Gateway Classic Cars

Yes, I purchased the car "AS IS", I understand that with a used car, especially one that is 50 years old there is a high opportunity for issues. I also expect the sales guys to have enough integrity when it comes to classic cars to be up front and honest not your typical "used car salesman". The car is great as far as the undercarriage, body is in good condition, the paint is very nice and the interior is fair to good. The dash will need a lot of electrical work, but it was purchased as is. However, the engine does NOT have only 500 miles since overhaul or restoration, like the add clearly states. The car arrived with very little coolant in the system, what was there was dirty and thick like mud. The oil was about a quart low and also very old and dirty. I am very concerned about the engine, I have built photos and it appears that the engine has been misrepresented. I have reached out to Kevin the sales guy, isn't it funny when I have a concern they go radio silent, but when I am buying the phone hardly rings before I have a reply.....the customer service should go well beyond the initial romance for the sale, the sale, but well into the delivery and follow up.

poor communication skills at the Tampa location. called several time for Byron,out of the office,not available,on the phone etc. left numerous call back messages with John,Jay. never received a call back. 1..never got the message from the two salesmen. 2..he just did not want to return my calls' have asked several times when my title will arrive, reply,i need to check with Byron. spoke with Vanessa this morning she could not tell me.

When you contact these guys about their cars the first thing that comes out is "we mechanically inspect all our cars, we check for fluid leaks and rust". Well, that sounds good but the reality is as follows. I bought a 1987 300zx. On the website it looked gorgeous. Then it was delivered. The tires had dry rot. Steel belts where showing through the rubber. Damaged to the right front valance . Could not see it in the pictures and was not revealed in the description. Parked the car in my garage. Next morning, transmission fluid on the floor. The clutch is going out. The suspension system is shot. I had to have a new catalytic converter installed I had to have it tuned The last two items were so that the car would pass emissions. So far I am into this car an additional 2000 dollars. When you sell on line, transparency is a must. The descriptions of the cars must be precise and accurate. I have been to used car lots that that I would trust over these losers. If I had to do it over again. I would not. I am very sorry I bought from these guys. Learn from my mistakes.

Tell you they will call back but don’t! I lowered price five times on vehicle no help.Wasnt even called when car was sold

Let me begin by acknowledging some obvious facts: First, any classic car purchased online without an inspection carries with it certain risks. Second, signing a contract for a purchase as-is also carries additional risks. I have done it several times with private owners and dealers from all over the country with varying degrees of success and challenges. I am not unrealistic with expectations that classic cars roll off the transport like a new car would so this review isn't so much about my Gateway purchase as it is about honesty and customer service. With that said, the entire experience with gateway Classic Cars has been, and continues to be, beyond frustrating. Yes, there were over a hundred photos and a video of the car driving like a champ. I also have emails from Mike Wahlen (sales in Milwaukee office) telling me "As you will see, this is a clean car. This Mustang runs and drives great. The engine and transmission work well" and nothing could be further from the truth. I contacted him to make sure that there weren't any problems with the transport pick-up and got "oh, by the way there is a problem with the transmission slipping, but it may only be a vacuum leak and I was gonna call and let you know." Funny how that happens AFTER the full payment was made when I was being told it runs and drives great. That wasn't the only problem either. There was very little fuel or coolant in the vehicle which caused it to shut down after a couple of minutes of idling. Once those minor inconveniences were resolved I was able to drive all of a mile down the road when it quit again and wouldn't start. Had to have it towed to the garage where it sits now to isolate the problem(s). Again, clearly not a vehicle that runs and drives great, nor with an engine and transmission that works well. On top of this, although they took a credit card deposit by telephone with no problem, I had to drive 40 miles to their Orlando dealership to complete the transaction with that same credit card because they said the CFO wouldn't approve the balance on cc unless I appeared in person. As a guy who does more than a hundred thousand dollars of cc purchases annually on all kinds of products including classic cars this is the only vendor that required that I drive over an hour to make the transaction in person. I even agreed to have them hold the car until they were satisfied that the transaction cleared properly. I do all of my purchases on cc because I get points that save me tremendous amounts of money. The biggest reason for the poor review is that in addition to all this, I still cannot register the car because Gateway will not send me the clear title for some unknown reason. I have an car that I paid almost $18,000 for that won't run and I can't complete the required registration because Gateway Classic Cars took my money and doesn't give a crap about me since they got paid. In all my years of buying classic cars from dealers this is the first time ever that I didn't get the paperwork and title BEFORE the car arrived, and here it is almost a week later and still no paperwork. It is unacceptable to buy a car (paid in full) and not be able to actually legally own it. What pisses me off the most is that I can't get the salesman or his regional manager (Matt Thompson) to fix the issue. All I get is the standard "the office manager called in sick" and "the owner has been contacted to bring in title" lame excuses for piss poor customer service from the salesman and no response at all from his regional manager. Again, Gateway Classic Cars got paid and the previous owner of the car got paid so who cares about what the buyer gets, right? No matter what anybody else thinks about the mechanical issues with the car, there is no excuse for poor customer service and that is why I'm writing this bad review and why I will never do business with Gateway Classic Cars again.

