Contribute your review for California Scion/Subaru dealers

[DuMa]

If you are a previous or current scion/subaru owners and bought your car brand new from the dealer, please contribute your review of the dealer you purchased from. I thought maybe this would be a good way to compile all these dealer reviews get a feel for expectations when dealing with a scion/subaru dealer if you are a potential FRS/BRZ owner.

Please understand each dealer practices are not all the same. Especially since Scion has pure pricing/no haggling policy.


My review of Toyota of Orange, located in Orange, CA:

I walked into the sales room of Toyota of Orange around the spring of 2004. I told them I was interested in purchasing the 2005 tC. First year model tCs were being released in Fall of 2004. After discussing what dealer options I wanted (or didnt want), I then put down a $500 deposit towards the purchase of a 2005 Scion tC Flint Mica 5-speed base model. nothing added on, not even floor mats. Floor mats were at the time not included. (I later purchased the floormats from a external toyota dealer, McGeorgeParts.com)

About 2 months later, I had received a call from Toyota of Orange which they had told me my car was being shipped and I would take delivery in about a week. A week goes by and I then was promptly left a message on my VM saying my car is on the lot. I go to check it out and my first impression was that i saw a lot of things wrong. It had dealer added different branded chrome wheels. Stock wheels were alloys. Next I noticed they had added tint. Next I saw they had added OBX pedals. These and other few things like the bumper applique and CF c-pillar sticker made the overall price 2 grand higher. I was pissed. Dealer told me that this was a high demand car and they felt like these add-ons would have satisfied me as an owner, without even consulting me after my deposit. I quickly asked for my deposit back and I never returned to Toyota of Orange since. I'm not likely to deal with them if I am decided on a FRS.

My review of Longo Toyota/Scion in El Monte, CA

2-3 days after being pissed off at Toyota of Orange, I decided to look other dealers around SoCal. I immediately found the largest Toyota dealer in the US. Longo Toyota in El Monte. I walked in and talked to a Scion rep. Told her my mishap with Toyota of Orange. She said she would gladly accept my deposit for the same thing I had wanted at Orange. I dont remember her name but she was late 20s black haired cutie if i remember correctly, I was 22 at the time.

Anyways a month later, she had given me a call to say that my car arrived. I walked in the next day and everything was great. Base car with no dealer added options. My APR rate was the lowest IIRC. 4%. 6500+500 deposit = 7 grand down, I made the purchase, tax title license, and an hour later, I drove off with my brand new 2005 tC. Much appreciation for Longo Toyota. I would gladly deal with them again for a purchase of a new car.

[Mari0]

I've only had experience dealing with one dealership and that's:

Toyota/Scion of Walnut Creek!

My family has purchased 3 cars from them (2 tCs and 1 Rav4). Very friendly and (mostly) knowledgeable staff. Gave us great deals on all the cars and they are all about loyalty. I got quite a few perks. Also they are the best dealership around to order parts from. Fast shipping!

I haven't had experience with Antioch Scion and Concord Toyota, but I've only heard bad things about them.

[Giccin]

"Toyota of Orange"

I went in 2008 to pick up a yaris from them since my friend bought his 2008 Corolla there for 14k with all of the do-dads and sport mode. He recommended me this Italian guy.

When I arrived the guy wasn't there so he brought his associate out to greet me. He said he remember me asking for a Yaris so he took me to all of the Yaris's across the lot. Unfortunately they didn't have the Yaris I wanted (which was essentially the base model with power doors and locks) and a -$2k off sticker (which was around.. 14.5k). So he brings me in and asks if I could possibly think of purchasing a Corolla instead (this was during the time when the APR for a corolla was 0.4% they REALLY wanted to get rid of it). I said no and left. I remember telling them if they get the model and price I wanted.. my dad will pay for the car. So we went to Garden Grove Toyota instead.

They had our model but in 2009. Fresh off the truck. Put a 3k DP on it with a 3% interest rate and a -$2.5k off sticker without that stupid low-jack feature. We got the deal. Bam out of there.

