SoCal FRS/BRZ dealers to Avoid and buy from
 

We have a review's list of dealers to avoid according to the General FRS/BRZ forums but we don't have an organized list of which dealers to visit and which ones to buy from with reasons.

So to make it easier on those who are seeking to purchase the vehicle and want to find out who to talk with and what that dealership is rated at. I'm sure it will also help other buyers too.

To break down dealers I'll add their address and categories that we can choose from. From the name of the dealer to general ratings of the entire dealership. For the dealers we'll go by these ratings: helpfulness, knowledge of vehicle, "willing to go out of the way," personality, level of shady-ness, scumbag level (meaning if they threw in a +<insert stupid amount of mark-up>, and level of how much they keep in contact with you.

As for general dealership this involves how their general manager deals with you in person (if applicable), if they're community oriented, informed, overall helpful-ness, service, pricing on their vehicles and overall rating of how they treat you (from the front desk, to the finance guy, to the dealers and other workers).

Levels are graded on a 1-6 scale. 1 being the least and 6 being the most. A 7 will be given if they are absolutely flipping amazing.

Other categories will be rated in:
(1) - Fking Horrible
(2) - Poor
(3) - unsatisfactory
(4) - Ok-ish
(5) - Good
(6) - Great
(7) - Fking Amazing

Scumbag and Shady-ness ratings:
(1) Fking Scumbag/Fking Shady
(2) Scumbag/Shady
(3) Not a scumbag/shady

Multiple reviews of one place will be averaged and to prevent some dealers who are sneaky I'm going to only count reviews from members who have at least 30 post counts. Legitimate post counts--and when they joined the forum. Of course there are some other factors in there too.

(Use Ctrl+F to help ease your search)

South Coast Subaru
2925 A Harbor Blvd
Costa Mesa,CA 92626
714-689-2103

Irvine Power Toyota/Scion
9101 Research Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
949-287-8766
*Dealers*

Cindy Langlois (Fleet Manager)
Helpfulness: 3
Knowledge of Vehicle: 1
"Willing to go out of the way": 2
Personality: 4
Level of Shady-ness: 2
Scumbag Level: 2**; Management 4
Keeping you informed (contact) Level: 2

**NOTE: Cindy is actually very easy to talk to and work with but the Management team has decided to add $4000 worth of upgrades in the form of nondescript "upgraded spoiler and wheels", to bring the price of the FR-S up, making the overall dealership questionable in practice.


*Overall Dealership*
General Manager's helpfulness: 1
Community Oriented: 1
Informed: 1
Overall Helpfulness: 1
Service: n/a
Pricing on their Vehicle: 1
Overall treatment: 2

Kearny Mesa Scion
4910 Kearny Mesa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111
888-689-9292
*Dealers*

Richmond(Rich) Manas
Helpfulness: 6
Knowledge of Vehicle: 6
"Willing to go out of the way": 5
Personality: 4
Level of Shady-ness: 1
Scumbag Level: 1
Keeping you informed (contact) Level: 4


*Overall Dealership*
General Manager's helpfulness: n/a
Community Oriented: 5
Informed: 5
Overall Helpfulness: 4
Service: n/a
Pricing on their Vehicle: 5
Overall treatment: 5

Rich is an amazing guy and he earned my business within a few minutes on the phone. He's active on this forum so he is knows and understands the customer and what we want. Very helpful and answered all my questions. Doesn't BS and gives it to you straight and honest. I put my initial deposit down with him. Also working to get JDM/Import parts for the FR-S so he is truly plugged in and knows his stuff.

Thank you Ramen. :)

Put South Coast Subaru to the bottom because they just surprised a person with a 5k markup when they were going to pickup their preorder, when a couple of weeks ago, it was verified that they would pay MSRP. Also they posted that same car for sale on craigslist and another forum the day before informing the person who ordered the car that it was ready

South Coast Subaru
2925 A Harbor Blvd
Costa Mesa,CA 92626
714-689-2103
*Overall Dealership*
General Manager's helpfulness:Fking Horrible
Community Oriented:Fking Horrible
Informed:Fking Horrible
Overall Helpfulness:Fking Horrible
Service:Fking Horrible
Pricing on their Vehicle:Fking Horrible
Overall treatment:Fking Horrible

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...99579519_n.jpg

Btw, I wasn't sure about how to rate the 'shady-ness' and 'scumbag level'. I put low numbers to indicate that he was awesome, but I'm not sure if that follows the ratings above :)

Is there a particular dealer that you talked with?

Low numbers = bad.

High numbers = good. :)

Eddie Minjarez is the name and phone number on all the ads

just got an email from him
"No there is a mark up on these cars just like every other dealer. Fortunately we have the lowest mark up in the area the price for this car is 32,459. Is this somthing you would like to check out?"

my response
"Actually the dealer I ordered from has no markup and second this is the largest markup in the area yet. Renick no markup. Timmons $2000 markup. Puente Hills $3000 markup. MSRP w/ delivery $26,265. So this is a +$6000 markup. Is this tax, registration, all fees, and 0% APR then?"

I've been hearing this from some dealerships. They actually call one another to find out how much that dealership is marking it up to set some kind of standard around their area.

I actually like South Coast Subaru! I know the part manager...but when he told me about mark up prices I was suprise...thats why i'm going with Irvine subaru....sad but South Coast is ripping people off now...

I'm going to edit the scumbag and shadyness level to... 3 levels

Fking Scumbag, Scumbag, Not a scumbag.

Same with Shady-ness.

Fking Shady, shady and not shady. lol

Please edit my rating of Gene at Irvine Subaru to 3s for both, please.