Good Dealership for Service (SoCal)
 

I think this should be stickied...

anyone have a good experience with a dealership in SoCal for services?



Location:

Who you dealt with:

Contact info:

mod friendly (y/n):

Services done for you:



I'm going into my first service soon, and just wanted to see who I could go to LOCALLY. I live in Santa Monica area, so I am thinking of going there, but traditionally, with my other cars (different brands), SaMo dealerships aren't the greatest. (Santa Monica Nissan scratched my brand new GTR). But, I don't know if I should drive all the way back to SD to get my FRS serviced (although I love any excuse to go back n visit).

Negative experiences should be shared as well, as it could be helpful for which dealerships to avoid. I'm guessing that dealership SERVICE is different than SALES depts., but maybe not always :mad0259:

Toyota/SCION of Carlsbad has nice and friendly sales staff. I have not seen any markups the past several times I've visited their site to browse around. If you tell them you're just browsing, they generally leave you alone.

I dealt with Henry the last time I was there, he was well mannered and very helpful and curteous. I talked with Lisa on the phone before heading over and she was rather upbeat. Probably because she was selling the base FRS I wanted and was gonna mod.

Great idea op

Im from the SGV and i am also looking for a dealer that is mod friendly!

Maybe I was unclear, but there already is a thread for dealership PURCHASING... I want a thread started for SERVICE as in MAINTENANCE for your FRS...

Hope I made things clear.

Good idea, i was thinking of doing this in the later years but for modification shops, customization, etc.

Location: Power Toyota Cerritos

Who you dealt with: Chris Carrillo

Contact info: 562-402-2783

mod friendly (y/n): NA

Services done for you: chirp noise fix (fuel pump assembly fix/replace)

I'm going to just get my service and (hopefully) get crickets exterminated by Santa Monica... I'm also reporting all the other problems I'm having even though there doesn't seem to be a fix for it yet... like the passenger window switch not always working, window screech, clutch rattle when depressed... etc.

Wish me luck! Hope I can get this done before SEMA!

i have all those issues too! :(

You can't beat Longo Toyota in El Monte, I go there every time, there are only a few people there that work on FR-S' and they're all my buddies so i trust them...great service and sales too

Ugh... yeah???... I hate this... I have to drive to Thousand Oaks to service my G35 (free oil changes for life). Drive to Duarte for GTR (mod friendly)... now I gotta drive to Long Beach for the FRS... :mad0259:

Why does West LA have so many nice cars, when all the dealerships can't even service them properly? Still waiting on a phone call from Santa Monica, it's been 2 days since they said they'd call me.

I had a very good experience at Toyota/Scion of Hollywood. I had the cel issue taken care of there. They handled the situation very well. I plan on going there for service in the future.

Location: Santa Monica Scion / Toyota

Who you dealt with: Katie

Contact info:

mod friendly (y/n): sorry no!

Services done for you: oil change and oil filter... if you want great service from people who are willing to look into what you need, go to them. HOWEVER, they haven't serviced many FRS (I DO live in the Prius capital of LA though)... so they have good service in general. They took awhile (3 hrs+), but car felt really good after the oil change (I was at 3500). They haven't been caught up to date with all my problems though, so I'll probably have to go somewhere else. And Katie said, frankly, that they weren't mod friendly.

Bump. Had another oil change at Santa Monica and need to get a bunch of TSBs done but they don't seem to give a shit about calling me back. Or ordering the parts for their own recalls. Any one have any experiences to share?

i need to find a dealership that's lowered friendly... i'd assume longo would be okay for that but its so far...

I'm bumping this thread up for Subaru dealerships. Anyone know a mod friendly subaru dealership in Socal? I just don't want my warranty denied instantly for having a modded car.

I've been to power cerritos for an oil change .. its mostly sweet/respective talking that lightens their moods so they're more willing .. that's how i got my 3k oil change and my next oil change ~7.5k ish
I had the clutch height modified and i havn't been hassled regarding it yet ..
They used Mobil 1 oil though :x
Don't know if they replaced the oil filter but they claimed they did ...

