Precursor: this review is based solely off of a phone conversation, but it was a great conversation! I spoke with Dave (not Dale, although I've also spoken with Dale in a subsequent conversation, and he was also very helpful).
The main reasons I'm giving five stars: 1) even though I told him from the start that I was only doing research to purchase a vehicle for my Mom, Dave spent a good ten minutes very amiably talking to me; 2) more on this below, but when I asked him if he could give me a general comparison of how much it would cost to replace, say, an alternator on a Honda Civic vs. a late model, mid-range BMW, he actually DID--his estimate was that Civic costs would be approximately 2/3 - 3/4 of BMW costs; 3) when I told him that we would not likely use his repair services since my mom lives in San Jose, without missing a beat he said, "That's fine. Give us a call if you have any other questions." Amazing customer service!
My mom is looking at everything from basic, "boring" cars to used, mid-range luxury cars (Civic, Subaru, Lexus, Infiniti, Acura, and even BMW). The main point of my research was to figure out maintenance costs. When it comes to asking someone to make any sort of cost comparison of a service that is not straightforward, I almost never get an answer to my general comparison question because I think everyone is a) too annoyed to want to spend the time to help me out, and b) worried that I'll be one of those customers that later tells them that they promised me a specific price on something (even after I reassure them that I understand that their estimates are not something I can hold them to). I've run into this a LOT (let's just say I spend a fair amount of time researching my purchases, and I ask a lot of questions). The fact that Dave was willing to give me any sort of cost comparison was astounding, and the fact that he was willing to delve into what I should consider in my research was what prompted me to write this review.
Dave pointed out things such as the cost of new tires for luxury vehicles (i.e. run-flat tires cost about twice what standard tires cost, but you don't NEED to purchase run-flat tires); to consider the type of driving to be done and its effect on automatic transmissions (i.e. hilly driving is much worse than flat driving, and luxury vehicle auto transmissions are VERY expensive, whereas a Civic's auto transmission is just plain old expensive); that some luxury vehicles require synthetic oil, which significantly increases oil change costs; to consider the warranty on the vehicle; that the maintenance costs can potentially vary greatly from one year's model to the next, and partially related to that, he pointed out that once I target specific makes, models and years, I would benefit greatly from researching the quirks and customer reviews specific to those vehicles; and of course to consider if this is just a new car/toy, or if this is for a long-term investment.
I'd already considered the warranty issue, and I generally know that luxury cars cost a lot more to work on than something like a Civic. But, Dave gave me a much more concrete understanding of the costs, and he also pointed out maintenance issues that I hadn't even thought of (i.e. the new tire expenses; the differing maintenance costs of the different years' models). I never thought that researching a car for my mom would actually be ENJOYABLE, but Dave made it darn well close to that! Thanks a ton! read more