Following day the Italian guy returns and calls me on the phone. He asks if I was still interested in getting a Corolla. I /facepalmed in real life and said I bought a YARIS the initial car I wanted and still wanted at Garden Grove Toyota instead.

Would I go back to Toyota of Orange or the one in Tustin. Hell no. After what happened, naw~~~~~

I honestly love haggling because you don't know what the car's price was originally. It was probably a lot cheaper before and the price they have on the site is probably how much the dealer's cut is within the actual cost. So I really dislike the "no-haggling" feature scion has at their place.

[Marrk]

Good idea for a thread. Thanks, DuMa.

Subscribed.

[Mari0]

Originally Posted by Giccin

I honestly love haggling because you don't know what the car's price was originally. It was probably a lot cheaper before and the price they have on the site is probably how much the dealer's cut is within the actual cost. So I really dislike the "no-haggling" feature scion has at their place.

I love Scion's no haggling policy, because, honestly speaking, the prices are just right (considering what you get standard)! It also saves a lot of time that would have been wasted trying to outsmart the other party. Especially when you know more about the car than the person trying to sell it to you...

They might not go below the sticker price, but if you are a returning customer, they sometimes offer to throw in some extras free of charge.

PS - can you bold the name of the dealers so its easy to see when people are scrolling through, looking for a specific dealership.

[DuMa]

Agreed. the no-haggle was a no-bullsh!t way to get the car you wanted at exactly how you wanted for me. the key is to know what you want and what you don't want in a car. everything else falls into place for your scion. its not for everyone though

[MF_DEUCE]

Very good thread DuMa.

That sucks to what happened to you. Im going to be purchasing my First New car so it's nice to see others stories and learning from them.

(Kudos)

[RRnold]

Originally Posted by Mari0

I love Scion's no haggling policy, because, honestly speaking, the prices are just right (considering what you get standard)! It also saves a lot of time that would have been wasted trying to outsmart the other party. Especially when you know more about the car than the person trying to sell it to you...

They might not go below the sticker price, but if you are a returning customer, they sometimes offer to throw in some extras free of charge.

You're still getting screwed even though they throw in the extra items. Unless you are paying cash for the car, that's a common sales tactic that dealerships will use.

You want to get the best deal on the car itself b/c once the payments start so does your contract.

Invoice or below what all of you should be getting, especially in this weak economy. I'm absolutely against the Scion's Pure Pricing. The car as well as the options have invoices so there is no reason why you shouldn't be paying more for either.


I had a really great experience with Carson Toyota's Internet/Fleet Sales when I bought my '05 Tacoma back in Oct 04. None of the Toyota dealerships in San Diego were receiving the particular Tacoma I was looking for until Nov/Dec. I was requesting a double cab, 4WD, Super White, Off Road Package and with the tow hitch. The Tacoma Sport (all color matched and 17") wasn't arriving until Feb/March and was an extra 2K.

The fleet saleswoman, Gloria, showed me the invoice prices for both and showed me the logs of when a white, dbl cab with the Off Road n tow package (OG it was called) was coming in. Told me what she can do, I countered, we went back in forth and ended up driving my truck home for $200 above invoice.


I went to Longo and Toyota of Hunington Beach and kept getting so much b/s that I walked. Toyota of HB even wanted me to fill out a credit application before they can show me anything; even though I showed them that I was already preapproved with my credit union. Longo wasn't expecting any 4WD's for a while so they couldn't help me.

[Quan]

great thread!

[daphaze1]

Toyota Longo - Paul Leung from Longo Toyota is great. One really big headache turned out decent for me. Ever since I have been well taken care of.

I had a couple of guys who tried to rip me off at Longo. I am unsure of exact name, I have them written down just have to find it. I remember the sales guy was Cantonese and his last name was Chan. His Sales Manager Francisco or Franchesco or something was just as bad. It was at closing time and only the security guards were left and I told the sales person, this wasn't what I ordered. They tried to do a switch and bait showing me a different contract. My dad had just left with the other car and this was the time when they took out all the paid phones too! Everything was closed. The sales person said only the security guard was left and that I should drive the car home and they will refund the car and get me the correct one in the morning.

