b0yw0nder
08-09-2005, 08:26 PM
i've been on norcalevo.com since a couple months after I moved to California. (since October/November or so)
The forum was a great wealth of knowledge and eventually led me to my purchase about 2 months ago.
SHORT VERSION
Don't bother looking for a car in the south bay, drive to san rafael, talk to Chris or Snorre. They will help you out with financing, insurance, a good deal and will follow up with good service.
When looking for a way to protect your investment. Jeremy at invisiguard is the guy to go to. Good price and great service. (He went out to san rafael and installed my clear bra before it left the showroom floor) Even better....I asked him about some little touchups, before I even ASKED him at the Gruppe-S meet, they were already done. Cooks a mean burger too.
LONG VERSION BELOW
So you might say...why was he on here in december and didn't buy till like June? Well, moving countries, your credit doesn't follow you...0 credit meant ridiculous loan rates and high downpayments. Took me awhile to get that downpayment cause I was still having to put money into my Grand Prix and buy furniture and stuff.
When I finally had a downpayment, I headed out to the dealerships and started contacting the internet fleet managers. Keeping it simple, Stevens Creek was the first dealership I visited, the first time I visited they had an MR they were willing to let go for MSRP (instead of the 7-8K over MSRP Sticker)....but I passed on that. The next time I visited them they said there was no way to finance me and there was no way they would let it go for less than MSRP. Another strike against them was that they wouldn't let me drive until I was fully financed and they wouldn't even take me for a ride. Eric seems like a nice/honest salesman though.
At the same time I was talking with the internet fleet manager at Capitol. He made a really good offer and I decided to go down and look because he promised he'd let me drive an EVO. He was busy so I decided to talk to one of their salesmen. (You're not just buying a car, but you're buying something from them as a whole......slimey salesmen probably means bad service in the end) The guy was decently intelligent but couldn't produce any tangible differences between the STi and EVO. Once we talked price, I knew he was off his rocker. They wanted several thousand over MSRP. When I said I already had a quote for 500 over invoice he said that is impossible. He brought the manager over and he explained they were the "kings of the EVO" cause they had so many. (About 15 at the time) My parting comment was "good luck with getting rid of the inventory at those prices".
Sometime in here, I actually went to the dealership off 80 and was told to leave the dealership when I asked why a regular EVO had a 5K increase over MSRP for "dealer added options". The dealer added options didn't actually exist and I was told it was due to "supply and demand". Needless to say, I asked too many questions and was told to leave.
Lastly, in December or so, I followed a lead here and talked to Snorre at San Rafael. A little caught off guard at first, but he helped me as much as he could. At that time, I really couldn't afford the car or downpayment and I think he had written me off. A few months later, I was back, ready to go and he passed me off to his associate Chris. Chris back breakingly looked for banks that would get me the money and in the end find me money. Actually...he had to do thise twice cause at one point I had to faulter again. EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY.....there was no haggling required, I made my offer, he accepted. I told him I needed to drive an EVO, he said come on up. Drove the evo and the deal was done. Chose the color I wanted and he spent the time to get it ordered right from the factory. (The subaru dealership up there was cool too, they let me go and test drive an STi with only 4 miles so that I could compare back to back...both of these "bastards" tried hooking me by taking me up mountain roads) Chris even came and picked me up at the train station in san francisco so that I could drive my car home from san rafael to mountain view without having to have someone else drive up there with me.
I also knew I wanted to protect my investment. I looked around on here for clear bra places and came across Jeremy at Invisiguard. He had a good price and he was mobile. Being mobile, he was actually able to go up to San Rafael and install my clear bra before the car even hit the road. He even followed up a couple months later at the Gruppe-S show. I had e-mailed him about some small marks I made with my shoe and a corner that had become "unstuck". Before I even asked him, he'd hunted down my car and fixed them. He cooked up some mean burgers at Gruppe-S....
Anyways...thats my story......look forward to getting to know the EVO and the people here.
The forum was a great wealth of knowledge and eventually led me to my purchase about 2 months ago.
SHORT VERSION
Don't bother looking for a car in the south bay, drive to san rafael, talk to Chris or Snorre. They will help you out with financing, insurance, a good deal and will follow up with good service.
When looking for a way to protect your investment. Jeremy at invisiguard is the guy to go to. Good price and great service. (He went out to san rafael and installed my clear bra before it left the showroom floor) Even better....I asked him about some little touchups, before I even ASKED him at the Gruppe-S meet, they were already done. Cooks a mean burger too.
LONG VERSION BELOW
So you might say...why was he on here in december and didn't buy till like June? Well, moving countries, your credit doesn't follow you...0 credit meant ridiculous loan rates and high downpayments. Took me awhile to get that downpayment cause I was still having to put money into my Grand Prix and buy furniture and stuff.
When I finally had a downpayment, I headed out to the dealerships and started contacting the internet fleet managers. Keeping it simple, Stevens Creek was the first dealership I visited, the first time I visited they had an MR they were willing to let go for MSRP (instead of the 7-8K over MSRP Sticker)....but I passed on that. The next time I visited them they said there was no way to finance me and there was no way they would let it go for less than MSRP. Another strike against them was that they wouldn't let me drive until I was fully financed and they wouldn't even take me for a ride. Eric seems like a nice/honest salesman though.
At the same time I was talking with the internet fleet manager at Capitol. He made a really good offer and I decided to go down and look because he promised he'd let me drive an EVO. He was busy so I decided to talk to one of their salesmen. (You're not just buying a car, but you're buying something from them as a whole......slimey salesmen probably means bad service in the end) The guy was decently intelligent but couldn't produce any tangible differences between the STi and EVO. Once we talked price, I knew he was off his rocker. They wanted several thousand over MSRP. When I said I already had a quote for 500 over invoice he said that is impossible. He brought the manager over and he explained they were the "kings of the EVO" cause they had so many. (About 15 at the time) My parting comment was "good luck with getting rid of the inventory at those prices".
Sometime in here, I actually went to the dealership off 80 and was told to leave the dealership when I asked why a regular EVO had a 5K increase over MSRP for "dealer added options". The dealer added options didn't actually exist and I was told it was due to "supply and demand". Needless to say, I asked too many questions and was told to leave.
Lastly, in December or so, I followed a lead here and talked to Snorre at San Rafael. A little caught off guard at first, but he helped me as much as he could. At that time, I really couldn't afford the car or downpayment and I think he had written me off. A few months later, I was back, ready to go and he passed me off to his associate Chris. Chris back breakingly looked for banks that would get me the money and in the end find me money. Actually...he had to do thise twice cause at one point I had to faulter again. EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY.....there was no haggling required, I made my offer, he accepted. I told him I needed to drive an EVO, he said come on up. Drove the evo and the deal was done. Chose the color I wanted and he spent the time to get it ordered right from the factory. (The subaru dealership up there was cool too, they let me go and test drive an STi with only 4 miles so that I could compare back to back...both of these "bastards" tried hooking me by taking me up mountain roads) Chris even came and picked me up at the train station in san francisco so that I could drive my car home from san rafael to mountain view without having to have someone else drive up there with me.
I also knew I wanted to protect my investment. I looked around on here for clear bra places and came across Jeremy at Invisiguard. He had a good price and he was mobile. Being mobile, he was actually able to go up to San Rafael and install my clear bra before the car even hit the road. He even followed up a couple months later at the Gruppe-S show. I had e-mailed him about some small marks I made with my shoe and a corner that had become "unstuck". Before I even asked him, he'd hunted down my car and fixed them. He cooked up some mean burgers at Gruppe-S....
Anyways...thats my story......look forward to getting to know the EVO and the people here.