Scion Santa Monica

Took my fr-​s in to have them check an oil leak. They were quick told me the problem so good on them. But, and this is a big but, they told me they would have to charge me to replace the oil pan even though I had the last one replaced at an authorized toyota dealer and it was a mechanics fault it was leaking again plus it was still under the 36k warranty. Once the lady told me they would charge me again and after she told me the chirping sound my car was making was «normal» I took it to toyota/​scion of Hollywood where they were much more accommodating and did the fixes free of charge seeing as they were not any fault of my own. Good people there but trying to take advantage of a customer is rude and tasteless.

Trung Tran was awesome when I bought my Scion FR-​S and really helped me out.
Unfortunately when my FR-​S broke down a year later and was serviced at Toyota Santa Monica service department, he was nowhere to be found!
Toyota Santa Monica service department did not honor their warranty agreement on my 1 year old Scion FR-​S and instead refused to cover the clutch, even though I have NEVER abused the clutch or driven the car hard in any way, and in previous scheduled services have reported clutch and/​or transmission issues that they failed to properly investigate or resolve.
I even have videos showing a reproduction of these issues the very day after Toyota Santa Monica say they «could not reproduce it» and told me «it’s a sports stick, it’s supposed make noises like that when you shift».
Excuse me? Are you kidding me? A sports stick is supposed to grind gears when you rev-​match 6^th to 5^th and shift with the clutch fully disengaged. How stupid do you think I am?
Anyway. My car breaks down and instead of actually helping me out, they tell me I’m on the hook for what seems to be fairly basic investigatory stuff that should be covered by warranty, you know, really super basic stuff like getting in there and seeing what is actually going wrong.
They insist that they needed to tear down the transmission to see what’s going on, but if they did so and found nothing, then I would have to pay for this tear down and rebuild!
They never even provided quote or even an estimate for how much tear down would cost, or even any advice how likely the issue was likely to be transmission vs. clutch, or any help at all really. They even went back on their offer for a free rental car while the car was being repaired.
It’s absolutely ludicrous that this is the way they treat a customer.
Talk about turning a happy customer into an ex-​customer!
I’ll never deal with Scion Santa Monica or Toyota Santa Monica again and I highly recommend that you get your car serviced elsewhere.
UPDATE: Carson Toyota reproduced my transmission issue in about 5 minutes and negotiated with corporate to get my transmission replaced under warranty. They even covered me with a courtesy car for the duration of shipping and repairs. Absolute night and day vs. Toyota/​Scion Santa Monica. If you want good service for your Scion/​Toyota, I highly recommend going to Toyota Carson instead!

Just bought a Prius plug in… love it! David Grey walked me through the process to make sure I was able to get all the legally available benefits, and a gret deal. This was a painless, even pleasant, experience. And, everyone I talked to there was more pleasant and more helpful than the last person. Good people.

Trung Tran was immensely knowledgeable, incredibly helpful, and indubitably the best car salesperson I have ever encountered. Trung’s knowledge of cars is far deeper than the window sticker and his ability to explain the intricacies of the car and its systems was superb. When prompted with questions only an expert would know he responded without missing a beat. With Scion’s «no-​haggle pricing» one could deduce that this is an honest and accurate review.
If you get the chance to visit Scion of Santa Monica, ask for Trung.

I just got my second car from Toyota/​Scion of Santa Monica last week. My first lease was a Scion XB and this time I got the new Prius C.
Mark Ashtini was an absolute pleasure to work with on renegotiating a new lease as well as making sure I was getting the best deal possible. He wasn’t pushy, smarmy, or any of the usual negative adjectives you’d think of when you think of a car salesman. I immediately felt comfortable discussing what I was looking for and what my budget was.
I highly recommend this dealership as well as Mark as a stellar salesman.
–Vanessa

Eddie Sandoval is a great service writer. I called ahead to schedule an appointment and I was running a bit late, so I called to let them know and to see how long it would take considering my lateness.
Eddie assured me that he could take care of me, he put off his lunch to do so, and he did so with clear, concise explanations about what is to be done, what should be done and all of that.

The car I drive had a recall and yesterday I was called to inform me the parts were here and to schedule an appointment. I was told the car was going to be ready at 3:30pm when I checked it in @ 12:30pm, so I decided to wait. It’s now 4:00pm and after seen so many people leaving my car was still not done and parked along the cars staying overnight. No one cared to tell me or give me any status after 3:30, even after I said I was going to be sitting outside and wait for them to be done.
I asked for my car since I had to be somewhere by 5:00pm and asked the person I was dealing with to tell me how would he feel if he waited 4 hours and nothing was done to the car. He didn’t have anything to say, so I suggested making up by bringing my car next day and take care of it right away. I showed up at 11:00am next day and was out by 1:00pm. The reason why I was out by 1:00pm which still along time, is because I started asking for my car. I then find out my car was done an hour ago and if I didn’t ask I still be waiting. I finally got my car and when I get home without making any stops, straight home, I find my bumper full of scratches and license plate screw marks like some one bumped into it but I was exhausted.
A lot of people said to file a complaint or ask to get someone who would get it done. All I want is for people to provide good customer service and care for the customer’s time.

