[Chicago Joe]

I am brand new to this forum. I am just 10 days or less from being a new Gulia owner, turning in a very fun 2015 GTI. I have done a good amount of research on the car - this forum has been so helpful - and I am ready to pull the trigger, even after reading some of the nightmares people have experienced.

My question is to those on here in the greater Chicagoland area - can you share any stories about your dealer experience in Chicago? Good or bad? I am fortunate enough that 3 dealers have multiple cars on the lot that I would purchase/lease.

Any response would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ChiAlfaRabbi]

Hi. It is a great car! I dealt with the Autobarn in Evanston. They were great, easy to deal with. The service center is close by my residence.

 

[Chicago]

I highly recommend Naperville Italian Motorworks - https://www.napervilleitalianmotorworks.com/

Ask for Matt MacNichol - he worked with me when I got my Q4, as well as the QV. Awesome service dept as well!

 

[ChiGuy]

I also worked with Matt at Naperville Alfa Romeo, and have recommended him to several people. He monitors this forum (Hi Matt!).
Naperville was excellent to deal with during the purchase process, and my experience with their service department has been consistently positive. Because they are a Maserati dealer, they seem to have a higher level of service and mechanics (But they have so far refused to give me a Maserati as a loaner, although the Stelvio wasn't bad.)


I also had a very positive experience with Autobarn in Evanston. To be honest, Autobarn is more aggressive with their pricing. Go on their website and you will see many large price reductions. However, Naperville had the car I really wanted. I took the deal Evanston was offering, and Matt in Naperville agreed to honor it. You can't go wrong with either place.


Whatever you do, stay as far away as possible from New City Alfa Romeo on South Michigan Ave. They pull every bad car salesman move in the book, and should not be trusted.

 

[ttaidapos]

Purchase from Evanston (best discounts), ask for Ross and tell him the trofeo white q4 with the three hood dents sent you. With that being said, go service your car in Naperville. Minor stuff can be taken care of at Evanston.

 

[fortunato17]

I also highly recommend Naperville Alfa. I bought my QV there and worked with Sean, all was smooth and one of the easiest car purchases I have made. I have been to the service department once and they were great to deal with as well. They seem to have quite a bit of inventory too. Good luck with the purchase.

 

[ajroccaforte]

I bought mine from Autobarn in Evanston. Kane, Ross, and Dominique were very helpful.

 

[MDriver]

sounds like the Chicago crew has 2 very good dealers for sale & service!!

 

[Gian]

I live in the western suburbs and ordered my Giulia from Naperville Italian Motorworks. Gary and the rest of the sales staff are good. My lady bought a Fiat 500x 2 years ago at this location. My brother gets is Masi serviced at this location and so does my lady..
Have had great service so far.

 

[Tazio!1901]

I am brand new to this forum. I am just 10 days or less from being a new Gulia owner, turning in a very fun 2015 GTI. I have done a good amount of research on the car - this forum has been so helpful - and I am ready to pull the trigger, even after reading some of the nightmares people have experienced.

My question is to those on here in the greater Chicagoland area - can you share any stories about your dealer experience in Chicago? Good or bad? I am fortunate enough that 3 dealers have multiple cars on the lot that I would purchase/lease.

Any response would be greatly appreciated.

From personal experience I would recommend two: Naperville because they have the best tech - Orlando and Bettenhausen in Tinley Park who has an excellent sales staff and pretty good service department with good product knowledge and customer care. (Evanston is pretty new to the game, don't know much about Ziegler and have 2nd hand feedback that the Chicago store is not very good...)

 

[Chicago Joe]

Thank you to everyone who responded! I have been to 2 dealers in Chicago. Geography plays a role as Naperville is quite a drive for me. I will be heading to Ziegler in Schaumburg today to pick up a new Gulia. Just can't wait!!!

This dealer is also a Masi dealer. The facility itself definitely leaves something to be desired, but the salesman has been great. I am going with a 2 year lease, as they are offering killer deals on them. Because I am a little leery of the dealer network, this 2 year lease is perfect. See how things go, and then decide if I will be an Alfa guy for the long term.

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Chicago Joe]

Well what an absolute disappointment today. I did not bring home a new Alfa. Wife drove me there today to go lease it. This would be my 3rd visit to the same dealership, same salesman. First time my wife saw the car and loved it. Great, more good vibes to go ahead and buy this car that is way out of my norm. All I had to do was pick between Alfa Black and Vulcano Black. The salesman had them side by side for me, exact same option package. I picked the Alfa black.

