Academy Cars

Debbie was a great lady to deal with. Highly recommend her if you're looking for a good used car.

Go to the website to look at cars, you have to put your email an phone just to look at cars on they're site. Just to find out nothing is priced, that way they can do their price gouging and you don't know. Then they will call you and call you and call you, they're a joke

Academy Cars was a GOD send! My car was stolen & vandalized and while I was waiting for my insurance co. to take care of everything and walking to places or taking a Lyft, I stopped at Academy Cars. I was just looking and out walked John Warren & Lonnie! I explained my situation and with the help of John, Lonnie & Todd in Finance Dept, I was able to drive off the lot in a SUV that I always wanted!

They were very caring, helpful, honest and made sure I was taken care before & after I drove off the lot! BTW: My SUV was & still is in EXCELLENT CONDITION! I couldn't be happier!

I have to say Academy is where its at for getting what you are looking for. They gave me more for my trade than any of the big dog dealers in the state would. And i mean they took care of it. I got the best financing i have ever gotten from a vehicle dealership and i got yhe vehicle i wanted no issues. Debbie was my sales assistant and she was great through the whole process. Definitely recommend hands down the best in Lawrence for sure. As well my new vehicle is like showroom condition.

We worked with Steve and were very impressed with him. No pressure, honest, and worked with us to get things taken care of. That being said, there were a few others we talked to at this dealership who were your stereotypical cars sales folks and it almost lost them my sale. I don't appreciate the high pressure and being talked down to at all. Ultimately our experience with Steve and the deal we got was enough to finish things. Finance guy was good to work with. Really appreciated Dan in service also. Seems like a stand up guy and was helpful with trying to find a solution to an issue that arose.

Lonnie Blackburn is the biggest scum bag in Lawrence. He needs some sort of miracle medicine to cure his Little Man's Syndrome. He treats people like shit. He looks down on his employees. He lies to people. Lawrence is lovely, he's right about that, however he is definitely not a dealer for the people. Lonnie if you're reading this, please leave Lawrence. Nobody wants your trash-ass here. Thanks.

I went to Academy based on a recommendation and was not disappointed. My car was shot and I needed a new one ASAP. I have always heard the ads and just never looked into Academy. Steve was very easy to work with as a sales person and able to find me the car I needed very quickly. Tom in finance was also very easy to work with. I ended up with a good car, good payment and a very painless experience overall.

I've never financed a vehicle before and only had a trade in. I did not want a ford as I know Fords have multiple issues but also did not have a down payment. They took advantage of that and sold me a ford edge that they guaranteed was in great condition - it was anything but. The car sensors for the doors constantly telling me the doors were ajar when they were not for one.

For 2 and probably the worst part is the car completely turned OFF on me in the middle of me turning in an intersection with two little girls in the backseat saying LOW ENGINE OIL PRESSURE. I called them advising they need to fix this as it is AGAINST THE LAW to sell a car knowing it isn't in good standing condition to be sold. They tried to blame it on me, telling me they never recorded the sensors in the doors not working when this was clearly seen by the salesman who sold me the car while test driving I had not had this vehicle more then a few weeks and this has happened.

When speaking with Dan in their mechanical department he was nothing but RUDE toward me and acted as if MY CALLING was an inconvenience for him. I got a voicemail today asking me to call back to confirm what was happening with car so I did and i get Dan and he doesn't have a SHRED of decent customer service and just says "We're working on it." I told him i got a voicemail to cb to clarify anything if needed and he snapped at me very rudely and said "I NEVER LEFT YOU A VOICEMAIL".

I said THE SALES MAN CALLED ME. This company I swear. The only DECENT NICE HUMAN in that building I WOULD SAY is the finance guy. Cannot remember his name but very polite and nice WHILE I WAS IN THE BUILDING. I just want my car I'm paying almost $300/mo for to be in good condition and not almost kill me and my two little girls.

