insulted or treated so rudely than by these «professionals.» DO NOT BUY A CAR HERE!!! They are only looking out for their bottom line and do not care about their customers once they have purchased a car. Especially beware John Hanson, who is such a classically sleazy salesman he almost seems like a caricature out of a movie. The sales manager Jason is sexist and unbelievable rude. Go to Nemer they are so much nicer!!!

This review is for Greg in the service department. He’s really one of the best out there. He’s not pushy about talking you into something you don’t need but will let you know how important the fix is and how soon it needs to be done. I had a few items that needed to be addressed. This was the first time since purchasing my Jetta in 2006 that I would need to invest some money into her.
Greg has a friendly demeanor, is very helpful and gets the job done. Even if you’ve lost hope in bringing your car to a dealership, go see Greg; he’ll restore your hope. Also, the mechanic, Andrew, did a great job installing rear coil springs. My car no longer guides itself to the right.

WAS in the market for a 2013 Mazda 3 and I emailed the 3 Capital District Mazda dealerships to get the best price on it. Got a prompt response from both Orange Mazda and New Country Mazda in Saratoga. Didn’t hear a peep from Cooley. I knew exactly what I wanted, didn’t need a test drive and had financing set. Just wanted the best price I could get. Very disappointed that Cooley didn’t even bother to inquire with me on what I was looking for. Cooley’s loss was Orange Mazda’s gain, as they got a sale and a happy customer.

This review is purely for a sales department experience.
Note–
4 stars is probably as high as I would ever ever go for a dealership and rarely do I go into one that is worth that rating.
Personally I think all dealerships are a bit slimy, so you have to be a smart consumer going in otherwise you are going to get screwed.
Review–
We went into Cooley for a test drive.
Salesperson was very meh. He argued with us about things we observed, and he was just kinda douchey. He came on both test drives and pretty much babbled the whole time. He was semi knowledgeable on the cars.
Dealership itself was fine. Parking the cars of gravel (new cars) is kinda ghetto.

I have not bought a car here. So I cant speak on that. This dealership is maybe 8 minutes from my house, so I bring my Jetta here for service. Greg and Kelsey are by far the best service people I have dealt with at any dealership. They always find away to squeeze me in, even if its for a simple oil change. Or took 10% off my bill when I didn’t have a coupon. They try to go out of their way when and where they can, so be nice to them, and don’t be afraid to ask for a discount.

After purchasing my Mazda in mid May I was incredibly surprised as to how smoothly the purchase, insurance changes, plate changes etc. went. Little to my dismay 3 months later after the purchase, I received a second notice from my insurance provider stating I needed to provide a bill of sale copy and the window sticker for a NY State MANDATORY law. According to my insurance provider, the dealership provided a copy of the bill of sale, but did NOT send a copy of the window sticker which was the proper documentation needed in order to satisfy the state law requirements.
After communicating with the insurance provider they suggested I contact the dealership since they were not able to get any feed back from them. I spoke with a representative who stated that I was provided with this documentation and that they no longer had it on file! He then placed blame with me saying I should have kept all copies of the documents provided. I proceeded to tell him that I am 100% positive that the window sticker WAS NOT provided. Needless to say, instead of accommodating me or trying to help with the proper documentation which, should be standard practice considering this documentation is mandatory due to state law, they were unable to help me.
Now I have to make an appointment to have my car inspected on my own time due to the dealership being lazy, incompetent and unwilling to provide the proper documentation mandatory by state law… awesome, thanks guys for your help!
DO NOT BUY FROM THIS DEALERSHIP! Once they’ve made the sale they clearly do not regard customer satisfaction once the sale has been made. Totally disappointed.

I had my 10K service at Cooley and they’d forgotten to reset the «Service Now!» alert so I had to go back. Oops!
It was a bit of a drive for me and I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone. I decided I would have the «Volk-​L» Bluetooth phone system installed in my car, even though I hate talking to people on the phone.
I made an appointment and reserved a loaner car with them.
With German promptness I arrived at the dealership first thing in the morning. They informed that they did not have a loaner car for me. Oops!
They arranged a rental car which I had to wait for, and then sent me on my way. Later in the day they called to inform me that they’d forgotten to reserve the Volk-​L part for me and accidentally installed it in someone else’s car. There was now no Bluetooth phone system to install in my car. Oops!
They said they’d ordered a new part, but would have to keep my car an additional day.
The next day I called to check in. They transferred me to someone. She transferred me to someone. He transferred me to someone. He transferred me to someone else. I kept asking the same question: «Just wanted to know when I can come and pick up my car.» Person #4 put me on hold.
Eventually Person #4 returned to the phone and told me to come on down! It’d be ready when I got there. I came on down.
It wasn’t ready — because the part was broken and they couldn’t get it to work. Oops!
I should add that despite the baffling incompetence they were very, very cheerful. Had they offered me some kind of apology in the form of a discount, I might have given them another chance. But they didn’t, so I took advantage of their free WiFi to look for another dealership.
Your mileage may vary, but don’t be surprised if it doesn’t.

I bought a car from them 2 years ago. They were pretty good and the sales person understood that I knew what I want. He didn’t try to sell me anything I wasn’t interested in. i even got some free Mazda schwag.
Today I got a birthday card from them. 2 years and a new state later and they still bothered to send me a happy birthday note.
That deserves a review!