Good Citrus (Motors) Kia Ontario CA

[RonNSoCal]

Wife and I picked up our new 2019 Stinger GT2 yesterday after exchanging emails with Luke, who described himself as a product specialist. Our car was offered on Autotrader at a deeply discounted price and we were able to buy the car at the advertised price for cash. We are very pleased with the purchase and our treatment at the dealership. It was a Saturday and they were busy with other customers, so the transaction took longer than hoped for, but we were treated courteously by all of the staff.

We were encouraged to purchase additional warranty coverage but not pressured to do so. I would have passed, but my wife felt the bumper to bumper coverage extension to match the 10 year/ 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty was worth it for the peace of mind. In reading over the contract this morning, I found that we could get a full refund on this coverage if we choose to cancel within 60 days. Had the dealer revealed this information, I would have been more comfortable with our decision to add this feature. All in all, I would give Citrus Kia an A for Excellence on the purchase.

 

[namja]

Grats!

Man I wish I had reached out to this dealership. Have you shopped around prior to purchase? I was considering this dealership as well as Covina valley kia but had received a great offer from Carson I couldn't refuse.

 

[CKeeler]

Citrus Kia is where I first test drove the Stinger. I wasn’t ready to buy at the time, but ended up at Covina Valley Kia because of the inventory they had. At the time, Citrus only has three Stingers on the lot. Glad it worked out for you.
If you haven’t worked with them before, just a fair warning, the service department is quick but expensive

 

[RonNSoCal]

Grats!

Man I wish I had reached out to this dealership. Have you shopped around prior to purchase? I was considering this dealership as well as Covina valley kia but had received a great offer from Carson I couldn't refuse.

Citrus Kia is where I first test drove the Stinger. I wasn’t ready to buy at the time, but ended up at Covina Valley Kia because of the inventory they had. At the time, Citrus only has three Stingers on the lot. Glad it worked out for you.
If you haven’t worked with them before, just a fair warning, the service department is quick but expensive

Thanks, but I will not be using their service department, I need to choose between Simi Valley Kia and Kirby Kia in Ventura. Thousand Oaks is about halfway between the two. After the MB E350, I imagine any Kia dealer will seem like a bargain for service. It is good to consider, however, that all dealers may not charge the same for service.

 

[RonNSoCal]

Grats!

Man I wish I had reached out to this dealership. Have you shopped around prior to purchase? I was considering this dealership as well as Covina valley kia but had received a great offer from Carson I couldn't refuse.

Sounds like you got what you wanted at a price you liked. I reached out to Glendale Kia and Garden Grove Kia. Garden Grove wanted to play games and Glendale told me they could beat the offer at Citrus but then said essentially that they could not, but kept calling not believing Citrus would deliver as advertised. Simi Valley and Kirby in Ventura did not have the car I wanted and I do not believe they could beat the offer I had from Citrus through trading since neither had a new 2019 in stock.

 

[namja]

Sounds like you got what you wanted at a price you liked. I reached out to Glendale Kia and Garden Grove Kia. Garden Grove wanted to play games and Glendale told me they could beat the offer at Citrus but then said essentially that they could not, but kept calling not believing Citrus would deliver as advertised. Simi Valley and Kirby in Ventura did not have the car I wanted and I do not believe they could beat the offer I had from Citrus through trading since neither had a new 2019 in stock.

Yeah I had absolutely no luck or they also played games at some of the Car Pros dealerships so I avoided them all like the plague.

 

[Kappakai]

Grats!

Man I wish I had reached out to this dealership. Have you shopped around prior to purchase? I was considering this dealership as well as Covina valley kia but had received a great offer from Carson I couldn't refuse.

I just wrapped up a lease on the 2019 GT2 from Covina. Citrus was slow in responding, unfortunately, and couldn't get to where I needed (there was basically zero back and forth, a take it or leave it deal). I ended up playing Downtown and Covina off of each other, and ended up with a pretty good deal from Covina. They wanted a higher money factor (0.00225 vs. 0.00185 from Downtown), but I managed to talk them down on both the MF and the cap cost. The lease incentive was also fantastic. Whole deal took about 30 minutes to negotiate, then 45 minutes to complete paperwork.

