[demosthenes]

I've been helping friends buy cars for decades. As a result, I've gotten to know many dealerships in the SF Bay Area. And as an avid reader of e90post.com, I've read many posts about dealerships, most of which are negative.

Dealerships are like people, some are good and some are bad. Some will be honest and fair with you; others won't. Some know how to detail a car; others will swirl mark it to death. Some know how to repair cars; others will actually make them worse. And some believe in win-win relationships and others couldn't care less about you. I've run across ALL these extremes. I could tell you stories....

I just had a great experience with Sonnen BMW in San Rafael. I knew I had a great salesman, John Daniel, when an elderly relative bought a 3 series from him a few years ago. I helped with the transaction. My relative is a great guy, but he can be difficult to do business with. John always treated him with respect, even when he required special attention. He was always straight with him, he was open and he was honest, even though there was very little money in it for him because he gave him a great deal.

So when it came time to buy my BMW, I went to see John. He's a seasoned professional that does his job very well and I trust him. I like his no nonsense approach to doing business and knowing that if a customer does something outrageous, John won't put up with it. We agreed on price, I test drove a 328 and a 335, decided on a 328, picked colors and equipment and ordered the car a few days later. He never pressured me in any way. When I wanted to change my order, John did it willingly.

When I picked up the car yesterday, it looked perfect! And as most of you know, black is a tough color to deal with.

And dealing with Danielle Burger in Finance was also a pleasure. She explained extended warranties, extended service, paint/interior protection and tire protection. When we showed no interest, she didn't try to pressure us. It wouldn't have worked.

I haven't tried the service department yet, but I expect it to be great too.

Please keep in mind that this description represents my experience with two car purchases with one person at one dealership. Your experience may vary. And you might be looking for different things. Some people have to shave every last dollar and others have to see the sales staff sweat. I wanted a good deal and for the dealer to make a reasonable profit and that's what I got.

[NZAB]

Danny Andrade at Concord BMW is great.

Nima

[PAKMAN]

eastbay, peterpan, weatherford, mountain view.

dont go to Fremont, stevens creek,

[Joonsup]

Originally Posted by koreanGANGSTAbullet

eastbay, peterpan, weatherford, mountain view.

dont go to Fremont, stevens creek,

+1 on stevens creek. don't go there. they are tight, stingy bastards.

[silversurfer]

I recently bought my car from Jason Lau @ Peter Pan BMW. Peter Pan itself has bit of a bad reputation, but Jason is trying to fix that one customer at a time. Highly recommend Jason for anyone shopping for a bimmer near the peninsula.

Stevens Creek was a waste of time. 30 minutes on the lot and not a single person came up asking if I needed help.

[evoi19]

I think my next car i'll order through internet sales. Easy to deal with especially if you know what you want.

In terms of service, I'd stay away from Berkeley. They've done me wrong twice and will not go back there.

East Bay BMW is extremely helpful and are one of the most mod friendly dealerships i know of here. Most of the techs and SA's have mods to their cars including procede!

[mgl]

sonnen was great for me too!
I did ED and eventho another dealership offered me a better price (by like $200), i went to sonnen. $200 for piece of mind that everything will be right when i arrived in munich is worth it IMO.

[shragon]

tony leyva at mountain view bmw. he's one of the internet sales managers there. total no bs and very easy going.

[Joonsup]

Originally Posted by evo119

I think my next car i'll order through internet sales. Easy to deal with especially if you know what you want.

In terms of service, I'd stay away from Berkeley. They've done me wrong twice and will not go back there.

East Bay BMW is extremely helpful and are one of the most mod friendly dealerships i know of here. Most of the techs and SA's have mods to their cars including procede!