What an amazing journey, I ve been through alot these last couple of years, and I am so grateful for Academy Cars, this is what it's like getting out the mud, sticky situations life has brought upon me, so I have to say from start to finish, they didn't skip a beat, O I am building my credit with a car that I love, 2018 Ford Ecosport SE, and it's crazy cause if I had stopped at the first no I got from a different place I had checked out, I wouldn't have my baby today, so I worked with a gentleman named Cedric, (ask for him )and the owner of the dealership Lonnie and with the help of my Co signer, the deals just kept rolling out the window, Lonnie was able to secure me, one of the lowest interest rates in the state of Kansas, under 3 percent, He was also able to give me twice the amount for my trade in, they got all of our information the previous night, and after picking out a car, and the paperwork went through the very next morning, Lonnie is a man of his word, I loved how they didn't skip a beat as far as professionalism, 5 star customer service, they listened to me, and I ended up with my new baby, her name is Responsibility Blue.it was also amazing when I went to.pick up my car the next morning, Cedric had a sign hanging in the window, that simply said.

Welcome Alisa.with a smiley face. I m telling you what, it's the little things that matter and trust me please when I say if your shopping for a new ride, please go to Academy Cars in Lawrence, where the freaking deals are so crazy good, I ate two pickles and I hate pickles. thanks Lonnie and Cedric for my new ride I love it to death, I think I want to marry it.

Had such a great experience here! We walked in and a few hours later we walked out with a new Chevy Malibu! The staff was so professional and and really broke everything down for us. The car buying experience was not as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Will recommend to friends and family.

I would not recommend this place to anyone! My experience with them has been nothing but a big mess. I bought my car from them they wanted $500 down and was going to take it out on a Friday said if I needed to change anything to call them, Well I called several times that week To see if they could splint the payment $250 that week then $250 the next no one ever called me back they took the $500 out of my account ok it was done and over with.

I went and got my title and There was no spare key which I was a little mad about. Getting down to the wire of getting my tag I had to go get it inspected because it was out of state. I don't think that is the costumers responsibility to have to get that done. I called and they said with my title I was supposed to get a $20 check to get that done I never received that.

I got a call from Devon Stating that they had found my spare key so I told them to mail the check and the key a couple weeks nothing. Called they said they mailed $20 cash but didn't know about a key Who the heck mails cash for starters I also got a call from the finance lady stating I owe them $250 because they refunded me $250 I called my bank and they seen nothing from them just the $500 they took out this lady accuses my bank of loosing the money and I owe them Talked to another Lady and she said it was never taken back out of their bank I feel like this is a scam I still have not received my $20 and key and no one will return my calls all they want to do is text I want to talk to an actual person. And when they say all their cars have new tires that's not true my tires are dry rotted. There are better places to get a car without having to deal with this mess.

Let me first start out with my trip into Academy to look at cars. I am getting ready to start up my own car business in Topeka and thought that I would look at the one place with the nastiest reviews and then go in and see what all I DO NOT want to happen in my company. I guess you could say that I was just "silent shopping" for tips. I mean if this business has been in business for so long, surely the dude must have some sort of smarts about him. Well, let me just say, the owner (I could tell because he looks exactly like the cartoon) was yelling at an employee, whom I found out later to be his WIFE! Yep, yelling.

Not discussing.flat out yelling. Then there was chaos all over the place. Or so it seemed. I asked about a car. They wanted to run my credit report. I told them I would be paying cash and they said that they needed to fill out my information on what I could afford before giving me a quote on a car. Well that was all I needed to see. I might add that I was not impressed with seeing the owner smoking in a car that you intend to sell. Putz.

I was not impressed with the service that was provided. My husband and I went to there to LOOK at vehicles. We were in the process of wanting to obtain another vehicle and was weighing options. When we got there the salesperson was good and kind. We explained we were shopping around and what our needs were and that we had no intention of making any decisions while we were there so we had time to think.

We saw a car that we really liked, sat in it and asked the salesperson if we could take it for a test drive. He said "Sure, we gotta fill out some paperwork first so you can test it out." We were like okay thats not a problem. Thats when things got hairy. When my husband was filling out the paperwork(Name, address, Dl number), I had to stop him from signing because there was a box with small writing that said "By signing and checking this box, you are agreeing to purchase a car today." When i pointed that out, he immediately quit filling it out.