I had talked to about 8-10 dealerships when shopping. My quick notes on the experience with dealerships:

Carson - just bad. Went there after setting up to meeting with an internet sales guy. Ended up sitting around for 20 minutes and two sales people just ghosting on me. Told the manager off after he didn't give a shit, and left.

Alhambra - went in to test drive a GT1; sales guy came out, didn't introduce himself. Told him I wanted to check out the GT1. He opened it up and let me sit in it, but when I wanted to test drive it, he said the car blocking the GT1 had a dead battery, so I wouldn't be able to. Walked off.

Downtown - pretty busy. Managed to test drive the GT2 (first time driving it after Carson and Alhambra). Sales guy was nice enough. Sat down to talk; he basically got to down payment and monthly, and I told him I wasn't quite read to talk numbers yet (still doing research.) Couple days later, I did submit one of the Edmund's quote requests, and DTLA got back to me quick. Told them I had already agreed to an offer from Covina, and they asked for an opportunity to quote before signing. Unfortunately, they were closed before I was able to get back to them. Pretty transparent and open. They had a black/black GT2 I was considering; ultimately, ended up with the Pearl White from Covina.

Garden Grove - went to GG because they had a GT2 for $39,999 advertised; turned out it had over 5k miles, so not eligible for the lease. My internet sales person was busy, so manager helped me (Abby.) She was very pleasant, even double checked on the 5k threshhold. Ultimately, gave me a quick quote on a 2020. Overall, very pleasant experience at GG.

Citrus - communicated over email. Couldn't get a quote to where I needed to; they didn't counter my counter, just stuck to their initial offer which was around a $40k net cap on a '19 GT2.

Kirby - had a car advertised that I wanted, but when inquired, it was not available for lease as it was a demo. Said he could get me to a $36 net cap on a 2019 GT2, but didn't have any. Not sure if serious.

Car Pros HB - inquired on a RWD GT2, said they didn't have one, had a AWD. Lowballed them using Kirby's offer of $36k cap because I didn't want the AWD or the Panthera, but wanted to see what they would counter with. They said we weren't even in the same ballpark (figured.)

Covina - pretty fast moving. Ultimately ended up purchasing from here. Christina was my rep; communicated well, pleasant. Initially offered around a $38k cap; told her I was looking at $36-37k range. She said if I went in there, she could get there. Drove to Covina. On the way, downtown contacted me and asked for opportunity to match. Sat down at Covina, numbers came in a bit different as we weren't really apples to apples. About 20-30 minutes of going back and forth on numbers, got to where I needed to be. There was a misunderstanding of MF (they quoted 0.00225, I was expecting 0.00185) but we came to agreement. It was late when I walked in, around 8:00pm, got out before 9:30pm.

Agreement as follows:

Vehicle was the GT2, Pearl White, MSRP of $52,050

36/12
MF = 0.00185 (they originally tried to get me at 0.00225, which was the MF at Covina, but they gave me 0.00185 when I said I would register in LA)
Residual = 45%
Lease incentive = $10,050

Gross Cap = $48.976
Adjusted Cap = $37,144
Amount paid in cash = $4222.37 (doc fees, license registration, tax, incentive tax, first month)

Monthly payments = $493.66 before tax; $540 with tax

 

[RonNSoCal]

Sounds like a great deal. Are you going to do an early buy-out? I went with Citrus because they had the color I wanted and offered me a cash price with no complications.

 

[Kappakai]

Sounds like a great deal. Are you going to do an early buy-out? I went with Citrus because they had the color I wanted and offered me a cash price with no complications.

i didn’t think about it before I made the buy, so didn’t do the 24/10. I’m going to research and work on the math and figure out if it makes sense. I know rates are hella low right now and I can probably get a good deal thru Pen Fed. Of course... if I do the buyout, that’ll open me up to some other tasty expenditures...

my sales guy at citrus wasn’t willing to play ball unfortunately. I guess if I didn’t get the deal from Covina, I could have worked with another sales guy or tried to negotiate with Citrus. But Covina got me where I needed to be; plus my Mini was on the outs so I needed to get it done sooner rather than later.

