On January 26, 2026, I purchased a 2017 Honda CR-V for $15,000 from Ciocca Toyota of Williamsport…read more I intentionally chose to buy from a dealership rather than a private seller because I believed it would provide greater reliability and accountability when purchasing a used vehicle. Unfortunately, within about 90 minutes of leaving the dealership, the vehicle began displaying multiple dashboard error codes and quickly became unsafe to drive.
I live in State College, but happened to be in Williamsport for a meeting at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, where I serve as a Chaplain. After the vehicle broke down, I had it towed the next morning to a Honda dealership in State College for inspection.
Honda replaced a VTC oil control sensor and performed diagnostic work totaling $721, which Ciocca Toyota of Williamsport covered. However, when I attempted to leave the Honda parking lot, the same error codes immediately returned and the vehicle was once again undrivable. Honda technicians indicated the issue likely involved the timing chain.
Ciocca Toyota of Williamsport then arranged to tow the vehicle to their dealership and provided a loaner vehicle, which I appreciated.
While the vehicle was at the dealership, my conversations with the General Manager became increasingly difficult. He repeatedly asked how much money I would be willing to contribute toward the repair, even though the vehicle had failed almost immediately after purchase. At one point, he told me he would report to the Vice President of the dealership group that I was "not willing to contribute anything" toward the repair, which was not an accurate representation of what I had said. I had just purchased the vehicle and simply could not afford additional repair costs.
During these same conversations, the General Manager also repeatedly pointed out that I had declined a roughly $2,000 extended warranty and suggested that the decision was part of the reason I should contribute toward the repairs. However, after researching these warranties later, I learned that major engine failures, such as timing chain or head gasket issues, are often excluded or limited depending on the coverage level.
I also asked whether the dealership could simply unwind the sale and apply the $15,000 I had paid toward another vehicle on their lot. The General Manager told me that it was not possible because the taxes on the transaction had already been paid, and the sale could not be reversed. I later learned that transactions like this can be unwound under Pennsylvania law.
When the vehicle was eventually returned to me, the error codes reappeared almost immediately, and it had to go back to Williamsport. When I picked it up again the next day, it appeared to run normally for a short time, but about 11 days later, the dashboard filled with error codes again, and the vehicle became undrivable. Honda later informed me that the vehicle required a new head gasket and fuel injectors with an estimated repair cost of about $5,700.
At that point, the General Manager told me the vehicle had been sold "as-is," and the dealership would not take further responsibility.
Even after all this, I attempted to work with Ciocca Toyota of Williamsport in good faith to find a reasonable solution, as we still needed reliable transportation. The General Manager then proposed applying $9,000 toward the CR-V I had purchased for $15,000 toward a lease on a Toyota Corolla Cross with payments of about $315 per month.
At first, the $9,000 figure sounded helpful, but after reviewing lease offers from other Toyota dealerships, it became clear that comparable Corolla Cross leases were widely available with about $4,000-$5,000 down and significantly lower monthly payments. In other words, while the $9,000 trade-in initially sounded generous, the lease structure would have placed us in a substantially more expensive agreement than typical market offers.
In the end, what troubled me most was not simply that the vehicle had serious mechanical problems, but the way the situation was handled once those problems became clear. Because of this experience and the way the situation was handled, I would not recommend doing business with Ciocca Toyota of Williamsport or any other Ciocca dealership.