I'd like one that is mod friendly. 3rd to 4th shift grinds a bit at high RPM (common problem), and once a fix is established, I'd like to have it corrected without reverting back to stock. I don't want them to pop the hood, point at a turbo, and say "well that there is the problem".

I am a master tech at Toyota of el Cajon

Is that your way of saying you won't screw me over? :)

:D

I would too like to know. I have had 2nd to 3rd grinding since I bought the car. I read that it would go away but it hasn't even with changing my tranny oil. I need to find a Subaru dealership that will still look at it without me taking off everything (including supercharger).

anyone with Subaru suggestions?

I have a hell of a story to tell you guys after I get it resolved. I'm almost through it, but it will take another week or so.

South Coast Subaru for me... and I even turned down the complimentary oil change.

-alex

for all the people who bought the subaru out of state, what dealer are you taking the car to now?

What's the story? I'm still looking for a dealership haha

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2.

I think this can be said about all dealerships regardless of how good their service center is but avoid the complimentary car wash like the plague unless you don't care about your paint...

so whats the best subaru dealer

Toyota/Scion of Escondido BLOWS.

Scion of Poway :party0030:

Here's the jist of it... I just copied and pasted my timeline to Scion Corporate.. Since then, i've had the alarm removed by Scion of Kearny Mesa. The stock harness soldered back together and a written statement giving me a full warranty if anything goes wrong. However, Santa Monica has messed up my ECU (they didn't replace it as I asked through the recall letter I got). And when they deactivated my daytime running lights, they disabled my keys on accident. And now I have no highbeams. And I found a broken clip from one of the interior panels as well... *sigh* have to go back again. But I'm seriously thinking of just switching to Longo Scion since i've been hearing nothing but good things about them. ...

-------------------------------------------

To Scion customer service:


I wanted to leave a detailed discussion / update of my case to leave a paper trail and details for Scion to review of how the dealers are dealing with my situation.

Scion electrical harness issue...

*TIMELINE*

July 22, 2013
I took my car in for several issues (which I can provide if needed). Was told to pick up at the end of the day originally, but since they were unable to replicate all the problems, they asked for an extra day to try (and also getting parts in for the repairs the next day).

July 23, 2013
Later in the evening, around/after 4pm, I was notified that I would need to bring all the rest of my keys in because the engine wouldn't start. Martin Ramos (Service Advisor for Santa Monica) told me he would fill me in once I get in there. I arrived there around 5-6pm and received a loaner car for the next day and left.

July 24, 2013
I dropped off the rest of the keys around 10-11am and left once more to give them time to finish the repairs. When I was called to pick up the car, the tech., Rob Calles, found an aftermarket alarm in the car connected poorly with butt-connectors and the electrical tape was very poorly done and partially hanging off. This may not affect the car significantly right now, but if something were to happen in the future, I was told the warranty wouldn't be valid because the factory harness was modified. I was told that a repair was possible to resolder the wires but a brand new harness would be a $1200+ job. I told them I would not be satisfied with a repair, because the modification was done without my consent.

I contacted Kearny Mesa Scion, the original dealer I purchased from and left a message with my salesman, Rich Manas, who was off that day. (This was recommended to me by Martin Ramos).

I went home and took pictures of the harness work and wiring mess. To my surprise, I actually found wire clippings on my FRS carpet that look to match the recently discovered splice job. I also photographed them and collected them for future evidence.

I also contacted the Scion Customer Care line and, Lisa and I, started a report stating all of this. My Reference / Case # is 1307243377

I also contacted George Rovles, the Customer Relations Manager at Santa Monica and informed him of my problems, which he said he would look into and have contact with me after he does some research. My main questions were the wire clippings and the fact that I had to bring in my keys because that really bothered me.