The salesperson came over and we explained to him that as stated before we had no intention of buying a car that day.we were shopping around for best fits for us as a family. I also told the sales person that I wanted to get information about the vehicle we liked so i could call my insurance company to figure out what the month to month insurance would be so we could budget properly as well.

When my husband had questions about the procedures and why we had to promise to buy same day just to test drive a vehicle, the salesperson got snarky and was actually yelling at my husband. He stated "it doesn't matter now I have your information and I can run a credit check if I want to." All in all, we were not impressed with the salesperson and left quite upset because of how the attitude changed when the paperwork would not be signed.

We were really considering going through them for a vehicle, but after that experience we said no way. We went to another car dealership to get our second car and the service was so much better.

Lonnie is a scam artist. Everyone from Lawrence knows to avoid him but it's the people from out of town he cons. He pays his customers with gift cards to write good reviews. I guarantee you your check engine light will be on within the first 6 months and something catastrophic will be wrong with your car within the first year. Avoid at all cost. He is not helping you in any way Him and his wife hide behind their good Christian faith BS.

Gotta say it was not the best experience for one it took too long and as soon as the sales person knew we did not qaulify she seemed to have lost interest so much for goin to wonderful lawrence kansas and you should really change your commercial tag line thanks for the help

Stay Away. My wife and I went on Saturday to try and by a truck. We drove over an hour to get there. Once we finally agreed on truck under the condition that the tires be changed which both our sale person and Shane the finance person agree "was not to their standards" we started the actual process of buying the truck. When we arrived we told them we had a trade on and a $1000 to put towards the truck.

As they were doing the truck they let us tack the truck to the store. As we were driving there and back we notice a strange sound and feeling in the front end. When let them know about it and they said it was probably to the "bald tire", their words. We said that was fine since they were going to replace the tires. They came back with the paperwork to show us our monthly payment and our down payment.

The down payment stated we were giving them $2000 which we told them no we couldn't do. We then said at most we could do was $1500. The reworked the paperwork but told us they could not replace the tires. I explained that they both agreed to this as a condition of purchase. Their reasoning was that they were not going to make enough money. I realize they are in the business to make money but it is something they should have thought of before saying they would replace the tires.

We left without the truck. The next day, Easter Sunday, thru facebook I contacted who I believe was Mr. Blackburn since he referred to himself as Lonnie. I let him know that I felt their willingness to hold up their end of the deal showed a lack of integrity. He then stated that putting the tires on the truck would not make them enough money. He also referred to my issue with the front end of the truck.

He let if be know that there was a tire, front end and transmission problem that would cost $4000 to fix. How would you know the cost of a repair on a vehicle when your dealership was closed unless you knew about it before trying to sell it. To me that shows a complete lack of integrity and honesty. This dealership is a great example of a dealership that gives other dealers a bad name. Stay away from these people unless you want to get totally screwed. Lonnie Blackburn the dealer that screws people for the benefit of his on people and bank account.

I'm looking at you Lonnie Blackburn. I'm looking at you salesperson James. We went out to buy a car as newlyweds here at academy cars. Sat in their office for four hours went through their finance approval process and was told that we need $1500.00 down to get a car. As newlyweds we didn't have that money so we asked our initial salesman Lynn can we come back later with that money.

We were told we could come back within two weeks with that money. We called in the mean time and asked to make another appointment and we did. So we came back within two weeks with the money and the inlaws. My wife was applying for this car on her own because my credit is awful and hers is better. Salesman James pulled my wife and her mom to the side and asked if my wife was trying to get an "escape" car insinuating I was beating my wife.

They said they ask these kind of questions all the time. I talked to Lonnie Blackburn because I was just shocked. First off why would a call dealership ask these kind of questions. I said if you didn't want my business you could've said so. Very inappropriate. Very unprofessional. Don't go to academy cars unless you want to be disrespected and discriminated against.

I hope this review doesn't get deleted. The "dealer for the people" -- more like the dealer that needs to be closed down. people need to know this. I just cant say enough. I am so appalled. I am so shocked. I can't believe they run a business like this.

