Central CA, SoCal & Los Angeles Area Dealers: Any Recommendations?

[DevinB]

Maybe it's CV19, maybe it's me lol, or maybe it's just how things are done in CA (previous cars purchased in Midwest and on East Coast)...but...after contacting 6, SIX, dealers for quotes on a factory order...all SIX quotes are for the EXACT same % of Invoice/MSRP...just vary a bit on some options that they say they could or could-not select. And some of these dealerships are 100's of miles apart. Some good ole' 'collusion' afoot lol, or just a gentlemen's agreement. And most won't contact me back a 2nd time, and sound like they could care less about my inquiry. Don't read my whole email about my choices. Some don't understand the ordering system well enough to order exactly what others already did. Zero ****'s given. Either they don't want to sell cars right now, or they make enough $ with walk-ins where it's not worth their time to deal with price-shoppers over email/phone only right now. Think I'll need to look out-of-state starting with Nevada or even further with a fly-and-buy maybe. I live close to the Lancaster/Palmdale area and work near Thousand Oaks and a few other areas around the LA area.

Anyone got any suggestions before I give up on CA?

Thanks,

Devin

 

[MattZ]

I’m in a similar situation with trying to order a limited, called and emailed numerous dealers near where I live in Temecula and around where I work in San Diego. It took a few days but the best response and most helpful guy I dealt with was the Temecula dealer. But the most I’m getting as far as negotiating with them seems to be the tread lightly discount. No one really wants to offer more. I think it’s a combination of low stock and short staff. This is my first vehicle ever ordered so I don’t have all that much experience with it but I think it should go a little smoother and cheaper.

 

[DevinB]

yep. All 6 of my offers are at or extremely close to invoice (about 92% of MSRP). Some add 1k or so and then promise a rebate...and some are slightly over or under Invoice. But for all intents and purposes, nearly the same quote +/- a few hundred bucks. Guess it doesn't matter where in CA I buy....extremely funny how tight-knit the seller market is here over such huge distances (4 hour+ drives). They're just not dealing AT.ALL. with calls and emails...seems like it would be the opposite with the current situation. Almost certainly buying out-of-state now.

 

[flyfingers]

I went through the same thing you guys are so I took it to the next level and spent the better part of a week driving around and walking into 7 or so dealerships thinking that perhaps it would show that I was serious. Every one of them immediately took me for a tour around the lot to see if something they had in stock would meet my want list - total time waster. Once I got them back inside and priced out my build sheet, none of them came off invoice + incentives. I ended up searching every day for about 3 weeks online. I pulled up a map of every Ram dealer in Ca. and then went to each individual website scrolling endlessly for a truck that had everything I wanted. Took some time no doubt but it paid off as I finally found one just a few hours from me. 24 hrs later I had it on the trailer headed home.
One gal pretty much told me that they don't need to discount trucks right now simply due to supply and demand plain and simple and after perusing dealer inventory throughout the state, I would agree.

 

[brian42]

I bought mine from Cerritos CDJR (https://www.cerritosdodge.com/).

I couldn't find what I wanted "down here" in San Diego so expanded my search to the L.A. basin. Found the truck I wanted at Cerritos and went through the internet sales group to negotiate the price. They were pretty much no-nonsense and gave me the best price in just a couple of text exchanges.

I went up there to get the truck (250 miles round trip). Fairly typical in-person salesman interactions but they were nice and not too pushy. I tried to negotiate a better price since my internet salesperson was out that day and I couldn't, in fact they wouldn't even go as low as the quote I got from my internet salesperson. I showed them the quote and then they said "we can do that".

Financing was no-nonsense. In and out pretty quick and there were no "hidden" or "required" fees other than the doc fees. Asked me if I wanted some extras, I declined, and we moved on without any fuss.

I would recommend giving Cerritos CDJR a shot. I also highly recommend going through the internet sales staff as they will probably give you the best price (find a truck on the website and click on the Request Pricing tab).

 

[db252]

We always start our search for whatever we look at buying in CA since we live in the Bay Area but in regards to the price on the ‘21 Ram, they were stupid. Our local dealers had markups to $4000 on Limited‘s that we test drove. We knew we were going to order since I couldn’t find exactly the setup we were looking for, even nationwide (details in sig) so order locations was the next bet and this site was instrumental in helping us find that. We looked at several areas close to CA but nothing was close to the deal we got without negotiating from Aaron at Mark Dodge in Louisiana. Since ordering, yes we were going to loose Employee Pricing but their discount before any incentives and rebates was below employee pricing and we will still get what’s available when the truck arrives. Even if I decide to have the truck shipped here after it arrives, we will still be saving in the high thousands. Mark Dodge fees are literally only $219......nothing more. Be careful of Nevada; one dealership was offering best prices nationwide but had huge nonnegotiable markups that included gps tracking, paint protection, undercarriage protection, nitrogen in tires, etc. Their quote didn’t even have employee pricing that was valid at the time for a truck they had on their lot.
Best of luck on your search.

