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My Mark Dodge Experience (for those of you on the fence)

Andersen24

Andersen24

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Pismo Beach, CA
As I type this, my 2022 Power Wagon (affectionately named “Walter” - the Ram is White, so you know if you know) is on it’s way to sunny California. I’ll try to keep this short, but the intent of this post is for people like me, who are/were on the fence about Mark Dodge, when I did a google search and stumbled across this forum.

I initially ordered my PW here locally on the central coast and got a “screaming” deal of paying $500 over sticker. I got back home and did what most of us do and hit the internet to scour any and all information on the new truck. Well - welcome to hdrams! I found stories about this Mark Dodge dealership and their insane pricing and couldn’t resist to reach out to them - so I did. I was hooked up with Product Specialist Tony Galicia. I sent him my build and within an hour he had responded with a price that was $13,875.00 cheaper than what I just put a deposit down for. After a million questions back and forth and a night of thinking on it, I wired them the non-refundable $1000 deposit (I did get my “refundable“ deposit back from my local dealer as well). As most of you know, California is a “different” state! They tax the heck out of us, come up with the most ridiculous laws (FYI here in CA a bumblebee is the same thing as a fish - figure THAT one out!) - and if you buy a car out of state, it can be a true PIA. Fortunately Mark Dodge is approved to do business with the CA DMV. So with that, I don’t have to get my truck weighed when it shows up, I don’t have to get my VIN# verified by law enforcement and I dont have to pay the sales tax on it once I bring it in to CA - Mark Dodge handles ALL of that.

OK so now my experience. Well to sum it up - I could write a novel of praises about Tony, the finance guy Reggie Lewis and their manager Aaron Ginsburgh. After I placed the order, I initially had a concern about what I “felt” at the time was not enough communication. For those of you ordering a truck, a couple things of advice…..one, take a day of scouring through this forum and it will answer most of your questions so you don’t have to post the timeless, “I just ordered my truck, how long did it take for yours to show up” question and two, don’t be like me thinking you were going to (or should) be updated daily if there is no movement on your truck. Between the knowledge on here (@OfficerDirtySanchez, @brv10, @QuattroCS to name a few), the Ram Tracker and your salesperson - you’ll have all the info you need. You can look at my signature and see I was pretty fortunate. I ordered my loaded L3 PW on 2/28/22 and it arrived on 7/7/22. From the time I ordered the truck, until the time it showed up, the price had increased by about $3200. But to their word, the price you are quoted when you order, is the price you will pay (my local dealership told me I would have to pay for any increases - if you order one from your dealer and they tell you this - run, it’s BS and they’re crooks)! Tony was amazing communicating with me and is a true gentleman and the finance through Reggie was the easiest I have ever done. Tony had me call him when he got home from work to set up the UConnect so I could monitor the location of my pickup while it traveled from TX to CA. He went over everything top to bottom, all of this after he had worked all day and was sitting at home. Ironically he covered more over the phone with me than most dealerships cover in person. It was cool talking to Tony and hearing the stories about LA, how he loves his job and he couldn’t speak highly enough about the Owner of MD. If you are reading this from doing a google search, or you are skeptical about buying a truck from out of state - trust me - DO IT. You are going to save a ton of money, have probably your best car buying experience and are going to see that not all dealers are crooks.
 
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Andersen24 said:
As I type this, my 2022 Power Wagon (affectionately named “Walter” - the Ram is White, so you know if you know) is on it’s way to sunny California. I’ll try to keep this short, but the intent of this post is for people like me, who are/were on the fence about Mark Dodge, when I did a google search and stumbled across this forum.

I initially ordered my PW here locally on the central coast and got a “screaming” deal of paying $500 over sticker. I got back home and did what most of us do and hit the internet to scour any and all information on the new truck. Well - welcome to hdrams! I found stories about this Mark Dodge dealership and their insane pricing and couldn’t resist to reach out to them - so I did. I was hooked up with Product Specialist Tony Galicia. I sent him my build and within an hour he had responded with a price that was $13,875.00 cheaper than what I just put a deposit down for. After a million questions back and forth and a night of thinking on it, I wired them the non-refundable $1000 deposit (I did get my “refundable“ deposit back from my local dealer as well). As most of you know, California is a “different” state! They tax the heck out of us, come up with the most ridiculous laws (FYI here in CA a bumblebee is the same thing as a fish - figure THAT one out!) - and if you buy a car out of state, it can be a true PIA. Fortunately Mark Dodge is approved to do business with the CA DMV. So with that, I don’t have to get my truck weighed when it shows up, I don’t have to get my VIN# verified by law enforcement and I dont have to pay sales tax on it - Mark Dodge handles ALL of that.

