Good Subaru dealer in Los Angeles area?

Renick Subaru in Fullerton..

You don't see a lot of Subaru's in So Cal. Spent about 10 day there this past winter and only saw 3-4 on the road and I drove several hundred freeway miles in that time. In the PNW I can see that many driving around town here and I live in a town of about 10k.

I would give thought to seeing if a dealer you are familar with could sell you a car and have delivery in So Cal like in the above mentioned dealer.

Mickey

Thanks for the replies, I'll check out the Fullerton suggestion. It is amazing how many Subarus you see in the Seattle area. I see on the Sub site there are 9 locations w/in 30 miles of Seattle, here in Columbus there are 3 locations representing 2 dealerships, neither of which I think much of (I actually went to one of these, Byers Subaru, when I bought my last new car in 2003. I wanted to test drive a WRX STI. The experience was so distasteful I went across town & bought an EVO that same day). There are 5 dealerships w/in 30 miles of the SF valley where my wife lives. An amazing fact, given the relative populations of Seattle & LA. If anyone else has more thoughts on this whole matter I'd like to hear them.

Thanks,

David

Can you refer me to a specific sales person?

Thanks

David

I meant to ask dr benway if he had a favorite sales person at Renick. For some reason google groups doesn't appear to have a quote mode so this may have been ambiguous in my last post...

Thanks

David

Try the Subaru dealer in 1000 Oaks. They sent a driver to pick me up at the airport. Very courteous.

Chris

I use Suby Specialties in Monrovia 626-358-4235 for repairs.

Also, consider

Cheers,

I don't know exactly what you mean by "a lot," but I see them regularly in Orange County. Frank's Irvine Subaru, in Lake Forest, is the 4th or 5th highest volume dealer in the US. That must mean something; for starters, there are just a lot of cars in the greater LA area, and it's not quite the same as trying to spot Subarus in Missoula, Montana, which I've done, where they are a high percentage of all (read: compared to LA, very few) cars you see.

Incidentally, I'd recommend Irvine Subaru--I've had good service experience there.

HW

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Car salesmen, much like sharks, can smell blood in the water. Any sign of weakness and you are lunch. Car salesmen are not your friends or buddies. Their job is to make as much money as possible off of you.

I've never used Carsdirect.com, but I have used the information on their site for the last three cars I've bought. Dealers are now so tired of internet information, that they may not even argue with you very much. You may decide to buy through Carsdirect.com or just use the information to cut a deal. Carsdirect is nationwide, so they may be able to help out your individual out of state situation.

Be careful to understand Destination Charge (usually around $500) on carsdirect.com. The first MSRP you see as you navigate the site (usually is lined out) is without Destination Charge. The next MSRP, on the page with Net Cost, has Destination Charge included. Just subtract the smaller from the larger MSRP to get the Destination Charge. The Net Cost includes Destination.

Subtract Destination Charge from Net Cost to get your "final fair offer" to the dealer. If they can't come close to this you may just want to go with Carsdirect.com (again, I've never used them, caveat emptor.)

Always bargain on price. Start below your final fair offer and expect to be bumped three times. Sit through the charade of "I'll have to see if my boss will accept this offer." They know making you impatient makes you lose your good judgment. When they come back after letting you stew say "I just love the peace and quiet here, I've never get so much reading done at work." Bump your offer $300, then $150 then $25. Obviously, you start $475 low. Never, ever, bargain on monthly payments. They just add another year to the payments and, violla, the price and profit just went way up. Bring a calculator with you if you must, and you tell them what the monthly payments are given amount financed, term (time) and interest rate. Car dealers can get the difference between the credit rate the bank will give you and the rate they can sell you on. Just say no. The frown I saw on the last salesman's face when I told him, to the penny, what the payments were, was priceless. I bought for cash in the end, anyway.

Offer to add in the Destination Charge separately. If the dealer says that the Destination Charge is included, be very, very careful they don't add it in again. This "accident" has happened four out of the last four times I bought a car. I missed it once. The dealers argued vehemently that they were right until they, belatedly, admitted they made a mistake.

Once you negotiate price, you are still in great peril. You now have to face the "Finance and Insurance" (F&I) guy. He will try to sell you the extended warranty, fabric protection, Teflon(R) paint coating, undercoating, death and casualty insurance (maybe "required" is you finance). There are always new gimmicks, just watch for them. Decide in advance what you want and stick to your guns.

The salesmen live in fear of not making sales commissions. The sales manager lives in fear of not selling enough cars to justify their salary (and commissions). The owner lives in fear of not making his overhead. They are the ones who should be in fear of you and you should be kicking their buts.

Just walk out if they offer you a bad deal. I've never had to walk out of more than two dealerships in order to buy a car at a decent price.

Good Luck

I didn't like them. They treated me like an idiot when I went in to look around. Of course...I am a woman and get that kind of reception a lot of places...none of which I deal with again.

I went to World Imports in at the Ontario auto mall. Not exactly in LA but not that far away. Dealt with a sales person named Sara... she was great even if the dealership seemed to have trouble with cash sales.

I also had a good experience with the sales staff at Timmons in Long Beach.

AG

Just don't send your wife in to see them.....friggin chauvinists

Thanks for the continued input on this, very helpful. I agree about the sales people being blood thirsty, I've bought a number of cars & have had pretty good luck getting a good deal; I'm afraid this situation just isn't going to be conducive to that. There's a good chance we will just buy the car outright, I know from past experience they'd prefer you finance through them so they can make $$$ on that too. I actually am considering putting the car on my rewards mastercard, paying it off on the next bill, so as to get the reward points. Anyone ever done this? I'm guessing they'll like that even less than a check...

David

"'Ive never used Carsdirect.com, but I have used the information on their site for the last three cars I've bought..."

Thanks for the tip, I'll check them out.

David

I had an OK experience with Big Valley Subaru in Van Nuys. They're all sleazy to some degree. Just come armed with info (invoice pricing, etc.) and you're fine. I traded in a Ford Fuckus and got way more in trade value than I thought it was worth (still reeked of brush fire, had problems with the brakes, hadn't been washed in god knows how long...still got above blue book). They have a decent inventory.

My boss does a lot of big ticket items that way. Call your credit card company ahead of time (don't tell them you plan on paying it right off) and ask for the name of someone at the company that the dealership can call to confirm the transaction. I had to wait

AG

Thanks for the reply. Because of the rewards I pay everything I can with this card, even utilities etc. I do always pay the card in full (have yet to pay a cent in interest), but a call ahead might not be a bad idea. My main concern is the dealer won't go for it since they'll have to pay MC a fee. The last new car I bought in 2003 I wrote a check; they called the bank & I drove the car home. I can see this varying by the dealer, however. In this case my wife would be paying, either with our card or from our checking; since she's the one who will pick it up in LA. Wouldn't hurt either way to make sure the financial institution in question got a heads up.

David

It is almost guaranteed that the dealer will not accept MC for the full value of the car. They may accept it for downpayment, but (unless you overpaid them a couple of thousands to begin with) there is no way they'll just throw away $500 (2.5% of $20,000) of their own profit.

Cheers,

I used my Chase Subaru MC card for 5K of my purchase, just to get the Subaru Bucks. They wouldn't go for more or multiple transactions.

Carl

I had a motorcycle dealer that got irate when I mentioned putting a motorcycle on my charge card being it had a better interest rate than they offered on the motorcycle. Started to call the credit card company to see how they felt about one of their members not wanting to accept their card. I ended up financing it through my credit union and giving them cash.

Blair