Hi all, I'm sure some members here have dealers they've used who they've had a top notch experience buying cars from. Hoping for recommendations on resources to buy from who are honest and knowledgeable about cars of this tier. Could be an official AM dealer you've worked with or a specialist independent dealer who works primarily with high end/exotic cars. Ideally looking to work with an organization in the western US but certainly open to something outside that area if you think it's worth a look. It's so hard to assess dealers prior to really working with them and we all know why the used car dealer stereotype exists so hoping the community can steer me in the right direction

So, who have you all worked with in the past who you'd recommend?

 

Mark Hayward, Park Place Ltd, Bellevue, WA. He's great, our "go to" guy.

 

I would concentrate on the car on offer rather than the seller. Ultimately you are buying a car, not a dealership.

 

AM Newport Beach and San Diego. Jeff or Matt. Good pple.

AM Galpin is good too. GM Ivan Merino is on top of things.

AM O'Gara can be a hit or miss. They have a lot of turn over on the sales side.

I'd avoid Euro Car OC (indie)

 

Good to know, I'm actually flying out there in a couple weeks to check out a car at that dealership. Seems like they have a great collection so good to know they're a solid resource.

Certainly agree with this point but I'm hoping the right dealer helps me get to that right car easier. My local resources are slim and not ones I trust so I'm needing to go out of state. Can't fly to visit all of them so starting with a reputable dealer may narrow things down.

Really appreciate this, I'll reach out to them to see what they have or can find for me.

 

There are not a ton of Aston's out there and only so many places are regular sellers of such cars. If the receipts for care and maintenance are there, a PPI should be all you need.

If there are not consistent receipts for the mileage, you can do a Facetime walk-through of the car before deciding on a PPI.

Getting the car up to date on service is not the end of the world either.

 

Are you looking for a certain spec or year. I've looked over vehicles in the past for out of state people a few times. So if you find something close to me In SoCal I may be able to help.
JW

 

Yeah this should be true in most cases, but long story short, I'm back in the market for a car mostly because of issues stemming from the dealer I worked with. I don't know if the issue was due to the dealer being dishonest or incompetent, but either way it's making me want to ensure I'm working with the right dealer moving forward.

Really appreciate that! I'm primarily looking for a pre-facelift, 4.3 Vantage in manual. Low mileage and top tier condition. I'll shoot you a DM.

 

Bringing this back up to the top. Park Place Ltd in Seattle was a bit of a bust, not their official Aston dealership but the part of the business that sells used cars. Their top salesperson on that side of the house was a bit of a disappointment.

Are there any dealerships anyone knows of here in the US who are not official Aston Martin dealers but are Aston specialists? I haven't found anything so far but thinking of orgs like Nicholas Mee in the UK.

Even more of a long shot - has anyone imported cars from Europe before? I'd imagine the VH V8 Vantage could be imported under the "substantially similar" exception to the 25 year rule.

 

Have a look in Canada (autotrader dot ca for example). Probably much easier to import (and inspect). It's a small market and there's not much selection at the moment, but the exchange rate could work for you. I don't have an org to recommend though.

 

Just concluded my purchase of my first Aston Martin, a 2015 DB9 with ~14k miles.




As part of the process I contacted ~14 dealerships of which 6 were Aston Martin dealers.
- AM Houston (Star Motor Cars) (my local dealer) were pleasant and cooperative but had very limited inventory.
- AM Dallas (Avondale) seemed a bit snobbish and high priced
​​​​​​- AM Las Vegas (Towbin) were fine but the specific car I was looking at turned out to be a bit of a dog
- AM Chicago (Napleton) didn't have exactly what I was looking for
​​​​​​- AM Bellevue (Park Place) came highly recommended but were a real disappointment. They had cars I was interested in but their salesman was a disaster.
- And finally AM Newport Beach were the ones I purchased my car from. My salesman Tim Shelton was a genuine pleasure to work with.

YMMV, but hope this helps.

 

I just completed and collected my new '23 Vantage from McLaren / AM Tampa (I live in CT) - The cat I worked with through this process has become a friend. He's a great young man and a full on car guy. He knows the market well so he might be a help in your search. His name is Nick Delaney. If you're interested happy to share his contact info.

Best

Matt

 

Good recommendation, would definitely be easier to import from Canada than anywhere in Europe. My thought with importing was more finding a higher-end specialty dealership (such as Nicholas Mee in the UK), since the US dealerships I've been finding have been less than impressive.

Congrats on the purchase! Beautiful car. This is immensely helpful, thank you for sharing this. Park Place in Bellevue was a similar situation for me. Once the salesperson realized he wasn't getting a same day sale he stopped wanting to have a conversation or track down information, disappointing. I'll reach out to Tim Shelton and see if he can help.

Hey Matt, thanks for sharing this. I'll send you a DM to get Nick's contact info.

 

Please check your DM.

 

I sat in a 16 Vanquish (and Aston) for the first time last week. I am starting to read reviews and search for information about the pros/cons of the brand/model. My thanks to all who have contributed to this as it will be a great help to me.