Southeast PA Dealers – Garnet vs. YBH vs. Devon?

[ksing44]

Anyone have any positive or negative comments about the 3 dealers? They are all more or less the same distance from my home, so I could select or specifically avoid any of the three dealers if anyone thinks there is a significant advantage or disadvantage to any one of them. I will be ordering a 2010 Golf TDI.

Based on a few comments around the web, it looked like Garnet was pretty well regarded and YBH had a few negative comments. I didn’t find anything for Devon so far.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Philpug]

YBH: Elliott Rosen at YBH is a good guy, old time car salesman but no BS'er.

Garnett: Talked to a guy there (when looking at a used Golf for son), forget name, younger guy, goatie knew his stuff. NEver got into pricing on TDI though

Devon: Fred Beans organization. Eh, not a fan.

 

[ksing44]

YBH: Elliott Rosen at YBH is a good guy, old time car salesman but no BS'er.

Garnett: Talked to a guy there (when looking at a used Golf for son), forget name, younger guy, goatie knew his stuff. NEver got into pricing on TDI though

Devon: Fred Beans organization. Eh, not a fan.

I met "Steve", the younger guy with the goatie at Garnet. I liked him. I have not been to the other dealers. It sounds like you may have purchased your 2010 from YBH. May I ask why?

It looks like I will have to order my car, since none of the dealers have one with the configuration I want. I was thinking YBH or Garnet were both closer to me, but then it turned out Devon is actually closer to my house although only by a mile or two. I really could go to any of the dealers.

 

[motoblue]

I met "Steve", the younger guy with the goatie at Garnet. I liked him. I have not been to the other dealers. It sounds like you may have purchased your 2010 from YBH. May I ask why?

It looks like I will have to order my car, since none of the dealers have one with the configuration I want. I was thinking YBH or Garnet were both closer to me, but then it turned out Devon is actually closer to my house although only by a mile or two. I really could go to any of the dealers.

There's another Garnet salesman, Jordan, who is one of the "Ask a VW salesman" who posts regularly on Vortex in the MkVI forum. That is a useful thread if you are looking for unclaimed cars without going through the order process. Now that the tax credit has a determined expiration date and ordered cars are still just trickling in, you might want to query there to see if anything comes in matching your want list before your order is fulfilled. You can also use that thread to track your order after you place it.

Since you are in SE PA, no doubt someone will also point out that Langhorne PA is about an hour NE of you up I-95. Their Internet sales manager, Chris Farnham, is well-regarded here and posts under user name 3193. While last I heard, they were not accepting orders for the Golf TDI due to the limited supply, it wouldn't hurt to at least ask what the situation is with Langhorne when picking which dealer to go with.

 

[ksing44]

Thank you again for the information.

I checked the vortex site, but I didn't register yet. I will join that site as well. I will also check the Langhorne dealer, although that really is quite far from home. I thought it would be best to purchase the car from the dealer where I will ask for service, even though I understand they would be obligated to work on my car regardless of where I made the purchase.

Regarding not accepting orders, was that just at Langhorne, or at all of the dealers? From what I have heard about VW, it sounds like the company may not be too good with managing their dirstribution and production. So I can imagine it may be frustrating trying to get a car. They may make a nice car, but if it is too hard to get one that may end up being a real pain in the neck.

 

[motoblue]

I get what you mean. The Golf is our fourth VW in the past 10 years, and three of them (including the Golf) were from the dealer 15 minutes from our house. Partially for convenience, but also because having dealt with them before, they shoot straight (mostly) with me. I did buy the previous VW (Jetta) from a dealer about 45 minutes away but you are right--any dealer service area will service your car. Whether they do that competently or not is another story discussed in several other different threads. But I digress. The dealer that services your car will be compensated for warranty work (and the care-free maintenance if you decide to use it) by VW. So the competition for parts and performing service is different from the competition for your initial sale. I would treat them separately. If you find one dealer in your area has the best tech service for warranty/service, I wouldn't hesitate to go there even if the sales dept didn't sell me the car initially.

There is a pretty detailed explanation of the "normal" order process on the first page of the Ask A VW Salesman thread. Unfortunately, the normal 2-3 month process of ordering a car to spec hasn't applied to the Golf, where dealers are getting maybe 1 or 2 allocation slots a month to use on ordered cars. Dealers who have been taking orders since June of last year probably have a nice backlog of ordered cars. Other dealers like Langhorne apparently stopped or did not take orders to avoid the situation of frustrated customers waiting 6 or 7 months for their cars to be built and delivered. Seems like that is easing up a bit as folks who placed orders mid-year last year are finally starting to see their cars being built, or have had their waiting list shortened by customers buying launch cars instead. Whatever dealer you end up with, you want to ask if they are still working on a backlog of unallocated orders and if so, where you would fit in as far as potential delivery. If they don't have a backlog and they know they'll have open slots for your order, you may luck out and have your car built to order in 2 to 3 months.

 

[fleuger99]

Ksing44,

Myself and some other's on here have not had the best experience at Langhorne but they do seem to get a lot of TDI vehicles and do offer better-than-most sale prices on their cars.

 

[Pelican18TQA4]

Skip Garnet, YBH, and Devon and hit up Chris Farnham at VW of Langhorne in Langhorne, PA. You will find possibly over a 100 (I have no idea what the actual # is) people on this website that have purchased cars through Chris and are very happy with him and his dealership. Personally, I have referred many friends and family members to him and bought two cars from him myself.

 

[motoblue]

ksing44 is assumably a PA resident; there should be no tax-related issues dealing with an in-state dealer.

 

[GoldJag]

Brought My TID from Chris at Langhorne Feb 2009. Also had Mectronic unit replaced there. I recommend Langhorne.

 

[tomo366]

Chris Farnham at VW of Langhorne PA is the #1 TDI Salesperson in America. There are folks on this site from all over the country that buy there cars there! I am in the DC area and I have purchased 2 cars from him. I took the train up there and he had me picked up at the Train Station..........You live in PA so the Excuse I live to far away won't fly here.........Call Chris He can and will get you the Car you want and for less than MSRP!
215-741-4100

 

[TDI Believer]

Chris at Langhorne!

 

[ksing44]

Wow, quite a few loyal buyers for Chris at Langhorne. I will definitely give him a call. Thank you all for all of your comments. This is a great forum, thanks to all of the support you can get from the members like all of you.

Thanks again

 

[Philpug]

I met "Steve", the younger guy with the goatie at Garnet. I liked him. I have not been to the other dealers. It sounds like you may have purchased your 2010 from YBH. May I ask why?

It looks like I will have to order my car, since none of the dealers have one with the configuration I want. I was thinking YBH or Garnet were both closer to me, but then it turned out Devon is actually closer to my house although only by a mile or two. I really could go to any of the dealers.

I did order from YBH, more that I have a have known (and worked with Elliot) for 10+ years. I was very happy with the no BS numbers and the ease of the deal. YBH and Garnett are about the same distance from my house. I prefer to work with a person and dealership that still complete a transaction with a handshake and not a "let me get this signed by my Manager"

 

[tomo366]

That is the way Chris works........you know the cost before you get there