This is where the true helpful Honda people are! If you can't find them at your nearest Honda dealer, then head for Carson Honda!

I had avoided buying a Honda for years. Not only did their products seem overrated and nothing fantastic, but I couldn't stand their dealerships whenever I'd visit with friends or family. The salespeople were arrogant and would act as though the car was made by the hands of God himself; often adding steep markups. For years I had remained loyal to domestic brands, particularly Ford, because of this and had great experiences with them.

When it came time to purchase my first ever brand new car, we wanted something comfortable and economical. We liked the Fit, but couldn't stand several of the Honda dealerships we had visited in the LA area (Airport Marina, Culver City, Scott Robinson, Norm Reeves). We were often treated rudely, the salespeople were not familiar with their product, and many had $2-3k markups on a $16k car. Ridiculous. We ended up looking at comparable Fords, Chevys, and Hyundais instead, even though the Fit met our needs the most.

As one last chance, on the weekend we decided we'd buy a car, I gave Carson Honda a try by getting an online quote on a 2015 Fit. While other dealers were marking up the price by thousands, Carson was $400 BELOW sticker! Amazing! We rushed down and were helped by Octavio, who was knowledgeable, friendly, and patient. I emphasize patient, because we stopped by two more times during the day to test drive the car (while doing the same at the Ford and Hyundai dealers) and he was accommodating each time. There was no pressure at all.

When we decided to go with the Fit (and once again, the service at Carson Honda was the only thing that persuaded us to go with Honda) and came back to the dealer, our transaction was handled by Ramon. He wasn't quite as outgoing as Octavio, but was still helpful and made it an easy purchase. The online price was honored and there were no tricks, no haggling, and no hassle. I had spent hours of research beforehand to estimate the monthly payment, and they matched my numbers almost to the cent.

On a side note, we loved the Halloween decorations that were in the showroom when we bought the car in late October. It was fun, festive, and took some of the edge off of an intimidating purchase. Overall, the facilities are modern, clean, and inviting.

As a follow up, the Fit now has 600 miles and is two months old, and we had some quality issues crop up. I took it down to Airport Marina Honda because they were close to my house and they refused to honor Honda's warranty, were wanting to charge a diagnosis fee, and had accused me of the car's defects. How insulting! They didn't take blame that the car may have had these defects from the factory.

I came to Carson Honda today ready for the same fight and was greeted by Jonathan. He was welcoming and friendly, especially considering it was a Saturday morning. When I told him about the problems, while getting ready to roll up my sleeves for a brawl, he said "no problem" and said that these issues were occurring on the Fits. It'll be all fixed under warranty, no questions asked.

I happened to cross paths during today's visit with my salesmen, Octavio and Ramon, and they were friendly as always and seemed genuinely concerned about the car.

I was almost ready in the past week to trade in the Fit for a Ford and to never come back to Honda, because I was so insulted by Airport Marina Honda. It ruined the whole experience of owning a new car. But Carson Honda delighted and surprised by their amazing service. I am so happy to have done business with them and will continue to do so. Who knows, they may make me into a Honda loyalist after all.

 

I also had a good experience with Carson Honda. My old CRV had been in an accident and I needed a new car, and I'd had my eye on the Fit since the 3rd Generation was introduced.

I wanted a 2015 Aegean Blue CVT LX.

First I went to truecar.com but the offers I were getting ranged from $16900 to $17270 (which is MSRP)

Then I went to kbb.com, where I could actually search inventory in Southern California. I saw there were a few of the exact car that I wanted that hadn't been in the TrueCar list, so I went to each dealer's website and requested an internet quote. Carson beat them all at around $800 below MSRP, and luckily they were also fairly close to where I work.

I made an appointment for a test drive after work, met with Terzo, went on the drive, and bought it right there. Painless experience.

The next day I noticed a cosmetic issue with the hood that I hadn't seen the night before, so I took it back, expecting them to fight me on it. But nope, they took the car back, gave me a rental while they were fixing it, and there was no issue at all, other than not being able to have my car while they were fixing it. I was a little disappointed in the lack of communication from the service department (I had to call them to ask how my car was doing, when I feel like they should have given me status reports) but otherwise, thumbs up!