Seaside, CA First time buying a car, due to the fact that I had been driving my grandmother's 91 Accord EX for the past 13 years. Honda's never break down completely if you take care of them. I purchased a 2010 Accord LX from Sam Linder over a month ago, after seeing it on their website. The prices on the used car market right now are treacherous, but because my grandmother bought her car from this dealership over thirty years ago and she always advised me to purchase from Linder, I tried my luck and did the same. The car drives quite well, and I have learned to drive much slower than I used to, because I tend to drive like Lewis Hamilton on the road sometimes. I must say that if you decide to look for a car at this dealership to contact Eddie Suber. He has worked in this trade for over 20 years and he is one of the only pitchmen I have ever met that actually backs it up and has credibility. He put on his boxing gloves and stuck his head out of the window to get this car for me and it was appreciated, as I have walked and relied on public transit since the lock down first started several years back, to get around the peninsula. I bought the car without financing from a bank, but with my money up front, thus I cannot mention any experiences that others who have purchased their vehicles through other channels have had. I did have an issue with the customer service/maintenance department. A week after I had bought the car, one of the back tail lights went out and I took it back to the dealership to have it repaired, which I can only believe makes sense, given that I had just paid $18,000 for the car. I had one mechanic, laugh as I stood next to the garage area, while driving off in his nicely tuned/modified blue sports car, and was confronted with a service manager who decided he wanted to stare me down behind his desk upon walking into the service office to look for my keys and check on the cars repair. I almost laughed when he decided to stare me down, because I do not believe he has a background in martial arts. I do. The head mechanic who looked understandably tired and exhausted from servicing so many cars that day, politely advised one of the office receptionist that as team, they needed a more efficient system for exchanging and delivering car keys to customers. This advise fell on deaf ears and I was quite taken by this, given that this is a Honda dealership that many people around the central coast mention when considering to purchase a Honda. A young man drove my car over after it was serviced and walked past me and handed the keys to the manager. He told me it was protocol, which I accepted, but yet again, I had to deal with the service manager, who wanted to be cynical in his words. Another customer, female, who was standing in the lobby was a bit taken by the interaction. I politely thanked him and walked out of the service center and minutes after I got into my car, I heard the garage door close at the center. When I was studying for my MBA three years ago, one course that was required to get through the program was business ethics and it was argued that a business is composed of a team. If one person within that team decides to go against the grain of what is acceptable in dealing with the public, it soon reflects the business itself, including those who are not responsible for those negative transparency's. I'm not going to say this is completely the case with Salinas Honda, because overall, I would recommend them to anyone looking to purchase a Honda on the Monterey Peninsula, as their prices are fair, an excellent used car inventory and their associates are straight forward. E.Suber is a good man. The service/maintenance needs some augmentation for the good of their customers and hardworking mechanics, minus the laughs and non-intimidating stare downs. read more

Car buying can be a big, and unpleasant chore. Especially when it's been a while. When my 2001 Honda Odyssey finally needed more to repair than I was willing to spend, I decided to bite the bullet, and purchase a new (used) certified vehicle. I did a LOT of research (mostly Consumer Reports, which we use for most everything), I had narrowed it down to a Toyota Highlander, or a Honda Pilot. Drove both on more than one occasion. Really hadn't decided on either, but was just keeping my eyes open for a deal that would inspire me to purchase. I found it at Sam Linder Honda. Walked in last Wednesday evening after first stopping at the Used Toyota dealership just up the street. Didn't find any used Highlanders in stock to inspire me, and really didn't know there was a Honda place next door. When I saw it, I decided to stop in and see whether there were any used Pilots that caught my eye. I was greeted at about 7:30pm when I walked in the door by Mina - a very gracious and welcoming sales person. He showed me a fully loaded 2012 Honda Pilot (Touring Package), that was fairly priced (I'd shopped around), but still a bit more than I was willing to pay. Besides, I was still just nosing around. Fast forward to three days later. I'd had the car on my mind, and told my wife about it. We decided to go see it together. My wife wanted me to buy it, but I told her that if I couldn't get the deal down to a level that really inspired me, I was going to wait. Wasn't in a hurry, and wanted that good feeling that I'd done my homework. Well - I own the car. Mina, his Sales Manager (wish I'd caught his name), and Ali, the finance guy all worked with me, and put together a deal that made me comfortable. I am excited to have the car in my driveway, and told Mina I'd give him the credit he deserves for doing his part in the process. Dealerships are dealerships, you know? But I got a good break when I happened to run into Mina, and am comfortable recommending this dealership to my friends. It's all about making the deal, but this team worked with me, not against me, and for that I'm a grateful and satisfied customer. read more

