This is a Sales review. I haven't worked with Parts or Service.
-- I worked with Earl, and he was great. What a genuinely nice guy.
-- Would absolutely recommend working with him. We're actually trying to get a second car with him at this time.
It's surprising when any car dealership has more than two stars. I'm giving them five stars here because they earned them.
If you're reading reviews for car dealerships, you're probably looking not to get screwed or play games after encountering one or both things in the past. Gold Rush was honest and straightforward the whole time I was waiting for a specific car to come in, from deposit to delivery and after.
I had a Bolt EUV reserved with a $1,000 deposit at Future Chevy. I'd leased a 2020 Bolt from there, and while it wasn't a great experience (they snuck in some BS "service" add-on, alignment was bad off the lot, bad attitudes), it was a typical experience.
Future told me initially they'd sell at MSRP, but when I put down the deposit, they tried to add a $5,000 mark-up. We "negotiated" that down to $3,000. It's 2022, and it's extremely hard to get vehicles, so with Bolt production ramping back up, I hoped they'd change their minds about the mark-up by the time it came in.
To hedge my bets, I asked Gold Rush about the same model they had coming in. I was able to put a $500 deposit on it, and was assured they wouldn't be sneaking in any BS add-ons or mark up. They also agreed to not drill-on the front license plate bracket. I did not want holes in a new car's grill!
In the weeks of GM shipping delays, I never heard from Future, and they would not respond to my follow-up questions.
Meanwhile, Earl from Gold Rush would respond using their SMS system very quickly, and if he wasn't around, someone else would answer my question or provide a new ETA.
Both cars for which I had deposits came in on the same day. They were both the same configuration, so they may have been on the same truck.
While waiting for the cars to come in from the factory, Chevy lowered the prices $6300 via a cash back offer. I'm also eligible for GM Supplier Pricing.
By this time, I was sure I was going with Gold Rush, as it was a night and day experience so far.
Heard from Future first. They blew the holes in the front bumper against my request. They still wanted the $3,000 mark-up, and didn't know if they'd honor the GM Supplier Pricing. I wanted the mark-up gone, but they wouldn't even commit to that over the phone. "Just come in and we'll talk about it while you're here." That eventually was whittled down to "Okay, we'll do MSRP if you get here before the end of the day. Oh, you work? Well, it hurts our numbers to have it sit... and we have ten people lined up to pay the $5k mark-up for this car" Screw 'em.
Called Gold Rush and was told the car was dropped off just a couple hours ago, and wouldn't be ready until the following day, as Service was backed up. That's perfectly fine, since I work for a living, I can't just drop everything and head out.
Gold Rush honored my request to not install the front plate bracket, and they NEVER ONCE TRIED TO POST A MARK-UP. I asked if their metrics would be hurt if it sat a day or two. The guy snickered and said something like "I guess, but it's fine, not like it'll be long." What a completely normal answer. Why are normal answers hard to get these days?
Anyway, I gleefully told Future to kick rocks and refund my deposit. Their tone softened a lot, but it was too late.
Showed up at Gold Rush. The car was ready and waiting. A bunch of plastic was still on the interior, which I thought was great. Who doesn't like peeling off the fresh plastics themselves?
Full disclosure, they did try to get me to pay for a 3rd party protection package they said they already applied. That was disappointing, but I simply said I wouldn't pay for that, and that was it. No hard sell, just "okay."
They sold me the car for MSRP, no mark-up, with the GM Supplier Discount and CA Clean Air rebate.
The Bolt is eligible for a $500 EVgo credit, which I forgot about day-of. I wrote in the next day to ask for it, and they submitted the request without argument. I received the credit within a week.
Some moron totaled my wife's car that same week, so now we're trying to get a second Bolt from Earl and Gold Rush if we can. They're all reserved already, but we asked to be contacted in case they back out. It's nice to be confident they'll actually reach out if that happens.
TL;DR: happy with our experience. Would buy from here again.
EV side note - they have two old AC L2 charging units in the service area. Even before I was a customer, years ago, I've asked to charge our Fiat 500e and other EVs here when passing through town, and the've always said that was okay. Service was always closed when we passed by, so we weren't in the way, but it just shows how helpful they are to anyone, not just people showing up with cash. read more