Ok so here is the deal. Im looking at getting a Cobalt SS/SC within the next 2 months. I already work for a Chevrolet dealership in the Pittsburgh area, which i will not name. Im not a sales man or a mechanic. I do computer systems for this dealership. I dont feel that they will give me a 'great' employee price. Since i am assosiated with a chevy dealership, i know of a few places that i will go to hunt for the best price. But i want to hear the stories from you guys of what dealership treated you the best. Were they able to work with you on the price of your Cobalt SS/SC? Who would you recommend i check out, and who should i stay away from? Im hoping to lay a down payment of about 5k, no higher than 6-7% interest and have my payment fall right around the 300$ a month mark. Hopefully i can find a dealership in the area that wont laugh at me. Cheers.

 

I bought mine from Century 3 Chevy, they weren't TOO bad to deal with as far as buying the car (for a car dealer that is, LOL). I don't take my car there for service though, I take it to Day in Monroeville because it's closer to my house. I can't complain about them at all, service dept has always been wonderful there, very prompt and accomodating when you've got major problems (mine arrived there on a flatbed on Friday), but I don't know anything about what the salesmen are like to deal with.

 

I would reccommend staying away from Kenny Ross. Bad experiences in the past with them. They hit my parents' car on the lot, then didn't tell us. We pointed it out and they said, "Oh. Well our snow plow must have hit it." They also hit something on the lot with my Uncle's Blazer a few years ago.

C. Harper has been very good to my parents with our Pontiac. They also sell Chevrolet. I got mine at Crivelli in Mt. Pleasant. So far, so good. I didn't really have to deal though... I got a GM discount because my Uncle worked for GM. Dan Johnston Chevrolet was a pain when I was there. They were willing to get the car from another dealer for me, but they were very pushy.

Good luck!

 

Crivelli's another one that's good for sales, bad for service. When Chad is there in the service department, they're great to deal with. If he's not there, DO NOT leave your car with them. One of the salesmen took my car out for a joyride and/or took a customer for a test drive in MY CAR. And they didn't fix ANYTHING on my 2 page list of service items. Thank God I didn't have to pay the clowns or I would have been LIVID...

 

Hey good point ppazz. I have an uncle that works for Fisher Body GM in WM but i didnt think i could get his discount because i was not an immediate family member. Since i am his nephew i didnt think it would apply. But now i may have to pull that out of my sleeve when i go to deal. You guys have been great so far. Keep the comments coming. Good, bad, in between, service and sales. All are welcome as long as they pertain to Pittsburgh area dealerships. Thanks.

 

Baierl Chevrolet was really nice to work with when i was there. I didn't get mine from there, but i was pleased with the way they treated me...abd the have a sunburt orange ss/sc for sure...and i think a black ss/sc on the lot right now. I ended up getting mine from McElwain's in Ellwood City. We have gotten our last 5 cars through there because my dad used to work up there, and he knows the guys up there well. I wanted a arrival blue ss/sc with the blue inserts but the dealership that had one....cough Crivelli...cough...wouldn't trade it to them for, i think a goat. So they found a red one and threw in an extra 2 years of free xm....i ended up paying 19,800 for it...with the gm discount and pay plan thing.

 

Wow, 19800 is really good. Thats below invoice if im not mistaken. Ellwood City is kinda far away from me. My dad bought a Silverado from Day Chevrolet in Monroeville and they had to trade McElwain for it. Anyone in particular i should see if i do make the trip to Ellwood City? And what is the "pay plan thing" you speak of? Some promotion they were running at the time you purchased?

 

It's not the regular GM discount that employees and family members can get. It's called GM Friends in the Driveway or something. Your uncle should have a limited number of referrals per year to give for this program. You have to talk to him and he can get you a confirmation number that the dealer will need. It's not quite as much as the employee discount... but it's not far behind it.

I used this discount plus $500 auto show bonus (last month) and $500 for doing a smart buy. I didn't like the smart buy at first, especially since I want to keep the car, but after working out the numbers, I found out it was cheaper to go with a smart buy than it would have been to buy the car even if I buy out the car at the end of the smart buy period.

