Bay Area Dealer Experiences

[delrey]

Anyone care to share their experience with their local dealer?

For service I'm curious about Toyota Marin and Novato Toyota.

When I bought mine I was favorably impressed with both Marin & Berkeley. Marin sold me an "extra" (long story) but for MSRP plus floor mats. No markup. Berkeley returned my $1000 deposit, without any trouble at all.

[MarinJohn]

Toyota Marin is the worst, most dishonorable dealer I have ever had the unpleasant experience to deal with. I wouldn't go back there for a fire sale! Go to Toyota Santa Rosa (Freeman Toyota). I have found them to be honest, competent, and recommend them highly.

[V8Cobrakid]

ToyotaTown in Stockton is good. Very good service. Very nice guys.

[miniracer]

Anybody care to render an opinion of Toyota of Berkeley's Sales and/or Service??

[bookrats]

Which Bay area Toyota dealer was holding seminars / info meetings for new Prius owners?

That really impressed me when I read about it.

[delrey]

Toyota Marin is the worst, most dishonorable dealer I have ever had the unpleasant experience to deal with. I wouldn't go back there for a fire sale! Go to Toyota Santa Rosa (Freeman Toyota). I have found them to be honest, competent, and recommend them highly.

That is a shame!

At some point recently they changed ownership, and supposedly changed practices as well. So I'm curious, did you hit problems with them under the new ownership ("Toyota Marin") or under the old ("R & G Toyota").

Perhaps wishful thinking here, since San Rafael is waaaay more convenient (given a decent honest dealer) than other local dealers.
It can't hurt to ask anyway ... :?

[MarinJohn]

It was R&G Toyota in Marin. I didn't realize they changed ownerships. That's good news that they have changed, and I can stop non-recommending them. BTW it is Freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa which offers dinner seminars and information to their recent purchasers. Very informative. Their whole operation seems first class.

[delrey]

Originally posted by MarinJohn
It was R&G Toyota in Marin.  I didn't realize they changed ownerships.  That's good news that they have changed, and I can stop non-recommending them.  BTW it is Freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa which offers dinner seminars and information to their recent purchasers.  Very informative.  Their whole operation seems first class.

Well that is great news, thanks for the quick reply!
I suspect that lots of folks have heard bad things about the old ownership, based on the BIG banner they have up reading "Under new ownership".

I did go there today for my first service, and while you can't tell much from that, it was a very pleasant experience overall. I called this morning, and they got me in today @ noon, and did the oil change/tire rotation while I ate lunch down the street. They also fixed one bit of loose trim on the bumper that I hadn't noticed when I bought the car.

The new owner is apparently married to a Wrigley (of the gum) heir and has big plans for the place. They own several other dealerships, according to the service rep.

I've heard good things about Freeman Toyota from a couple other folks, so their good reputation seems to be spreading :-)

[sparkymarvin]

Well it looks like I'll have to go out there to California to Freeman Toyota. I've been to two in Rhode Island and one in Massachusetts and have had loads of problems with both of them.

I need to find a good dealer because someday I might actually need some serious service.

Any recommendations out there for me?

~Andrew

[vintagebob]

Originally posted by bookrats
Which Bay area Toyota dealer was holding seminars / info meetings for new Prius owners?

That really impressed me when I read about it.

Sunnyvale Toyota held two seminars. I went to the last one and found it very informative.