This review is for the service department, specifically "Edward". His customer service skills are sorely lacking. He is condescending and comes across like he's doing the customer a favor by working on their car. He seemed irritated that I was bringing my car in for a recall issue and that I asked for a loaner car. "You should have told me that you needed a rental car when you booked your appointment, because we're swamped with all this recall work", he told me in a somewhat irritated and condescending tone. Perhaps I should have told him at the time that I made the appointment? Perhaps he could have ASKED me at the time that I made the appointment? Perhaps Edward could attend some remedial customer service training? Perhaps Edward's boss would want to know that I don't feel that it's my concern that he is "swamped" with recall issues? Perhaps Edward's boss wants to know that I walked out of the service department this morning and will never be back nor recommend this dealership? Perhaps the owner of this "5 star" dealership wants to know that I'm in the market for a 2017 Honda Pilot and will not even consider buying from Sam Linder Honda? Pound sand Edward, I'll spend my money elsewhere and make sure that everyone that I know is aware of your customer service "skills" read more

I'm extremely disappointed with my recent experience at Salinas Honda. I brought my car in for an oil change on 11/11/2024 and was told by my service advisor, Jose Becerra, that everything was good--just that I would need a tire rotation at the next service interval. However, today (11/16/2024) at 7 AM, I received an email from Oscar Esparza stating that one of the tires needed to be replaced due to a nail in the shoulder (235/40R19 Goodyear Eagle Sport - Nail on Shoulder Not Repairable). What's most concerning is that no one mentioned this issue during my visit. If the tire was damaged and unsafe, I should have been informed immediately. This is a serious safety concern, as this car belongs to my fiancée, and she has been driving it to work all week without knowing the tire was compromised. Driving on a damaged tire is incredibly dangerous, and the lack of communication from your team put her safety at risk. For a dealership that claims to provide excellent service, this level of oversight is unacceptable. I hope this feedback is taken seriously, and I expect an explanation as to why I was told everything was fine during my visit when clearly it wasn't. Moving forward, Salinas Honda needs to ensure that customers are notified of any safety concerns immediately. read more

Another great visit to Sam Linder Honda! Sam would be proud of both the sales and service teams who have taken care of us !! We have three Hondas and love how they ride! Our Civic was involved in a fender bender last year. We had moved from Salinas and thought we'd find a different auto mechanic in Monterey. After the accident repairs were done, we assumed all was well. Not so. Something with the coolant getting into the valves and spark plugs. Never a pleasant thought. At any rate, it got misdiagnosed by another mechanic (to remain nameless) and the problem didn't resurface--until today. I made the journey back to Salinas for a lube and filter change and they checked the brakes. Everything checked out fine, except the battery was dead and they noticed coolant where it should not have been. After several hours and more tests, I was informed that the head gasket was cracked... not such good news, but Edward Pestano was great. It was as if he didn't want to deliver the bad news. But he sat down and talked with me about the options and expressed empathy and worry about it. Wow. It was a long day, but the free Wifi helped make the day go a bit better as I was able to actually get some work done! read more

My husband and I were interested in buying a new vehicle through the Costco buying program. We signed into the Costco Auto website and specified the make and model that we wanted. Costco then provided the name of Sam Linder Honda and a contact at Sam Linder Honda to buy the arranged specified vehicle. The sales rep at Sam Linder Honda contacted us and we made arrangements to drive down from Boulder Creek to Salinas to test drive the car. We test drove and discussed the vehicle at length and said we wanted to buy. When we sat down to be told the Costco purchase price and do the paper work, we were then told that the Honda Passport was NOT included in the Costco buying program at their dealership. This was a classic example of the old "bait and switch". We continued in the process and before ANY price was discussed, the salesperson insisted on our personal information including our social security numbers. He then disappeared and after waiting for him to return for 25 minutes, we got up and walked out. We were very disappointed in the behavior at this dealership and strongly suggest you do not do business with them. read more