Very nice, very patient, however, very slow. David is a good guy with good intentions. In all, we spent over 7 hours over 2 days to get a deal done. I think we could have done slightly better in the numbers as well.

David Gray was an excellent sales rep! He was polite, incredibly helpful, quick and effective. He truly earned my business by offering me a great no-​nonsense deal. Highly recommend!

This is for the Scion Santa Monica Service Center only.
I have been coming here for years to service my mini vans. My last purchase came with free servicing for maintenance so I save a ton of money for that. I would have given them a 3 or 4 star rating until my last visit. Getting an appointment is easy and the wait to give your car to them is not long. I told them that my tire had a slow leak and wanted them to plug it. I waited in a clean waiting room with donuts and coffee. My contact guy came in to tell me that not only was the nail too close to the wall of the tire to fix but that they did not have my tire in stock. I would have to wait about 3 hours. He also gave me an estimate of 250 $ for just one tire. Really, I asked do you have a generic tire? He advised against that idea and since I could not wait I left with a leaky tire. I called Firestone and Pep Boys for an estimate and decided to take my business to one of them. Thank goodness I did. The infamous nail in my tire was no where near the wall and all I needed was a 15 $ plug.
So, for years I have been taking my business here because I trusted them to service my car and not take advantage of me. As you can see that is no longer a possibility even for a free service. Makes me wonder how many times I went in there for wipers, tires, and other items that they over charged me for something I might have not necessarily needed.

Mark A. was very helpful in getting my new FRS. I had to wait for two weeks but he was patient in answering my «is it there yet?» texts everyday. It helps that Scions are fixed priced (called pure price) too so no need for negotiation.
I would have given five stars if it weren’t for the closer, aka «finance manager» who tried to upswell me a bunch of craps I don’t need. I politely turned them down but he wasted 30 min of my time at the end of a long tiring day.

Wow! I have to admit I thought twice about coming when I read the reviews but the sales department has truly changed into a helpful pressure free environment. Krystal Porraspita helped me pick and purchase a car. To be honest, she is young and new but that’s what makes her a wonderful salesperson. I first told her what my needs were in a car and she narrowed down my search immediately. Once I knew what car I wanted, I told her what my expectations on price were. Toyota Santa Monica will work with you!!! The rest of the process was mostly paperwork so on and so on but my car was ready as soon as I got out of finance… btw the finance department was also helpful! Everyone works as a team! Don’t look at the reviews and judge them, I almost did and would have missed out on a truly exceptional experience! PS… They are under New management so that could be the reason why TSM is changing for the better

What can I say about this place? They literally saved me from paying a lot of money on rental fees. Thank you so much Scion of Santa Monica, and especially to David Gray and their internet sales team. My car was recently totaled on 1/​18, to be exact. I was at no fault, but was stuck having to use a rental car in the mean time till my insurance and the other party’s insurance had settled. My insurance and even the other party, decided to work quickly on everything and they gave me a settlement on ¹⁄₂₃ in which they stated I had only 5 days of rental till I had to start paying on my own. At this point I had only wanted a Mini Cooper, and never really thought about getting another car, till I came to Scion of Santa Monica. I fell in love with the Scion FRS and could think of nothing else but getting a nice, bright, red one. David Gray went to work on helping me find that specific Firestorm that I so wanted. I went in on ¹⁄₂₆ at about 2pm and Mr. Gray told the internet sales team that I was ready to buy if they were able to find me a red FRS. In as little as 15 minutes they were able to find one and said that they would be able to have it transferred to their location at 6−7pm. I was ecstatic and totally surprised that they were able to find one so quickly. I ended up signing all the paperwork and came back at 6:15pm to find my car was getting detailed and would be ready in ½ an hour. They had my car ready before 7pm. It was the easiest car purchase I have ever had in my life. I’ve bought 2 cars previously and they have never been this easy. The Scion sales team did a wonderful job in getting me what I wanted in such a quick time. Thank you so much David Gray and the internet sales team! You guys are the best! :) Happy car shopping everyone. I know if you guys go here for your car purchase you will not be disappointed.

