? for Denver area members

[1tuffram]

Thought I had my mind up to purchase a 2002 from Johnson Auto Plaza in Brighton (very freindly fleet sales staff, no pressure or hassle), then I heard Johnson's service dept is not a "good" service dept. A local member mentioned Prestige Dodge in Longmont has a no hassle sales dept and the service dept is excellent. I got a quote from Prestige for approx $200 cheaper than Johnson Auto Plaza.



I need input from anyone how has dealt with either Prestige Dodge or Johnson Auto Plaza. I'm looking for the good and bad of each dealer, any reasons why to choose one over the other, etc. I need make a desicion in the next day or two.

 

[azcummins]

1tuffram-

No experience with these guys. The word on the front range is that Church Dodge in Castle Rock are great guys. I've dealt with them and they are awesome.



The bad list: Lithia Foothills here in Ft. Collins. Charge you way too much for anything they do. Parts guys are nice, but slow.



Know this isn't really want you wanted, but just in case things don't work out with the other dealers.

 

[jwdeeming]

I am my own warrantee station now, but I bought my truck from Prestige in Longmont and had the first 30k miles of maintenance all done by those guys. They also replaced my failed lift pump under warrantee, no questions asked (this was pre-bombing tho).



Only comment is that their service dept is slow. Waiting on them to do a simple oil change can be an hour-long ordeal, even with an appointment. They've always done good work, but I recommend having alternate transportation and leaving your truck for the day.



JimD



P. S. I hear Christopher Dodge in Golden is faster, but have no experience there. That's a huge dealership.

 

[K_Arts]

Buy the truck at the cheapest price you can find it!!!



Don't worry about the service departmen from where you buy it, due to the fact that you can take the truck to any Dodge Service Department.



Next note... As Jim said, "I am my own Warranty station!!"



If you have any issues with the truck, let the TDR help you find out what it is... and the RMTDR can pretty much help you after that... . Pending on the problem though.



Quick question for you though. Have you looked at 01. 5's? I bet you can get one cheaper then an 02. Also I heard that 02's have some options stripped off that 01's still have. Stuff like Hood insulation. . etc.



Just a thought.



Jim - I purchased my truck at Christophers Dodge and will not take my truck to their service department at all. I took my truck to them twice and both times they screwed something up that they shouldn't have even touched. They lost my confidence.



Kev

 

[milehiscott]

Tuff,

I've never been to either one, but have heard good things about Longmont. Avoid Denver like the plague. I have yet to find one that anyone says anything good about



Also, check out the Dave Fritz web site. He has a dealer servey with people's coments on it.



http://www.dodgeram.org/buying_info/survey_dealer/CO/0_co.htm



I bought mine out of OK. At the time it was $8000- $10,000 less than anything I found in CO. :--) It cost me about $150 to make the trip. If you're interested I can get you the number tomorrow (I'm at work and don't have it with me).



Happy hunting,

Scott

 

[1tuffram]

