Scotty LaRue greeted me with a smile as I pulled into the parking lot of Bramlett Motors at 515 South Main in Hope. He joined the used car dealership in February, working on Fridays and Saturdays. This week he said he had been a bit busy with his full-time job for Nevada County, though.
“Yeah, I cut some trees, this week,” LaRue said. Of the roads he said, “We had a couple that we had to clean up real fast and get unblocked.”
LaRue said his coming aboard at Bramlett Motors has been a breath of fresh air. “They've been very welcoming and very supportive, trying to teach me all they can. I've noticed they want everybody to feel comfortable and be honest. Usually, with car salesmen, you always hear they will lie to you in a heartbeat and try to say what they can. But up here, I have not had to do any of that. It's just, this is the car.” He said he sees lots of repeat customers and lots who represent the second or third generation in their families to buy from Bramlett.
Bramlett said when he considers new cars for his inventory, he has an exacting set of standards. “They're all going to be good mileage, clean, hand-picked cars. They've always been hand-selected here, so that way we know they're good cars. Almost all of them are newer models with factory warranty, but they're all different kinds. We have nicer, cheaper cars sometimes and cheaper payments for people and affordable That's hard to do nowadays.”
Both Bramlett and LaRue said it is easy to apply for financing, either there in person or on the dealership’s website. Bramlett explained that while many shoppers may think their payments will be lower for an older car this is not typically the case: “They short-term that financing so much the payments are higher on the older ones. We tend to gravitate toward the lower mileage, factory warranty type stuff. To keep the payment cheap.”
In addition, if the car you want is not at the dealership now, Ryan Bramlett says that can be remedied. “Our inventory changes typically every week. It rotates quite a bit, so we try to keep fresh inventory as much as we can. If we don't have what somebody wants, then we just special order it.”
On the off chance the vehicle you bring home breaks down, Bramlett Motors has you covered. “Every single car, if it doesn't have a factory warranty, we always put a warranty on there. It always comes with a three month, 3,000-mile warranty.”
The dealership prides itself on its community volunteerism. “We always try to stay involved in the community, whether it's with the chamber of commerce, the auctions, the Lions Club things, Kiwanis. We sponsor ball teams and stuff like that. So we try to stay involved in whatever we can,” Bramlett said. LaRue said Ryan coaches baseball as well while he himself coaches baseball too and helps coach basketball at Nevada schools.
After this I took a stroll around the lot, appreciating the several shiny vehicles of all shapes and sizes, especially the 2021 Nissan Altima.
Bramlett Motors is open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Saturdays.
