Brown Toyota

Reviews 3

CH

Christopher Dean

BLUF: Lack of Transparency; Not confidence inspiring. Do not agree to services before getting a legit quote for services provided here. If you provide your own oil and parts, get a REAL quote about what you will be saving by doing so. Description: I brought my 07 Tacoma in for a 45k mile service and factory leaf spring recall replacement(s). I provided my own oil and filter for this service. Upon pick-up of my vehicle, I asked whether it was noted on my invoice that I had provided my own oil and filter. The service person said, "no", and took my invoice to make sure that the fact that I provided my own oil and filter was noted on a correct invoice. I received the corrected invoice. Curious, because the price on the corrected invoice was $40.00 higher than I expected for the totality of the service, based on a rough quote that I had received prior to the service, I had to ask to see what the price was on the old invoice. After some consternation and irritated inquiry around the service office (by service office personnel) to ascertain who was in possession of the key to the shredder compartment (my first invoice was trapped in the locked shredder compartment), my first invoice was produced. I was shown that the first invoice differed by a charge of approximately ~$15.00 for what was allegedly oil, and ~$5.00 for what was allegedly an oil filter. Thus, for providing my own 6 Liters of oil and Oil filter, I was being told that I was only saving $20.00, when I was told before the service that by providing my own oil and filter I would likely save $60.00-$70.00. Issue: I feel victim of a sheisty shell game, and that I was taken for a ride. 1. I have never seen a dealership only charge $20.00 for 6 Liters of "Genuine Toyota" dealership oil and filter ever before (that is why I bring my own in). Being "caught" by actually asking to see my first invoice revealed the dealerships sleight-of-hand by the service department. Jeeze- if this pricing is right, I actually paid MORE overall by going to the trouble to acquire my own oil and filter! [I doubt that the pricing is correct, though] 2. I am interested to actually find out what Brown Toyota actually charges for 6 Liters of their oil and one of their filters. I bet it isnt $20.00. 3. The Brown Toyota invoice is very poorly itemized (by NOT being itemized and user friendly), which helps to hide sheisty and B.S. charges under generalized terms. In other words, there are no items like, "Rotate tires..$XX.XX; Test Battery..$XX.XX", etc. They are all lumped into one "service charge". Thus, you cant tell what you are actually paying for on a line-by line basis. How COULD I know what I would save by not using dealership oil, if it is never broken down like that? Why shouldnt I feel cheated, then? I know that that kind of itemization takes time, but it is 2017 and you have competition, so, cmon, Brown Toyota, please do better. Two stars still?: The replacement of the leaf springs seems to have been performed well (I write this 48 hours after receiving the vehicle back, without any perceived issues, so far).

JA

Jacob Bierbaum

Im a local, and have bought a few cars at various dealerships in the Charlottesville area, but never at Brown Toyota. I had shopped there before, and have had stellar experiences prior to this visit. I came in on September 6, 2014 with my wife. I was shopping for a car for my little sister as a congratulations present for her being admitted to college. I was immediately approached by a younger gentlemen with dark hair, medium height, and glasses (we did not get his name, unfortunately, as we rushed out as quickly as we could at the end). He engaged us, sat us down, and we began talking about cars. I told him that we were staying under $10,000, and honestly he acted flabbergasted. I explained that it was for my little sister, and he acted disgusted that we would spend so little - repeatedly asking why we couldnt afford the payments for a nicer car. I explained to him that payments are not an issue, but that I didnt want to buy such an expensive car for someone so young in college. He said that under $10,000 was almost impossible - which is entertaining, given that we had already been to 4 local dealerships that day previously and had already test-driven some stellar cars under $10k. Currently, there are 52 cars in the Charlottesville area at major dealers under $10k. They had one Toyota Camry for about $6k, and he pulled it around for us. I looked it over - it was pretty rough. Again, Im spending $10k, so I didnt expect a stellar car. However, this one had broken speaker covers, scratches all over, stains on the floorboards - overall a very poor car. When he engaged us and tried to claim that it was a "very clean car", I immediately told him that I know its his job to sell the car, but that this isnt even something wed consider, given the other cars in the area with comparable prices. He responded "Well what did you expect when youre only spending $10k on her?" Naturally, we were taken aback by this comment. I explained to him that we had been around the area, and that there were other cars at the same price point in the area that were miles above. He gaffed us off and was extremely dismissive and rude. We immediately thanked him for his time and left. Im sure that this is one bad salesman, and not indicative of the entire business. However, they had other cars that we were interested in - we left and did not come back simply because of the poor attitude of their salesman. With attitudes like that, we will make it a point to not re-visit the store, and to ensure out our friends and family also do not go through an experience like this. We found a stellar car at Flow VW for around $9,000. The difference in the attitude of the staff was incredible. Will update review if I do find out the name of the salesman. In the meantime, I dont recommend a car dealership that would employ someone with such a negative and deceiving demeanor.

NA

Naticia Lavezzo

Brown managed to sell me on one thing that they didnt do, and tried to sell me on several others. Their explanation sounded reasonable that the AC condensation drain blockage was bad enough to require getting into the housing and cleaning that too, and therefore I paid the $98 for blowing out the drain. However I have since learned that the only way to get to the housing is to take the dashboard apart, which would have cost a lot more. So for a 5 min job... Second they said my AC was leaking. I said not to fix it as I wasnt experiencing problems. When I picked it up they said they topped up the freon and didnt charge me for it, but to fix the two leaking O rings would run $300. However, you cant tell where it is leaking until you put neon gas in it and run it for a few days. So, diagnosis without proper steps, nor problems to start with. They DID give me a lug nut. They did (finally) detail my car properly. The $70 I have been paying wasnt getting a good job done, but $140 got it done. Though everything is really really wet. Also, they didnt put the carpeting in the footwell back properly. I am displeased at being sold stuff that didnt happen. I am displeased at being placated by things they said they did that they didnt do. Overall, this is not the first appointment with Brown Toyota Service Center that has displeased me. I didnt have $100 to blow. Or I did, and it went toward cleaning the car from the water that had leaked I to the footwell from the clogged AC drain. I wouldnt have liked it, but I could have lived with a smelly carpet. Cleaning out the AC vent takes maybe 5 minutes if you have to get your compressor out and hook it up. They didnt even have to do that! Please find a trusted mechanic.

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