Houston Texas store......they marked my car so high that of course no one would buy it.. I told them they need to reduce it by 4000.00 (they would still make their margin) but they said only if I reduce my take by 4000.00. I realized they are mainly interested in collecting the $85. Month storage fee... Think about it 200 cars at $85. Per month each....

I was looking at a 1959 Apache pickup. Advertised as a 327 with all the specs. I send my mechanics over unannounced and find out it’s a 90 Noa engine or similar. And dented on the rocker panel. Thy won’t let my mechanic crank the engine.... I guess because it was in the showroom although the guy knew I was serious and coming to see it. As if you can pull it out for a start up and ride? Salesman says they just guessed at the engine but - - also said this is an owner’s sale. Enough said.

BE CAREFUL of these guys! They sell xxxx cars dressed up pretty! I spent 41k on a car there told it was mint and so far had to spend an additional 15k and still more to go. Unlike Vangaurd Motors you shouldn't buy any car from this dealer site unseen or hire a local independent mechanic to inspect it thoroughly. My car was actually unsafe and I drive me 15 year old son around to car shows. Makes me really mad. They didn't care when informed.. they are nothing but a high volume HACK dealership and I believe most of the good reviews are created by them. You may get lucky and get a decent car. But do your homework and pay a little for local mechanic to see it!!

I was so excited to make a deal on a 1972 Cutlass Restomod. Byron was my salesman and a really nice guy. I asked him over and over because it's my first classic for my son and I was buying it right unseen if the car is good. It certainly looked good.. He told me the car was great inside and out and no problems at all and no issues mechanically. Byron is new and I'm sure this is what was told to him so I'm not blaming him at all. I'm blaming Gateway as a company. Ok so I wait 2 weeks for car to come in because hurricane delayed transport. I finally get it late on a Friday. It was night so couldn't see much however the driver showed me a big cut in the paint. My heart sank. Also it needed gas it was on dead E. Luckily I had gas in my garage to put enough in to get me to gas station. Being night time I wanted to be sure my breaklights worked so I stepped on the break and None!! The headlights were dull and barely shining. Risk and all I went to the gas station anyway. I decide I'll deal with it next day since it was late. Next day car in plain view looks great. However I noticed a huge gash in paintgash in plain sight. But rest of outside looked good. I then discovered the brakes did work but only when headlights were off. I gave the car a quick detail and it does look awesome ...car look wise is perfect set up. Ok here's where it gets interesting. Let me just cut to the chase and tell you what I discovered. Graph electrical sound system didn't work, horn didn't work. Break lights some times worked sometimes not. Reverse lights stayed on in drive. A mess electrically. Then I popped hood and one of the duel air intakes was off and resting on the engine. Again I got sick. So I tried to clamp it down but the clamp screw which is built in was stripped so it would not hold sooo disappointed. I had a clamp in my garage so I jimmy rigged it. Then I notice fresh oil leak on my garage floor then here's a biggie ....a gas leak coming from a section in the gas line however I noticed it only happened when started. Long story short I took to a classic car builder/mechanic. After 2 days with car he comes back with assessment and shows me pictures of the shotty work with this car including a crack in the frame (very unsafe) he did say the engine was fine and could easily fix gas leak and oil leak. However he said whoever put this car together did it completely half assed in order to sell it. It was all bondo body work and total carp under the car. He could fix it enough to be road worthy but that's all without dismantling the car. Anyway bottom line mechanically to even register it I gotta spend about 4k. Then this winter we'll tackle body work ...hes guesstimating roughly 10k minimum. And to boot I waited 2 weeks to get car and now it's another 2 weeks to get all repairs done. So disappointed. Now Gateway will reply that the car was a consignment deal. However a reputable dealer would never EVER let a car this bad and unsafe go out the door with their name on it. NEVER! Byron aside the dealers practices are awful!! I would be very leary buying from them. If you do get the car inspected before you buy it from somebody's very knowledgeable. The Bad news for Gateway is I own a large social media company and debating if I want to bury them by geotargeting each store locations with bad press. Im not that type of person but I think people should be aware of the shotty high volume careless dealership they're operating. Not sure if I'm gonna do it but it depends how they handle themsleves. Weigh in if you'd like ...but bottom line BUYERS BEWARE!!

I purchased a 1969 Lotus Elan S4 DHC through Gateway's Orlando showroom. I worked with James Hecker and Joe Diorio, and have nothing but good things to say about the way they dealt with me. First, I was favorably impressed with the extensive photo and video presentation of the car, which left little to the imagination and allayed most of my misgivings about buying a car I'd never seen. James even crawled under the car to take additional photos of a couple of areas I wondered about. Both James and Joe were quick to respond to phone calls and emails. James handled negotiations with the car's owner, and Joe assisted with contract and paperwork details. James helped to arrange shipping and shepherded the transaction through to a successful conclusion. Both men were friendly, professional and extremely helpful. I may never buy another classic car, but if I do I'll check their inventory first.