Honda of Downtown Los Angeles

Reason for Visit: Sales (Used)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Honda of Downtown Los Angeles:
I bought a used car here and after an initial problem, I was happy to find that they stood behind their sale and it ended up being a good experience. The initial problem was a miscommunication between service and sales but they went out of their way to resolve it for me.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Honda of Downtown Los Angeles:
My experience started out good and ended up being the same as any dealership. I was given one price and APR over the phone and then it changed once I was at the dealer. Had I not checked the fine print I wouldn't have caught it, because everyone was so friendly and laid back. The price was good, so I drove extra to go downtown. Everything went smooth until the final financing phase when I noticed that they had switched the APR. They tried giving the typical song and dance by waving lots of pieces of paper and numbers in front of me, like a shell game, but none of their excuses or explanations checked out upon further investigation, so they just straight up lied. They went from telling lies, to trying to say it was a simple misunderstanding (but I was very clear over the phone and spoke to them 3 times before going in) and then they just started spinning the usual car salesman B.S.
If I hadn't checked the fine print I would have thought it was the best and easiest car purchase possible, but behind the laid back attitude and politeness was the usual deception and slick tricks that car dealers try to pull. They were polite, but they were also dishonest.
I didn't want to say anything bad at first because they seemed so nice, but at the end of the day they lied. The more I think about how this was handled by Alex and Dave, the more annoyed I get. Always check the fine print and don't fall for the smiles. None of their excuses and reasons for changing the APR checked out, and I know I was clear over the phone, because this type of situation was exactly what I wanted to avoid. I got it anyway.
They said they wanted to make me happy and asked what they could do, but they refused to honor their original quote and wouldn't do anything else to make it right except offer some free oil changes that I would have to spend an extra hour in LA traffic to get. When I pointed out that I took over an hour to get to the dealer Alex just said "hey, make a day of it. Come down and get some lunch and we'll change your oil for you". Yeah right. I'm really going to drive over an hour in LA traffic, deal with the nightmare of downtown LA all so I can save $25 every 10 months or so. It would cost me more than the oil change to drive there and buy lunch, not to mention the time. What a joke (but I'm not laughing).
How I wish that I could have written something other than Polite, slick, dishonest, disingenuous. The price looked good until I read the fine print. The only reason I put OK for customer service was because they were always polite while they pulled a shady deal.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Honda of Downtown Los Angeles:
By accident, I found the BEST Honda Dealership in the Los Angeles area! I spent a lot of time emailing different dealers in search of the "best" price for my Honda CRV. I got a refreshing, informative, Resourceful response from Dave Erickson in Internet Sales. Initially, the quote wasn't the "lowest" so I kind of bypassed it; However, after going to the dealer that was the "lowest", I learned that Lowest quickly becomes the highest when you are forced to buy the dealer installed options. I always remembered Dave's email and I finally called him. He was down to earth, and honest! He found the color I wanted and he was pleasant to work with! He actually LISTENS to what his customers want and he Delivers. Save your time and look no further, Go See Dave at Honda of Downtown LA. Its worth sitting in the traffic crunch. Oh, and the fiance guy, Frank Perez was also nice to deal with. He explained, in great detail and with patience, all the nitty gritty details of the fianance paperwork! Overall - A Excellent car buying experience !!! I will be a lifetime customer of this dealership!

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Honda of Downtown Los Angeles:
If you're looking for a Honda, I would recommend Dave Erickson at Honda of Downtown Los Angeles. He gave me the best price by a mile. Ultimately I went another direction because of a last-minute offer by a friend, but I e-mailed with Dave back and forth for weeks (I'm a slow purchaser). He was always friendly, helpful, and laid back. And when I said that I wasn't able to purchase from him, he just said he was happy I got a good deal. That was nice. If you're looking for a Honda, Dave's your guy. Good luck!

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Honda of Downtown Los Angeles:
My husband and I recently bought a 2009 Honda Fit from Honda of Downtown LA. Dave Erickson was a pleasure to work with, as was the finance manager, Alex Armendariz. Very professional, yet laid back and not pushy.

Before we bought the car, we did some initial research online and took the car for a test drive. Once we decided on exactly which model and color we wanted, we used an online tool to request quotes from multiple dealers.

Within 10-15 minutes, we had email quotes from four different dealers and received phone calls from two, one of them being Dave Erickson from Honda of Downtown LA.

Dave told us that he had the exact model/color we were wanted and that it wasn't pre-loaded with a bunch of overpriced extras. He said that they never pre-install items but let you decide what you want instead. The place where we test drove had the "performance package" pre-installed on every car for something like $470 extra, and we had no interest in it.

The other dealer we talked to on the phone said they also had the model/color we wanted and offered a quote that was less than Honda of Downtown LA. But we had a good feeling about Dave Erickson based on our contact with him and online reviews we had read, so we decided to go there first and see if they would match the other quote.

When we got to the dealer, Dave showed us the car - which had basically just arrived on the lot and had only 9 miles on it. We looked the car over, then told him about the other quote. Within a few minutes, Dave came back to us with a yes - Honda of Downtown LA matched everything the other dealer offered. We were very happy with the price and the financing.

While we were waiting for them to run our credit check and prepare the paperwork, we enjoyed talking more with Dave in his office. We showed him the video for "Fit But You Know It" by The Streets because it had been stuck in our heads all day. He showed us some hilarious YouTube videos about badgering car dealers. He's a pretty laid back guy.

The finance manager, Alex Armendariz, was also a pleasure to work with. He gave us a great deal on a Honda Care service contract and the entire transaction was a breeze.

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Reason for Visit: Sales (New)

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Honda of Downtown Los Angeles:
Dave Erickson moved from Honda of Hollywood, where we bought our new Civic, to Downtown. We would follow him anywhere! He was simply wonderful to deal with. Internet sales is the way to go if Dave is your salesman. Nice guy. We received a solid, lower than anywhere else, quote from him on the net, did not have to dicker, got exactly the car and features we wanted in the color we wanted. Fast, painfree experience! Quote in the morning, drove the car home in the afternoon (he arranged to have the registration and plates on the same day!). Couldn't be happier. End of story. Any dealership smart enough to hire Dave is the place to go.

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