Bay Area Toyota/Scion Dealership Reviews?

[cdo221]

How was all of your experiences at the various dealerships in the Bay Area?

Which ones has the best and most professional service department?

I wanted to bring my FR-S in to get my passenger auto up/down feature fixed (I have the issue in this thread: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...+window&page=2)
I've heard some horror stories about dealerships (joy riding, damaging, etc.) and wanted to avoid all that if possible.

I was originally planning to bring it to my local dealership, City Toyota in Daly City - had an OK sales experience when I bought my FR-S. But today, I went in to pick up some stuff I ordered (touch up paint with the coupon posted awhile back).
As I walked back to my car, I overheard the sales guys talking rather loudly - some unprofessional stuff not worth repeating. But, enough to make me not want to bring my business to City Toyota.

The service department is obviously separate from sales - but the actions of anybody working there reflects the management and the dealership as a whole. So, I'm looking for a dealership with a more professional attitude for service and to buy parts from in the future - any recommendations? How's SF Toyota or Melody Toyota?

Or maybe I'm completely off base - is the service at City Toyota great?

[JackSmiley]

Its not called "Shitty" Toyota for no reason. I actually know someone who works in the service department and he says the same thing about that dealership.

[tdominant510]

not to brag cause i work at toyota marin but our service guys are pretty chill and great, would never damage your car. parts department is pretty average.got me what i needed in a reasonable amount of time.

[asia_minor]

anyone but city Toyota.

[Bach415]

City Toyota is pretty shitty. Took my car in 3 times for condensation in tail lights. They couldn't "reproduce the issue" so they kept my car for a day or so for the first two times despite me having the pictures and videos for it. The third time I brought it in was when there was condensation in it before they actually took it apart and replace the gasket (still kept my car for a day). There's still condensation in my lights but barely which I rather not bring in anymore to get it fixed. They also tried to put the blame on me by constantly asking if I directly spray water. Aside from that, they wouldn't even volunteer to help me remove the rust dust on my car even when it was only less than 2 weeks old and barely driven (No more than 30-40 miles at the time and I got it when it had 15 miles). They said that it was my own job to clay bar and remove it myself when the car is practically brand new and was there when I brought the car home. Despite those issues, I've also complained that the front license plate frame holder damaged my front bumper due to the fact it wasn't drilled. They would not help me fix the bumper let alone saying they are going to drill it through. I refused that and just went on with the TSB to disable DRLs.

[86_ZN6]

Originally Posted by tdominant510

not to brag cause i work at toyota marin but our service guys are pretty chill and great, would never damage your car. parts department is pretty average.got me what i needed in a reasonable amount of time.

which department do you work on? so i guess you know my black car??

[BlaineWasHere]

If we are talking about SERVICE DEPARTMENT not SALES I've had really good experience with Peircy service.

The only issue I've had so far in my 28K miles was tail light condensation but they never hassled me about it. I brought the car in and the service adviser was super chill and even apologetic for the problem. Also when I get my oil changed/service they've never had my car for more than 4 hours and never put over a mile on the ODO.

[EAGLE5]

Sales people at Toyota one of Oakland and Hayward Toyota are nice. Service departments are both totally incompetent in my experience.

[PMok]

Originally Posted by jsimon7777

Sales people at Toyota one of Oakland and Hayward Toyota are nice. Service departments are both totally incompetent in my experience.

Years ago I brought my MR2 Spyder in for an oil change at Hayward. They lifted the car improperly (at the wrong lift points) and damaged/bent the rear body panels as a result. The MR2 is particularly prone to damage if you don't lift at the proper points. I raised holy hell on them and they to their credit, were super apologetic and paid to have it fixed by a body shop etc. But after that I took my car to Dublin Toyota for regular maintenance instead. They've been pretty good and we still take our tC there for the easy stuff (oil changes). For warranty issues I also took it to Toyota101 in RWC with no problems.

But now that I am out of warranty on the older cars, I'd rather take it to other shops that I trust for maintenance instead. I recommend Motorsport Techniques in Hayward and Exact Motorsports in Milpitas, both are very good. (5 and 4.5 stars on Yelp, respectively).

[tdominant510]

Originally Posted by 86_ZN6

which department do you work on? so i guess you know my black car??

im in sales,only been here 5 months now. i have only seen a asphalt and hot lava and whiteout being serviced. i watch the service guys though work on the cars. very thorough cause the gm is close by and managers. we are very strict on customer service.

really great when you service your car you get a car wash.

[JackSmiley]

Originally Posted by BlaineWasHere

If we are talking about SERVICE DEPARTMENT not SALES I've had really good experience with Peircy service.

The only issue I've had so far in my 28K miles was tail light condensation but they never hassled me about it. I brought the car in and the service adviser was super chill and even apologetic for the problem. Also when I get my oil changed/service they've never had my car for more than 4 hours and never put over a mile on the ODO.

Same experience. I had my condensated tails replaced and they told me they had to order it, they didnt bullshit me about me spraying water onto the tails. Now, my trunk lip (aka spoiler) is coming off, i told them about it and they ordered the part for me at no cost. They only thing that i didnt like the last time i was there was how they washed the car. Did it half assed.

[j2digit]

Capitol Toyota/ Scion Dealership here in San Jose seems decent. I actually bought my FRS there. When they were bringing it down from the display ramp, the front underside produced some sparks and immediately my son alerted me to that as we were driving home the car since i did not see it (was too busy signing papers and stuff). after a few days, i actually did the actual walk around to inspect the car and noted some of the issues I didn't see since I bought it at nite (almost closing time). They never questioned any of my complaints and addressed the issues straight forward. The only thing I didn't like was that they had to keep my car over the weekend to totally have it painted ( the front bumper underside). I would have been fine with touch up since its not really a big deal to me, but since they are going to keep it over nite, I elected to have them repaint the bumper. On the day of pickup, the service manager calls me and lets me know that he spotted air bubbles- (small) but he can see it, and didn't feel right giving me the car then. So, he asked if they could keep it an extra day to correct the issue and I told them yes. Mind you , at the time I dropped off the car, I put a yellow post it note ,the actual mileage of the car on the front mileage gauge. It read my mileage and please do not remove ( have fear of the service techs driving and putting crazy miles on my car). When I went to pick up my car, the post it notes was still there and they only added 5 miles to my original miles since the painting shop is actually 2 miles from the dealership and had to drive back and forth twice to the shop. The car looks great and totally happy with the service techs and manager at the place. Hope this helps...........

[asia_minor]

the Putnam group's lot of dealership are good people too.

[Veloist]

Originally Posted by asia_minor

the Putnam group's lot of dealership are good people too.

Putnam Toyota has great guys. I know of 3 mechanics who my dad trusts in working with our cars, including our garage queen FR-S.

One of them owns a classic Celica, the brother owns an AW11 Mr2. There's also one who owned a Lotus Elise, and another one has a clean, modded S2k.

They know their stuff even in the aftermarket world.