I went to Sam Linder Honda 2 days ago to purchase my wife a new car. Rey Daniel Amador, employee number 598, was the sales associate who helped us pick out a car. We purchased a 2018 Honda Civic, this vehicle was in immaculate condition and he was extremely helpful through the entire process. I thoroughly believe he is one of Sam Linder Honda's best sales reps. We also worked with Mike Alvarez in finance at Sam Linder who helped us to get a great rate. We are a young couple with very little credit history. Not to mention two days later, the paperwork is already done, they could have just left us alone and not done anything else, but no this amazing sales rep and his partner in finance call me and let me know they were able to keep searching and secure a loan at half the initial interest rate. Both Mike and Rey extensively went through everything about the car and the loan and disclosed everything for us. I appreciate the customer service provided by these two gentlemen and by Sam Linder Honda, I will be returning soon for another purchase without question and know that I am in great hands! read more

Sam Linder Honda is the place to find your next car! My husband and I went in on a Saturday to the auto mall just to walk off our big lunch that we had, our first place we went to was Sam Linder. Jimmy D approached us and was very nice and courteous, he was in no way a pushy salesperson, he was very down to earth and respected that we were just walking around. Well we spotted a Toyota Sienna that someone had traded in and took it for a test drive and Jimmy D again was fantastic in not being pushy with sales. We then went to the Toyota dealership to check out their cars and immediately was bombarded by a sales person who was very pushy and questioned our " just walking off our lunch walk" Long story short 2 days later we bought the Toyota Sienna from Sam Linder and Jimmy D was our sales person. The whole process of buying our car had to have been the smoothest process at purchasing a car ever! Sam Linder's staff even played and conversations with my two children while we were purchasing our car. I highly recommend Sam Linder Honda of Salinas for your next car purchase! read more

Thank you Sharon!!! Sharon is so genuine and believes in what she does and anyone can actually, physically see and hear that she really loves what she does - HELPING THE CUSTOMER!! I've been a Honda customer for over 13 years. I absolutely love my 2004 Honda Pilot - it's been great to my family and me. We have had ZERO problems with the customer service, staff, and servicing for all 13 years. After 173K miles of wear and tear, we started to experience some tumbler and ignition problems. I couldn't start my car and had to have my car towed to Honda. They worked on it immediately. Sharon worked magic and is one of the most service oriented people I have ever come across. Sharon goes more than, "above and beyond" for her customers. She treated us like we were one of her own. With the help of Sharon and the District Parts & Service Manager this repair process was a life changer! They really ensured to provide 150% customer satisfaction! I would recommend anyone purchase from Sam Linder, you will not regret it! My next purchase is definitely at HONDA read more

I recently had the grand experience of purchasing a vehicle from Sam Linder Honda. I am sorry to read about the fella who did not have a good experience, but then I was not looking for food or a BBQ, just a car. I was fortunate that salesperson James (Jimmy) Dulin was standing out front when I arrived. No hard sell, no BS, very informative, easy going and down to earth. It is easy to see why he wins all those awards ! He is good at what he does ! He intuitively even set the radio to KPIG for me ! We took 'er for a spin and the check tire light came on. I was instructed to drive right into the service bay where Juanito dropped what he was doing, checked and adjusted the tires all around and proceeded to show me how to reset the light. Crystal was efficient and thorough with all the paperwork. Thank you all for your hard work and helping me with the purchase of my car. You have some great people working for you Sam. I hope you appreciate them as much as I do ! read more

We are a Honda family! My husband purchased his first Honda in 1996 from Sam Linder Honda and we've continued purchasing from Honda. We appreciate the customer service and being treated with respect of our time and money when it's come to buying. My Pilot just got serviced yesterday and Jose never disappoints. He's a professional who goes out of his way to communicate, answer questions and just make you feel welcome all the time. Him and Chuck are what makes that service department what it is and they are the only guys that have made me feel appreciated and valued as a customer. Thank you to them. We are in communication with Jim Cash to set up a day and time to talk about our new Honda purchase and because we've done this with Jim before there is no ​stress or anxiety. We tell Jim what we want and where we'd like our payment to be and he works with us. This is what keeps us going back. read more