K_Art, I took your advise and gave Prestige a call. It took 2 days till I was able to finally hook-up with someone to give me a price. I called Monday AM and asked for thier Fleet Manager/sales. Was told I needed to talk to Joey. He must of had better things to do cause I called twice and the receptionist said he must not be answering his pages. He finally called back and I told him what I wanted and had to tell him twice I DID NOT want something off the lot, but factory order. He said he would call RIGHT back with a quote. He never did call. I called back that evening before closing and once again he was unavailable or not taking calls. Tuesday morning his assistant Rose called and said Joey told her to get back to me. She could not read his writing of what I wanted so I had to write on paper exactly what I wanted and fax it to her. Once again they where pushing purchasing something "close" off the lot or a dealer locate and have the truck in a few days. I had to explain I only want a new factory order (unless factory is not taking orders, then I will go this route as last resort). She said she would call back in an hour or two with a quote. Guess what, that call never came and I called around 5pm and asked for Joey or Rose, got Joey on the line and he asked if Rose ever called. I said yes, but I not with a quote yet. He said he would talk to her and call RIGHT back, he never did. I called at 6pm and Joey was not around and was told Rose was with a customer and took a message. She called back around 7pm, but I was already at work. Rose called later around 9pm and talked to my other half and arranged to call me this morning (her day-off) and talk to me. Rose did call a little before 9am, but could only briefly talk, since she had a 9am engagment. Once again she still pushed a dealer local and I could have my truck in days instead of weeks. I explained I need the extra time to look into financing rates,etc and to get my Farm Bureau membership. Getting a price from Prestige has by far been the biggest hassle (opposite Johnson Auto Plaza), but they have giving almost the cheapest price of of 8 quotes now. The lowest price came from Chaprell Dodge in Oklahoma and they are only cheaper by less than a $100. Reason why I am considering Prestige is from TDR member referal and the talk of thier good service dept. Yes I know you can go anywhere for warranty work, but I think if you are a customer of the place (bought from them) you MIGHT get treated a little better. Someone mentioned this can come in little things like getting you scheduled sooner for appointments, etc. I saw first hand when having warranty work done on my '95 at Dave Smith how repeat car buyer from them could walk in with no appointment and the service dept would pull a man off a job to fix this person car right there on the spot.



milehisscott, I think you gave me the number for the dealer you are refering to. Wasn't it Chaprell Dodge? They where the lowest bid, but the local guys quotes are so close I estimated the cost to be about the same once travel expenses and time are factored in to the final cost. I just recieved an e-mail today from Robert Melton himself and he said the region he is located in can no longer get 2002 trucks from the factory. He recieved word from the regional rep the factory already had more trucks on order than they what they're going to build and send to that region. This is why they originally told me a few weeks back I could no longer get a 2002 factory order truck and where pushing thier inventory. They just failed to mention at the time it only applied to that region. Robert Melton said he could "go through the motions" and place an order in the system for me, but I would never see the truck since the factory is no longer sending 2002 truck to them.

 

[milehiscott]

Tuff,

Just went through my PMs and I guess I did send that to you. Sorry for the redundancy and for repeating myself.

However, it was Irwin Auto Co. in Woodward, OK.

You might also try Cheyenne. It seems to me that they were a little lower than Denver, but not dramatically.

Sucks that it is this much work to get what you want. Especially when you pay as much as these trucks are worth.



Let us know how it works out.

Scott

 

[Fuzz]

Bought mine at Laramie,Kotby Motors.

Salesman was Charlie,Sales manager is Mel.

I fogot their last names. Didn't blow no smoke made me a good deal. I tried the one in OK and ID and Farmington NM. Kotby was better. Right off the bat,they just gave me a price and I had them order it. Maybe I was just lucky.

FWIW. . I have not had good luck with Castle Rock Dodge garage.

They were great when the Taylor's ran it but when Burt got it I think it went down hill. I have went to them a couple times for warranty items and I feel I got the run around. Never let them do it. Went back to Laramie. Kotby #1-800-788-9470

Fuzz

 

[K_Arts]

Woww... with how poorly Prestige has treated you... you are better off just going to Johnsons.



Kev

 

[Chasman]

Not Rose!

Yikes! I bought mine from Prestige and I have been happy. In fact I bought it from Rose. She didn’t know much of the tech stuff about the trucks but she was willing to admit when she didn’t know the answer to my questions and would get the answer rather than giving me some line like most do. They always want to sell you what they have but once it was clear that the only way to get me what I wanted was to order it she had no trouble going that way. I will be up there tomorrow anyway (leaking pinion seal) so I will give her a hard time for you.



I am happy with their service. They don’t seem willing to make a time specific appointment but they have a free shuttle that will drive me back and forth to Boulder. I went with them as they have a much better reputation than Valley Dodge the dealer here.



Charlie



P. S. They should be willing to give you a price VERY close to dealer invoice, they will wine but they will do it.

 

[K_Arts]

Re: TRUCK IS ON ORDER!!!! VERY, VERY LONG STORY.

Originally posted by 1tuffram

SORRY K_ARTS but if they don't know about this problem or are tring to down play it, I don't want them touching my new truck.

