Western Auto Group is a north Edmonton used dealership selling cars, trucks, SUVs and powersports, with in-house arranged financing for every credit tier including bankruptcy and no credit. Approval is easy. Seeing your rate before you apply is not.
Our 2 Top Auto Loan Comparison Brokers
Both send one application to a panel of lenders so you get several offers instead of one. Use them to build a benchmark before you accept anything.
Creditly
Best for bad credit
My Auto Approval
Best for vehicle shopping
Also worth a call, and we earn nothing from these: your own bank, a local credit union, and the manufacturer financing desk at a franchise dealership. If your credit is decent, one of those three will usually beat any broker rate. Brokers earn their keep when the banks say no.
Creditly and My Auto Approval are affiliate partners, so we may be paid a commission if you apply through them, at no extra cost to you. That is why the non-partner options above are listed too. Specifications are as published by each company.
3 Rules Before You Borrow
Get at least two or three quotes. The spread between lenders on the same borrower is routinely several percentage points, and the only person who finds out is the one who compares.
That is not a scare tactic, it is how risk pricing works. Expect it, keep the term as short as you can afford, and plan to refinance once you have 6 to 12 months of on-time payments behind you.
Bank, credit union and manufacturer dealership financing typically beat everything else on rate. Start there. Brokers and subprime lenders are the answer when those doors are closed, not before.
I have covered Canadian consumer credit for over twenty years, and dealer-arranged subprime is where the gap between a good deal and a bad one is widest. Two buyers with the same credit can leave the same lot several points apart. Only the one who compared ever finds out.
The Ratings Tell Two Very Different Stories
This is the part I would not skip. Western Auto Group has an outstanding public review score and a failing grade from the Better Business Bureau, at the same time. Both are true, and you should weigh both.
GOOGLE REVIEWS
4.9 / 5
Across roughly 945 reviews
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU
F
Not accredited
For failure to respond to 4 filed complaints
IN BUSINESS
🚗
Since 2021
Registered Alberta dealership
How do you square a 4.9 with an F? They are measuring different things. Google captures the showroom experience, and on that score the praise is genuine and voluminous: friendly salespeople, low pressure, fast approvals, free powersports delivery. The BBB grade is not a measure of customer happiness at all. It reflects that four complaints were filed and the business did not respond to them, which you can confirm on its BBB profile. That is a process failure rather than proof of wrongdoing, but it does tell you something about what happens if your deal goes sideways after you drive away.
The complaints that are visible are worth knowing specifically, because they are the kind that cost you real time. One buyer reported taking delivery with no documentation at all, no manuals and no sales paperwork, which left them unable to register or insure the vehicle. Another reported GST being added to their loan despite being resident in a different province. Neither is about the rate. Both are about paperwork discipline, and both are avoidable if you refuse to leave without a complete signed file in your hand.
Company Snapshot
| Official name | Western Auto Group Ltd. |
| Location | 14605 123 Avenue NW, Edmonton, AB T5L 2Y6 |
| Phone | 780-474-6259 |
| What they sell | Used cars, trucks, SUVs and vans, plus powersports: ATVs, side-by-sides, snowmobiles, motorcycles and dirt bikes |
| Financing | Dealer-arranged through partner lenders. All credit profiles considered, including bankruptcy and no credit. |
| Published rates | None. Rate is disclosed only after a credit application. |
| Hours | Monday to Friday 10am to 7pm, Saturday 11am to 5pm, closed Sunday |
| Google rating | 4.9 out of 5 across roughly 945 reviews |
| BBB | F rating, not accredited, for failing to respond to 4 complaints |
| Best for | Edmonton buyers with damaged credit who want a vehicle or powersports unit and value approval speed over rate |
Western Auto Group: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Approval where banks say no. Bankruptcy, consumer proposal and no credit history are all inside their application.
- Powersports under the same roof. Financing an ATV or sled is genuinely hard in Canada. This is a real differentiator.
- 4.9 across roughly 945 Google reviews. That is a large sample, not a handful of testimonials.
- Consistent praise for low-pressure salespeople, which is not the norm in subprime auto.
- Fast approvals, often same day to two business days.
- Established physical storefront in north Edmonton with real inventory, not a lead-capture page pretending to be a dealership.
Cons
- BBB rating of F for not responding to four filed complaints. Worth weighing against the Google score, not instead of it.
- No published rates. You authorise a credit check before you learn what you are being charged.
- Subprime pricing applies. Expect meaningfully higher than bank rates if your credit is weak.
- Documented complaints about missing paperwork at delivery, which can block registration and insurance.
- One complaint about GST applied to an out-of-province buyer’s loan. Check the tax line yourself.
- The glowing reviews featured on their own site are dealer-selected. Read the full Google listing instead.
How the Financing Works, and What It Costs
The application asks you to self-identify a credit tier: good at 650 and above, fair between 550 and 650, poor under 550, currently in bankruptcy, or no credit. From there the dealership shops your file to its partner lenders and comes back with an approval. It is fast, and for a lot of people it is the only door that opens.