Ivann was amazing! Because of him and the help of the financial center, I got approved for my first ever NEW CAR! I’m happy to have a new car while I attend school and go into Grad School. He was courteous and helpful and helped me from test drive to post-options…I highly recommend this dealership, and I went through about 5 dealers in the West Side and South Bay area…

Bought my FR-​S here couldn’t have gone smoother. I came in and left a deposit of $ 500 with them on Sept. 23 and told them my color preference. They were more than willing to run through the numbers with me /​do a credit check on the spot. I’ve been having a huge problem with this at other dealerships because of my age and the fact that everyone wants this car. A lot of the other dealers blew me off because they knew they could mark up the car/​add extras and the cars would still sell, and if I couldn’t afford the marked up ones then they would find someone who would.
Scion santa monica gave me the car at MSRP + floormatts only which was awesome. I was called almost exactly a month later. Went in and drove the car out 3 hours later.
The whole process was pretty fast and they always showed me respect.
The salesman (Anthony) that guided me through the process was new, but made the process comfortable and I always got respect.
I would totally recommend Scion Santa Monica for new car (and or FR-​S) purchases.

Below is my ‘car shopping’ experience. I am still shopping for the right car to buy so just to be clear, I have NOT bought a car from them, not yet.
Walked into the dealership and was greeted by Tom Palmer who is genuinely a nice guy. He explained to me the Pure Price, no haggle policy and told me I can check out anything on the lot, take a spin, and he won’t pressure me to make any decision. In fact, he guaranteed that no one at scion Santa Monica would. That was pretty reassuring.
I checked out the 2012 scion tc and when I was done test driving, Andy Carlson, the manager ran the number for me without asking any questions regarding credits, he did ask me if I am graduating soon though, I assume that’s because I am qualified for the college program. They gave me the monthly lease payment within 10 min and told me to come back whenever I am ready. Just like that, not a single bit of pressure. Oh the numbers were pretty good too. No money down, 256/​mth incl. tax 36mth/​12k lease for a manual scion tc. Since it’s pure price, I guess anyone who qualified for the college program with no bad credit can get this price.
Thumbs up for keep your words, Scion Santa Monica !

Unilocal informed me that I’m apparently the duchess at the moment, so perhaps I should write a review about my experience at Scion Santa Monica…
I’ve only dealt with Scion Santa Monica in the form of a contest they recently ran and their service center. I own a 2008 xB (yay, toaster oven!!) and this Scion branch is the closest to me. It’ll probably be easiest if I break down my review:
– Scion Santa Monica Service Center:
Overall I’d rate the center between a 3.5 and a 4. It’s easy to make an appointment online, but if you arrive early enough, you really don’t need an appointment — just pull up in the service driveways. I’ve taken my car here about three times and have never had any problems; it was all very routine. Drop your car off, get a pick up time, they call you when it’s ready, you pick it up. I live close enough so I can take the bus home, but you can also ask them to schedule a shuttle to take you home.
Now, if I haven’t had any real problems with my service appointments, why would I rate it only a 3.5 — 4? Because the last time I took my car here, I had a rubber weather strip that was becoming unstuck on the roof of my car. Mark, the friendly guy helping me, offered to see if his team could replace it.
When I picked up my car, Mark told me that they couldn’t replace it because they didn’t have the part. Fair enough. He said they could order the part for me, or I could buy it and bring it in and they would attach it for me. Nice… but when I got home, I looked at the weather strip and found that one end of it had been pulled off quite a bit more, likely by the service team. Two days later, the weather strip flew off my car and was never again to be seen.
Did you know that a replacement weather strip costs nearly $ 100 shipped? :(I wish the team had just left it as it was and let me super glue it back on instead of ripping it off further. I sent an email to their customer service manager and received a promise to follow up, but I never received anything beyond that. Disappointment. :/​I’ll probably still end up going back since it’s so close though…
– Scion Santa Monica Dealership:
I participated in their scavenger hunt contest promoting the new Scion iQ. Didn’t win, but it was a fun way to spend a Saturday, driving around Venice and Santa Monica scanning QR codes! Not to mention, I got some sweet pens with detachable toy iQs…
Anyway, I know car salesmen can be and are supposed to be really slick/​greasy in manner, but I found Ozzy to be genuinely friendly and helpful. If I were looking to buy a Scion, I think I’d be comfortable dealing with Ozzy for such a major purchase.
…I wish I could add more to the previous paragraph to give it more weight, but this is as far as I’ve interacted with the dealership branch. I’ll update if I decide to trade in my toaster oven for a little one-​slice toaster. :)

AWFUL services department. I lost a car key and needed it to be replaced, and they gave me a quote of 380 for the key when the dealership in Marina del rey offered a much more reasonable quote for 230. Don’t come here, they will try to rip you off!!!