 

[eljay]

Alhambra - went in to test drive a GT1; sales guy came out, didn't introduce himself. Told him I wanted to check out the GT1. He opened it up and let me sit in it, but when I wanted to test drive it, he said the car blocking the GT1 had a dead battery, so I wouldn't be able to. Walked off. . . .
Covina - pretty fast moving. Ultimately ended up purchasing from here.

I can't believe Alhambra is still pulling that crap 2 years after I tried to deal with them. I cancelled a visit to the L. A. car show, where I could have done a test drive, to go for a test drive at Alhambra that I'd made an appointment for and then, after wasting way too much of my time, the salesman finally admitted they didn't have a car I could drive. I don't remember his complete, convoluted excuse, but a dead battery was mentioned at some point as one of the excuses. I ended up buying at Covina Valley, and have been pretty happily going there for routine service (knocking on wood).

 

[Kappakai]

I can't believe Alhambra is still pulling that crap 2 years after I tried to deal with them. I cancelled a visit to the L. A. car show, where I could have done a test drive, to go for a test drive at Alhambra that I'd made an appointment for and then, after wasting way too much of my time, the salesman finally admitted they didn't have a car I could drive. I don't remember his complete, convoluted excuse, but a dead battery was mentioned at some point as one of the excuses. I ended up buying at Covina Valley, and have been pretty happily going there for routine service (knocking on wood).

Yah, it was kind of ridiculous. I texted back the sales girl who was messaging me because she asked if I stopped by. I told her I what happened and her response was "oh, we must have sold the car already." You mean, the one that I got to sit in but not test drive? I walked next door to the BMW dealership, because I was considering just getting another BMW, and it was a super pleasant experience. That alone was almost enough for me to swear off Kia and get a Bimmer. Or another Mini Cooper. Glad I managed to find Covina. I think DTLA, Covina, and Garden Grove were the better dealerships I found in LA. DTLA seems a little more ghetto and pushy, and they were doing the "what do you want to pay monthly" game, but damn, at least I got to test drive the vehicle.

Problem with Covina is the higher sales tax (10.5%). Other areas in the region were as low as 7.75%. I guess Covina is a rich area now.

 

[eljay]

Yah, it was kind of ridiculous. I texted back the sales girl who was messaging me because she asked if I stopped by. I told her I what happened and her response was "oh, we must have sold the car already." You mean, the one that I got to sit in but not test drive? . . . DTLA seems a little more ghetto and pushy, and they were doing the "what do you want to pay monthly" game, but damn, at least I got to test drive the vehicle.

Problem with Covina is the higher sales tax (10.5%). Other areas in the region were as low as 7.75%. I guess Covina is a rich area now.

Haha! I had almost that same conversation with someone from Alhambra! They know their script well!

I got the ghetto impression from DTLA, too, but since I was first "shopping" when white GT2s hadn't been shipped to the U.S. yet, I never went in to the dealer, but just did phone and email. Totally tacky sales rep who started talking monthly payments before the car was even in the country.

I frankly ended up going to Covina when they called me on the day my car came in on the truck. My Grand Prix had been intermittently flashing a code for my transmission, which was in perfect condition, so I was in no condition to wait, not wanting to sink potentially pricy repairs into my old paint. Covina'd already agreed not to tack on the dealer upcharge that everyone else seemed to be refusing to negotiate back in those early days of the Stinger, and it was two weeks to a month later before the other dealers called me to let me know they had "my" car. I've figured I lucked out that Covina got my color/trim in first, as they've been pretty decent in the past two years. I know I could have waited and managed a better price from them or someone else, but at risk of spending money on my trade-in in the meantime.

 

[RonNSoCal]

You can get the sales tax rate that is for the city/county in which you live. I am in Thousand Oaks where the rate is only 7.25%, so Citrus just charged me this rate because this is the location where the car has been registered.