What you are trading for that speed is visibility. Dealer-arranged subprime financing in Canada commonly lands somewhere in the 9 to 18 percent range and can go higher, while a borrower who qualifies through a lender marketplace can often start considerably lower. You will not know which side of that you are on until the paperwork is in front of you, at which point you are emotionally committed to a specific vehicle sitting in a specific lot. That is the moment when people sign things they later regret.
| Dealer-arranged financing | Shopping a lender marketplace first | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical rate, weaker credit | Often 9 to 18 percent or higher | Varies by lender, and you see the spread before you commit |
| When you learn the rate | After you apply | Before you commit |
| Credit impact to look | Credit authorisation required | Comparison tools generally use a soft check |
| Choice of lender | The dealer’s panel | Banks, credit unions and fintech lenders side by side |
| Speed | Same day to 2 days | Usually 24 to 48 hours |
| Vehicle choice | Their lot | Any seller, including private sale |
| Negotiating position | You have no benchmark | You have a number to beat |
None of this makes the dealership a bad choice. It makes an uninformed application a bad idea. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada makes the same point in its guidance on shopping around for auto financing: the rate you are first offered is rarely the only rate available to you.
Get a benchmark rate first, then negotiate
Walking in with a competing approval is the single most effective thing you can do to lower what you pay. My Auto Approval matches you against multiple Canadian auto lenders in one application.
Affiliate link. We may be paid a commission at no cost to you, and it does not affect our assessment of this dealership.
What to Check Before You Sign
Given the specific complaints on file, these are the things I would refuse to leave without. None of them are unreasonable to ask, and a dealership operating properly will hand them over without friction.
- The complete signed file, in your hand, on the day. Bill of sale, financing agreement, warranty documents, and the ownership paperwork you need to register and insure. This is the exact thing one buyer reported not receiving.
- The tax line, checked against your province of residence. If you live outside Alberta, confirm what is being charged and why before it is folded into the loan.
- The all-in cost of borrowing, in writing. Not the monthly payment. The rate, the term, the total interest, and every administration or origination fee itemised separately.
- Which lender actually holds the loan. The dealership arranges it, but someone else services it and takes your payments. Get the name.
- Whether extras are optional. Extended warranties and protection packages are usually optional and usually negotiable. Ask directly.
- AMVIC licensing. Every Alberta dealership must be licensed by the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council, and its site has a public search to confirm a business or salesperson. Two minutes, worth doing anywhere in the province.
One more that costs nothing: pull your own credit report before you apply anywhere. Knowing your score turns the conversation from hopeful to informed, and our guides to checking your credit report free and improving your Canadian credit score cover how. Even a modest score improvement before you apply can move your rate more than any negotiation at the desk will.
Is Western Auto Group Worth It?
Bottom line: a reasonable option for Edmonton buyers with damaged credit, and a genuinely good one if you want powersports financing, which almost nobody else does well. The showroom experience is clearly strong and the review volume backs that up. What I would not do is walk in without a competing rate, and what I would not ignore is the BBB record on responding to complaints. Get your benchmark, get your paperwork, and it is a fine place to buy a vehicle.
If you are shopping outside Edmonton, or you would rather start from the financing side than the vehicle side, our roundup of car loans for bad and no credit applicants covers the national picture. It is also worth reading our reviews of Northlake Financial and Canada Drives, both of which approach subprime auto lending differently. And if a vehicle loan is starting to look like the wrong answer entirely, read our piece on car title loans first so you know what to avoid.
Compare before you commit
Two minutes now can be worth several points on your rate over a five year term. Check what other Canadian lenders will offer you, then go and negotiate.
Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Western Auto Group FAQ
Is Western Auto Group legitimate?
Why does it have a 4.9 on Google but an F from the BBB?
What credit score do I need?
Does Western Auto Group offer no-credit-check financing?
What interest rate will I pay?
Can I get powersports financing there?
What should I watch out for at delivery?
Can I refinance later if my rate is high?
Is it better to finance at the dealership or through a lender first?
Buying in Alberta and wondering how much of your budget inflation has quietly eaten since you last bought a vehicle? Our Alberta inflation calculator will show you, and it is a sobering exercise before you commit to a five year loan.
Affiliate disclosure. We are an independent blog. Some links on this page go to our partners Creditly and My Auto Approval, and we may earn a commission if you apply through them, at no extra cost to you. We are not paid by Western Auto Group and have no commercial relationship with the dealership, which is why this review says what it says about the BBB record. Ratings and company details were verified against Google, the Better Business Bureau and the dealership’s own published information at the time of writing and can change. This article is general information, not financial advice. Read every loan document before you sign, and confirm current terms directly with the seller and the lender.
Mohammed Saqib has a Masters Degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. He has a robust background in accounting and finance. Mohammed started his career three years ago working as an investment analyst at a sell-side firm. He has extensively covered publicly-listed companies using fundamental analysis as the cornerstone of his approach. Mohammed has been published on SeekingAlpha, InvesorPlace, Yahoo! Finance and others.
