Del Amo Motorsports of Redondo Beach — Local services in Redondo Beach

Lack of communication from their part from the beginning. I had taken my bike to them for a valve service since it had over 31k miles and it was due at 30.4k, I had Jason as my service advisor and he had informed me the coil on cylinder #2 was bent, he asked if I wanted to pay for the part which then I told him I had extended warranty, proceeded to check if I did but said no until I gave him my KPP number which suddenly then popped up. He told me it was about a week’s wait for Kawasaki to approve the claim. Fast forward a week and a half later and no update, so I called and then he proceeds to say that he told me 2 weeks which was a clear lie, he started to stutter when confronted about the sudden 2 weeks. Mind you my gf was with me when he called and she too said he said a week, I let it go because there was no point in arguing. I waited another week. This is 2.5 weeks since the drop off, it finally got approved, I had told Jason I needed my bike back by August 22 or 23rd latest, which he said he could the week prior. I had to wait another week to get the part to arrive. Once the part arrived they said they would put it on and have it finished by the end of that day or the next day. He then tells me that they can’t release the bike to me because Kawasaki hadn’t submitted payment or something, I was told from someone that they don’t release the bike from fear that the manufacturer warranty will not pay, I was told it was already approved and paid since they had ordered the part. As a customer it’s not fair that we have to suffer because the dealership is afraid that they might not get paid for a warranty that was approved a week prior to it. I went and talked to Gilbert which then he said that Jason used the “incorrect terms” which to me was: “we don’t want to say this but we’re afraid that they won’t pay us” … But anyways, I received my bike on Friday morning. I took the bike and I was getting home at night and my bike was smoking really bad. I thought the bike was gonna catch on fire. I pulled over to find out that there was a leak from the valve cover gasket. I had to tow it home, luckily had insurance to tow me home. I brought it in the next day in a U-Haul trailer rental. They inspected the bike and saw the oil was coming from the valve cover gasket, they took it in and then Gilbert the service manager told me that it was due to a prior leak that they didn’t clean properly since they didn’t have enough space to clean it, mind you the headers and the side of the engine was covered and soaked in fresh oil which was changed by them the day before, a complete lie to save face. They disassembled the bike and they called me to tell me they pinched several gaskets… I understand everyone makes mistakes but several gaskets and seals? Are the techs not trained? No offense at all but seriously? They then said they would replace every gasket and seal they had replaced with the valve adjustment service, they then said “it’s free of charge” lol, ofc it’s free ! You guys messed up now you guys pay for your own damages you caused ! Seriously 4 and a half weeks wait for a valve clearance and warranty claim plus their damage done to the bike! Will not bring this bike back to them at all. Horrible service from everyone. Only one that actually helped was Gerald the AGM. But yea if I could give 0 stars I would. Don’t go to them ! Oh right last thing, they returned it to me all dirty and worse than it was before lmao, they cleaned the excess oil that leaked on the side engine and stator cover with brake cleaner and left a white stain on the covers lol, oil on the reservoir hose that connects to the master cylinder. Oh and the engine still has residue oil from when it...

The good... The salesman was super helpful and walked me through getting the right bike for me. And im pretty happy with how the guided me (the salesman knew his stuff and for that im grateful). I've had my bike for over a year now, and its great. They even delivered it to me because i was still taking my MSF course and new which was really nice of them!

The bad... And the ugly:

