Dealership Experience

Fred Anderson Toyota in Charleston, SC, free oil changes for life and lifetime drive train warranty (as long as you get your vehicle serviced by them exclusively, which they're relatively reasonable on pricing). I've had it in for four services so far. They did a free mod for me (changed blinker from 7 clicks to 5). Service people have been extremely friendly. I'll keep updating to this thread if they start any shenanigans on the lifetime warranty. Only bad (though hardly even worth mentioning) is that their car wash seems to be down a lot, but they give you a free car wash voucher so you can come back at any time (or use it for another car ).

 

Money grabbers Galaxy Toyota NJ

Don’t even give a loner car unless ‘major work is being carried out’

 

Fred Haas Toyota in North Houston, TX

No special perks, but they're a huge dealership and have the most Tundra inventory anywhere. Great pricing if you have the right salesperson, but they do mark up Pros $5-7k and sell pre-modded trucks at insane prices.

 

Beaver Toyota, Cumming, Ga
Opened within the past two years, great service/sales center with outstanding amenities!
Outstanding experiences and Highly recommended!

 

Southern California

Longo Toyota (A + + +) - I’ve purchased 5 vehicles from them. I get all my service done with them. They focus on volume more than profit. I’d recommend them to anyone.

Crown Toyota (f - - -) - they mark up everything, and tell you they are giving you the best price and won’t haggle. The service is terrible. They will nickel and dime you for everything. I wouldn’t send my worst enemies to them. If you have time, shoot me a PM and I’ll give you some stories about these idiots over there. It’s way too long to explain in one post.

One quick story - my battery died and when i got my battery changed out the radio would not come back on. I went to Crown Toyota and asked if they could figure out what was wrong (maybe a fuse etc...) they told me it would be $110 just to check. I said F that, and went to my boy at Longo Toyota. He said let me take it to the back and have my techs take a look and I’ll let you know. 15 mins later, he brought it back and said it was fixed free of charge!

I’ve got some stories about buying cars at Crown versus Longo also.

 

Thumbs up for Camelback Toyota in Phoenix, AZ. Purchased in July 2017 and have used strictly them for maintenance and service. Very pleased, will be getting my next Tundra from them as well. Lauri Vitali for sales and Joe Toro in service.

 

Sean Sargent Toyota in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Bought The Woman's Corolla S there and they've done much of the service for my Tundra. Low pressure, relaxed experience when buying. Friendly and easy to work with. Service has been professional, courteous and prompt. I got a loaner car both times free of charge when my truck was in. They also offer a free shuttle service if they have no loaners and you need a ride. Parts dept knows their shit too.

 

Elgin Toyota in Chicago: Grade A
Toyota dealers prices in Northern Ohio...

Tried buying in Ohio, where I live, but none had or willing to go get/come down to price on SR5 TRD I wanted. Broadened my search and found Limited model, (more doo-dads) perfect specs/color, listed for $1500+ less than any Ohio SR5. Bought my plane ticket and drove her home.

They would've got an A+ if they filled up the rest of the 38 gallon tank, which they said they don't do anymore. At least I squeezed a couple free t-shirts and bed rail system out of the deal!

 

Dealers love to put on cheap spacer lifts and sell them for thousands to the uniformed that have money burning a hole in their pocket. I think by doing that they are no better than someone running a scam. Other thing I don't like is taking advantage of people by marking up air filters X4. I know there is a whole thread on here about Toyota of Rockwall's service. Before free oil changes I never took a vehicle to a dealer unless it was for warranty work so it is kind to compare them to others. I just hope that they are much below average. First time in there looking at Tacomas the sales dept. was a bunch of whiners. They tried to sell me a 2 year truck with 30k on it for like $1500 less than a new that had more options particularly TRD OR and tow pkg.. When gave them and offer they started whining about what they paid for it. I just simply said "your problem not mine". Next time buying a Tacoma was a great experience because the top dog in sales personally handled it from beginning to end. This time though the trouble came in finance. I had to get the sales director directly involved when I was ready to cancel the whole deal. At one point he pulled the old "we are losing money on this truck". They probably were because they had to ship up from a south Tx dealer. When I bought my Tundra the sales experience was OK but once again finance ruined it. When I went to pick up the truck the $600 dealer fee that I had the other finance guy take off the contract suddenly reappeared. He caved pretty easily when I demanded the keys back for my trade. This was at Sport City probably one of the least professional dealerships I have ever dealt with. There was no predelivery checklist. It was basically the sales lady and myself trading vehicles in the parking lot. Also, not a lick up follow up after the sale and not even a survey. I went back there about 2 weeks later and talked to the sales lady about my experience with finance and she said if I give finance a bad grade then she loses out on $300. I was like that is wrong and you need to tell your GM. I never got a survey. They received their review on Yelp.

 

I have had great service from both Cavenders in San Antonio and San Marcos Toyota in San Marcos Texas.

 

Longo Toyota was amazing. Never stepped foot in the dealership, everything was through email and text and they even delivered the truck to me (I live about 1hr away). Great deal too!

