San Marcos Toyota

Reviews 3

JA

James Tjaden

We purchased a used 2009 Toyota Corolla from this dealership in 2011. Should have been suspicious from the start, but chalk it up to experience. Found the car online that was in our price range. We checked the carfax and it had no reported issues and looked up to date with its maintenance. When we showed up to the dealership we were shown a car with more miles for the price we asked about. This was clearly not what we were looking for as it was not what matched their online inventory. I decided to inspect the lot further for the car that was listed as I had the VIN number from their online inventory. I was able to find the car with a sticker price $1500 higher than online. When I inquired about the price discrepancy, the salesman said he would look into it. What he was looking into was that the prices was deliberately switched on the vehicle in an attempt to make an extra profit. Im all for capitalism, but not lying to do so. After the price was corrected we decided to go through the process to purchase the vehicle. We advised the sales person and the used sales manager that we would not be buying the car today as money had to clear the bank. They decided to take us into their finance office anyway. At this point we were the last ones in the office and basically closing down the shop. When we advised the finance officer that money had to clear the bank before we purchased the vehicle he insisted that was ok and that we just write a check and they would not do anything with it until we gave the ok. When we advised him we didnt have a checkbook to do this, he stepped out of the office and around the corner to speak to the used car sales manager. We were unable to hear the actual conversation, but after approximately 2 minutes of speaking we heard a load bang. It sounded like someone punched a wall in the dealership. After that both walked into the office and explained that they were sorry for the misinterpretation and that they would be willing to process the deal the next day. Next day and we decide to purchase the car as we needed a second car to get to work. At the time the car had approximately 56,000 miles on it. Now my wife and I do a good amount of driving to and from work as well as to MN to visit family. That is why we went with the Toyota because we were told they are supposed to last 200,000 easily with minimal maintenance. At 100,000 miles the alternator went out and we had to replace that. 26,000 miles later the pulley for the water pump went out causing the external belt to come loose. This resulted in the engine overheating rather quickly and damaging the engine. In a short year and a half the car that was supposed to last 200,000 easily, only made it 126,000. Based on the previous behavior of the sales manager, I can only believe there was something wrong with this vehicle to begin with and thats why they were so insistent on getting it out the door. As there obviously was with the amount of repairs and damage done in the short year and a half. This could all be perception, but based my 2005 Ford Escape that has needed very minor repairs and is still going strong at 192,000 miles it is pretty clear that this car was a trap waiting to happen.

DO

Donald Wilson

What a horrible waste of time. I had a coupon for an oil change at San Marcos Toyota, and wanted to buy/install a new car battery, and have them rotate my tires and check the brakes. I would normally have my independent mechanic do these things, but with the coupon I thought, Why not? I called them first to make sure the coupon was good and they were like "yes of course come on down it is first come first serve." So I get down there, pull in where they tell me too, and the greeter kid is asking us what we are here for. I tell him, and he directs us to a small desk with a very unhappy looking man sitting behind it on the phone. The greeeter tells us to sit here and that the gentleman will be with us shortly. The greeter walks away and we sit down. Immediately the man puts his hand over the phone and tells us he cant help us, he is busy with two other customers, then he glares at us like we have done something wrong to him. We quickly got up and went to go find the greeter, but couldnt find him. Tried to ask someone else who worked there, but he was just a floor salesman. I joked about if I buy an $80,000 Land Cruiser could they at least get my oil changed on my Solara? Never found the original greeter, and the people at their desks were already dealing with customers (none of whom looked happy). The young lady, a receptionist or something, was too busy flirting with the floor salesman..... Around that time some jerk from outside comes in and yells "Whos driving the Solara?" and I think Im finally getting my stuff done. Turns out he wanted me to move my car and he did not care one bit about my predicament, just move the car and talk to somebody inside. Well I move the car and pull all away around and come back into the service area and now Im parked behind six or seven cars. This time instead of going inside I call the number and ask to talk to someone about getting my oil changed. The young lady transfers me to a voice mail. I hang up, call back, ask again, and again get voice mail. I call back once again, and explain to the young operator girl that I would really like to talk to someone human and not have to talk to voicemail. She puts me on hold, and transfers me to voicemail one final time. At this point I give up. What a confused mismanaged place of business. Someone told me later that thank goodness the dealer never touched my car because no telling how bad they would mess that up, too. If they cant even competently get you in and take care of your needs up front, imagine how disorganized and unprofessional they are going to be in the back where they actually do their work on your car...... So I wasted about forty-five minutes that day, but luckily it didnt cost me anything....

CU

Curt Stowell

IF YOU WANT A GOOD CAR GO TO SAN MARCOS TOYOTA AND ASK FOR SAM COFFMAN This is not a complaint about the 2011 Toyota Camry that I purchased from Charles Maund Toyota in Ausin, because I am more than pleased with it. I had debated on writing this letter simply because I don’t want to be mean. Then I got thinking? If you’re going to have surgery you’d want a doctor that knew what he or she was doing. The above car is the first I’ve purchased of such caliber, I’m used to the Delta 88 of the 80s or the closest I came was a 1995 Park Avenue, and that’s not very close. Therefore I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when I read the Owner’s Manual. But even though I read the manual I couldn’t see how to turn on the headlights. Ben Stone of Charles Maund Toyota in Austin, Texas, didn’t explain the vehicle. He answered all my questions, but I didn’t ask any about the car because I didn’t know they had such things. I live in San Marcos and instead of driving all the way to Charles Maund I took it to San Marcos Toyota. As soon as I entered the establishment Sam Coffman approached me and asked if I needed any help. I told him I wasn’t here to buy a car but I had a small problem. Sam then went out to my car and not only showed me how the headlights work, but explained the Cruise Control, the gear shift and everything else. When I had test driven the Toyota prior to purchasing it I was confused by the S-D symbol and I asked Ben what to do and he told me to just pull it down to the end, which I did. I had no idea that car could be driven as a Manual; I’ve never driven a stick shift. If it wouldn’t have been for Sam Coffman I could have destroyed my transmission by now. Aside from that, according to the Owner’s Manual I was supposed to be given three keys, Ben only gave me two. I feel sorry for Charles Maund because I am unable to recommend their place of business, I will recommend San Marcos Toyota/Sam Coffman. I even replaced the license plate holder. We’ve all heard about bad Used Car Salesmen, shmucks, and that is the category I must place Ben Stone in. He isn’t concerned about the buyer or the reputation of the establishment he works for, his only interest is in his commission. Sam Coffman is just the opposite and I would have to say, due to not only what he did for me, but the way he talked, he is very dedicated to the Toyota Corporation.