The transparency was not great. I felt like i was lied to. Particularly with the price we agreed on. That was not the out the door price... whatever they say add about idk $1,500-$2000 for setup, build/freight and ca registration etc. and after reading other reviews looks like i was sold on a markup... so my bike which retailed for $6500 at the time ended up being $8,800 out the door.... INSANE. I negotiated a price that we settled on (which was a lie/whatever he wrote down was not anywhere close to the out the door price) and was still a decent amount considering it was the end of the year and they want to sell their inventory, but i was kind of a sucker and didnt know this, just was browsing bikes. Definitely take someone you know and trust with you when buying a car or bike and have water and a full stomach of food. I was waiting for these guys for maybe 3-4 hours to finally leave. They make you wait around so you're in the middle of time investment and already putting forth effort into buying something. They say they're getting financing rates and all that. But really its a sales tactic too. They finally, after waiting so long give me my financing rate... And its 13.9% which is insanely high, given i have a high credit score. I was only putting down a couple of grand but was still very high! I ended up just saying yes because i was so exhausted and hungry and ready to get out of there. Weeks went by and it all just felt dirty and slimy after a while i tried asking if i could put down more and change things so my rate was lower. But its a 3rd party financing synchrony... Not great. So its final. And to make things even more sour a few days later their promo started get my same bike for 1.99% APR With $0 down. Left a real bad taste in my mouth.

If you want a new bike it may be fine to shop here. But i would still be careful and ask the full out the door sales price always. So you're not surprised 3 hours later with a bike you thought would be $2k less. I ended up borrowing money from family to pay it off early and not get hit with that ugly 13.9% apr every month. Avoid buying a bike here id say.

Buy used online with low miles even if you need to rent a truck etc. I could have probably saved close to $4k for a $9k bike after fees. So $5k for almost no miles elsewhere vs $9k (only $9k because i paid it off in a few months, would have been like $12-13k) for buying a bike here and wasting 3-4 hours of your life pulling your hair out.

Figured id write this a year and a half later because i dont want someone to make the same mistake i did. Especially after getting an ad just now for them. Overall a pretty bad experience. I never write reviews too. Oh well...

Unfortunately, it was not a good experience. Let me first say the place is really nice. They have a lot of stock. It's a huge showroom. Both of the gentlemen I dealt with were very polite, but in the end they were not honest with me. It was the old cliche of the bait and switch. They baited me to come in there with a low online price and once I got there they switched tactics and showed me a lot of math and graphs and in the end their price was more than $3,000 over my budget and what we had talked about through texts. This is a portion of our texts before I got there because for me it was a 120 mile round trip journey on my motorcycle so I really wanted to make sure I wasn't wasting my time riding all the way there in 95° weather. As you can see in the text I was assured I should come that they would make me a deal within my budget.

Me: That's great. I appreciate the opportunity. I have to ask about dealer Mark ups or other fees. I see on your website the 2024 KTM 350 exc-f is just under 9k, tax and title would bring that to $10k. That's my limit. Honestly I can't really even afford that because I'm moving and my wife thinks it's an even trade she would kill me if she knew what I was doing. I have the $2500 extra but that's it. If it can't happen and you charge Mark ups I totally understand. But I wouldn't be able to go higher. I just don't want to come all the way out there and then find out it's going to be more than I can afford. If so, I'm just going to sell the bike and then wait to buy something in Utah. So if you can ask your manager I would appreciate it. Thanks!

His Response: I understand and like I mentioned before we can definitely work a great deal for you to help stay within your budget.

Ultimately, In my opinion they just lowballed me for the value of my trade-in motorcycle. The Kelley Blue book on my motorcycle is $13.5k and the dealer trade-in value is $9.9 k. I was just offered $7,500 from Honda of Huntington Beach. However I wanted to trade for a KTM which they don't have. That's why I reached out to Del amo. Once I got the bike to del amo they offered me $6,000 for the bike instead of the $7,500 we discussed through our texts. So I understand that price is arbitrary. But I know Huntington Beach Honda knows the value of my motorcycle as I do. Anyway, the bottom line is the old trope of the used car Dealership mentality is alive and well at Del amo in my experience anyway. If you decide to go there I Hope you will have a better experience. Just beware of hidden prices. If they advertise something, there's always going to be something in the small print and you will most likely be paying at least $4k to $5k more than what is advertised. And if you ask them if there are any markups they most likely won't answer. They want you in the store in the hot seat and in my case their solution was they could get me financing. In my case I just walked out the door. I...