 

Heyward Allen in Athens, GA :: Excellent Sales & Service

 

I wondered about Fred Haas since I live 15min away from there. I bought a Tundra from Joe Myers and the only issue I had was they always use the sales tactic of "Hurry, there is someone else looking at your truck too." Next time I'm going in with my guns loaded so to speak and ready to walk if need be.

 

Red McCombs in San Antonio

I personally had a bad experience there, but it was all the sales rep's fault. He was a young guy that obviously had no idea how to sell a tundra, he didn't know anything about them. He said the SR5 I was looking at (and bought) had a "chrome package", lol. Once I got sick of his bull I got the manager involved, who was wonderful to work with and was really the only reason I didn't say "F this dealership". I know of other people that have had great experiences with another rep there that actually drives a tundra and knows what he's talking about. I'll be working with that guy for my next one.

 

I inquired about a 2018 SR5 cav blue, 6" lift with 35s, leather seats, no chrome at that dealership and they wanted $58k for it. I laughed pretty hard when I saw that email.

 

Hoselton Toyota in East Rochester, NY

Worst service after buying my truck

I called and asked where the key was to my lug nuts as I looked in a few places and couldn't find it

The woman on the phone said that service was closed but I could call tomorrow and I could buy another one.
I said that it is a new truck and I can't find it. She got real snotty with me and said I can come in to the part dept and buy another one.

I explained that I had a brand new truck and I just pulled it off the lot. You are telling me that you lock my tires on and you make me buy the key to remove it? Can I speak with a saleman or manager?

She started yelling all these names at me of people that she reports to and I hung up.

I called Lebrun Toyota
The guy that answered the phone told me where it is and he said if I couldn't find it to give him a call back and he would send me one. No charge.
I told him I didnt buy the truck there.
He said no biggie, just stop by and we can get one for you or just give me your name and address and we will send one out.

 

Toyota of Knoxville(TN)

I called to get a quote for a timing belt and water pump replacement and was quoted a price around $900. I agreed to the price and made the appointment right then. When I showed up for the appointment a few days later a different employee greeted me. As we were talking I mentioned the original price I was quoted and he scribbled it down. I did this because I didn't want any surprises. Fast forward to later that day when I'm picking the truck up and after paying the agreed upon price I realize that there was a line item for cleaning the throttle body. Confused, I asked the same employee why they would perform this work since I didn't ask for it, and it's not something even related to the timing belt. He left to go "ask the tech" and when he returned he claimed that after the truck was put back together it was making a noise so the tech opted to clean the throttle body. I now know this makes zero sense.

What actually happened is that the price for the work came in $60 less than what I was quoted and once the guy realized it he basically added in some fluff to get me back to the price I had been quoted. So in the end I paid what I had originally agreed to but it was shady as hell. I should not have opened my mouth in the beginning. I've avoided going back since then. I would only ever use the dealership for major work anyways.

 

Toyota of El Cajon:
So far we’ve only bought two vehicles here but it’s my main service station. The work gets done but the wait for work is usually quite long. But they sell a bunch of lifted trucks and they understand what goes into it. They also have never given me grief for warranty work on any of my modified trucks I’ve had.

 

Hoover Toyota. Hoover, Alabama (suburb just south of Birmingham).

Two Corollas (first one totaled in a wreck after 5 weeks) and one Tundra bought new in 4 months. Great car buying experience. No bullshit. Danny in car/truck sales.

Service department? No story to tell. They've never seen my car/truck again. And won't.

 

Inland Chrysler - Dawson Creek, BC.
Bought one 2008 Tundra pretty much sight un-seen from Don Ardelion. A no BS deal, was able to negotiate a great price. He drove an hour to pick me up from the airport, and the flight was an hour late. Drove me back to the dealership, test drive and viewing matched his description of the condition.

The TPMS light was still on despite the service dept. trying to resolve it the day prior. He ran it to the tire shop while paperwork was in progress, shop confirmed one sensor had failed. As I didn't want to wait to start my 10.5 hour drive home, he called the Toyota dealer for a quote to have it replaced, and cut me a cheque for that amount right then and there. Even though he's far away, I'd readily deal again.


Penticton Toyota, - Penticton BC.
CPO 2015 Camry XSE. An all around horrible buying experience, with lies, lies, and more lies (in writing), then tried to call it a misunderstanding when I confronted them after the fact. They did replace the two cupped tires in the end, like they should have done in the first place. Finance dept was condescending and horrible, wouldn't finance through Toyota Canada at their CPO rate, wanted to gouge us 7.24% for 3 years instead of Toyota's 3.99%. We ended up financing directly through out bank. Will NEVER deal there again, and will NEVER recommend them. The car is nice but I still get pissed off when I look at it.

 

Brunswick Toyota in Brunswick, Ohio

I have bought 3 Toyota’s from them and service with them since 1999.

They are competitive in new vehicle prices and the service is top notch!

 

Waite Toyota - Watertown, NY

Great sales & service staff. bought my truck CPO there in 2016, dealer maintained, and I've continued to get outstanding service and support from them. Wish I bought my wife's 4R from them 1st. Even still, we had rust spots from rail dust on the lift gate and Waite took care of us, free of charge (4R was still under Toyota warranty). New paint on rear quarters, and lift gate. Did a great job. Free highlander loaner too. Cant say enough great things about them.

