Jon Shafer - THE BEST AUTO BUYING EXPERIENCE

Just finished leasing a 2013 F30 335i from Jon Shafer in Santa Barbara! This was the easiest, most pleasant car buying experience I have ever had. Even their Finance Director, Susannah Morgan, was terrific with no hype and very quick, efficient service.

And you had a nice trip down the coast to beautiful Santa Barbara along with a great purchase experience! Can't believe why more folks up this way wouldn't take advantage of this program. Like a free vacation -- when you consider how much you saved -- and didn't have to listen to the "scotchguard -- paint protection -- etc." pitch from the F&I person either! Good on 'ya Jon!

You got it! And with only a few hundred miles on the 335, we averaged 29.9 MPG, based on gas pumped and miles travelled!

+1 for Jon. We drove through the "evil empire"(LA traffic and road construction!!!) from San Diego to get our new 2012 X5D. Totally worth the trip. We also broke our previous record in the finance manager's office (15 minutes in and out). Super friendly folks and service. Plus, i got the best deal around (believe me, i shopped!!) Needless to say, wife was super delighted and thrilled to see a big red bow on our car waiting in the front - a very nice and thoughtful touch.

I'll just crosspost what I just put in the "Please recommend dealership/CA in San Francisco bay area" thread:
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I concur that all West Coast Bimmerfesters consider using Jon Shafer! Your local dealer sucks and you know it. Santa Barbara is a fantastic place to visit so coordinate your pickup with a few days off and make it even more worth it. I'll add that there are a few others now offering exceptional service but he was the first to do it at such a personal level over the internet and without any bs.

In mid 2000 I lived in the Bay Area and wanted to order a new 330 coupe and EVERY Bay Area dealer was extremely douchy and asking me crap like "oh you want a coupe AND a manual transmission?, will you be paying cash? excuse me while I talk to this newly minted overpaid moron from Pets.com that wants to pay cash for a loaded 750iL" (I'm looking at you Peter Pan in San Mateo). Jon was active on the old Roadfly boards and had already taken care of multitudes of Bay Area/LA/SD folks so it was an easy decision once you also consider his price was the best as well!

In July 2012 (yes 12 years!) I went through the same thing (but from Sacramento) in ordering a 535 and Jon was extremely helpful throughout the entire process and I got the best price possible. I had some quotes from a local dealer and they weren't even close even after negotiations. You won't be dissappointed in working with his team in Santa Barbara.

I will also chime in for Steve Thomas in Camarillo, In 2005 I was looking for a CPO 330 sport or ZHP with MT in black and found one at Weatherford that was a rusted out lease return from Boston, and they wouldn't budge. Found another at Steve Thomas and they crushed their price for the same car but not rusted and local, and had it delivered to my house free of charge.

Basically, Bay Area dealers suck and are just waiting for some chump to walk in and buy off the lot with what's left of their Facebook stock. You'll need to make an appointment weeks ahead of time to get a BMW loaner in most cases anyway, so just rent a Ford Focus and stfu about that being an excuse for supporting your local. The new Ford Focus is quite nice and peppy, I might add.

+1 all of the above -- except I did have great luck with Stevens Creek BMW both sales and service. Just must have caught them on a good day with no Facebook/Google/Apple types crowding in to pay cash for whatever they could get their hands on. Check out Jon you will not be sorry!