Bay Area Toyota/Scion Dealership Reviews?

[vinh359]

Originally Posted by PMok

One of my friends recently got a BRZ at MSRP from Carlsen. He traded in his RX-8 and got a decent deal I suppose, considering most Subaru dealers in the Bay are still marking up.

I bought my BRZ out-of-state from Colorado... if you want a better deal than what Bay Area dealers are offering, consider buying out of state. See my CO > CA link in my sig below for in-depth discussions of the pros and cons.

awesome I'll check it out thanks!

[vinh359]

Originally Posted by Veloist

Are you looking for an automatic or a manual?

Ironic to the original post, City Scion is actually one of the fewest dealerships who sell their FR-S at MSRP without mark-up.

There's a black one for MSRP at Putnam which my dad can help you out with, but it's automatic.

I'll check out City Scion, I'm looking for a black FRS MT or a white FRS MT. If Toyota dealerships aren't that good.. How about Subaru?

[cplabaunza]

lol...Putnam, they wouldn't even let me test drive the FRS, but they were okay if I test drove the $50k Avalon. Ended up buying a base model in Lodi, in and out in 30mins...

City Toyota had a $4k markup on a black one just cause they added leather...they would not budge on the $4k markup when I tried. anyone can have the seats done for 3/4 less...they did let me test drive it though...

Originally Posted by Veloist

Are you looking for an automatic or a manual?

Ironic to the original post, City Scion is actually one of the fewest dealerships who sell their FR-S at MSRP without mark-up.

There's a black one for MSRP at Putnam which my dad can help you out with, but it's automatic.

[tdominant510]

scion has pure price,only way they can markup is adding leather or some other crap. visit me at toyota marin and i wont hassle you. we try to do business honestly for sales and lay everything clearly out.

[Bach415]

Originally Posted by vinh359

I'll check out City Scion, I'm looking for a black FRS MT or a white FRS MT. If Toyota dealerships aren't that good.. How about Subaru?

City Toyota/Scion is your best bet as for FRS at or near msrp price. Just their service center is horrible. otd will probably cost you around 28-29k. They might try to trick you into adding extended warranty which is extra 2k but its up to you. Almost all Subaru dealership has a mark up on the BRZ. DO NOT GO TO SERRAMONTE SUBARU. 10k mark up there when I went to check it out a few months ago. Asking 40k otd. FRS's would be cheaper than BRZ's in most of California. If you want a cheaper FRS/BRZ, I'd follow @PMok's method for CO>CA cars.

[Dragon]

Capitol Subaru has a mark up of 1000 Kinda sucks...i wonder how it is in Socal

[cdo221]

Originally Posted by Dragon

Capitol Subaru has a mark up of 1000 Kinda sucks...i wonder how it is in Socal

That's surprising, last year when I was looking for a FR-S/BRZ, Capitol Subaru was one of the few Nor Cal dealerships selling at MSRP - only thing was they had a 4 month wait-list at the time.

Check out the Colorado Subaru dealerships ... lots of CA people bought their BRZs from CO with great success. I talked to one dealership in CO a lot and was very close to buying the BRZ below MSRP from CO, ended up going with a FRS instead:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20652

[MyRx]

Originally Posted by cdo221

That's surprising, last year when I was looking for a FR-S/BRZ, Capitol Subaru was one of the few Nor Cal dealerships selling at MSRP - only thing was they had a 4 month wait-list at the time.

Check out the Colorado Subaru dealerships ... lots of CA people bought their BRZs from CO with great success. I talked to one dealership in CO a lot and was very close to buying the BRZ below MSRP from CO, ended up going with a FRS instead:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20652

Ultramarine FR-S...great choice . Congrats!

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by cdo221

That's surprising, last year when I was looking for a FR-S/BRZ, Capitol Subaru was one of the few Nor Cal dealerships selling at MSRP - only thing was they had a 4 month wait-list at the time.

Edit: oops, my bad I thought you meant Capitol Scion, but the lowest markup I've seen at Capitol Subaru was $3k so there's that... I'll leave what I posted below because it's still true.

