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Best and WORST Dealer in Socal

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by problemchild, Apr 21, 2008.

  1. problemchild

    problemchild New Member

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    First the best and worst. Next the why.

    Worst= Power (any power dealer) But power Cerritos is one of the 3 I visted/called and all 3 were HORRIBLE TYPICAL SCAM ARTIST CAR SALEMAN.

    Best= Longo Toyota

    The why....

    If the word "Power is before Toyota ------>RUN!
    They are simply the worst low budget scam artists on the planet. I wont go into great detail but they cant answer a simple question. They play lots of games. They LIE to you. The dont tell the truth. They make things up if they dont know. They are quite simply the worst dealers on the planet. The salesman remind me of Tijuana bar flys.

    Now for the opposite end of the spectrum. Longo Toyota El Monte. The place is HUGE. The people are professional. They tell you the truth. They don't lie to you. They are honest. The salesman are friendly. The dealership is broken down into different departments (sales, marketing, internet, finance, etc). They have a subway sandwich shop and a starbucks coffee inside the dealership. The service bay is 5 lanes wide with no less then 25 service writers. They have a multi-story parking lot filled with new cars.

    After getting severely abused by the scum bags at Power I called Longo to see if they could answer the simple question Power could not do in 1 hour. I asked for finance while driving over and asked what the best interest rate was on a new prius. They told me if I came in they would get it for me in 5 minutes. I did and they did. I got a 5.5 rate for 5 years. I also got the Prius touring 6 leather for 4 hundred over invoice. No other dealer I called could match that rate and price as a pair.

    I was assigned to Joe Daye in marketing who helped me without question. He was kind and very patient. I told him I wanted to think it over for 24 hours and he was absolutely fine with that. No pressure was ever dumped on me by Joe or anyone else at the dealership. The second day after the test drive I told Joe I wanted to get lunch and talk to my wife. Again Joe said that was fine by him. After discussing it with my wife we went ahead and bought the car. Joe had the whole deal done in about 30 minutes. Longo Toyota is the most professional Car dealership I have ever seen. Its actually more professional then most large corporations.

    If you looking for a new car I highly suggest you take a look at Longo. I would also suggest you talk to Joe Daye.
     
  2. Grocked

    Grocked Green Patriot

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    Let me tell you something, ALL dealers are scumbags! I'm referring to the entity that is......"the dealership". They're ALL sleeze bags. That's about the truest thing I can tell you. It takes a special someone to answer that calling in life.

    Now, within a "dealership" I admit there may.........occasionally..........exist a few "okay" people. BUT, in general these people are some of the lowest forms of life. That being said, there are a few places I recommend.

    First, when you walk into any "dealership" you walk right past the sales department lemmings and straight into the internet sales department. When you enter the internet sales department you ask for the FLEET MANAGER. Negotiate ONLY with this person from start to finish. Dealing with anyone else will assure you getting painfully ripped off.

    Remember: Demand at LEAST $100 under "invoice" and no more than a 5% interest rate (if financing). Make them throw in all the little extras like floor mats, wheel locks, first aid kits, cargo nets, Ginsu knives and other :wub: favors befitting their moral ineptitude. (just kidding about the Ginsu knives)


    And, MOST IMPORTANT: If a manager ever goes back on ANY verbal offer, call the OWNER of the dealership and tell him you were lied to by a sales manager. You will put the fear of god in that manager.

    WORST DEALERS:
    Miller Toyota in Culver City (true scumbags)
    Hollywood Toyota
    Marina Del Rey Toyota
    Norwalk Toyota

    BEST DEALERS:
    Toyota Of Santa Monica
     
  3. Grocked

    Grocked Green Patriot

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    Remember, you're there to buy a car not to leave a $2000.00 tip!
     
  4. KandyRedCoi

    KandyRedCoi S is for Super!

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    its hard to say the "dealer" is bad, cus it all depends on the salesperson you end up with...there are good ones and there are bad ones, no matter what dealership you go to

    as far as a salespersons knowledge, well thats also tough, its their job so they should now the ins and outs of their products, but in the light of trying to not get ripped off, you should do your homework on the particular car you are interested in as far as, pricing, trim options, warranty, special promotions etc.

    if you do your homework, its very hard for you to walk out of a delarship feeling like you've been ripped off

    ive had experiences with both Longo and Power Toyota in Cerritos and they are both good, and worth a mention is Tustin toyota as well, i found that they had the best price here in SoCal but they didnt have the prius i wanted
     
  5. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    I have to say that when I bought my 2008 3 weeks ago, I ended up at North Hollywood Toyota. Eric Golder was my sales rep and what a nice salesman he was!!! Not pushy, friendly, and my wife and I felt most comfortable in dealing with him!!!

    Its all subjective....

    I do love the car!!

    Thats what counts!

    73 de Pat KK6PD
     
  6. Jasper2k

    Jasper2k From HEMI to Prius

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    +1 for the El Monte boys from Penske! First time in all my car buying history that I completely avoided F&I, signed the papers at the salesman's desk on a Sunday afternoon, and I was out the door. I, like problemchild, test drove and left, wanting time to think it over and sleep on it. I got NO pressure, no "let me get the manager over here and see what we need to do to put you in this car today" crap, etc. etc. I felt less like a "mark" than at any other dealer I've ever been to. Kept looking for and waiting for the usual old school dealer tricks... never happened.

    Now if Roger would just buy Power... :)

    Oh yeah, and my seat rails are still too short, maybe we could weld up some... never mind.... ;)
     
  7. Barcelona Red Lass

    Barcelona Red Lass Sips gas like fine wine!

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    We ended up at Puente Hills Toyota. They were very nice to us and even though they couldn't get us the prii in our #1 color choice we did get choice #2 and they have been terrific with the servicing.

    When its time to replace my Inifiti with our second Prii, I'll definitely go back to them.
     
  8. mrblaise

    mrblaise Go Lakers!!

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    I bought my Prius from Toyota of Oxnard. It was a great experience from the Salesperson on down. No hassles, no pressure selling, etc. I'd recommend them to anyone & everyone.
     
  9. jdonalds

    jdonalds Active Member

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    I can't speak for the best but Thousand Oaks Toyota has a bad reputation for ripping people off in the service department and I ran into high pressure sales when searching for a Prius. I once took my mother-in-laws Toyota there and they tried to charge me $300 to fix something that later cost me $10 and 1/2 hour of my own time.

    We bought our 2008 package 2 at DCH Toyota in Simi Valley and they dragged us through a three hour buying process while we negotiated the price - a grueling procedure that I hate. I walked in with a price I was willing to pay, they had the car and we didn't even need to test drive so we sat right down. They did the salesman to manager to salesman thing for the next 2 1/2 hours until they finally came down to our price. I won't buy there again.

    I had the 5,000 mile service done at the Oxnard DCH Toyota which was just OK. I'd give them 4 stars out of 5. When we did a test drive at this dealer earlier we didn't run into pressure tactics but then they didn't have the color and package we wanted so we didn't enter into a purchase process so I can't speak for the purchase experience.