I don't know about actually purchasing the car, but service at Carlsen is great! Always ask for Kevin to work on your car. he knows what he's doing. =]


-Yen

 

I went to Carlsen FIRST and didn't get a good experience and ended up going to Stevens Creek and bought my 2004 WRX wagon on the same day (you can search for my post about it if you want). My feeling for Carlsen was that they were very inflexible and my sales rep (Andrea or Andrew?) didn't seem to be interested in selling me a car.

Also, I went to Santa Cruz twice for service: once for my first oil change and the second time for the cruise control recall. Met Charlie Yeo there and he was very nice. Showed me a lot of stuff even he knew I just bought a car and wasn't a customer. I would have bought from him had I knew him earlier (this is when I don't mind paying a bit more for good service, unlike from my Carlsen experience).

 

I've heard great things about Santa Cruz, but I've always take my subies (my old '02 WRX and current '04 STi) to Carlsen for their excellent service (I live in the Tri-Valley!). To their credit, the salespeople at Carlsen are some of the friendliest and most helpful.

When it came to buying my cars, I've always been really short on cash, and I make a point to do all the haggling over the phone, fax over the credit app., etc. so that I spend only 15-20 minutes at the dealer before I'm gone with the car.

So I bought my '02 WRX at Albany Subaru from Mo, the head sales manager (nice guy) for invoice.

I bought my STi for a few hundred less than invoice from Green Valley Subaru in Fairfield, but I found that their sales staff (Brad Cross and James Sario) were dishonest, and I shoved and almost punched the crooked teeth out of Brad after he attempted to shove me.

Also the P.O.S. Finance Manager, Joe Bacca, was so dishonest that he tried to change the deal after everything was signed and I was off with the car.

Also, a big Thumbs-down to Ray Tirona (a.k.a. Broken Arrow) who informally works as a liason between Brad and James, and i-Club, for being an outright liar, and a phony.

Oh and to top it off, James, Brad, and Ray all tried REAL HARD to sell me into their pyramid scheme!!!! As if I could ****ing give a isht!!!!!!!

So it just goes to show, the best buying experience is a balance of a good deal and being treated well.

David

 

Andreas is alright, but Larry is cooler. I rap with him every time my car is in for service.

Everything I've heard of Charlie Yeo at Santa Cruz is that he's top notch.

 

[QUOTE=2004Wagon]I went to Carlsen FIRST and didn't get a good experience and ended up going to Stevens Creek and bought my 2004 WRX wagon on the same day (you can search for my post about it if you want). My feeling for Carlsen was that they were very inflexible and my sales rep (Andrea or Andrew?) didn't seem to be interested in selling me a car.
[QUOTE]
In regards to Carlsen it was explained to me over the phone prior to the purchase of my WRX "We are a no hassel, no pressure, volume dealer. We believe our cars sell themselves. Come on down take a look around. If you see something you like step inside and we'll talk." That sounded great to me. It was exactly that, very comfortable to walk around the lot, check things out, and come to a decision on my own. They were very interested in selling me the car once I decided I wanted to buy one. No pressure. Very cool:thumbsup

BTW Dahveed "I can't stop staring." Could you please change your AV so I can get some work done?LOL J/K

 

Well to me they were more expensive and the sales rep didn't show me why they were worthy for me to spend more buying from them.

I guess different stroke for different folks. Glad we all got the cars we like.

 

^^werd^^

 

I got my04 WRX wagon from Santa Cruz through Sandy. Got it for $100 below edmunds.com invoice price(which was on the dollar to their public book).
The buying process was about 2 hours for me but only because I had a boat load of questions and Sandy was very helpful.
There service is also top notch, knowledgable people, get free oil changes, free car rental durring services, and other random goodness that SC Subaru gives. They have displayed incredible customer service to me. =)

 

they all charge retail, but give u the 10% discount. A crush washer is $1 each, oil filters somewhere around $7, without the 10% discount.

 

Carlsen probably still has the take it or leave it price. They don't do negotiations.

 

Yeah Charlie Yeo and Sandy helped me with mine, really nice guys! Also, subaru is a little easier on the whole mod thing then some of the others.

 

If you go to Santa Cruz you won't be disappointed. The sale will probably take you around 20mins tops. You won't be taken for a ride on the price either. No hassle, friendly... I mean real friendly service. Try to set an appointment with Charlie, he is awesome. I can't believe how helpful and polite he was. I went in to buy a new battery and he helped me me out like a good friend would. Got me a pair of gloves so I could work, offered assistance to install and then provided corrosion protectant spray at no charge. That's pretty much my experience every time I go there. When I buy my next subaru, either my legacy GT or STi it's going to be from them.

 

I agree about Carlsen being inflexible - but I still couldn't refure their offer. The whole sales negotiations took about 2 mins. The guy just flipped the pages in some book, showed me their actual invoice price and the asking price. I asked him back to make sure I've heard it correctly and agreed to purchase.

I ended up getting my 03 WRX for about $700ish below invoice (it was back during the rebate and zero financing offer) for close to $22K. I haven't seen more staight-forward approach to selling anywhere else and would definetely buy from Carlsen again.

On a side note, I got there after 5-6pm on Friday night w/o an appointment, had to wait for about 25 mins for an available sales person, ended up getting help from someone from the managment (I think, cant remember his name), and picked up my car next day so they could prep and detail it.