 

Never been to Fred Haas until this weekend. Here is my experience:

Went to make a deal on this TRD Pro:

https://www.fredhaastoyota.com/exot...a-Tundra-66170d1d0a0e0a176362f785211f2ca5.htm

First off, they had it marked up 20 grand for dealer add ons, but were knocking off 10 thousand. Here’s what their “twenty grand worth of add ons” consisted of:

Light bar on roof. (Told them immediately they had to take that off. They agreed and reduced price by $800.00. I don’t know what the light bar should cost, but that was fine.)

Bakflip cover - that’s about $900.00.
Custom wheels and tires. I figure maybe 5k at most for that.

So, their 20k worth of add ons total maybe 7k on the high side. So, even at 10k it was a rip off. That doesn’t even include the fact that they didn’t credit the TRD Pro wheels they took off and were reselling.

So, we get through that part, and get a price that probably could have been lower, but I could live with it.

Then we get to the finance office. We have a near perfect credit rating. The guy starts moving fast, telling us what our payment will be. We have to interrupt him to ask what rate he gave us. “Toyota’s best rate is 5.15, but I’m knocking it down to 5% because you guys have such good credit.”

Umm, no, that’s a shitty rate. I can get way better than that at my bank. He responds “No, Toyota Financial is the only option. No other bank will finance a lifted truck.”

Ok, two things here:

1) It’s not a lifted truck. It has a TRD Pro suspension.
2) Even if it’s lifted, that’s still bullshit. I drove a lifted Tundra up here that my bank approved for financing.

Told him that wasn’t happening, have a good day. He does the “let me go see what I can do” act and leaves.

Having heard of a truck dealers do, I look at the phone on his desk. The speaker light is on. He’s going into another room to listen to what my wife and I say when he’s not there. The deal is already off at this point. We aren’t buying a truck from a liar.

I nudge my wife, and say out loud “If he can’t at least get under 4% we are out of here.”

He comes back in and says “I got it down to 3.99!” At that point we just laugh, get up and leave.

They start calling immediately. I don’t answer, but send the salesman a text back saying I’m not going to tolerate disrespect and honesty, and I’m not going to let them get over on me on a finance rate.

He responds back with three increasingly better rates, all the way down to 2.99. He said we “didn’t give them a chance to get that far.”

My response:

“Don't know how we could have gotten that far...Todd said "we can only finance this through Toyota. We can't use any other bank."

Maybe he's not quite experienced enough to work in the finance office? Sucks for you to lose a sale because your finance guys aren't educated enough to close a deal you spent two days securing. I'm honestly disappointed for you.

Your GM might want to find some finance guys who are a little more prepared going forward.”

I’m guessing he didn’t pick up on my sarcasm. He responded that if I’d come back, he’d get me a new finance manager and they had some very competitive rates secured. I ignored him after that.

So, long story short, the sales guy was ok, though not quite educated enough about his vehicles. I had to correct him more than once. The finance office tried to get greedy. Didn’t even get far enough for them to try and rip me off with extended warranty.

 

Joe Meyer is another, long story, but I bought my first Tundra there. I was pretty irate and won’t go back there. The only bad review I’ve ever given a dealership, and probably the only time I’ve ever yelled at anyone in customer service that didn’t work for me. The only reason I bought the truck was because no one else had the specific one I wanted.

 

Well I'm part of a buyers club now so next time I'm ready to pull the trigger on a new Tundra I can get one for below invoice price minus all incentives, and that's honored at most of the Toyota stealerships nationwide, and that's where I start haggling. I don't pay full price for anything anymore.

 

My advice is to have everything worked out before you visit the dealership. Get pre-approved at your bank, credit union, etc. If the dealership can beat your rate, go ahead and use them. If not, use your bank. It’s probably a rare occasion the dealership won’t match a rate you already have.

TrueCar.com is pretty good for determining market value, and the price for pretty much any upgrade will be somewhere on this site.

I’ll say Tundras.com has taught me a ton about the cost and value of anything Tundra related. Had I not been on this site for the last couple of years I may not have known how much they were padding their “upgrades”. I generally don’t know squat about cars, but the collective knowledge here has made me someone who knows his shit when it comes to Tundras. How many customers would say “Yeah, those custom wheels are nice, but where are my $1300.00 worth of Pro wheels you took off?”

 

Agreed 100%! I love this site. Full of useful info and great peeps to boot.

 

Gotta make sure and include my positive experiences also.

I bought my current Tundra and my wife’s Sequoia at Gullo Toyota in Conroe. Great guys, and haven’t experienced any underhanded bs there. The service department is very friendly, professional, and always do me a good job. I’ve never had a negative experience there.

The only caveat is that when we bought the Sequoia, the salesman wouldn’t speak to my wife directly, though it was her vehicle we were buying. Any question she asked, he would direct his answer to me. He is Vietnamese, so maybe it’s a cultural thing? It was driving her nuts, and cracking me up. That said, she will tell you he’s the best car salesman we ever dealt with. That part was just odd.