No need to apologize to me. I never had any trouble with their service department. I try to troubleshoot the problems that I've had down to a tee, so when I go in I tell then what is wrong, why and what they need to do to fix it.



I've only had 1 lift pump fail so far and Johnsons changed that out. While at the same time reflashing my ECM with a program that cut back power 15%(???? WTF) to insure that I couldn't destroy another lift pump (HUH???? I was still stock). Why they would cut back power?? I don't know, but I ate their service manager, service advisor and diesel mechanic for dinner, then reported this to the owner Mr Johnson himself. BTW. . he's always around the shop if you want to meet him, He's a totally cool guy.



Needless to say that haven't done any major work on my truck since. . especially now that they have the service manager from Northglenn. Boy is an oxygen thief!!!



Congrats on the truck!!!!



Kev

 

[schu777]

1tuffram



What did you get on your truck? I'm waiting for mine to get from Woodhouse in Blair, NE - I had the pleasent (so far) experiance with them, no haggle, go take a test drive (that was a blast) and ordered the truck. I know they were the lowest one around. . didn't check with far off dealers.



The truck is somewhere in Kansas City on a railcar... waiting to be delivered to Council Bluffs, Iowa (across the river from Omaha)... then wait for it to get to the dealer...



About halfway through your post, I would have let my feet do the talking and walked out. If they stopped you, it would have to be exactly what you wanted and that would be it, but I think I would have left even if they agreed to what I wanted for a price... one should not have to haggle that much and get that frustrated over it!



Good luck on the wait - it's a pain in the neck... just try to stay very busy at work and at home... makes the time go quicker and you won't be thinking about it.



Michale

 

[1tuffram]

schu777

Here is the best part. My '95 has been paid off for a few years and the soon to Mrs knows how attached I am to my '95 (first new rig I ever owned and made a lot of sacrifices to afford it), so she is encouraging me to keep it and have two trucks Plus after riding in the new 6sp she asked if I was going to "have some work done on the engine like my old truck" after experiencing the lack-luster performance of a stock engine. Think I'll hold on to this gal



I want to hold on to my ol'95 P-pumped simple and reliable truck at least until I'm happy with the new 2002 truck. Read a lot of the posts 12v folks switching to a 24v and being dissapointed in performance and fuel economy. I will see, nothing injectors and a box can't cure. Don't know if I will be able to afford insurance on 2 trucks (even if the '95 drops to basic liability) and registration. Reality is I will probably hardly drive the '95 once the new truck gets here. Maybe I will breakdown and sell it and just pay off the 2002 in full and not worry about payments. Or better yet buy a toy to tow around, been wanting a ski boat

 

[jwdeeming]

SORRY K_ARTS but if they don't know about this problem or are tring to down play it, I don't want them touching my new truck.

Interesting point. I was pleased with Prestige fixing my lift pump, but thanks to all the help here first, I was able to tell them what it was when I dropped it off. If they are telling you now they don't know about it, there's either an integrity problem or somebody has swiss cheese for brains. Who was it you talked to in service? Al? Al is the manager I believe. I've heard their line about the top-gun diesel mechaninc too. I hope HE wasn't the one who doesn't know about lift pump problems. Does that mean mine was changed out by the guy who does that $300 dealer prep (can you say "car wash"?).



Ouch. Wife wants to take her 99 V10 gasser in for a checkup. Think I'll try to steer her away from Prestige...



Good info here guys. Keep it up!

JimD

 

[Chasman]

1tuffram, I’m glad you got your truck ordered. It is no skin off my noise that things didn’t go well for you at Prestige. All I can say is that I feel like I had an acceptable experience there. I didn’t catch up with Rose until after you had been there yesterday afternoon. I got the sense that she knew she hadn’t gotten the sale.



