We drove all the way from Riverside down to Temecula because we were interested in a Prius. We called before we drove down to make sure the car we'd seen online was still there, Marcos assured us it was so we began our trek, and about 15 minute later got a call from him apologizing that actually the car had been sold that morning. But Marcos assured us there were other similar Prius' on the lot and he would make a visit worth the trip, so we pressed on. We ended up buying a Prius after a test drive and it passing the backseat/carseat tests, and we are happy with our purchase.
I'll start with the positives: Marcos was great. He worked hard, really earned the sale, and even rode with us all the way back to Riverside because we'd foolishly thought we wouldn't buy a car and left our trade-in vehicle at the house. The trade-in vehicle was in my Mother-In-Law's name and she had agreed over the phone several days prior and also that afternoon to sign it over. She met us at the house and proceeded to try to bribe Marcos with a check for the trade in amount and some fake sob story over it being her first car (lies) and a relative in Mexico desperately needing the car. Quite frankly, we were all blindsided by her emotional manipulation (did I mention the water works?!), and it was 10pm on a Friday night already. Marcos remained calm and did not give in to her antics, getting her to sign the paperwork, and then even fielding off another attempt from the MIL as he tried to drive away. He earned massive respect in our books for holding out and being uber nice!
Negatives: 1) it took FOREVER. We were at the dealership for 5 hours. We had decided to buy the car within the first 30-45 minutes. Why on earth it took that long, (with us having to wait in the lobby/office areas as they debated rates and trade-in values in some secret place) I have no idea but quite frankly it was ridiculous, and the place didn't even seem that busy. I mean popcorn is nice and all, but I'd rather have my time. We told them that we had weekend plans in the mountains and almost missed our b&b reservation to buy the car.
2) When prepping the car for the sale, some idiot took off the information paper with a razor blade. I mean seriously, the paper itself that the DEALER puts on the car says DO NOT REMOVE WITH SHARP OBJECTS OR RAZORS. And they can't follow their own freaking directions. I would expect this of some unsupervised high schooler, not a well-known dealership. As it was after 9p before we even saw the car to drive home, we didn't see the damage done to the window tinting until daylight. We called on Sunday March 27th and left a message. We waited over a week and got no answer. We called again yesterday (April 5) and when we finally reached someone on the phone about it, they told us we had to come all the way back to Temecula the next day to get it fixed. So my husband and our 5 year old daughter went down today right after breakfast, only to be told they we didn't have an appointment. We were told to come down today to get it taken care of! Nobody said anything about an appointment.They said they could get it done by 5p and offered him a rental car. Did I mention we live over an hour away? We were not making the drive there and back yet again for something that was entirely their fault. Do you think they offered to pay our gas? Heck no. They then promised my husband the car would be finished by 3p since he had class that evening in Riverside at 6p, and then the shuttle dropped him and our child off at the local mall, where they spent FIVE HOURS twiddling their thumbs. Have you ever tried to stay in one place for 5 hours with a young child?! My husband called several times to find out if it was done or not. They finally finished with the window tinting about 3:30, but the shuttle did not come until after 4, and then they were not able to leave the service department until nearly 4:30ish. My daughter missed her 5 o'clock dance class and my husband nearly missed his 6 o'clock class all because they couldn't get their act together. We still love the car and still think Marcos did a great job with the sale, but the rest of our experience has been terrible. CHECK YOUR WINDOWS BEFORE YOU DRIVE OFF THE LOT! read more