Australian 86 Dealers - The Good & The Bad

[sjroache]

Originally Posted by spr1nter

Name of Dealer and Location: Hinterland Toyota Robina
86 Spec: GTS/Manual/Tornado Grey
Date Ordered: 30/06/12
Approx. Delivery Date: Currently Nov (may change but at least I’m informed and not getting BS)
Approx. Waiting Time: 4-5 months
Dealer Delivery Charge: -
Total Price: ~39k
Customer Service Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: I live in Brisbane and was having a frustrating time dealing with most of the dealerships in my immediate vicinity. Two of the dealers seemed to have the mentality that I should be putting down a deposit just for the right to talk to them regarding the 86 which they knew next to nothing about. I even had one try to sell me a Corolla ZR Hatch on the basis “there is no wait and it has almost as much torque and is more practical”. . . . I’m not buying an 86 to be practical and the wait is not too big of an issue. Anyway I was looking at carsales and noticed a Tornado Grey manual GTS up at Hinterland Toyota Robina. I sent an email enquiry and was called within 10 minutes. I was called by John LeMaitre and we had a quick chat. I had yet to test drive an 86 at that stage and wasn’t willing to commit prior to test driving. There was no push from John however he did tell me that it will most likely be gone by the time I call him back. Anyhow the misses and I test drove and LOVED it so we wanted to place an order. I rang John back to see if the car had gone and of course it had. John and I then talked for a further 20-30min. John was extremely knowledgeable and an obvious enthusiast. He has ordered himself (legitimately with no queue jumping) a red 86 due to arrive around the same time as mine. He also has on order a TRD rear spoiler. Still no sales pressure just a good honest chat on what turned out to be his day off! That Saturday torn between ordering locally or down at Robina we choose to deal with John. Although he is out of the way for us he was the first genuine enthusiast we dealt with and the service since has been first class! THANKS JOHN!! Will have to organise a cruise when they come through

i work with john and he is fantastic gentleman and very professional at his job and as a fellow car salesman you will be looked after...(there is a reason why is rated one of the best toyota salesman in australia)

[Maj3sty]

This isn't related to a 86, but Phil Gilbert Toyota in Lidcombe, Sydney. I was looking to take the new Corolla for a test drive for my parents.

I walked in asked if I could go for a test drive, from the get go I go no service whatsoever, said how was I thinking of buying the car. I told him is that relevant at the moment, I would either get a novated lease, or finance it or buy it outright I haven't made my decision yet.

He said I had to do a test drive at fleet sales, I was like wtf? Why would I want do do that for?
He then said okay you'll have to book one in, I'll take down your details and we'll call you tomorrow.

Didn't get a call today.

Simply. Pathetic.

Drafting a very nice email to their management this arvo.

[dc]

I haven't seen any one else post on Prosser Toyota in Gosnells, WA, so here's my verdict:

Name of Dealer and Location: Prosser Toyota - Gosnells, WA
86 Spec: GT Manual
Date Ordered: January (I think - original 18 year old orderer couldn't pay for it when the car arrived, so I got lucky and snapped it up)
Approx. Delivery Date: October
Total Price: $33990
Customer Service Rating: Very ho hum. 6/10

The guy I dealt with (Sam) was a good guy, but I had hoped to have my old car (a Corolla, in good order) traded in. Red book range for the trade in at the dealership was $5-7K. The Prosser Toyota valuer (some arrogant bloke who kept telling me he had "30 years experience") offered me a measly $2K and clearly did not want my business - I assume this is also related to the dealership manager's focus. Fed up, I bought the 86 outright, bought none of the options they offered me (because I was fed up) and drove the car out of the show room the next day. I then listed my Corolla and sold it for $7.5K within 18 hours.

Funny thing is, I would have taken $3-4K as a trade in but they were so unwilling to work with me that they lost out. Buying a car is hard enough without valuers thinking they know everything and trying to rip people off based on expecting people to make dumb financial decisions because they're emotionally attached to a particular car.