Maybe I’ve been in one to many dealer show rooms (although the last vehicle I bought from a dealer (before my 01 Ram) was back in 87), but I find the arm twisting more of an amusement than anything else. I went in knowing what I would pay and that is what I paid. The D&H charge seems to be something that most of the dealers in this area are adding on these days. If you read the fine print it is nothing but additional dealer profit. When I negotiated my deal the price I offered was including D&H, I was very clear about that, there was some hemming and hawing but they did it. While my truck was on order they increase the D&H charge but because my Deal was X dollars including D&H they had to reduce the price of the truck by the amount of the increase. I guess that means the price I paid for my truck was that much more under dealer invoice, if you don’t count the D&H. My guess is that the deals that the sales people turn in have to have the D&H charge on them or they are in trouble with their bosses. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be negotiated it just means it has to come out of the price some place else.



Let us know when the new truck gets in and plan on showing up with it at the next RMTDR gathering.







Jim, I think Kevin war referring to the service Department at Johnson’s. Kevin, correct me if I’m wrong. As far as I can tell the service department at Prestige is above average for around here. My experience there has been good far.







Charlie

 

[1tuffram]

jwdeeming

I can not recall the name of the counter guy I talked to. He was not a mechanic, their diesel guy was not available for me to talk with. I will comment that the guy I spoke with had only been working there for 2 weeks, so maybe he is new to the Dodge service dept world and therefore unaware. But there was a few other guys standing behind the counter thumbing through paper work or something and I know they could hear what was being said since they where all standing in close proximatey and none of the other guys spoke-up or said anything to the lift pump question. So just makes me wonder if they did not say anything since I was not talking to them directly, if they just let the "new guy" field the question, or if they truly are unaware of a problem or at least not going to come out and openly admit there is a huge problem here due to someones engineering screw-up. The counter guy kind-of questioned my accuratness on the lift pump issue. Wish I could have remembered all the facts and details, but told him I knew DC has a bulletin out for acceptable pressures (could not remember what they where) and that a fairly new TSB has been issued to revisit this problem and it now recommends higher minimum pressures than before (dang if I could rember the TSB # or pressure, sure would have been impressive I did). The guy said "Well I don't know about any of that, but sounds like you up on it" I mentioned I'm a TDR member and frequent the TDR website and keep up on these things. He just said "Ohhh", was not sure by the sound of his voice if he meant "ohhh... that's great" or "Ohhh, another one of those know-it- all TDR people". In any case I was not terribly impressed. Rose then had to switch the conversation to the parts dept and they are one of the largest in the region, carring over $3 million in inventory at any time. Made comment to her "does that mean when people come in for warranty work and parts need to be replaced under warranty the customer won't have to wait weeks for it to arrive from the factory", no comment from her (but then again I was being sarcastic and by this point I think she knew I was ready to leave, but just amusing her by "going thru the motions")



When leaving I drove around the back side of the shop and there was a new long block 24v sitting there ready for installation. I stop and took the opportunity to quickly look over the engine while out of a truck. IT's a whole lot easier to see things (especially on the rear of the engine ) I took note of the lift pump location and mounting (so I could get a feeling for what I will most likely have to be replacing one day and difficult it's going to be). I CAN'T BELIEVE THE SIZE OF THAT THING!!! It looks like it will fit in the palm of my hand!! No wonder there is such a problem, besides the location distance from the tank they look way under built IMO.

 

[1tuffram]

Chasman

Originally posted by Chasman

1tuffram, I’m glad you got your truck ordered. It is no skin off my noise that things didn’t go well for you at Prestige. All I can say is that I feel like I had an acceptable experience there. I didn’t catch up with Rose until after you had been there yesterday afternoon. I got the sense that she knew she hadn’t gotten the sale.





Charlie

So did you talk about my experience with her? Get this, she actually had the gall to call and leave me a message the next morning to call her if I'm still interested in purchasing a truck. HELLO, HELLO..... at what point in the breakdown of things did I indicate I would be back????

