kama'aina nissan

[jrw]

I am thinking about buying a car from kama'aina has anyone out there had any dealings with them good or bad ? Thanks

jrw

[Punatic007]

I purchased a 2 yr old truck from there. It's a good vehicle however 2 points to consider:

1. They didn't disclose it had been in 2 accidents, found out from my insurance company.
2. Most importantly they did not honor the 6 month service warranty. Truck still does not start with first ignition turn, but with 2nd or 3rd try. The shop told me it was too big of a job and they would only do it if they had to do other major work??? I asked to speak with the service mgr but he wasn't available.

In retrospect I should have gone to the consumer affairs bureau. Oh well. That was 10 yrs ago, don't know if the business was sold since then. Good luck!

[Lee M-S]

we got a truck there a year or so ago. People were nice, truck is fine.

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[Seeb]

Have bought two new cars there. Service department is also great.

[SuperGu]

Best advise I can give you is to run YOUR OWN Carfax before buying. Dealer will offer you a "copy" of the Carfax. Their "copy" is not the same as the one you buy online. I just went through this process on a used car. I was amazed at the different reports. It cost me $55, but well worth it. No, I don't work for carfax. I just had the feeling the report I received from dealer was missing information. Pages weren't numbered. I was right. A page was missing, and accident information was on that page.

[robguz]

Was within $250 of my Nissan with them 4 years ago. Overpriced, so I walked and enjoyed seeing that car sit on the lot for months. Ended up buying exactly what I wanted from one of the Oahu dealers. With $250 to ship it to Hilo it was still far cheaper. No competition means no good deals there. Their $4000 market adjustments on $20,000 cars are entertaining at least. Test drive there, buy elsewhere. The Oahu dealers all have internet sales specialist although they don't seem in any great rush to take your money.

[Chunkster]

Robguz is right! I had the same experience and saved a bunch by shipping one. I could have saved even more if I had been planning a mainland trip around that time. I know several people who payed a ton less than either Hilo or Oahu by buying in extremely competitive mainland markets such as LA, Dallas-Fort Worth, or Seattle. One guy bought a car in Dallas and hit three national parks for an amazing vacation driving his way to the west coast port. I think this only works, however, when you have some reason you need to be in LA or Dallas. With airfare figured in, I doubt the savings would be worth it, but who knows? I haven't done the math lately.

[justthefacts]

i recently bought 2 Toyota cars on oahu and the dealer paid the shipping saved a bunch . way cheaper would not buy a car here.

[mac nut]

Don't buy parts there unless you are rolling in dough!

[terracore]

I shopped at ALL the used car lots in Hilo. Pretty much left each lot disgusted. One lot had a car that wouldn't start without getting jumped as they tried to explain to me that it was a "feature" it jumped so easily. Another had a car with a headlight that could be pulled straight out of the car if it wasn't for the frayed wire holding it in place (the headlight was full of water which clued me in to this defect). Finally made a very fair offer on an overpriced vehicle and they preferred to see me walk away than make a decent profit. Later found out they weren't interested in me because I was paying CASH and they couldn't gouge me with their financing company. They probably wound up selling the vehicle I made an offer on for less money to somebody who needed their financing. Go figure.

I bought our first two vehicles off of Craigslist. That is it's own quagmire. Buyer beware. We walked away from several deals because there were title problems. We did buy one vehicle with a title problem but only after the seller went to the "DMV", paid the fees, and fixed it.

Eventually we replaced those temporary Craigslist junkers with reliable cars from Oahu. Dealing with the barge companies etc was a pain but we saved THOUSANDS and got cars that weren't high-mileage beasts with rust and water-filled headlights.

I would NEVER go to a lot in Hilo to buy a car. Get one shipped in from the west coast, shop on Oahu, or maybe give Kona a try. Anybody have luck in Kona?