July 25, 2013
I received a call back from Rich Manas, my salesperson at Kearny Mesa Scion. He said that the alarm was possibly installed on my car during it's PDI. However, it is unlikely because it was during the early launch of the FRS when cars were being sold off the dealer floors instantly. However, since I did not pick up my car within two days of it's arrival, it is possible it was loaded with an alarm by mistake. Even so, it would be deactivated AND it would not have been tapped into the factory wiring at all. It would be an additional connection that would be "plug-and-play" and easily reversible. We tentatively scheduled a future meeting where I would drive to San Diego and have their alarm tech take a look at it. I would be compensated gas for the drive. We would discuss further if it was / wasn't their alarm system to find a conclusion. I would give 3-5 days notice and meet their tech with a scheduled meeting.

I also received a call back from Scion Santa Monica's Service Manager Gary Benson. He offered to hear my story and address my concerns and I filled him in with all the information, as well as, my recent call with Rich. He offered to do some research and call me back.

He called me back shortly to state that this happens all the time, and that they (Kearny Mesa) is not liable to tell me if there is any additional alarm system installed as long as they don't charge me. This is not right, in my opinion. Also, he was adamant that his tech, Rob Calles did not cut anything. This disturbed me, and I let Gary know it. Even if it was Kearny Mesa who installed the alarm, it is clearly evident that wires were cut very recently because I had completely cleaned my car and vacuumed the inside at least several dozens of times within my ownership period, and I have found wire clippings that seem to match the areas that were said to be modified by someone else. I told him this was disheartening and he replied that he could talk to Kearny Mesa to pay for the repairs and that Santa Monica would do it. I told him, the repair isn't really what I'm trying to figure out. I am trying to figure out who modified my car without my consent and that a repair is NOT what I am looking for. I want a full replacement of any factory parts that are now, in my eyes, damaged. He told me I "wouldn't be getting a new harness from anyone", but he told me he would be there to help if I needed him… and that this is now "between me and Kearny Mesa". He tried to save me a drive down to San Diego, but I think that I need to figure this out face to face.

My next step would be to figure out a time to meet with Rich and his tech in San Diego and go from there.

This sounds so f#!@ed up.

I think i would be pissed.

The zip ties are from santa monica cutting the alarm box off of where ever it was mounted next to the body ecu that got replaced because it got bricked when they tried turning off your DRL's. Trying to upsell you a $1200 harness is straight up bullshit and unethical.

Your recall was for an engine ecu recalibration only, not a replacement.

Except that Santa Monica repeatedly told me that they didn't cut anything. I confirmed this multiple times even though there were wire clippings found on my carpet? Even if they fell out of the body panels and were left in the door by San Diego... there was still many issues not properly addressed. You don't turn off the DRL's by yanking the fuse because that kills your highbeams on the headlights. I live in a canyon and it is a safety issue. You need the new ECU to do this and not kill the lights. I just don't get why I have to find all of this out and it isn't common knowledge for dealerships to know. I'm trying not to blame any single person, because people ARE trying to help me out. I'm more frustrated by the LACK of info... and the fact that I feel like I half to basically do have the research myself. If it were a Prius though, I am sure any dealership could have handled it.

p.s., Gary Benson @ Santa Monica has been very helpful and worked hard to get things done for me. I am NOT admonishing Santa Monica at ALL. However, I feel like for my specific needs, I want to try to find a dealership that is more adept to servicing the FRS specifically. When I took my car in for an oil change... they told me they haven't worked on many PERIOD, so I half-heartedly understand. I wish there was specific training for the FRS, but I know I'm asking too much there.

I am planning to go get my car service this weekend as well as get few of the recall issue fix.

Do I need to print out the TSB when taking my car in? Will they know what I am talking about?

If its a recall no. If its a TSB yes.

Anyone knows dealer that are mod friendly? Will they reject my service because I have exhaust

still looking for subaru dealer

srsly
especially now that i think i just got the crickets. . .

Rancho Santa Margarita Toyota/Scion has been good in my experience

Subaru dealer you guys go to?

South Coast Subaru is garbage...

My window is making a very loud squeel when I roll it up and down and want to get it fixed. There is also another blemish on my passanger side window and it needs to be replaced. I also just got crickets, but I guess I can live with that until there is a real fix