[autogyro]

Name of Dealer and Location: City Toyota, Stirling Hwy, Nedlands WA
86 Spec: Pegasus White GTS MT
Date Ordered: January 2013
Approx. Delivery Date: 2014
Approx. Waiting Time: 1 year
Dealer Delivery Charge: ~$1.7k
Total Price: $40k, including spare wheel, reverse sensors and full tank.
Customer Service Rating: 9. Julian and Vince were awesome.
Comments: Had the best dealership experience I've received from these guys. Definitely worth checking out. Not necessarily the cheapest but their customer focus was a real breath of fresh air and their commitment to informing customers on the status of their order and any changes to the car seemed really impressive.

[Hags86]

Name of Dealer and Location: Nunawading Toyota (Melbourne)
86 Spec: GTS Manual
Total Price: $44,000
Customer Service Rating: 8/10, you'd want it for the price
Cheekiness Level: 11/10

Check the number, $4500 more than list price. On top of that they were offering my $5000 trade in on a car everyone else was offering me $8000 (I sold it privately for $12,500).

Oh, and did I mention it was a demonstrator? Basically he said if I wanted a car immediately I had to "pay for the privilege". For a deal that was $7,000 worse than I could get anywhere else that is a shed-load of 'privilege'

He tried it on, I said no and bought elsewhere.

[Hags86]

Name of Dealer and Location: Rosebud Toyota (Melbourne)
86 Spec: GTS Manual Aero
Date Ordered: Late Feb
Approx. Delivery Date: Mid March
Total Price: $41
Customer Service Rating: 8/10

I lucked in and found a car that was ordered by someone else but their finance fell through. I only had to wait three weeks for the car.

Delivery was fine. Nice enough guy but the reality was I bought the car on the phone and only met face-to-face once and that was when I was picking it up.

I was leasing the car and had a few troubles getting the leasing company and the dealer in sync and felt they could have been more pro-active with better communications on the process. In the end the car was at the dealer for an extra three days whilst they sorted out the paperwork.

Having said that they did go the extra mile for me. They brought the car up from Rosebud to their Mornington branch to save me the extra trip and they salesguy came in on his day off to try and fix the issues with the leasing company.

[llama_au]

I was mostly happy with my BRZ delivering dealer (Subaru Interactive Docklands), but head office service left a lot to be desired. Disorganised and uncontactable.

[CSI:86]

Name of Dealer and Location: Terry Shields Toyota - Jun Teodoro
86 Spec: GTS Manual Pegasus White Feb 2013 Build
Date Ordered: 24/04/13
Approx. Delivery Date: 25/04/13
Approx. Waiting Time: 1 day
Dealer Delivery Charge: N/A
Total Price: 37440 - Reverse sensors, reverse camera, 35% window tint, half tank of BP98, 6 years factory premium extended warranty
Customer Service Rating: 10/10
Comments: The car was a order that was cancelled by two people in the queue. Jun is also a close friend. And sold it to me at the ridiculously good price, plus including extras.

[Molotov]

Name of Dealer and Location: Sydney City Toyota, Waterloo
86 Spec: White Manual GTS
Date Ordered: January 2012
Approx. Delivery Date: Was quoted 6-8 months
Approx. Waiting Time: Cancelled order after 6 months.
Customer Service Rating: 2/10

I should have taken note of similar ratings for Sydney City Toyota, Waterloo on this site. I had to constantly chase the dealer for any sort of information on the car (took 3+ months to get the tracking number). I was told a 6 (likely) to 8 (max) wait for the car but after 6 months the car still didn't even have a solid planned production date. When asked again the dealer said the earliest 'planned date' is September (8 months) but even then that wasn't a certainty. In all likelihood it would have taken at least a year to arrive. The dealer said he quoted me 12 months which was false because I never would have placed the order. I can't recommend these guys but they receive a 2/10 because there was no fuss in refunding the deposit.