What? Every time I walked on the lot or called them (they were the closest dealer) they said they COULD NOT sell me one at MSRP and that they were no longer taking deposits or using a formal wait list. Always said "oh those are reserved, let me take your number and we'll call you if we get any in" the very next day "hey that car you saw last night is MAGICALLY available, it also costs $27k to $32k." This was in September.

Oh well, they didn't get my business anyway.

[BlaineWasHere]

Capitol would not sell me one at MSRP either. One of the reasons I wound up with a FR-S.

[cdo221]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Edit: oops, my bad I thought you meant Capitol Scion, but the lowest markup I've seen at Capitol Subaru was $3k so there's that... I'll leave what I posted below because it's still true.

What? Every time I walked on the lot or called them (they were the closest dealer) they said they COULD NOT sell me one at MSRP and that they were no longer taking deposits or using a formal wait list. Always said "oh those are reserved, let me take your number and we'll call you if we get any in" the very next day "hey that car you saw last night is MAGICALLY available, it also costs $27k to $32k." This was in September.

Oh well, they didn't get my business anyway.

Originally Posted by BlaineWasHere

Capitol would not sell me one at MSRP either. One of the reasons I wound up with a FR-S.

Ah I see, maybe if I went through with a deposit at Capitol Subaru they would've switched up the prices for me. Or, I'm thinking maybe it's because I was talking with the internet/fleet manager rather than a sales guy on the floor/phone. I just did a quick search in my gmail, this is a quote from an email:

"The reservation Process:

A) Place deposit of $500 (risk-free) 100% refundable no questions asked
B) Register configuration preferences, ie, Premium or Limited? Color choice(s)
C) Receive updates on demand
D) Best of all, your price will not be marked up, MSRP is guaranteed.

Hope this info helps. Thanks for your interest in our Subaru!

Cheers,

Tommy Quach
Internet Manager"

I never went through with the process though - I wouldn't be surprised if it was just some dealership tactic to switch up the price last minute ($1000 aftermarket tint 'upgrade' anyone?). At the time, I figured I would go the Colorado route if I wanted a BRZ.

[mou]

When I went to Capitol Subaru, Limited SWP MT was marked up by $5k. I showed them a craigslist ad by them listing it for $29k and they agreed to sell it to me for that price plus fees. Around the same time I was getting my car, another person came in and picked up a Premium WRB AT for $26k. When I asked the salesman why his car was so much cheaper, they said it was because the Limited SWP MT was still a hot option on the market still so they wouldn't sell it MSRP.

[cdo221]

Oh yea, I just wanted to update everybody... I ended up going to Putnam Toyota to get some service done. The atmosphere was friendly and professional. Unfortunately they couldn't do anything about my passenger auto up/down that day but I did get one of my free oil changes.

The service rep was straight up and honest with me - they haven't worked on a lot of FR-S's and hadn't heard of the auto up/down problem. They couldn't guarantee how long they would take to diagnose the problem and if they would be able to fix it. They did say they would look into, and gave me their contact information to send over the any information I have. I remember reading about a new BRZ switch so I'm gonna forward that to them - hopefully it'll help. The 2 techs who worked on my car came up to talk to me a bit, asked about wheels, exhaust, etc. which was cool.

Probably the most reassuring part there was no funny business picked up on my dash cam and only 1 mile was added to the odo

[Veloist]

Originally Posted by cdo221

Oh yea, I just wanted to update everybody... I ended up going to Putnam Toyota to get some service done. The atmosphere was friendly and professional. Unfortunately they couldn't do anything about my passenger auto up/down that day but I did get one of my free oil changes.

The service rep was straight up and honest with me - they haven't worked on a lot of FR-S's and hadn't heard of the auto up/down problem. They couldn't guarantee how long they would take to diagnose the problem and if they would be able to fix it. They did say they would look into, and gave me their contact information to send over the any information I have. I remember reading about a new BRZ switch so I'm gonna forward that to them - hopefully it'll help. The 2 techs who worked on my car came up to talk to me a bit, asked about wheels, exhaust, etc. which was cool.

Probably the most reassuring part there was no funny business picked up on my dash cam and only 1 mile was added to the odo

It's good to hear that you had a good experience since my experiences aren't as valid since my dad is an employee there, but I trust them enough to refer them! Do you know which technicians worked on your car?