OK so now my experience. Well to sum it up - I could write a novel of praises about Tony, the finance guy Reggie Lewis and their manager Aaron Ginsburgh. After I placed the order, I initially had a concern about what I “felt” at the time was not enough communication. For those of you ordering a truck, a couple things of advice…..one, take a day of scouring through this forum and it will answer most of your questions so you don’t have to post the timeless, “I just ordered my truck, how long did it take for yours to show up” question and two, don’t be like me thinking you were going to (or should) be updated daily if there is no movement on your truck. Between the knowledge on here (@OfficerDirtySanchez, @brv10, @QuattroCS to name a few), the Ram Tracker and your salesperson - you’ll have all the info you need. You can look at my signature and see I was pretty fortunate. I ordered my loaded L3 PW on 2/28/22 and it arrived on 7/7/22. From the time I ordered the truck, until the time it showed up, the price had increased by about $3200. But to their word, the price you are quoted when you order, is the price you will pay (my local dealership told me I would have to pay for any increases - if you order one from your dealer and they tell you this - run, it’s BS and they’re crooks)! Tony was amazing communicating with me and is a true gentleman and the finance through Reggie was the easiest I have ever done. Tony had me call him when he got home from work to set up the UConnect so I could monitor the location of my pickup while it traveled from TX to CA. He went over everything top to bottom, all of this after he had worked all day and was sitting at home. Ironically he covered more over the phone with me than most dealerships cover in person. It was cool talking to Tony and hearing the stories about LA, how he loves his job and he couldn’t speak highly enough about the Owner of MD. If you are reading this from doing a google search, or you are skeptical about buying a truck from out of state - trust me - DO IT. You are going to save a ton of money, have probably your best car buying experience and are going to see that not all dealers are crooks.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the kind words sir, I'm the rookie of that team ;-)
 
Andersen24 said:
As I type this, my 2022 Power Wagon (affectionately named “Walter” - the Ram is White, so you know if you know) is on it’s way to sunny California. I’ll try to keep this short, but the intent of this post is for people like me, who are/were on the fence about Mark Dodge, when I did a google search and stumbled across this forum.

I initially ordered my PW here locally on the central coast and got a “screaming” deal of paying $500 over sticker. I got back home and did what most of us do and hit the internet to scour any and all information on the new truck. Well - welcome to hdrams! I found stories about this Mark Dodge dealership and their insane pricing and couldn’t resist to reach out to them - so I did. I was hooked up with Product Specialist Tony Galicia. I sent him my build and within an hour he had responded with a price that was $13,875.00 cheaper than what I just put a deposit down for. After a million questions back and forth and a night of thinking on it, I wired them the non-refundable $1000 deposit (I did get my “refundable“ deposit back from my local dealer as well). As most of you know, California is a “different” state! They tax the heck out of us, come up with the most ridiculous laws (FYI here in CA a bumblebee is the same thing as a fish - figure THAT one out!) - and if you buy a car out of state, it can be a true PIA. Fortunately Mark Dodge is approved to do business with the CA DMV. So with that, I don’t have to get my truck weighed when it shows up, I don’t have to get my VIN# verified by law enforcement and I dont have to pay sales tax on it - Mark Dodge handles ALL of that.

OK so now my experience. Well to sum it up - I could write a novel of praises about Tony, the finance guy Reggie Lewis and their manager Aaron Ginsburgh. After I placed the order, I initially had a concern about what I “felt” at the time was not enough communication. For those of you ordering a truck, a couple things of advice…..one, take a day of scouring through this forum and it will answer most of your questions so you don’t have to post the timeless, “I just ordered my truck, how long did it take for yours to show up” question and two, don’t be like me thinking you were going to (or should) be updated daily if there is no movement on your truck. Between the knowledge on here (@OfficerDirtySanchez, @brv10, @QuattroCS to name a few), the Ram Tracker and your salesperson - you’ll have all the info you need. You can look at my signature and see I was pretty fortunate. I ordered my loaded L3 PW on 2/28/22 and it arrived on 7/7/22. From the time I ordered the truck, until the time it showed up, the price had increased by about $3200. But to their word, the price you are quoted when you order, is the price you will pay (my local dealership told me I would have to pay for any increases - if you order one from your dealer and they tell you this - run, it’s BS and they’re crooks)! Tony was amazing communicating with me and is a true gentleman and the finance through Reggie was the easiest I have ever done. Tony had me call him when he got home from work to set up the UConnect so I could monitor the location of my pickup while it traveled from TX to CA. He went over everything top to bottom, all of this after he had worked all day and was sitting at home. Ironically he covered more over the phone with me than most dealerships cover in person. It was cool talking to Tony and hearing the stories about LA, how he loves his job and he couldn’t speak highly enough about the Owner of MD. If you are reading this from doing a google search, or you are skeptical about buying a truck from out of state - trust me - DO IT. You are going to save a ton of money, have probably your best car buying experience and are going to see that not all dealers are crooks.
Click to expand...
I agree with everything you wrote as it mirrors my experience and dozens of others on this forum. I worked with Sandi and finally Charles. Their operation, customer service, attitude, knowledge, and pricing are stellar. I recommend them to anyone I hear looking to order a new build.
 