+1 fuk berkeley bmw. made me drive over an hour in traffic from san jose only to have told me the wrong info on the phone prior to going there. And on top of that they didnt even budge on the price AT ALL. And this was a few months before the 08s were going to come out. idiots

[aob]

I recently purchased from Peter Pan. Got a decent deal, but primarily went there for the service. I bought my previous BMW through another dealer - but took it to Peter Pan for service, and they always treated me great. Especially Kenny. Always got a nice BMW loaner, which sometimes only goes to the people who bought from them originally.

I figure you deal with the sales guys only a handful of times - but the relationship you have on the service side is key.

[jay spec]

Originally Posted by aob

I recently purchased from Peter Pan. Got a decent deal, but primarily went there for the service. I bought my previous BMW through another dealer - but took it to Peter Pan for service, and they always treated me great. Especially Kenny. Always got a nice BMW loaner, which sometimes only goes to the people who bought from them originally.

I figure you deal with the sales guys only a handful of times - but the relationship you have on the service side is key.

interesting. i was under the impression peter pan bmw didn't give out loaners, let alone bmw loaners. how long was your car in for service each time?

[garyc242]

Originally Posted by koreanGANGSTAbullet

eastbay, peterpan, weatherford, mountain view.

dont go to Fremont, stevens creek,

I would never go back to weatherford. Their SAs Roberto Roy and Ali are both shady individuals. They pissed me off so bad, I canceled my order with them and placed my order with Fremont BMW.

[bcbimmer]

I would never go back to weatherford. Their SAs Roberto Roy and Ali are both shady individuals.

+1000

I ordered an 2007 E92 in October of 2007. I did everything over the internet and by phone. Though the car was a new model, Roberto gave me invoice pricing, so I ordered the car. I waited 2 months for the car to arrive, but he never returned any of my calls to discuss/nail down the lease cost during this time. This should have been a red flag, but I convinced myself that everything would be fine.

When I went to pick up the car, the lease paperwork was presented to me. They were trying to charge me more than DOUBLE the base money factor, which translated into $200 more per month than my calculations (using this board and leaseguide.com). I have excellent credit so I was extremely surpised. The only explanation I received was that was the numbers that BMW Finance provided to them for me. I asked if there was anyone I could speak to, but he just gave me the 800# for BMW Finance. Since it was nearing 8 PM Pacific time, there was no one at BMW Finance to answer the phone and talk to.

So he gave me three options. Purchase the car at the negotiated price, lease it as per the numbers he provided or walk away. He made sure to tell me that if I walked away and changed my mind the next morning that negotiations would start all over again - in other words forget the invoice pricing. I left. No car was worth getting totally screwed.

My guess is he had another buyer for the car at a higher price or management got upset that he gave me such a low price. Either way, it was total crap and unprofessional. I will never give my business to, nor recommend them because of this.

And yes, I should have been more forceful to nail down the lease cost earlier, but I did confirm the next day with several other dealers what the money factor was and my numbers were right. Something shady was going on for sure.

[SpecC]

Originally Posted by aob

I recently purchased from Peter Pan. Got a decent deal, but primarily went there for the service. I bought my previous BMW through another dealer - but took it to Peter Pan for service, and they always treated me great. Especially Kenny. Always got a nice BMW loaner, which sometimes only goes to the people who bought from them originally.

I figure you deal with the sales guys only a handful of times - but the relationship you have on the service side is key.

+1 for peter pan

purchased car from victor

SA is Kenny and he treats my family very well. he is pretty cool too! i_taylor says he drives a sweeeeet NSX

[vladinecko]

as you can see from this thread, LaMar Bias of Concord BMW is one of the top notch sales advisors in the Bay Area. Period.

[ac328]

I just got a 335i Alpine White coupe from Lonnie Cunningham at Bmw of Concord the service and ppl are great. Another dealership I would recommend is Grace Wong at Weatherford where I got my Z4 3.0si.

[335iFab]

+1 on the Fremont Dealership, stingy bastards. my offer was only 500 different from theres and they wouldn't budge

and as for peter pan, they are great for everything in general, except for i guess selection of cars on hand