 

[puzzling1]

Wife and I picked up our new 2019 Stinger GT2 yesterday after exchanging emails with Luke, who described himself as a product specialist. Our car was offered on Autotrader at a deeply discounted price and we were able to buy the car at the advertised price for cash. We are very pleased with the purchase and our treatment at the dealership. It was a Saturday and they were busy with other customers, so the transaction took longer than hoped for, but we were treated courteously by all of the staff.

We were encouraged to purchase additional warranty coverage but not pressured to do so. I would have passed, but my wife felt the bumper to bumper coverage extension to match the 10 year/ 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty was worth it for the peace of mind. In reading over the contract this morning, I found that we could get a full refund on this coverage if we choose to cancel within 60 days. Had the dealer revealed this information, I would have been more comfortable with our decision to add this feature. All in all, I would give Citrus Kia an A for Excellence on the purchase.

I think that I almost purchased your car back in January, VIN ends in 812? They did offer a good price. For me, they refused to remove the cost of the dealer-added accessories. And I had refused to pay for them. Grats on your Stinger!

 

[RonNSoCal]

I think that I almost purchased your car back in January, VIN ends in 812? They did offer a good price. For me, they refused to remove the cost of the dealer-added accessories. And I had refused to pay for them. Grats on your Stinger!

Wow, that is my car alright. We purchased it on Jan 18. I started negotiating with Luke a week earlier after seeing an ad on autotrader. I explained that I used to sell Pontiacs back in the day and had no interest in discussing add-ons or other dealer tricks to run up the price. I also was able to negotiate a cash price with no finance wheeling or dealing. To be honest, I was on edge until the deal was signed, fearing they were going to spring some trap to pad the price. Other than offering extended warranty deals, they did not. It is interesting, however, that I noticed when I got home and looked through the papers, a dealer window sticker that mentioned a paint protection package. You can clearly see plastic material on the door edges, under door handles and on the rear quarter panels. Fortunately, these add-ons were never mentioned when I was negotiating our deal. Sorry to hear you were not able to get the deal you wanted, although I guess I should be grateful or the car would not have been there for us. Have you since found a car?

 

[tooyika]

Citrus Kia is where I first test drove the Stinger. I wasn’t ready to buy at the time, but ended up at Covina Valley Kia because of the inventory they had. At the time, Citrus only has three Stingers on the lot. Glad it worked out for you.
If you haven’t worked with them before, just a fair warning, the service department is quick but expensive

 

[RonNSoCal]

I have an independent mechanic I just used for an oil change. He is very reasonable and I have spent time in his shop and know he is very careful with my cars. I have taken my car to Kirby in Ventura for a bad hatch latch and thought they treated we well. I plan to use them for service needs that require a dealers expertise. If Covina had been offering the same deal as I got at Citrus, we would have gone there too. My mother in-law lives in West Covina and I grew up in the San Gabriel valley. We are in Thousand Oaks now, so Covina is even closer than Ontario.

 

[SoCalSHO]

Interesting. I walked onto the Citrus lot a few days ago, there was no parking, the Kia service was actually across the street at the Ford dealership. I walked most of the lot, and could not find any Stingers. Finally, a guy appeared out of nowhere (maybe from the motorhome parked in the lot). Asks if he can help me, I asked to see the Stinger GT2's, pointed them out, and I asked if they had any Ceramic silver, he says no, but he will check. Came back a minute after he entered the building, and said they don't have any. He then walked away. No name given, did not ask me for mine, did not give me a card. Just walked away. I was the only person there.

 

[CKeeler]

Interesting. I walked onto the Citrus lot a few days ago, there was no parking, the Kia service was actually across the street at the Ford dealership. I walked most of the lot, and could not find any Stingers. Finally, a guy appeared out of nowhere (maybe from the motorhome parked in the lot). Asks if he can help me, I asked to see the Stinger GT2's, pointed them out, and I asked if they had any Ceramic silver, he says no, but he will check. Came back a minute after he entered the building, and said they don't have any. He then walked away. No name given, did not ask me for mine, did not give me a card. Just walked away. I was the only person there.

That’s unfortunate. I felt the same way at Kia Temecula