 

[DevinB]

Thanks all for the replies. Most CA dealers I dealt with didn't have their **** together, didn't know how to use their ordering system to order what I wanted (except for 2), and the ones that did know to correctly configure the truck weren't really interested in factory orders enough to work with the price.

So I went out-of-state like db252. Per recommendations on this forum, I checked out Dennis Dillon in Caldwell, ID. They crushed all the CA offers, and more-than-offset the cost for me to drive or fly for pickup (10 hrs away from me). And easy to deal with and still responsive in these business-challenging CV19 times. Would highly recommend based off of my experiences so far.

Order placed a few days ago, and have my VON and VIN. ETA 11-14 weeks. Let the waiting begin.

 

[Cupped_up]

So when you get the truck, what process/paperwork do you need to do back in CA as far as registration etc? I’m in CA and am looking out of state as well.

 

[db252]

Not sure how it is at every dealer but Aaron at Mark Dodge would sell it to us with or without tax applied and the same for licensing. I've done it differently with past out of state purchases which means if you don't add the tax and licensing, you'll have to go to the DMV and pay the taxes based on your zip code and licensing/registration fees. As it were with the current Covid crap, DMV appointments are nearly impossible to setup here in CA so this time I've elected to have them do the taxing and licensing which they have no problem with. Ultimately just check if the dealer you're working with can/will do it.

 

[4wdyogi]

Hoblit Dodge in the Central Valley said they would go $1500 under invoice, but when I pressed him further, he said he "Wasn't gonna play stupid car dealer games" and refused to talk any more to me.
I wrote and spoke to someone at Dennis Dillon, they required a 3-5 thousand dollar, non refundable, deposit. Said I could only put down between 10k or 20%, the rest had to be financed through them. If I chose not to finance through them, they would add 2k to the deal. Since she said I have to pay 6 mos. on the loan, that is a little more than $1200 at 4.5% interest.
This was for an ordered truck.
Truck price Msrp 70,800, their offer, 62,383. Plus I had to help her with the order because she left some stuff off.
Not very impressed with Dennis Dillon
Bud Clary seems to have a better price, just quite a bit further drive.

 

[DevinB]

So when you get the truck, what process/paperwork do you need to do back in CA as far as registration etc? I’m in CA and am looking out of state as well.

As db252 said, Dennis Dillon is doing that for me.

 

[DevinB]

Hoblit Dodge in the Central Valley said they would go $1500 under invoice, but when I pressed him further, he said he "Wasn't gonna play stupid car dealer games" and refused to talk any more to me.
I wrote and spoke to someone at Dennis Dillon, they required a 3-5 thousand dollar, non refundable, deposit. Said I could only put down between 10k or 20%, the rest had to be financed through them. If I chose not to finance through them, they would add 2k to the deal. Since she said I have to pay 6 mos. on the loan, that is a little more than $1200 at 4.5% interest.
This was for an ordered truck.
Truck price Msrp 70,800, their offer, 62,383. Plus I had to help her with the order because she left some stuff off.
Not very impressed with Dennis Dillon
Bud Clary seems to have a better price, just quite a bit further drive.

yogi, Yep I put 3k down on the order and, yes, if I want their 2k incentive I have to finance with Chrysler for 6 months before paying off or refinancing. That's how FCA can pay them 2k or more/less because FCA is guaranteed 6 months of front-loaded pure-interest payments that MORE than makes up for the 2k But even my 2k higher price was much better than anything in CA and I may well finance with Chrysler if they have a stupid-low or 0% APR deal going on at the time. If I don't go that route, I'll probably put down half the cost and finance the remainder via my credit union. I was happy to be done with hunting, and based on my experience at least, I'd recommend Dennis Dillon to friends.

Where is Bud Clary?

 

[4wdyogi]

Phillip Olson was the sales guy and they actually quoted me $62,500. Fee layout of 150 for doc fees plus a $45 trip permit fee to get you back into Ca. So his price is better for me but it's a little longer drive. They are in Auburn Wa.
Aaron at Mark dodge is good also but I'd rather not have to ship it though and that's quite a drive