I agree. My Mark Dodge experience was the best.
My build was on the lot 50 days after I placed my order.
Even with $1600 for shipping to California, it was a deal not to be passed up.
 
mcarey said:
Surely you had to pay sales tax on the purchase when you registered it.
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Yes, I paid CA sales tax at the time of the transaction with MD and they are transferring that along with the CA DMV forms to them. Most dealers make you deal with CA once you get it here. When that happens, not only are you paying the sales tax, but then you have to get it weighed, VIN inspected, etc. CA is not a friendly state to bring out of state vehicles in on new purchases. Typically only the neighboring states do this since it is such a PITA! I went ahead and clarified that sentence….it DID look like I was saying I didn’t have to pay sales tax - OOPS!
 
I had to get smog certification on the new truck. Cost me $45
Weight was on MSO.
My local DMV did vin check
I was in and out of DMV in like 18 minutes.
Living in a smal town has its advantages.
Writing the check for tax and license was most painful.
 
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I built the exact truck I wanted on Rams website, ran a copy off and went shopping at the four local dealers in my area here in NC. The very first thing each said was to add 20% to the msrp that’ll be the price.. I refused to pay that so I had pretty much written off buying a new dually. After the first of the year someone told me to contact Mark Dodge, I thought about it for a few weeks and decided to see what they had to say. The reason I was reluctant is they’re almost 1000 miles away but after seeing what they offered I went ahead and called. Sandi told me to send her the build sheet and she’d get a price. 30 min later she emailed me a price that was around 12% under msrp which was almost $15,000.00 cheaper then any price I’d gotten previously.
I didn’t jump on it yet but had a appointment at another dealer and decided to see what they had to say. I went, handed him the build sheet and he went to his computer and started another build sheet. When finished he said let me get it priced. I stopped him and said I have a price you just have to beat or match it. I told him the price Sandi gave me and he said BS, I then showed him the email with the price. He ripped his papers up, looked at me, said have a nice day, and pointed to the door.
So I ordered February 15th from MD , it was built May 12th, sent to Port Allen around a month later, arrived at MD July 8th and is setting at their shop with a dent that happened sometime during shipping. Hopefully Aaron calls next week with news it’s repaired and ready to ship to me…
 
Leadchuncker said:
I built the exact truck I wanted on Rams website, ran a copy off and went shopping at the four local dealers in my area here in NC. The very first thing each said was to add 20% to the msrp that’ll be the price.. I refused to pay that so I had pretty much written off buying a new dually. After the first of the year someone told me to contact Mark Dodge, I thought about it for a few weeks and decided to see what they had to say. The reason I was reluctant is they’re almost 1000 miles away but after seeing what they offered I went ahead and called. Sandi told me to send her the build sheet and she’d get a price. 30 min later she emailed me a price that was around 12% under msrp which was almost $15,000.00 cheaper then any price I’d gotten previously.
I didn’t jump on it yet but had a appointment at another dealer and decided to see what they had to say. I went, handed him the build sheet and he went to his computer and started another build sheet. When finished he said let me get it priced. I stopped him and said I have a price you just have to beat or match it. I told him the price Sandi gave me and he said BS, I then showed him the email with the price. He ripped his papers up, looked at me, said have a nice day, and pointed to the door.
So I ordered February 15th from MD , it was built May 12th, sent to Port Allen around a month later, arrived at MD July 8th and is setting at their shop with a dent that happened sometime during shipping. Hopefully Aaron calls next week with news it’s repaired and ready to ship to me…
Click to expand...
I did the same thing, before I cancelled the order I went and met with the Sales Manager to give them an opportunity to match it. I even told him I’d go $1300 above MD’s price since that is what it would cost to have it shipped (at the time). I also told him no price increases. His response, “You’re getting scammed, this is impossible.” So needless to say, next week when the truck gets to my house, I am going to go over and show him my ”scammed” truck!
 
I too found MD because of this forum. It all sounded too good to be true. I'd priced out the locals and best I could get was MSRP. Granger is actually only a few hours from me and pricing was near identical to MD. Unfortunately, they only have one sales rep handling internet orders. I'm sure she was swamped but communication was slow and seemed very robotic. They also stated they couldn't do the ram box at that time and I'd have to wait until the following month for it to be a possibility. I am dealing with Shawn at MD and he was great during the whole process. Most of our communication has been through text and he always replies almost immediately. Aaron was also awesome. I had some concerns about price locking and what would happen if my truck showed up missing any options. He was willing to put it all in writing. Looking back, I kinda feel bad about my mistrust but most of the dealers around my area are absolute scumbags, so it is warranted as this whole deal seed too good to be true. As of now, my only complaint is the timeline of my build but that isn't MDs fault. I've yet to read about a bad MD experience.
 
I found this forum because I had heard of all the deals the Idaho dealers gave in the past. That’s when I found out about the Washington dealer (Bud clary? who no longer gives 6% under invoice) and Mark Dodge. It was about the time Aaron brought Sandi on. I was hesitant at first… no way could the deals be this good. Wrong. Easiest experience ever and the truck ended up being about 12k under MSRP.
 
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