Marina Motor Company

Horrible. Just Horrible.
This review is about the service department — I bought the car in question over the hill in San Jose.
In general I avoid dealerships for repair work, but in this case it was a safety recall so we had to take it to a dealer. I will drive it over the hill from now on for sure.
After we got the car back, after driving for a while we were hearing some funny noises — repetitive and tied to the wheel rotation rate, ranging from soft to kinda loud and stopping when the brakes were applied or when we sped up. So I took the car into our normal shop — Rusty’s in Santa Cruz. A couple of hours later we get a call back with the explanation.
They didn’t tighten the lug nuts that keep the wheels on. Let me repeat that– the wheels were not fully attached to the car. My (pregnant) wife was driving around on one of four properly attached wheels.
I called the manager, he offered me a car wash and detailing as an apology, I politely declined. I will never trust this or any car to them ever again.

Would you buy a car from these people or companies?
Young Automotive Enterprises Inc. (831) 475‑3500
4100 Auto Plaza Dr
Capitola, California USA 95 010‑2072
doing business as Marina Motors Company (MMC) in Capitola and Santa Cruz performed a «Value Plus 100-​Point Quality Inspection» as advertised on the MMC website; on a 1998 GMC pickup for me; at odometer reading 62,242; for the purpose of pre-​purchase evaluation of one of their customer’s trucks by me. They found $ 528.41 in needed repairs.
The seller discounted the asking price for the needed repairs, and I purchased the truck and had it delivered, and upon delivery to my local GMC dealer a number of significant problems were found that were not identified in the MMC report, including:
Driveline pushed forward into external housing seal requiring adjustment $ 161.39
Failing of noisy fuel pump requiring replacement $ 471.82
Battery with bad cell and corrosion $ 141.83
Contamination of cooling system fluid $ 139.95
Contamination of transmission fluid $ 139.95
Leaking water pump & filter requiring replacement $ 429.16
Bad idler and pitman arms requiring replacement $ 731.70
Delivery alignment slugs never having been removed since new, & out of alignment $ 250.00
Left Front axle seal (separate from differential) $ 378.94
Total $ 2844.74
All of these items were «checked-​off OK» in the MMC report, with some minimal notation.
So –out of a total repair bill of $ 3373.15– MMC had missed $ 2844.74; a direct cost to me due to the seller’s and my reliance upon the MMC inspection. The local dealer took the time to physically show me each of the above items on my truck to verify they were true.
It appears that the MMC inspection was cursory at best; incompetent or fraudulent at worst.
I requested that MMC pay me $ 2,800.00 to compensate me for direct costs related to the failure to diagnose problems in MMC’s «100 Point Inspection». Gregg Phillips the service manager refused payment. I then filed a complaint with a request for mediation with the Bureau of Automotive Repair in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Their mediator reported that MMC refused to participate in mediation, so DCA recommended I sue them in court.
I filed a small claims court action for recovery of damages, plus costs of litigation including travel and loss-​of-​work.
The judge stated that I had been the victim of incompetence or fraud by MMC and awarded me 100% of what was allowed by law. (case# 55 050 328)
I wonder how many other people relied on their «quality Inspections» and were hurt or killed as a result?
I see that Marina Motors Company just closed up. Good riddance.
Watch out for these people showing up under other names, as I see that Young Automotive Enterprises Inc is still active — see

My mom and I arrived at this lot after doing an internet search for the type of car I wanted. I called them first to make sure none of them had sold. Monterey to Capitola is not really a long drive, but for $ 5.00 a gallon, its starting to become one.
Ray answered the phone and referred me to Sam, their internet sales manager. He was not on the lot… I was kind of disappointed. But once I arrived at the lot they did have someone to help me look at these two cars who knew way more than the Volkswagon dealer we had gone to earlier (read my other car dealership review.)
My boyfriend and I got into the car and took it for a test drive. I accidentally broke the handle off, but it was easy to slip back on and fix. The test drive was fun and Rudy encouraged me to floor it and see how the car really worked out on the freeway. I drive slow, so it was good he asked me to test that, or I wouldn’t have.
This is my first car and I’ve saved up for years knowing I’d buy it at age 23. I came in prepared to pay cash but they wouldn’t budge from their $ 13,988 price. No car mats and a tape player in the car let me know I’d have to at least do two minor upgrades before it was drive ready, in my opinion. Rudy was a good salesman and tried all kinds of tactics not to lower the price but he ended up pissing me off so I left the lot, went home and started looking for more cars online.
Fortunately I found their listing on another less visited car website for the same car (same vin#) for $ 1,000 less. Wow… could it really be that easy? I don’t have to try to get them to lower it anymore? Okay… sweet.
So I called up Sam who this time was at work but «out taking pictures.» They finally got him to pick up the phone after I told them I was at the bank getting my cashiers check ready for the full amount. I think what I said is, «He might want to stop what he’s doing and pick up the phone, I’m coming in with cash to buy a car in 30 minutes.»
All said and done I bought the car in cash. Tax and registration went on the credit card which I’ve already paid off, and I bought my first car using the internet to my advantage.
Do not listen to these guys, do your homework. Research the value of car and the value of each upgrade before you decide if their price is fair. Be firm and ridiculous if you must… I’m a silly 23 year old girl, but I know what I wanted to pay and I paid that price. I knew I wouldn’t pay a lot price for that car and I knew they could afford to pay less than what they had sticker priced, since they got it on trade in.
BTW, I would have settled for $ 500.00 less if Rudy would have dropped it the first day… but he’s the one who let me walk off the lot and see the lower price online. So thank you Rudy for not even trying. Great job. I saved $ 1,000. Yay!
I’ll probably come hassle these guys again. It was fun playing the game and I know they are sleezy (all car salesmen are) but we ended up having a lot of fun.

They not only sell Pontiacs, but Mazdas, Buicks, Cadillacs and GMC trucks. The boyfriends POS (piece of shit) VW had given him enough grief and he decided to go get a Mazda 3. Tim Perrin was friendly and provided tons of great information with no pressure to sell. You will be well taken care of here, everyone is super friendly, professional and wants you to walk away with a great deal and a car that fits you. They drove up to Oakland and made a car trade in order for him to get the exact car he wanted. the sale was made at 11:45– these guys had the car ready for him by 5:20. Tim stayed after everyone else had left in order to show Jeff how everything worked.
In going here I saw an ex– student I taught during my student teaching. To that individual– I am so proud of you for turning your life around. I always knew you were smart and it is great to see you using your smooth talking for good! You have turned into a fine gentleman and from what Tim tells me– you have tremendous potential and will go far in the business if you keep going the way you are going. This totally made my day. such a small world hehe.
Don’t count these guys out! Have a looksy if you are looking for a new car. They throw in a free tank of gas!