Ok, lets go inside and buy it. We sit and have to wait about 30 minutes for him to get a lease offer write up (took way too long). The salesman comes back, and shows me the deal, with a selling price of $47,850. Problem is their website clearly, with no disclaimer other than tax, title, and dealer fee, advertises this actual car, stock number and all, for $44,440. So I ask him - why would I pay 3 grand more than what you are asking for it? He had no answer. He said well, that price is because of all the incentives. What? I asked why are you advertising a price you can't give me. No answer. I asked him is there anyone that can give me an answer? He said yes, my sales manager, but he took the day off. LOL. And there is no one else in the entire building that can tell me? No. He said if I can just wait until Monday, he will talk to his sales manager and call me and "take care of me."

What a joke. I actually had my freaking checkbook out. And what a pain too, because I really needed to have a car deal done today because I travel, so now I will be scrambling. Not to mention he informed me that Stelvio's went on a "no sale" status today (I wanted my wife to see it) because of an update they were waiting for!

All that is making me totally rethink this whole Alfa thing. It is not supposed to be difficult to buy and drive a car. Needless to say I won't be doing business with these guys. Now I have to decide wether to go to another dealer or go do a quick, painless, seamless, and boring, BMW lease again.

 

[Tazio!1901]

Well what an absolute disappointment today. I did not bring home a new Alfa. Wife drove me there today to go lease it. This would be my 3rd visit to the same dealership, same salesman. First time my wife saw the car and loved it. Great, more good vibes to go ahead and buy this car that is way out of my norm. All I had to do was pick between Alfa Black and Vulcano Black. The salesman had them side by side for me, exact same option package. I picked the Alfa black.

Ok, lets go inside and buy it. We sit and have to wait about 30 minutes for him to get a lease offer write up (took way too long). The salesman comes back, and shows me the deal, with a selling price of $47,850. Problem is their website clearly, with no disclaimer other than tax, title, and dealer fee, advertises this actual car, stock number and all, for $44,440. So I ask him - why would I pay 3 grand more than what you are asking for it? He had no answer. He said well, that price is because of all the incentives. What? I asked why are you advertising a price you can't give me. No answer. I asked him is there anyone that can give me an answer? He said yes, my sales manager, but he took the day off. LOL. And there is no one else in the entire building that can tell me? No. He said if I can just wait until Monday, he will talk to his sales manager and call me and "take care of me."

What a joke. I actually had my freaking checkbook out. And what a pain too, because I really needed to have a car deal done today because I travel, so now I will be scrambling. Not to mention he informed me that Stelvio's went on a "no sale" status today (I wanted my wife to see it) because of an update they were waiting for!

All that is making me totally rethink this whole Alfa thing. It is not supposed to be difficult to buy and drive a car. Needless to say I won't be doing business with these guys. Now I have to decide wether to go to another dealer or go do a quick, painless, seamless, and boring, BMW lease again.

Hey Chicago Joe, before you give up the ghost (and what a bummer of an experience), go to Bettenhausen in Tinley---It may be out of your way but they are straight shooters (They don't even work off of commission)---Best of luck...

 

[Chicago Joe]

Thanks Tazio, I may do that. I spent last night looking at competing dealers in Chicago land. I did look at Bettenhausen's website as well. Funny thing - I want a black with crema leather Ti Lusso. My bad dealer has 2 of them, one vulcano black one alfa black. I looked at every dealer website in town, and cannot find one single car spec'd out that way. I have about 8 days to turn in my GTI and get a new car. This dealership really put a wrench in my plans......

Thanks again for the response.

 

[MINIME]

I am just going to say one thing about dealers. What separates a good dealer from a bad one actually has little to do with price. It is how they treat you after the sale. That is what separates the good ones from the bad ones. If things don’t go smooth as silk do they say sorry let me see what we can do or do they cop an attitude? Do they hope you don’t notice imperfections or do they give you a heads up that hey there is an issue and this is what we are going to do we just don’t want you to be surprised. Gives you all the details on what to expect how the transport will be managed what to do when you receive it yadda yadda and is there to answer questions no matter how many. That my friends is a professional dealer. We don’t buy cars every day.