Best car buying experience. Ever.
All new cars should be sold this way, then maybe car dealers wouldn’t get such a bad rap. There is absolutely no valid reason why new cars should cost different for different people. None at all. And combining that with the feeling of being clowned makes it that much worse.
Not your typical «car salesman» types here. The guys who helped me, Phil and Ozzie, were respectful and straight forward. Not pushy at all. This was despite my being ready to aggressively «battle the car dealer» like us customers are too often forced to.
When they say no haggle, it really means no haggle. I’ll be honest. I’ve had bad experiences in the past, so I did a lot of research online when I bought my wife’s car from another dealer. I did my homework and learned so many of the dealers’ tricks. Do some deep research, the things they try to pull will make you want to go postal. When I learned all their tricks, I was sooooooooooooo pissed, I wanted all those BS thousands of dollars back that my family got STOLEN in car lots over the years. With my wife’s car, I did force a good deal with the system, but the whole experience was like getting your teeth pulled. And you can just imagine the looks on dealers faces when you were onto their games.
I knew about Scions’ «no haggle policy» and still I actually I tried haggling with several Scion dealers; using a method to counter «normal» dealers that try to get the most out of you. Most Scion dealers back with the similar answer for pricing.
Some were rude & excessive about it though. Except Santa Monica Scion was not excessively aggressive/​rude/​annoying at all.
Basically, Ozzie laid down how Scion’s system works. Everyone gets the same price, unless the dealer advertises lower. So yeah, everyone gets the same price. This was actually surprising because there is almost no price difference between a 2010 and 2011. Cool with me as I was able to get the 2011 model early.
***What they did get, though, is a customer who will recommend Scion Santa Monica to everyone I know***
Here is what else I enjoyed:
–No frustrated faces/​rude gestures when I declined certain extras. Nothing is more annoying when a car dealer acts like you ran over their dog, just because you don’t want the «RACING STYLE STRIPES WITH THE KUNGFU GRIP».
–Very fast buying procedure from credit approval to signing.
Now on to the car: 2011 Scion xB
I love this car. I’m one of those people to whom a car is nothing more than something that gets me to work and to the beach. I’m married too, so I absolutely have no need to make high cost payments for a «p*nty dropper» car lol. I’d rather spend the money on vacations/​trips/​savings.
Anyway, when the xB’s came out I was jealous because it’s pretty much made for surfing. Plenty of room inside, great power for the size engine, and the sound system is very good for a stock stereo. I guess the newer models are bigger than the original. Can’t really tell from outside but lots of room there. It’s kind of like having SUV/​van headroom, but without all the unnecessarily large car.
Very happy and I recommend.
Ask for Ozzie or Phil, they’ll take care of you.

you know how buying a new car tends to be stressful, exhausting and thats even before you get into financing!!! toyota has done everything right with scion and how it is run in the states. NO hassle, NO stress, NO drama, NO bullshit!
i wasn’t even planning on purchasing a scion. my research, charts, printouts, etc were steering me toward a «family sedan» like the ford fusion, nissan altima and subaru legacy. i was never a big fan of the strange looking xA or the boxy xB and i was always under the impression that the tC was a sports car — which i had zero interest in (i am 6’2, 225) — but the new xD intrigued me.
a buddy of mine and i were driving around one day trying to kill time before plans that night and i suggested test driving the ford fusion, since it was first on my list. i noticed the scion/​toyota dealership and said ‘lets go see the xD’. all intention of test driving the xD as we walked on the lot, my buddy called my attention to the tC for its looks, style and VERY affordable price.
out walks this guy in a t-​shirt and jeans asking me if i have any questions. thinking he is another customer, i kinda brushed him off — then he said ‘just let me know’. MY curiosity now wanted to know why, if he IS the salesman, didn’t he shark me… he just went on with his day informing me to let him know when i need his assistance. WOW!
i fit in the car like it was a body glove, i was MEANT to drive this car! a test drive with honest answers, being shown some very impressive features and no-​haggle «Pure Price» (meaning you pay sticker and thats all) now has me as one of the newest scion drivers — i purchased a 2009 Scion tC with STANDARD moonroof, air, power, pioneer system with subwoofer, lay flat seats, 17″ alloy wheels and on and on and on… check out scion santa monica at
and ask for ralph (like the grocery store)!
by the way, i wasnt too impressed with the xD especially since i test drove it AFTER the tC (but i am sure it will fit SOMEONES needs!!!)!!!
sales (ralph) — 5
management (andy) — 5
finance (devorah) — 5
ease — 5
friendliness — 5
anything else? — 5