My roommate went there and traded in his old vehicle. The financing was expensive (he doesn't have great credit), but he accepted the terms and went on his way. Almost a month later, they call him in claiming that they might be able to get him better financing. When he got there, they claimed that they couldn't finance him under the original terms and threated him with repossessing the car unless he agreed to a higher rate, higher payment, and less time to pay it off. Unfortunately, he signed for the new worse terms on the spot out of panic that his (now) only car was going to be taken away. At best, they are shady. At worst, they are manipulative and fraudulent.

Look at the one star reviews. Yeah ditto. You think you guys were treated badly? Try being someone they can't finance. Yeah, I'm sure you can imagine. Thing is, Jessica still spams me anyway. WTF? Seriously she won't even listen no matter how many times I tell her I couldn't buy from them if I wanted to. This place just reeked of shiftiness from the get go. The only reason I chanced it at all was because they were rated highly by the BBB. Well maybe we should file complaints with them.

Saturday 9/14/13, I went to Acad. Cars to look for a new/used vehicle in my price range. First problem, I was not greeted at the door nor did any sales person attempt to approach me. Bill was sitting at his desk, (still siting down) and said "hello young lady". (rude), and asked how could he help me. I went up to his desk and told him what I was there for and then he said "oh you can sit down" and gave out his hand to shake.

He didn't ask what type of vehicle or anything, he just straight for the paperwork regarding my credit. I signed some papers, then he requested a pay stub from my bank. He pointed (still not getting up) to the computer and left me alone to help another customer. I provided the info he needed, and he said it was the wrong info (sternly and rude) and told me what he was requesting again.

I was confused at this point and responded a simple "okay" and he left the desk. Another sales lady offered me something cold to drink and I said "thank you very much for your hospitality I appreciate you being nice to me. by the way, can I switch to you, at least you are nice to me." And of course she didn't want to be rude to Bill, and just tried to talk him up for me to give him another chance. Anyway, I went back to the computer and was conflicted on what he was requesting, so I just gave up.

I met Bill back at his desk and explained to him that was all I could provide for him. He informed me how much money was needed for me to put down for a vehicle (which by the way, I am still not sure what vehicle he is talking about, because we NEVER discussed what I wanted). He attempted to advertise a 2003 Empala to me, which apparently they were trying to rid, because I heard him talk about this same vehicle to the other customer!

Due to the atmosphere and experience, I WILL NEVER GO BACK THERE AGAIN! Also, I noticed none of the cars had prices on them! BAD SIGN. So basically they choose the car and price for you, you do not get to decide or negotiate! RIP OFF! and if you choose to go there, I recommend any other sales person besides Bill, because Billy tends to think he runs the show. NOT YOU.

It's too bad that Yelp doesn't offer a zero star option. This place is really shady. First of all when I got there I was not greeted by anyone and had to find someone for assistance. The guy I found was surly and could not have been less helpful. It took about twenty minutes before a sales person helped me. Now here is were the shady part come in to play.

My salesman (Guy) sat me down at his desk and immediately started doing credit checks. I asked to test drive the car I had my eye on but he said they needed to do "the necessary paper work" before we did that. He would not tell me the price of the car either he would only tell me the "price range." Steer clear of this place.

This dealership doesn't even deserve a star. We went there today and were approached by some guy that reaked of ciggarettes and shorts with a golf shirt (very professional.not). We told him what vehicle we were interested in and then without checking our credit or anything were told that we needed 3000 dollars down. Well my fiance was a bit irritated.

We then told him that we had gotten approved at Kia Lawrence and instead of checking our credit he told us that banks don't like to give people loans and said we should go with Kia Lawrence. Wow, what car salesman says "Go with them" without even checking our credit. Well after that we left and called the dealership to complain about the salesman.

The receptionist then told us that Lonnie Blackburn would personally call us back today. We still haven't heard from him. My fiance was so mad he couldn't believe they actually sell cars there. Its a shame because we were looking more at that dealership than any other. I don't know any salesman that would point blank say no to filling out a credit app.