 

[ttaidapos]

I am just going to say one thing about dealers. What separates a good dealer from a bad one actually has little to do with price. It is how they treat you after the sale. That is what separates the good ones from the bad ones. If things don’t go smooth as silk do they say sorry let me see what we can do or do they cop an attitude? Do they hope you don’t notice imperfections or do they give you a heads up that hey there is an issue and this is what we are going to do we just don’t want you to be surprised. Gives you all the details on what to expect how the transport will be managed what to do when you receive it yadda yadda and is there to answer questions no matter how many. That my friends is a professional dealer. We don’t buy cars every day.

Very well said. Regarding this, Evanston dealer especially Ross, got put to the test with my journey. From a bad car arriving at first to allocating a new 2018 for me and now with minor servicing. They have really shown that they care after the sale. I couldn't be happier, I just wish their service department was a year ahead on servicing the Giulias but we all know that's not possible considering the car is new.

 

[MINIME]

Very well said. Regarding this, Evanston dealer especially Ross, got put to the test with my journey. From a bad car arriving at first to allocating a new 2018 for me and now with minor servicing. They have really shown that they care after the sale. I couldn't be happier, I just wish their service department was a year ahead on servicing the Giulias but we all know that's not possible considering the car is new.

Well I am definately going through a challenge right now. I am praying it all works out well since we went with this dealer because of all the recommendations on the various Alfa forums. The only really dumb thing we did was 1. Not pick the car up ourselves vs transport and 2. Allow the car to be dropped off full of mud at 12:15 am so nothing was visible. Now I am not sure unless the dealer would have had a thorough walk through I would have not still missed the fact that the Tire Kit was not shipped with the vehicle. So much to go over. So right now I am waiting on responses back on the estimates we go to repair some minor items and missing the tire kit. If that goes smoothly I will call that a plus for being a good Alfa Romeo dealer. So we will see if my dealer is like yours win in the end for customer service. things go wrong all the time it is how you make them right and treat the customer as long as their requests are reasonable.

 

[ChiGuy]

Sorry to hear about your terrible experience, @Chicago Joe . Don't let a scam dealership like that sour you on the brand. I had a similar experience with the classic bait-and-switch nonsense with New City Alfa Romeo in Chicago. They advertised a car I liked at a great price. When I called to get the details, neither the car nor the deal actually existed. They immediately tried to steer me to a different car at a higher price. It was a total scam. Both Naperville and Evanston are first-rate, trustworthy dealers. I have to drive an hour from my house to get there - but it is worth it.
I also had a good service experience at Bettenhausen, but when I was in the market for a car, they were carrying almost all base models and I was looking for a Ti.

 

[migliori]

Sorry to hear about your terrible experience, @Chicago Joe . Don't let a scam dealership like that sour you on the brand. I had a similar experience with the classic bait-and-switch nonsense with New City Alfa Romeo in Chicago. They advertised a car I liked at a great price. When I called to get the details, neither the car nor the deal actually existed. They immediately tried to steer me to a different car at a higher price. It was a total scam. Both Naperville and Evanston are first-rate, trustworthy dealers. I have to drive an hour from my house to get there - but it is worth it.
I also had a good service experience at Bettenhausen, but when I was in the market for a car, they were carrying almost all base models and I was looking for a Ti.

I can't stand this stuff. My wife, when she was custom ordering her 2016 BMW, had multiple dealers in the San Diego area try to pull this on her. They tried the "sunk time" trick, where they walk away for 15 minutes to "get some paperwork" - she literally got up, grabbed my arm, and left! I tried to tell her "you have to WALK BACK IN after you leave to get the deal" but she pointed out that we'll just go to another dealer. She's made me a better car buyer.

With the Alfa, I called maybe 20 dealers before I found the right deal. They were extremely straightforward and treated us well. I'd let that dealer (and any associated ones) know that they permanently lost your business.

With my GTI, Mossy Auto Group in SD said "we have our hands on the car, in the config you want - come pick it up!". I got there in 45 minutes - "Oh, the car has been sold. What about this nice VW non-GTI Golf?" I actually told them to f*** off, and wrote a letter to the dealer telling them that we buy cars on a 1-3 year rotating basis and that we literally would not even consider a purchase from any Mossy location.

 

[gargoyle]

for what it's worth, I live near Grand Rapids Michigan and got a one way rental car to Naperville last month to finalize my Alfa purchase with Sean at Naperville Italian Motorworks. They were fantastic to deal with and very classy. I would suggest going there, even if it is a little further away, and maybe getting it serviced near where you live. I can't imagine them doing this type of thing to you. Great people there!