Tried to testdrive 07 Tundra - NOT HAPPY!

[djpaul]

I had a similar experience. The story took place at Toyota of Burien in WA. I was looking for a Rav4 for my wife and as advised by couple good friends I did my homework and was ready to buy one. I rolled up in my New Ford E350 Van dressed up just like men in black. Went in, sometime later a guy in his early 20's came up and offered some help. Then we took a car for a spin Black Limited I-4. He said some sh**t about car that totaly didn't make any sense and then we went inside for talk. 5 min later I offered him my price, he got all mad and pissed off told me when I am ready to buy a car then I can come back and told me to get out.

I left, called the guy I knew at Doxon Toyota in Auburn, WA gave them a price and picked up car 3 hours later; even bought a leather through them as well. All together I bought 06 Rav4 Green ( not black as wanted) Limited, no leather ( but for $800 got it installed) - Anyway even with leather I got it for under $29k and was the first one to drive V6 off the lot.

Later found out that my sis best friend father works at the same dealer and him as well did not !!! buy his 4Runner from them Go Figure.

It pisses me off to have a business with idiots like these guys.

[mtnrunner]

I typically phone first and arrange the test drive making sure they have the car ready to go and when I get there I don't waste anytime talking about it. If I like it I thank the dealer for his time and then call my broker.

Car salesman are like everyone else, come in all shapes, sizes and attitudes. Many times I've wanted to give the nice patient guy my biz but he wouldn't meet my price. What you got was, no doubt, a bonehead.

[Howzit]

One would think Toyota would be in a class of it's own. I went down Eddies Toyota in Wichita (where I bought the Sienna) to test drive the new Tundra.

All I got was BS, poor attitude and utter lack of assistance.

You just have to go up the road a block to the Honda dealer to get treated like royalty.

One has to wonder if the soon to be prospect of #1 has gone to some peoples heads.

[MACSTER]

lol....Howzit, you remind me of a story.

Back in 2001, I was looking around for a new Toyota. Really wasn't sure what I wanted exactly, just looking around. Riding in the back seat of my uncle's Dodge mini-van we start driving through Eddy's lot. Booooy did we get some dirty looks for driving through instead of parking.

As we enter a salesman stakes us out and proceeds to follow the van, which of course is moving faster than he can walk. As he hurries to catch up, I make my uncle slow down (not stop) to check out the last truck in the line. That unfortunately gave the salesman time to catch up.

Winded and tired, the salesman tapes on the window. My uncle tried to ignore it, but his wife hit him. He stopped and cracked the window maybe 3 inches. Salesman asks if he can help us, and my uncle proceeds to tell him his nephew is looking at the last Tacoma in the row.

Trying to sound smart, he goes into his little selling mode. Of course, it's obvious I already know much more than he does, and decide to throw some knowledge back at him. He gives up, and asks if I want a brochure (though it was obvious that I already had it pretty much memorized).

Uncle says "He's already got a brochure, thanks"

Salesman says "Ok, here's my card"

Window closes, uncle starts to drive off......BUT WAIT....the salesman runs back to the van and taps on the window again.....and the windows opens again......

Salesman says...... "O, and they come in different colors too!"

LOL....I'm not sure I've ever laughed so hard in my life. For someone to say that as seriously as he did....whew.

[jayhawkfan]

I stopped in at my local dealer (eddy's toyota) my salesman almost forced me to drive one. I was very impressed with the truck. He kept telling me not to baby, get after it. I think he was having as much fun as I was. I ended up ordering a crewmax. I can't wait

[Tchapin]

Personally If I was a salesman I would take all serious. Titan or older Tundra, as I just traded. Had many experiences with Houston dealerships, bought 5 toyotas from Gullo in Conroe. I also agree with dealing with the internet manager as he usually is more experienced. It also greatly helps to do your homework and have your price on trade and what the dealer invoice is on the vehicle as you want it equiped. If they seem reluctant, politely move on.

I just did this last week when Gullo could not give me the deal I wanted, so I bought the same truck from Champion in Austin, where I now live, for 1000 more on my trade and 500 over dealer invoice. Not bad as they had the exact truck Iwanted.

[vspectra]

wow. Just read the first post - who do they think they are? GM? Ford? You should complain to Toyota. Here's my story:

I went to my Toyota dealer the day their first batch of Tundras came. They had a few but only one of them had the PDI done and it was washed/cleaned and put inside the showroom with all the stickers on.

I wanted to test drive one and the sales manager knew very well I was not in the market for a truck, cos I told him so. But I wanted to drive the 5.7L anyway. He asked one of the sales guys to remove the stickers, gave me the keys and told me to just bring the truck back when I was done. No dealer plates/ no copying driver license/ no salesman. I got the truck out of the showroom and it was snowing outside. I drove it for a while, took it some places to show off, after about 30 mins I came back. The manager jokingly asked me how I liked peeling off he rear tires.

Of course, I bought 4 cars from these guys in the last 6 years.

