I bought a BMW X5 from this dealership. Via yahoo I located an auto (BMW X5) at Deluxe Auto and arranged a viewing. The gentleman who greeted me was Renato. Renato is a very pleasant young man, he is quite laid back and let me do an extensive test drive (fast freeway driving and slower suburban driving) and also assisted me in checking out the vehicle in a supermarket parking lot (lights, electrics etc.). His was not giving me too much pressure (other than the normal line on how this particular car was going to sell quickly, etc.) He was quite chatty and also put on the music during the test drive which I have previously found to be a dealer tactic to distract from finding faults. However I asked him to turn off the music and stopped talking to him, after which he piped down and I didn't find anything that he was trying to distract me from so I will just put it down to him being a gregarious person. Suffice to say I was impressed with the vehicle and decided I would like to purchase it. On returning to the sales office, I promptly enquired on getting a discount, at which point Renato bought up the diabolical issue of DEALER PREP FEES. BAD MOVE RENATO, you were doing well up to this point. Disgustedly I pointed out that my first question to him on entering the dealership was about hidden fees, to which he replied there were none. The dealer prep fees he explained were in the fine print of the ads. I am sure they are, that does not stop them from being a disengenuous sales scam. I quickly explained to Renato that I wanted to buy the vehicle but was in no mind to pay this scurrulous fee, at which point we agreed I would not pay the dealer prep fee, but there would not be any discount off the advertised price. Since the price was OK by KBB standards, and the vehicle extremely low miles and checking out on carfax and autocheck, I felt this to be a fair deal, although not a great deal. I paid a $1000 deposit, signed their forms and left. I noticed that on their lot, Deluxe Auto Sales have a good number of prestige vehicles looking like they are in good shape. They also have a garage round the back to prep up the vehicles. After a week or so I went back to collect the vehicle with my bank cheque. The vehicle was ready in good condition. There was a small scratch on the lower door, I am not sure it was there before since I did thoroughly check the vehicle, however Renato insisted that this was there when I originally inspected the vehicle. Also two warning lights were on that weren't on when I inspected it. Renato insisted this was since the battery was disconnected during the servicing and not a significant problem but only something requiring a 'computer reset'. I have been driving the vehicle without any problems the last week. My sense is that the vehicle was serviced before delivery. Overall I think you will find this place to be a step up from the vacant corner lot type of dealer with a random selection of vehicles. However it is not quite as expensive as the fully authorised franchised dealer. They do have a lot of good quality prestigue marques on their lot. If you ask for Renato, he is a reasonable and pretty straightforward person to deal with. Do your research on price first and know the value of the vehicle you are looking for. My sense is that they have prices on the Internet which they will not discount deeply and then there are the prices for customers who walk in, which are much higher and can be discounted more deeply, of course. Beware the dealer prep fee.
more