[Rumbaar]

Name of Dealer and Location: Cannon Toyota Heidelberg [Victoria], Sale person no longer with company and no replacement was shared to me.
86 Spec: GTS 86 MT Pegasus White
Date Ordered: 19 Feb 2013
Approx. Delivery Date: Indicated Jun 2013
Approx. Waiting Time: Delivered 6 August 2013
Dealer Delivery Charge: $1895
Total Price: $39,708.99
Customer Service Rating: 3/10
Comments: Lack of regular communication from the dealer, lucky I hassled them for a Online Tracker login [wasn't going to be freely given]. Then severe markup on RRP OEM items [quoted $200 for mud guards fitted, $120 just for parts RRP $85], tinting in the $1000 mark. Sales person left about month, month an half before delivery. No follow up word from the dealer on who was handling the sale from then on. Then contact 2-3 weeks before delivery about finance options. The delivery date moved on a daily basis towards then end after confirmed days, then was informed of the cars availability via e-mail, then with no final follow up of delivery time on date of pickup. Then on pick-up a random person who didn't seem to know about the deal handled the hand-over and then stressed "10/10" for customer service for the Toyota feedback. I told them flat out would never recommend them as a dealer and I got better customer service from RACV for my car insurance.

All over, very underwhelming experience. Not sure what I expected, but I figured when I'm spending 40k on a new car I'd like some kind of attentive service.

[vince86]

Originally Posted by dc

I haven't seen any one else post on Prosser Toyota in Gosnells, WA, so here's my verdict:

Name of Dealer and Location: Prosser Toyota - Gosnells, WA
86 Spec: GT Manual
Date Ordered: January (I think - original 18 year old orderer couldn't pay for it when the car arrived, so I got lucky and snapped it up)
Approx. Delivery Date: October
Total Price: $33990
Customer Service Rating: Very ho hum. 6/10

The guy I dealt with (Sam) was a good guy, but I had hoped to have my old car (a Corolla, in good order) traded in. Red book range for the trade in at the dealership was $5-7K. The Prosser Toyota valuer (some arrogant bloke who kept telling me he had "30 years experience") offered me a measly $2K and clearly did not want my business - I assume this is also related to the dealership manager's focus. Fed up, I bought the 86 outright, bought none of the options they offered me (because I was fed up) and drove the car out of the show room the next day. I then listed my Corolla and sold it for $7.5K within 18 hours.

Funny thing is, I would have taken $3-4K as a trade in but they were so unwilling to work with me that they lost out. Buying a car is hard enough without valuers thinking they know everything and trying to rip people off based on expecting people to make dumb financial decisions because they're emotionally attached to a particular car.

haha this is crazy just had the exact same experience with gosnells and can back up your review word for word pretty much. I had graham as my salesman and he was pretty straight forward didn't try sell me the car really but they tried offering me $3000 for a trade in which i said don't worry about then sold for $5000 that afternoon privately worked out nice

I would say go to gosnells if u just want a straightfoward sale at sticker price. I dont think there into making deals or trade ins. I didn't bother with any extras either and just told the salesman he was wasting his time.

cheers for the reviews about melville aswell boys almost went there

[Pineapple]

Perth CityToyota

Made a booking on their website, got a phone call back within 15seconds and then told me that I had to put down a deposit of $500 for a test drive, which caught me off guard as I never heard of this practice before. Nevertheless, I still said ok to it since the lady who handled my booking (forgotten her name) explained that it's fully refundable pending test drive result.

She told me that she'll send an email with the $500deposit contract to my email and I told her that I wish to test drive the car the following week to which she assured will be no problem.

A week later, I still had not received any email or calls from them. I called them yesterday, reached reception and was told no one was available to answer me. Receptionist got my name, number and my situation and said someone will call me back as soon as.

Since then, I've no contact from them as of today. You'd think it'll be quick and easy for them to call back, but I guess they don't feel like I'm a genuine potential customer.

New Town Toyota
Made a booking with New Town via website again, and also got a call back almost immediately.

Lewis (Lee), the guy I talked to, was extremely easy to talk to compared to City Toyota whom focused more on the deposit and how City Toyota has the priority delivery of 86 to Perth.

No deposit needed for the test drive with New Town.

Will edit this post about the customer service experience after my test drive with New Town.

