Great experience with Bob Bridge Toyota

[slice39]

I would like to report on an awesome purchasing experience we had at Bob Bridge Toyota. After much research and test driving, I had settled on a Non-touring Prius with Pkg 3. I researched to find out whats the optimum price I was willing to pay for this ($23,200 OTD) and the initial asking price ($22,600 OTD). The purchasing experience went like this:

Day 1: Emailed/Web requested 15 dealers in Seattle and Tacoma area with quote requests and my initial asking price ($22,600). In the evening, I reviewed all responses and found the cheapest price I was getting was $23,500 which was close to my optimum price.
Day 2: Short listed 5 dealers and sent them emails asking them to match my bottom-line price ($23,500). 2 dealers accepted
Day 3: Selected one dealer and picked up the car.

The best responses I had were from Heartland toyota in Bremerton (Tom Diefendorf) and Bob Bridge Toyota (Ron Lewis). Both these dealers were super-polite and reasonable and in general a pleasure to communicate with.

I didnt have good experiences with Toyota of Seattle, Rodland Toyota and Toyota of Kirkland. Toyota of Seattle never bothered to check with me despite me pinging them several times. Rodland Toyota quoted me an obscene price and were short and curt with me. They also put me on their mailing list without my permission and started spamming me immediately.

Toyota of Kirkland (ToK) was the absolute worst. I had asked all the dealers not to call me. Yet, ToK called me over 10 times and refused to give me a price estimate unless I walked into the store personally. They even googled my work number and started calling me at work without my permission. The one time I did pick up the phone, the sales rep was rude and obnoxious and verbally abused me. I would avoid this store at all costs.

We finally settled for Bob Bridge Toyota. I called Ron to set up a meeting to pick up the car. I walked in and walked out with my car in less than 2 hours. Throughout all this Ron and their finance guy (I forget his name) were super-courteous and polite. Absolutely no-fuss no-pressure sale. They briefly tried to sell their warranty etc, but when I said no, they didnt push at all. This was possibly the most stress free big purchase I ever made. I would highly recommend using Bob Bridge Toyota for your car purchases. When you call them, dont forget to ask for Ron.

[tochatihu]

Welcome 1st time poster. It is always a pleasure to read of positive experiences at Toyota shops, because often the posts are otherwise.

Might be good to send a happy letter to the one you liked and also your regional HQ.

Let us know what they charge to change the cabin air filter later

[fuzzy1]

I'll second the kudos for Ron. I scouted out a handful of dealerships two months ago. Checking out the discount program of a major 'warehouse' chain, I had the choice of the same two dealerships, and was connected to Ron. (A couple other salesmen share this account.) The offered price, on a different package and after adjusting for incentives, was a bit smaller discount than yours, and not enough to make me spring for a 2009 instead of waiting for a 2010. But of five dealerships visited and business cards collected, Ron is the only I'd specifically ask for when returning for 2010 shopping.

[slice39]

Thanks guys. Sorry I screwed up the numbers on my mail. I actually got the car for $23,000 OTD.. Yeah, I thought long and hard about getting the 2010 model, but my old car was giving out and I badly needed a car to commute.. I am super happy with it so far