Brandon Dodge on Broadway - Littleton (greater Denver area) Colorado
There are at least 4 other dealers closer to me than Brandon Dodge, but these guys have consistently demonstrated outstanding behavior throughout what became a big adventure in car buying...
It started with a trip to another/closer dealership through the Costco auto buying program. This was an all-around poor experience, and I'm saying this as a very loyal Costco member. But the auto buying program seems to be very blurry (opposite of crisp), at least in my opinion. There is very little up-front info provided by the Costco program, no expectations get set about pricing, at first it's simply an introduction to authorized Costco salespeople at the dealership they have a relationship with. The main advantage seems to be that the dealer prints out a not-very-formal looking piece of paper with Costco logo listing "Costco pricing" on the vehicle you select. The Costco pricing is decent, but with the great info and insight from other members on this site I was able to easily negotiate a better price at a different dealership all on my own. So I'd say the Costco program is great for folks who would rather avoid any aspects of research or negotiation on price, but it's not going to result in the best deal possible. Also, the treatment my wife and I received at this first dealership was abysmal - they left us sitting multiple times for 40 minutes or more while they went to work up numbers. 40 minutes? Reallly? With computers??? Finally, they demonstrated little interest in actually showing us cars. Granted it was a cold and rainy day, downright miserable, but that's a salesman's challenge to shine, right? Not here. They didn't even offer to pull any vehicles up front or into the bays, instead one of the salesman reluctantly walked with us to the far side of the lot... without keys!!!!! Either they are terrible salespeople or they have a thing against Costco program buyers. Needless to say we never went back.
Next step in the process was to see/touch/feel/drive/compare a couple of models in the short-list I'd created after doing my homework (much of it on this site - THANKS EVERYONE!). The only dealership in Denver area who had most of these "finalist" candidates together on one lot was Brandon Dodge, so that's the original reason we visited them. I made an internet pricing inquiry through one of the usual sites (Edmunds, or another, can't remember which) and arranged an appointment with the salesperson who contacted me.
From the moment my wife and I arrived it was a completely different experience. Justin (title "Internet Manager" but his job is obviously sales) spent 3-4 hours with us showing all the candidate vehicles (which were driven to the front of the dealership for our viewing pleasure even though the weather was nice), and taking two extended test drives - one in a R/T and another in a V8 Citadel - the two "finalists." The entire time we felt completely looked after and Justin was focused on giving us the shopping experience we wanted. Even my dad who was along for the fun (though he's quite an amazing car shopper himself - only consumer I know who's gotten through and had an in-depth Q&A session with Honda design engineers, really!), was impressed with the treatment we received.
Then it was time to talk price. I'd done my homework and knew what I wanted to and should pay. I had a quick frank discussion with Justin and there was no muss, no fuss - we had an agreement even though it was for a new-car order rather than existing inventory on the lot (so less incentive for the dealership on pricing).
I'd call the whole thing a very refreshing and open experience.
That's not the end of the story though...
My new D arrived in Denver over this past weekend and Justin had called to let me know it would be ready for pick up on Monday. All was good until late Sunday evening while doing a bit of online news surfing I ran into the just-released news about Dodge's urgent recall of Jeeps and Durangos built during early-to-mid June. Yikes! Not much sleep came after that, but Justin checked with the factory early Monday and luckily my D had not received one of the bad rear suspension parts. Hooray!
Still not the end of the story...
About an hour before I'm ready to head out to pick up my new D, I receive a call from the general sales manager, which started something like this: "... This is very difficult and I'm very sorry to have to inform you that during unloading at the railroad yard another vehicle was backed into yours with substantial damage..." Talk about an emotional roller coaster...
This is the part where the dealership really came through.
Although the railroad yard accident was not the dealership's fault, they felt extremely motivated to "make things right". Although they didn't have a D in the same color (Maximum Steel) with similar level of options as our original order (we had elected to save $ by omitting captains chairs and technology package), they did have one fully loaded which they offered at the same original-deal price (which was already pretty good). So my wife and I headed out to look at colors again at one of the closer dealerships and decided (maybe with some subconscious help from the available deal???) the other color (Granite Crystal) was as good or possibly even better. After another bit of negotiation we ended up purchasing a vehicle with substantially more options (thousands of dollars) at a respectable discount off the original ordered-vehicle price, and also received an outstanding price on lifetime maximum care warranty.
Throughout all of this there was completely open and clear communication with a willingness to share info. No muss, no fuss, just calm discussion of the facts - exactly what an engineer like me loves.
So today, against all odds, I am the very happy and proud owner of a beautiful new Durango with even more options and fun stuff than I had ever imagined. Justin and his colleagues at Brandon Dodge did a fantastic job of making things right and I couldn't imagine a better or more pleasant buying experience. Truly an outstanding dealership!