*Update Post-Test Drive: Went to New Town Toyota for my scheduled test drive. The agent I was booked with was busy with a prior customer and actually asked me if I'm okay to test drive the car by myself. I was surprised at this, in a good way! Took the key fob from them and got around to driving the car at my own (legal) pace and route.

Came back to them (Lewis & Sam) and chatted about the drive and the car. It's like chatting to old high school friends you have not seen for many years. It's really casual and there is no sense of any pressure to make me commit to buying one.

I've still one more car to test drive (Mercedes A250) before I make my final decision. The 86 is on top of my list at the moment despite some reservations I have about that car. (i.e., Odd placement of the side mirror housing, huge blindspots behind the taillights, and the reviews weren't exaggerating about the unpractical rear seats)

**side note: Still no communications from City Toyota Perth. They can go to hell for all I care. I hate dealers like these. You'd think they'll treat you better since my first and current car came from them. Oh well, I won't recommend them to anyone I know.

[JakeG]

PHIL GILBERT TOYOTA, FIVE DOCK

Dealer: Michael Hollister

Car: GTS, Auto, Black

Ordered: Mid November 2013

Delivery Date: July 2014 (as requested by me)

Approx. Waiting Time: unsure but he did say he could get one in by christmas and I drove past the dealership the other day (before christmas) and there was an auto black GTS sitting there)

Dealer Delivery Charge: I'm gonna ask him to deliver, that would be nice

Total Price: $45,000 (all options) it should of been around $45,500 and SYDNEY CITY TOYOTA dealer wouldn't negotiate at all

Customer Service Rating: (so far) 9/10

Comments: Overall, I have had a good experience with the dealership. Michael always answers my calls and is pretty honest when he speaks to me. i have only had one small problem with him and that was because i asked him about the blue illumination option and didn't get back to me later that day as i requested. he said it was the first car he has sold with that option but he did try and get more info on it for me and thats why he didnt get back to me (also said he was busy but thats ok.) Michael also promised me that he can get the car before august and if he doesn't, he refunds my deposit. I also asked him about getting a tracker last month for the car and he said he couldnt get it until january 2014 so i'll get back to him with that within the next few days. i would say if you want to buy an 86 in sydney you give michael a call. i forgot to mention, Phil Gilbert had a sale on that offers free servicing to cars sold that day and after michael asked his manager if it can apply to my car, he got a yes. that means i get free servicing for 3 years or 140,000kms or something (which i wont be driving that much anyway).

Edit: It's all downhill now, he wont respond to emails about the tracker which i have been asking him for months now, lied about the blue illumination option...he told me it was an option that changes everything that is red to blue. found out that is bs and only changes the lights next to your feet. not happy at all.

[AJ4211]

GRAND MOTORS TOYOTA - GOLD COAST, QLD

Dealer: Neil McKenzie

Car: GT, Manual, Tornado Grey

Ordered: N/A - Biggest 86 Sellers, they have stock.

Delivery Date: -

Approx. Waiting Time: Walked in the dealership at 10:30am, was driving by 4pm

Dealer Delivery Charge: $1700 (Bit pricey but this is my first new car)

Total Price: $35,000 - Rego & On road costs, window tint, that fusion paint and interior crap & 1 Year full comprehensive.

Customer Service Rating: 10/10 (at this stage)

Comments: Being the first time i've ever bought a new car I was a bit sketchy going in thinking I was going to get bent over and demolished by some greedy salesmen, quite the opposite, walked in and immediately I felt all sales eyes on me, 95% of the sales staff were older than myself which I wasnt too keen on, then out of the shadows comes Neil. My age, my taste in cars :P - Could not have asked for a better dealer, didn't BS me around, seemed more interested in talking about the car with me than selling it to me (seems that he also is looking to purchase one someday lol)

Generally an awesome experience buying my first car, had no hassles, wasn't pressured & most of all Neil made me feel as if I was in a mate's garage going over the engine rather than a Toyota showroom. I would deeply recommend anybody on the Gold Coast and surrounding areas to head to Grand Motors in Southport, ask for Neil - He's only been there a week but it was the easiest-going conversation i've ever had with someone I knew was trying to sell me a car.