[Crx722]

I rolled in to ressler toyota of bozeman with a dirty assed 03 first day they were on the lot in my work clothes. Im 19 and the guy handed me the keys and says, "well you wanna drive it or what?" oddly enough i had to go and declined. He has called me twice this week. I will stop in again in a lil bit.

[xcantuaj]

I've always had problems with that dealership.....I've had better luck at the other Don Mcgill on Dairy Ashford. Next time ask for fleet sales....they are alot easier to work with.

[gfvillano]

I purchased my '06 AC from this dealership and was not overly impressed with the sales "team" either. Good thing the Tundra can sell itself.

[bikervet]

Another similar experience in Fayetteville, Arkansas after visiting the VA Hospital last year. Entered into the lot in my Subaru Outback LTD and COULD NOT find a sales person to help me look at several used Tundras. Went back the next week in the Lexus and they were all over me. Bought my 03 Tundra in Leavenworth, Kansas! Not everybody is a tire kicker.
'Nuf said...er, something like that!

[Whaler22]

Originally Posted by jasbus

Let me start by saying, I think car salesman are the lowest form of dung on planet earth. Hate them, hate buying cars because of them....I don't expect good service from any salesman, they are scum..... if they are @$$holes, I'm gonna treat them like the feces.

Sooo....how do you really feel?

I agree, generally. Although I have met a few good, kind people involved in car sales, the majority have been scum-bags. The poeple and process are especially awful in a "system house", where the salesmen have "mandatory turns" (Salesman #1 finds some lame excuse to bail out on you and "turn" you to salesman #2), and a fleet of "managers" who are second-year salesmen assigned to "close" the deal. (Like Lithia.)

I always tell the salesman the rules up front:
1) If you leave me in a cubicle for fifteen minutes, I'll leave.
2) If you "turn" me, I'll leave.
3) If you introduce me to a smiley manager? You guessed it, I'll leave.
4) If I'm goin to buy a car today, I'll be driving it out of here in less than 90 minutes. Any longer than that and we'll have to try another day, or I'll be buying somewhere else.

They leave you alone in the cubicle as part of the wearing down process - so you can sit there with the brochure and sweat yourself into how much you need the car... When they do that to me I immediately bounce up and out of the cubicle and onto the lot. In our part of the country the dealerships are very big, often five acres or larger. If it's nice weather and I'm enjoying myself, I'll probably still be out wandering around when the guy comes looking. If they take too long, I'm gone.

The reality is, nothing they need to do takes more than a couple minuts. Credit history is almost instantaneous, as is trade evaluation...the four hour process is all about wearing/tiring the buyers - but we don't have to play by their rules.

[MMitsock]

A tactic I use is to tell a salesman at Dealership A that I have an appointment at Dealership B in an hour or so. If I can get the deal I want I stay and close it, if they start jerking me around I look at my watch and say I need to leave to make it to my appointment to meet with the next dealer.

[cliff clavin]

Originally Posted by Whaler22

Sooo....how do you really feel?

I agree, generally. Although I have met a few good, kind people involved in car sales, the majority have been scum-bags. The poeple and process are especially awful in a "system house", where the salesmen have "mandatory turns" (Salesman #1 finds some lame excuse to bail out on you and "turn" you to salesman #2), and a fleet of "managers" who are second-year salesmen assigned to "close" the deal. (Like Lithia.)

I always tell the salesman the rules up front:
1) If you leave me in a cubicle for fifteen minutes, I'll leave.
2) If you "turn" me, I'll leave.
3) If you introduce me to a smiley manager? You guessed it, I'll leave.
4) If I'm goin to buy a car today, I'll be driving it out of here in less than 90 minutes. Any longer than that and we'll have to try another day, or I'll be buying somewhere else.

They leave you alone in the cubicle as part of the wearing down process - so you can sit there with the brochure and sweat yourself into how much you need the car... When they do that to me I immediately bounce up and out of the cubicle and onto the lot. In our part of the country the dealerships are very big, often five acres or larger. If it's nice weather and I'm enjoying myself, I'll probably still be out wandering around when the guy comes looking. If they take too long, I'm gone.

The reality is, nothing they need to do takes more than a couple minuts. Credit history is almost instantaneous, as is trade evaluation...the four hour process is all about wearing/tiring the buyers - but we don't have to play by their rules.

four hour process? damn, I would go nuts if it took that long...my attention span is only 3-4 minutes max.....next bring kids...having them holler at the top of their lungs quite often can speed up service in hopes the kids depart as soon as possible....screaming kids tend to irritate other customers...can't imagine why???

[el_madmaster]

Sorry to hear. The instant I walked up to the 07 DC at the dealer an assistant started talking to me about it, and he knew a pretty good amount about it. I don't believe that the RWD auto-LSD on 2wd models, or whatever it is, is as good as some competitor's 4wd systems, though lol.

Anyways, I didn't even ask and he asked me if i wanted to drive it, and I said sure. Real surprisingly, he took me out to some remote area with several short S turns, and told me to take the turns as hard as I felt comfortable. The Tundra surely felt fairly stable, but then again I drive a Sequoia most of the time. I was very very impressed by the SR5's engine and transmission performance.