⭐ 1/5 — Excellent sales experience undermined by finance and no management follow-up

I purchased a 2023 Subaru WRX from BMW of San Francisco in April 2025.

First, the sales staff were excellent. They were professional, helpful, and made purchasing the vehicle a genuinely positive experience. Unfortunately, the finance portion of the transaction soured what otherwise would have been a great purchase.

I never discussed trading in a vehicle with the sales team and never indicated that I wanted to trade anything in. Yet during finance, the representative repeatedly pushed the subject anyway, at one point telling me:

“Yeah, I don’t know why people try to sell their cars themselves. It’s so hard. You should just trade it in and we’ll handle everything.”

My question is simple: what vehicle did he think I was trading in, and why was I being pressured to trade in a vehicle when I had never expressed any interest in doing so?

Offering to discuss a trade-in is perfectly reasonable. Repeatedly pushing one that the customer never requested is not.

During the same interaction, I received a call from my bank while I was preparing to make a significant purchase, so I answered it. The finance representative responded, “Can we focus?” I found that unnecessarily patronizing. I was a customer completing a major financial transaction, not someone who needed to be reprimanded for briefly taking a call from my own bank.

The interaction became even stranger when the representative went on an unsolicited tirade about customers who are rude to him. He explained, in substance, that if customers are rude, he makes them go to the DMV and handle their registration themselves rather than processing it for them.

Whatever frustrations someone may have with previous customers, describing to a current customer how you intentionally make the process more difficult for people you consider rude is incredibly unprofessional.

What ultimately solidified the one-star rating was the complete lack of management follow-up afterward.

I originally posted a review describing this experience and also attempted to contact the General Manager directly. I received no meaningful follow-up or acknowledgment. My original review is now no longer visible, so I am reposting my experience.

I’m not looking for anyone to be punished, and the sales staff deserve credit for doing an excellent job. I simply expected BMW of San Francisco management to acknowledge and address a legitimate concern about the conduct I experienced during the finance process.

I remain open to revising this review once I have spoken with management and received confirmation that these concerns have been appropriately addressed.

Until then, this review will remain as an accurate account of my experience.

Recently picked up my 2027 M3 from here. Had the pleasure of working with Michael Tow. He was absolutely great with his communication and him being a car enthusiast was a plus too. Would 100% recommend him for business here.

Huge shout out to bmw of sf for being the best bmw dealer in nor cal, we drove hour + each way to go to sf for our new bmw, it was definitely worth the drive. Our car of choice was waitin out front for us

We were greeted by our sales person Thomas, he showed us similar cars to the one we picked out over text with him to make sure we loved what we got. All the numbers lined up perfect with all the information that was provided by Thomas as well.

I also attempted to reach out to 4-5 other bmw dealers in nor cal, none of them would provide numbers or information over the phone/text. I even called one dealer three times in one day to get an update, they simply showed no sign of urgency.

BMW of SF has earned my family as a life time customers, we will recommend them to all of our friends and family as well.

The process was very quick, and professionally handled, at no point were we wondering what’s going on.

The General Manager Jim came out to congratulate us on our purchase as well. The finance manager John was very informative of everything as well, he answered all of our questions and really worked with us.

Glad we drove out to bmw sf, they are definitely the best.