When I came back they said I had already signed off on the car and it was just too bad. No apologies nothing. The sales manager says I'm young, take that as an example that not everyone tells the truth and get this lesson learned because your young. The manager told me they could have the non factory stereos and the speakers added, the carpet and other stuff, I forgot. But I would have to pay for installation. Then because my dad got involved too and we were so pissed they said oh it'd be free of charge. But the ABS could not be added etc. I refused to budge after what he had said to me. I ain't about to take shit from anyone, and hell especially not fraud! The sales manager purposely pulled out all my calls to the GM! Everyone thought it was just me until they heard all my conversations and pages over the central center and me yelling at the front door about fraud. =D But the workers there was too scared cause it was a one of the senior sales managers. Either way I didn't care, I would of done anything with the amount of disrespect he did to me. I won't say what I was about to do, but after writing to Toyota and charging up to the GM (Renee) and demanding an audience and pushing him out of the way, Renee reviewed what happened and said she was sorry, I also told her to talk to the finance manager who knew what was going on who didn't want to say anything because of the sales manager. The owner got involved and said he was sorry too and nothing like this should of taken place or even gone this far. The GM told the sales manager to take care of me but he didn't and even quoted me MSRP and that incentives did not apply to me. =D The GM and owner got involved again and said the sales team will not be involved with you anymore. They owner had helped me a lot and told me Paul Leung is their fleet manager and doesn't do sales and will help me from now on and my family. Due to the economy Paul Leung is also doing sales now you guys might want to contact him too.

P.S. The collision department are thieves. They got caught on camera.
Service department - I never had any problems with service though. So far so good. My money and change always comes back =D.


Toyota Pasadena - Worse ever place. I went to them a few times and they refused to budge on MSRP, because they said we want people who has gone to other dealerships before they will deal with you. When the Prius was sold out they purposely added 11k worth of accessories saying they were not upselling but would like people to purchase all the accessories and extras already put in the car. THATS A LOT!

Service seems pretty good here. Jack is a nice guy.


Toyota West Covina - I loved them but there are new people there, so not sure. But the Scion Internet fleet managers were really nice people. If you had questions about any Toyota products they would go and try to help you even if they knew they weren't going to make the sale. They just wanted to make sure you purchased a Toyota. I went with Longo cause I know the service managers there. But they got good pricing here.

[Marrk]

@daphaze1: Good post. Thanks, man.

[MRZ415]

Any suggestion for subaru dealers in Nor Cal ?
Stevens creek subaru? Capital Subaru ?

[Itgb]

Toyota/Scion Kearny Mesa

I bought my Scion xB new from Scion Kearny Mesa back in early 2006. They didn't have any manual transmission xB's on the lot, so I went ahead and placed an order which took about 2 months I think. I dealt with Rich Manas(not sure if he is still there) who was very easy to work with. They hooked it up with a Sirius receiver and 9mo of free service which was cool. Overall a very smooth process and the whole pure pricing deal took all of the headache out of the buying process. I mean the car was only like $15k, so who could complain.

The service dept on the other hand, I wouldn't recommend. I brought my car in for the 3 free oil changes and it increasingly took longer and longer each time. The last oil change took 1.5 hrs after already having an appt. One of the service advisors at one point tried to tell me that they couldn't do an alignment because the car had aftermarket wheels. What a joke. I never went back after that, and thankfully I haven't had any issues that I couldn't tackle myself.

[Keatonus]

Originally Posted by MRZ415

Any suggestion for subaru dealers in Nor Cal ?
Stevens creek subaru? Capital Subaru ?

I actually used to work at Elk Grove Subaru in...Elk Grove (Sacramento Area). EG Subaru is still relatively new, so they are currently offering the best prices, and the staff is pretty good, used to be great till they fired me over very trivial matters, even though I was the salesman with the highest customer satisfaction. Try to figure that one out.

Stevens Creek I haven't been to personally, but they are the highest volume dealer in the Bay Area. But If you are willing to make the extra drive EG Subaru is much more aggressive on pricing and you wouldn't be disappointed. PM me if you want advice on a particular salesman, none of them are sharks or anything, but some are less pressure than others.