Toyota of Berkeley

Reviews 4

AL

Alan Berman

I financed a used car, spending upwards of $6,000, including putting down a $2,000 down payment. I was thus very surprised when I took it to the Dodge Dealership in Fremont, where a dealer appraised the car at a value of $500. He told me that I had been appallingly overcharged at Toyota of Berkeley. Then, after only six weeks of driving the car (gently on my thirty minute commute to work), the car overheated. I took it directly to a mechanic who did a thorough test that cost me $75 and I replaced an old radiator cap for another $30. The mechanic said that the car likely had a “blown head-gasket” or a “cracked engine casing” and that I could no longer drive it safely. These are repairs that require the disassembling of the whole engine, a labor-intensive process that normally costs upwards of $2,000. The head manager at the Toyota Dealership, Rudy Padilla, sold me the car personally, and told me that his was a reputable dealer and that “they only sold cars in excellent condition.” Knowingly or unknowingly, however, Rudy had sold me a car, that according to four mechanics I spoke to, should not be having these sorts of problems at only ~77,000 miles. I very much expected the dealership to be able to repair the car at their shop, or to pay for the repairs, or to settle my loan and take back the car, keeping their good word and maintaining the good reputation that they claimed to stand by. Rudy said that he would personally look out for me, even saying that I could think of them as “my family,” and that I should come to him if anything went wrong. With these words in mind, I expected the dealership to be able to provide some assistance, because after all, here I had spent $6,000 on a car that doesn’t work, or as some might say, a piece of junk. I was stunned and dismayed when Rudy said that the best he could do for me was to buy the car back for only $2,500, AFTER I fixed it at my own expense. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to fix the car or pay back the full loan in order to sell it, so I am voluntarily surrendering the vehicle to Wells Fargo Dealer Services. I did everything I could to minimize my risk by choosing a so-called reputable dealership and spending enough money that I hoped to secure a reliable and re-sellable car. I did not expect to be sold a Lemon of a car and then be shamefully turned away by the very people who said they would be looking out for my best interests at all costs. Do not buy your car here!

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G

G Thang

I was in Berkeley California the other day and I had a Toyota related question so I did a search on google and found that there was a Toyota dealership right on Shattuck which was pretty close to my location at the time. I headed on over there because I figured it would be easier to ask this question face-to-face versus over the phone and I also like to check out new cars from time to time so I figured the best way to get that part done was to go in and talk to the salespeople. The car dealerships in Berkeley are different than most other dealerships because theyre really integrated into the city. In most cities that I have been too, the dealerships usually take up like 14 acres and they are also way off the beaten path. Toyota of Berkeley is no exception and their dealership is located right on the main drag on Shattuck which is a couple blocks away from Cal State Berkeley. They have two main rooms and the first room has some stairs that go up to some offices and theres a little lobby off to the right when you walk in the front door. One thing that I thought was pretty cool was the Aqua colored couches in the showroom. Very Cool! The other room is a showroom and one thing that stuck out for me here was the material they used on the floor it was kind of a stone like material and I looked really cool. This room also housed the bathrooms and they had one of those dyson had dryer things which rock! I wish every business in America had these things cause they REALLY get the job done!! :) After I completed my trip to the restroom and scan of the inside of the dealership, I walked around the building and looked at the back lot. They had a big garage door that lead to the service department and they had some inventory here. I am guessing that they have another lot for the rest of the inventory. It was really cool to see the dealership connected to other stores like the optometrist next door. Also there were these big awesome old school houses right across the street from the back of it and ]like I said its really neat how they integrated the dealership into the neighborhood I thought that was very impressive. After about 10 or 15 minutes of roaming around I got my question answered and I was on my way.

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RE

reelrapture

"We dont expect you to..." I just wanted to share my first experience at a Toyota dealership in 12 years. I purchased a matrix in 2003 and recently thought it was time to upgrade to a Prius. So I go to the dealership in Berkeley and speak to a nice young sales person, Jesse. We spend the first two hours selecting and test driving the car I am most interested in. At that point, I tell him that I have my own financing and share what I can afford to pay. Then, I basically spend the next two hours waiting for the finance manager to get to my application and waiting for the trade-in value of my car. Jesse finally comes back and I share again what I can pay and tell him that its ok if he cant do it, just to let me know. He goes back to check in with someone and comes back and tells me that he will call me tomorrow because his finance manager has not gotten to me and that if he asks one more time, "he will explode." At that point, I decide to leave and tell Jesse that i may go to another dealership. He expresses regret so we walk to the finance manager and I ask for my application back. Jesse says that it is shredded and so I ask the finance manager if I can witness him shredding it. The finance manager says no, we need to keep it for 3 years (even though my credit was never run.) At that point I say, "Well, I guess Im not coming back." And the finance manager replies, "Thats ok, we dont expect you to." I ask you, is there not a more courteous way to reject an offer from an existing Toyota customer? Not only will I not return to this dealership, I am questioning whether or not to purchase another Toyota. Again, I am ok with the rejection but after having spent 5 hours at the dealership, two of them waiting for my application to be considered, is there really a need for disrespect?

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A

A Private User

OK--I am downgrading my review of this establishment in light of my most recent (and final) experience there. 1. The "service" people are ALWAYS at least brusque, and generally downright rude. They act put out if you dont know what flippin "team" you are supposed to work with. The only nice guy there is the man who drives the courtesy shuttle. 2. The service is expensive: $600 for the silver medal (or whatever the second best option is called) 60 mile service. 3. The service is slow: you cant get an appointment until at least a week in advance, and even then you have to leave it with them all day long. 3. The service is bad: I brought my car in for the 60 mile service. I had a few concerns about it, specifically,a) there is a noticeable grinding sensation when I turn corners at low speeds; and b) the brakes squeek. When I got my car back, they denied there was a grinding problem, the brakes squeeked even louder than before, and the tire pressure light came on the next day. So I brought it back to them about a week later--and it was like pulling teeth to get an "appointment" from Ray Prassad (white team)--he told me they had "forgotten" to do something on the brakes and had fixed it. He said they also had fixed the tire pressure issue. OK--so four days later, my brakes are squeeking and the tire pressure light comes on AGAIN! Im so P-Oed that I cant bear to take it back to Toyota of Berkeley, so I brought it to Costco, where they found that these flipping idiots at Toyota had inflated the front tires to 40 and the back tires to 29--when they were all supposed to be inflated to 34! And I paid $600 for this. It really is a criminal enterprise, run by rude idiots.

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