Marin Motors

I forgot Unilocal was around, but 3 years ago, I was selling my used BMW to them, we agreed on a price which was barely okay, signed the papers, went home to get the title, he had the car, they called me and said they made a mistake and looked up the wrong year on the car and now they would only pay the original price less $ 1000. I found Marin Motors dishonest. Your used car lot nightmare.
Someone from Marin Motors just posted that I might have the wrong Marin Motors. That is far from the case, I have the correct one and this is another example of the slipperiness!

I am not sure who this Steve guy is Moshe mentioned. The funny thing is I actually know who Moshe is and it’s a shame he left unhappy.
I have been happy so far with the representation by Scott and the car I got from Marin Motors. I got the car just about as soon as it was put on the lot so he hadn’t had much time with it yet.
I found two issues both of which were promptly dealt with, within the week. It was a no hassle process and he was reasonable on the final sale price.
Thanks Scott!

I have been on a hunt for a good used car, I had never purchased a used car on my own before and was a little aprehensive. I had been to a few lots and online but cars where never what they appeared to be. The I called Marin Motors and Scott was so nice on the phone i drove down from Sonoma County with my list of questions.
When he brought the car up from the lot, he immediately opened all the doors and the trunk and hood and began talking about the car. I didn’t even have to ask my questions because gave me all the information without me having to ask.
Scott is one of the owners and he was informative, knowledgeable and friendly.. .. and not in a «salesmen» kind of way, but a normal person kind of way. I would definetely purchase from Marin Motors again and have recommended them to friends.

A solid three stars for Marin Motors. I helped my mother buy a Subaru from this place a couple of years ago. The sales representative was amicable, and patient with us throughout the car buying process, although he did pull the «I’m a car salesman so you don’t trust me, do you?» card a couple times too often. We got the car for a good price, and they helped us find a financing place that got us a low monthly payment. This process was one of the easiest car buying experiences I’ve encountered, and there was no stereotypical used-​car-​salesman pressure involved.
Now for the not-​so-​good.
When we bought the car, it had just had a rebuilt transmission installed in it. I checked out the shop that did the job (it is no longer there) and found it to be decent and reputable looking, and figured that it was probably fine. Not so. Approximately 15,000 miles later, the transmission started slipping.
I fear that the car was dropped off at the transmission shop for the «salesman’s special» (for those of you who don’t know, a component that will last long enough to get the sucker, ahem, customer, off of the lot).
However, because I have no way to prove the above, I’ll assume that the dealership was just too cheap to go to a better shop and took it to the lackeys down the street. That said, a transmission that requires a partial rebuild after 15,000 miles is simply unacceptable. Calling the Marin Motors before the work was performed, I got the exact «so what» attitude that I’d expected.
So, five stars for the sales experience and one star for the semi-​busted tranny. That leaves three, and I suppose that’s about fair.

My truck died, and I needed to find another vehicle. Being close to work, I went by Marin Motors. At first I thought I had come to the right place. Scott was very nice, but then that’s a used car salesman’s job.
Quickly I noticed that they didn’t seem very motivated to sell cars, and after bothering to do all the paperwork, they seemed to just blow me off.
When I would contact them (ever been to a place you had to bug to buy from?), they kept putting me off, telling me they were still working on it, and passing the buck.
Now, if they couldn’t help me, or didn’t want to try, why not just tell me they couldn’t help me? or didn’t want to?
Like Mark F. mentioned already, I also notice that they don’t sell many cars. I see the same cars are there week in n out.
Having wasted time, while I’m out a vehicle, and thinking these guys were on the case, only to find out they were just stringing me along, really pissed me off.
These guys are cherry pickers. If you can walk up and pay cash, they probably fall all over you. But if you’re like most of America and you need financing but don’t have perfect credit, they don’t bother to try but won’t say that to your face.
I would steer clear of Marin Motors. Find a more professionally conducted business to deal with.