BEWARE OF SERVICE DEPARTMENT! I had a rack and pinion put on my vehicle a couple of months ago, and upon getting it back, my vehicle has had a knocking noise when braking. I took it back to the the service department repeatedly (atleast 5 times), they even ordered what they called a "special tool", and they still were not able to find the cause of the knocking noise.

Finally I gave up and eventually took my vehicle to Briggs auto, and they diagnosed the problem immediately: Academy Cars had loosened the cradle to install the rack and pinion and failed to tighten it back up, therefore it was moving back and forth upon moving and braking. I called Academy Cars multiple times to tell them about their mistake, and everytime I called they told me they would speak with their people and get back to me.

Well guess what, they never got back to me. I spoke with Lizz, very rude, no call back. Vanessa, very friendly, but still no call back and finally Debbie, whom is in management.and still no call back. Obviously they DO NOT care about their customers, and their service department is incompetent. DO NOT go here unless you would like to get a vehicle back that may possibly be loose and fall apart.

Sorry but I'm telling it the way it is, I had to pay over $100 bucks to diagnose and fix a problem that this shop caused.and all I wanted was someone to atleast get back with me about the issue but that was too much to ask. This service department should not be in business.

Well, I can't complain that much about Academy Cars like the (currently) other two. That sounds like a terrible experience. Mine was much better. It was almost 5 years ago. I stopped by on a cold Sunday night in December and was looking at vans after they closed, or so I thought. One of the salesmen was still there and came out to talk to me.

I had found a nice Sienna I was eyeballing. Now, back then the prices were on the vehicles, so I knew how much it cost. The salesman let me take it for a ride, then, he tossed me the keys again and said, "why don't you just take it back to KC tonight and see what you think. Bring it back tomorrow and we'll talk." So I did just that. Now, this is a place that specializes in bad credit financing, which I certainly had (have?).

That means you can't be too choosey on interest rates, etc. I got hit with a high rate, but I was over a barrel needing a car now and with no money down. They worked out a monthly payment that I could live with and let me post date a check for the $500 down-payment. It's been almost 5 years and the van has been great with very little money put into it so far (knock, knock). Also, for what it's worth, I called them recently asking about certain cars I'd seen on the website and I got pricing over the phone.

My boyfriend visited this dealer yesterday and had the single worst car shopping experience, bar none. Here is his review: "When you step foot onto Academy's lot, the first thing you notice is that none of the cars are priced. In fact, they won't even tell you the price. Every salesman will give you a different reason as to why. Ron will tell you there's been an error in the computers, and they don't know what car is what price. Gary will tell you they have to look the price up from somewhere else.

This is your first clue you are walking into a sleazy dealership. The first thing Academy will have you do is to complete all of your finance paperwork. From there, you are merely a number and a dollar amount to them. It is impossible to weasel out of the dealers what, exactly, is the price of the cars, until you're ready to sign on the dotted line. Therefore, if you're wanting to comp shop and look around for cars, you will spend hours at this place getting the runaround and won't even know the price of your car until they know they have you hooked.

They will talk over you, interrupt you, and take smoke breaks in the middle of showing cars. It's comical to hear someone brag about the cleanliness of their cars when he is in the process of making himself smell like a human ashtray. They advertise great specials - huge trade-in values, sales, etc etc etc. But the obvious scam is that the price of each vehicle is arbitrary and ultimately will cost you whatever the dealer feels like that day.

I pity anyone who trades in to this nightmare, as there's no telling what your actual trade-in value is without knowing the full price of the vehicle to which you wish to apply your trade-in value. It is exemplary of a "disappearing trade-in value" scam. They are either incompetent and can't keep their records, like Ron says, or they just can't show you the price upfront, like Gary says.

In either case, neither makes for a dealership worth doing business with. Avoid this place at all costs, unless you have no budget limits, no time constraints, cost is no object, dishonesty is no problem, and you have no other options. Academy demonstrated to us over and over that they would repeatedly lie and play the shell game on prices, so we walked out after two hours without even learning the price of a single vehicle we looked at."