(I hope this makes sense to you... I worked out my payments and interest for a normal buy, then worked out my payments and interest for a smart buy including buying out the car at the end of the smart buy lease period. It turned out to be less if I went with the smart buy program. If you buy out the car at the end, you don't have to worry about the milage limits or condition of the car. Plus, you can refinance the balloon payment at the same interest rate or cheaper provided you are on time with your payments till that point.)

 

i know that this isnt close by...but criswell chevrolet in gaithersburg md is the biggest ,best and most respected dealer in the 4 state area

 

Well the person we deal with is Rick MacMurdo...but he is part owner/service manager...so you probably wouldn't go through him to buy the car...but i know the people who work up there are very knowledgeable, and they aren't a-holes...and we have never had a problem with service on any of our vehicles up there. I have to ask my dad about the pay plan thing, because he was the one who signed the papers, even though i payed for it.

 

I was mistaken...its not a "pay plan thing"...it is the gm smart buy plan, but it did take our price to 19,800...and ellwood is about 40 min from my house but its all highway...so it doesnt waste too much gas, and it raises the mpg

 

Day chevrolet in monroeville bent over backwards for me id reccamend them anyday and if i take my car in they always take good care of it

 

That's actually very reassuring for me right now. I'm up to day #4 and they still haven't even gotten a chance to look at my car yet. Hopefully they'll know by the end of the day what's wrong...then the wait begins to see how long before they have it fixed.

 

yeah after they fix something they are very nice ans customer service oreiented, they explain the problem and what they did to fix it in depth, only thing i would say is if you go in there on a saturday to get something fixed dont expect to be out of there too quick as they are understaffed on those days

 

I still don't have a call from them. I'm not TOO worried yet. If they haven't even looked at it by tomorrow, I'm going to be peeved. It's been sitting there since Friday. Poor service guy, I've been calling him every day for an update but they keep telling me "We'll get to it tomorrow." So if they don't call me, I call them.

 

do you know what is generally wrong with it?

 

I'll second this. Back in '99, my mom looked at a Lumina LTZ there. SWEET car- 3800 V6, loaded, leather, etc. Stickered for around $23K. Well, the assclown sales manager came back and flat-out told her that she couldn't afford the car, even though she was getting the loan through her credit union (Bell Atlantic/Verizon). I said "F that" and we walked out. Went from there to Grabiak Chevy in New Alexandria (on 22), she left there with a Monte Carlo Z34 (same powertrain, same options, same price, just 2 less doors). The guy at Kenny Ross was just plain rude, and I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

On the good side, I WOULD recommend Grabiak's to anyone, and their service department was decent as well when I took my truck in for work.

 

I first went looking at Dan Johnson Chevrolet on 30 between Irwin and Jeannette right when the 05's first came out. They had a VERY limited selection and only one 5 speed, rally yellow (not for me), and they couldn't get me one for 3 weeks. So then I went to Star Chevrolet out by Westmoreland Mall also on 30 and they were nothing but ******, wouldn't tell me the final price of the car nor my interest rate. The kid trying to sell me the car was a kid I went to high school with, he had no idea what car I was looking for and ANY question I asked him, his response was "Let me go ask king assclown" They offered me I think a 5 year loan at 350 or something outrageous like that a month for a base coupe, so I laughed and left. I went straight from there to Kenny Ross in Irwin, who I absolutely hate and refuse to ever do business with because of previous misadventures, but they had a ton of Cobalts on their lot. I ended up getting a nice salesman (Mike Flynn I believe) and he knew that I was pissed from car shopping all day and got me right in the car I wanted, almost except I still had limited color choices so I went with red. All in all, I hate car shopping.

 

Hey you guys have been great so far. Keep the comments coming. Please dont forget to let me know if there is a specific sales man that you were happy or unhappy with.

 

IF you make the drive up to Ellwood City, you might as well come to New Castle and check out G.O. Crivelli. I bought mine there last month and they did me really good. I shopped around for a while and nobody could touch the price I got on my LS. The sales manager up there is Barry. You tell him EXACTLY what you want, and he'll get you a car in a matter of days. They arent much for haggling on the price, only because they give you a straight deal, get you all the rebates/incentives, and find you a good interest rate. Rich is their finance guy and he got me 5.9% when most of the rates were at least 7.5%.