I walked out of MM very pissed off over the way I was treated. Last week I received a 30k bonus from my job and intended to purchase a ²⁰⁰⁶⁄₇ 3 series BMW. I looked on CL and found most 2007 328i BMW’s selling between 17k and 20k, cars in excellent condition with clean Carfax.
I drove by MM and noticed a 2006 325i, a lesser car then the 07 328i.
Their price was 22k. Down the road five dealers away was an 06 325i with same miles for 19k.
I inquired with them why their price was so high in light of the fact that BMW’s one new year newer, 328i compared to 325i, 328i being a more expensive model, how they were pricing this 06 325i so high compared to other dealers on CL.
The owner got real shitty with me and began this rant about how he sells cars all over the country and how the bulk of his business is international, not just with Marin County. This is BS because over the past 4 – 6 weeks I have driven onto the lot numerous times and today noticed the exact same fleet of cars sitting there. Obviously this dealer is not selling many cars! Nevertheless, I told him that I was not trying to offend him… but I had been on CL researching and found dozens of 07 328s, more car, for LESS money.
He then looked at Steve and the other guy and told them to log onto CL and see if I was telling the truth. While this A-​hole was ranting I noticed the other guy was already on CL and had pulled up pages of ²⁰⁰⁶⁄₀₇ 328i’s…
The owner started telling me that all of these other cars I was finding did not have clear Carfax histories… blah blah blah. I challenged him and corrected him and informed him that I ran the vin on every car I searched… and I disclosed that one did have a prior accident… but it was properly disclosed by the dealer… and the vast majority of the cars on CL that I researched were clear and clean.
The owner then shouted at me and told me that if I could bring him all the 07 BMW’s priced below his 06 he would buy them all! The guy is and was full of S#$@.
I had 30k cash sitting in my checking account and today I had intended on driving off with a clean 2007 3 series BMW to use as a weekend car… this dealer lost my business.
I did a little research on this dealership last month when I first thought about purchasing from them… what they do is go to auction to pick up repos. They also buy wholesale from Sonnen a lot of their trade in cars. Yes, most of the cars are clean. However, most have high miles, a few don’t. Of all the cars on the lot today I would say that over 95% of his inventory has been there for at least 6 weeks. Why do they not sell more cars? I suspect because they are a tiny little low budget indy dealer sitting within one mile of the big dealers all of whom have 10x the inventory he does.
So I went down to the other dealer that had the 325i that I first spotted, the one listed for 19k… I was able to pay cash for the car and got it for 15,500. I wrote the check, take delivery tomorrow. They have to verify the check and then I can pick up my new car.
MM has the exact same car: 2006 325i with same exact colors inside and out, 25k miles. Their price is 22k.
I got my 325i at the dealer five doors down, 28k miles, with full warranty to 100k miles (the MM dealer had NO warranty), same exact grey/​black… 15,500.
The staff at MM consists of a bunch of 55 – 60 year old chain smoking men, all look the part. All look and act like how you’d picture your typical used car sales man. Sleezy. Rough around edges. Not college educated. Not professional. Rude.
Do not purchase a car from these people!

Today I bought my first car! Woohoo! After much aggravation and many long days of going to dealerships and calling private sellers I stumbled across Marin Motors. It was like a dream come true! By some small twist of fate it was also only two blocks from my place of work (how is it possible that what I was looking for was right under my nose the whole time?). I never noticed Marin Motors because they are a smaller dealership (quality over quantity though!) but I am so glad I found their listing on-​line. Steve and Scott were amazing and made me feel so comfortable with my purchase (which was really important to me because this was the first car I’ve purchased on my own as a young adult). They were so accommodating, returned all of my calls quickly and answered all of my questions honestly and thoroughly. I couldn’t be more grateful to the both of them for making my first car purchase such a pleasant experience.

We had a great time with Scott and Darryl, but don’t do business with MM until they get rid of Steve. His disrespectful attitude towards people and customers is not conducive to their doing good business.
We went over recently to MM with a checkbook to buy a car. We gave Steve a price and his attitude was more than snarky, claiming that they could sell the car at auction and get more than what it was listed for. His answer, when queried as to why they did not do exactly that, was more than vague.
He then said we would have to come closer to his price. We more than came closer to his price. His next statement was more than disrespectful: «I don’t think we could make you happy at any price.»
We told him the figure again, and again stated we indeed had come closer to his price. He then named a figure a thousand dollars higher. We reminded him that we had witnesses who heard his first figure.
He claimed he could show us the Kelly Blue Book web page which had their price. He then showed us a different page than the one we had used and refused to do any more investigating.
It is because of Steve that we decided not to pursue that vehicle even though it could have been a very good buy.
Do not do business with Marin Motors until they rid themselves of this most nefarious character.