Granted I was as polite as could be expected when leaving and not being a total A**. What part of my parting words "Sorry for taking up your time, but this just is not going to work-out and I'm going to go with Johnson Auto Plaza as originally planned" did she not understand



It took much self control to NOT call her call after hearing the message, but if she calls again I will be very blunt and to the point on my feelings of her sales tactics and deception to lure me in (not mentioning the extra charges until I arrived, telling me they had a sport models on the lot... . sure in Ram 1500's, and her total BS and lying about the new rebates). I had recieved an e-mail from Dave Smith the night before driving up and it listed the newest rebate and incentive offers for 3/26 - 4/01. $2000 manufacture rebate, $1000 Loyalty lease rebate, $1000 Dealer incentive and a $500 Farm Bureau. Now I know the Dealer incentive (aka dealer cash) is typically money the factory gives the dealer as extra profit for making a sale. Dealers have the option of keeping it all for themselves, passing this rebate to the customer, or share some of it with the customer as an added way to attract more sales. I asked about the $1000 dealer incentive I caught wind of, Rose disappeared to the managers office and comes back talking about a leaseing rebate. I said I know about the $1000 loyalty lease rebate, but wanted to know about the "Dealer incentive" rebate. She asked if I was going to lease my truck, I said no. She then said the dealer incentive had to do with leasing a vehicle, etc. and I was not eligible since I was not going to lease. I don't know if she was confused or lying, but I will say the latter. This was another issue which just stacked one against any sale. Why could she just not of said "That is our incentive money from the factory and we choose the option of NOT sharing it with the customer". I would have understood and VERY MUCH APPRECIATED THE HONESTY.

Since I knew she was not being honest with me I questioned the whole pricing quote and mark-up fees out on the table being negotiated along with the dealership's integrity. This is when I made the decision if THEY did not MEET MY DEMANDS for the pricing I was out the door!! cause I could stop by Brighton on the way home and talk to a fleet sales staff who where pleasant, honest and not into jerking the customer around. When I stop at Johnson's to place the order I asked about the new rebates and the dealer incentive rebate. Linda acknowledged it and pointed out it is not price protected like the $2000 manufacture rebate (meaning if the offering dates expires before delivery, it can't be applied) and the dealer incentive rebate can only be applied upon delivery of the vehicle. She said if any dealer incentive/dealer cash is still being offered when my truck arrives I will be entitled to that on top of either the current $2000 manufacture rebate (price protected since truck ordered before it expires) or any better rebate offers in effect when the truck arrives. Now how is that for honesty. Linda did not give me a BS story and said they will pass along any dealer incentive/dealer cash offerings to ME at time of delivery instead of tring to hide its existance and pocket the money for themselves. Make your own opinions but, Johnson Auto Plaza's NO HASSLE/PRESSURE APPROACH AND THIER HONESTY WITH THE CUSTOMER GOES A LONG WAY IN MY BOOK!!!!!!

 

[schu777]

Re: Chasman

Originally posted by 1tuffram



... the newest rebate and incentive offers for 3/26 - 4/01. $2000 manufacture rebate, $1000 Loyalty lease rebate, $1000 Dealer incentive and a $500 Farm Bureau. Now...

Great News to me!! Never thought about looking at the current rebates... I think I can get an additonal $500 off the truck now!! I'm going to push for it at least... Lease... who wants to lease this truck? I'm going to keep this truck for 15+ years.



Thanks for the update on the Rebates... saved me $500. Never thought about the Dealer incentive either... might question it and see, but doubt anything from Woodhouse... which is not a big deal either... it's thier cash and doubt they would give it up now.



Michael

 

[K_Arts]

Originally posted by Chasman

Jim, I think Kevin war referring to the service Department at Johnson’s. Kevin, correct me if I’m wrong. As far as I can tell the service department at Prestige is above average for around here. My experience there has been good far.

Charlie

Charlie,



Actually I was talking about both service departments. So far I have only used Prestige for minor things and they have seemed to be OK. Of course I go in their showing them that I have done my homework on what I need fixed. I have used Johnsons service department several times and stated that I will not go back. They like checking your truck for supposed "Upgrades" so that they can hassle you, and this only started when the new service manager was hired from Northglenn dodge.



Before this guy was hired on they used to be awesome!!!



Hope this clears things up.



Kev