Would you have any recommendations in the state (or outside of NC worth the drive) for dealerships to buy a new Sienna for my better half? I'm in touch with several right now, but pickings are slim and some are acting like it's still 2022/2023. I'm hoping some of you have a good experience with a dealer that's got what I'm looking for. TIA.
recommended toyota dealership for new car purchase
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I was impressed with Mount Airy Toyota based on having to have some help with service for our Son's car . . .but never bought a car there. They have called a couple times after offering me vehicles in a very polite way - always a Land Cruiser or a 4Runner or Tundra. I typically talk to a real sales person who is interested in what I need, etc.
Bought two cars from Asheboro Toyota before it became Modern and both purchases were AMAZING - no idea now.
I'm back to the mantra of buying as cheap as possible - expect no "help" or benefit from a selling Toyota or Lexus Dealer - just be ready to fight the warranty fight if anything really bad happens if under warranty. Other than that, be ready to do all my own work or take it to a trusted mechanic that is NOT the dealership.
Bought two cars from Fred Anderson and it was horrific both times - thought Sanford would be better - its not, just as bad if not worse as their monthly metrics dictate how much BS you have to deal with.
The vulture sales people at Hendrick "feel" as bad or worse than every other big dealer.
Bought two cars from Asheboro Toyota before it became Modern and both purchases were AMAZING - no idea now.
I'm back to the mantra of buying as cheap as possible - expect no "help" or benefit from a selling Toyota or Lexus Dealer - just be ready to fight the warranty fight if anything really bad happens if under warranty. Other than that, be ready to do all my own work or take it to a trusted mechanic that is NOT the dealership.
Bought two cars from Fred Anderson and it was horrific both times - thought Sanford would be better - its not, just as bad if not worse as their monthly metrics dictate how much BS you have to deal with.
The vulture sales people at Hendrick "feel" as bad or worse than every other big dealer.
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Thanks for this. Mt. Airy was one of the first I reached out to, but don't have exactly what we are looking for unfortunately. They were GREAT to deal with even though they couldn't provide the product. FA/H are both as described IME as they too make it seem like they're doing you the favor by getting back to you, etc. Feels like the great "car badger" commercials that aired about 15 years ago from Johnson auto group. Again, my experience mirrors your statements above.
Worth the watch. Sound up.
EDIT: I'm always super polite and respectful until they aren't. Then, I start being quite a bit more direct.
I just picked up a '26 grand highlander for my wife at Johnson City Toyota in TN. They seemed great to work with and the dealership also offers a lifetime powertrain warranty(that can be used anywhere) vs the standard of just a few years. Id like to think that if i was in the market for a new car id use them again if they had what I wanted.
I'm looking to buy a Tundra next year. I've been waffling back and forth between a 21 and a 25+, both have strong pros and cons. I pick up parts from Hendrick Apex and I've only dealt with the service staff. The sales folks I have interacted with were absolute morons and didn't have basic knowledge on the vehicles they were selling.
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This also tracks. I’ll post a brief list (hopefully) soon. I hope it helps save people time and lets business go to those who are worthwhile.
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BLUF: as mentioned in prior recommendations, the best dealers I interacted with were Mt. Airy and Johnson City Toyota. Sometimes a bit slow, but pleasant nonetheless and unless you were in a pinch (like me unfortunately) they were the best. I had a very specific product I was looking for and I knew I had to be flexible on dealer location, price, or option pack to make something happen. Ultimately I went with a direct competitor to Toyota given aggressive pricing at a local dealership and had a great experience overall there and with that product in the past. I also think the gO oG Le REviEwS are complete b.s. online given the details below.
I was looking for a nice trim/optioned/color Sienna to replace the total loss we recently experienced (sub optimal, but everyone was ok - which is what matters). Apparently this is the most popular vehicle in the US currently which doesn't bode well for me on the "demand" side of the supply-demand equation. I was (somewhat) on a timetable that I self set given the timeline toward the end of November and the approaching end of the quarter and new year. The following is my experience which may be different than yours in the future. My hope is that this helps the good dealers succeed and promotes in a positive feedback loop the change we all want to see in dealing with car dealerships going forward. Similar to the dentist, this is seemingly one the least favorite experience of some people's lives. Following experiences by state:
NC:
Mt. Airy - good to deal with and when you got someone to email you back, they were very direct and reasonable with pricing. The bad is that I couldn't actually get direct replies to my emails with a reasonable timeline which lead to me looking elsewhere in earnest. I got a couple "did you get my sales invoice emails" after they send the invoice, but never replied to my emails tied to the sales invoice. Room for improvement here.
Marc Jacobson - quick to reply, and decent to correspond with overall. I was surprised here as I had heard some not so good things before, but gave them an honest shot. They played the usual dealer games though.
FA/Leith - same experience of business as usual with gimmicks (henceforth BAUWG), "special price for your my friend" shenaningans. Back and forth hem, hawing, etc. nothing special with either dealership ime. I'd only even email them if they had EXACTLY what you were looking for and you could supply a VIN in your point of contact.
Hendrick (Apex) - total waste of time and a bad joke. Never received an itemized sales invoice quote despite asking multiple times. Complete waste of time IME.
Modern - front line salesman was BAUWG. More of the same the higher you go. IME, they think it's still 2022-2023 with respect to pricing. They will be omitted from my future searches and if you value your time, you will too.
Hendrick (Jacksonville) - front line salesman was car dealer business as usual, but once I got a manager the pace and direct nature improved significantly. Overall, a 7/10. I would look to them in the future, but would have measured expectations.
Hendrick (Fayetteville) - front line salesman was BAUWG, but never had a manager to reach out with anything other than a canned response.
Scott Clark - front line salesman was BAUWG, but ultimately they softened and were ok to deal with. Not great, but not awful. I was surprised with this given some experiences from their non-sales side of things mentioned on the boards.
VA:
aUTonAtIOn in Leesburg - Far and away the worst of any of the dealerships I was talking to. I asked multiple times for itemized sales invoice and never received it. I saved the text thread as to remind myself to never deal with them in the future should I have a smooth brained moment and forget in the future.
TN:
Johnson City - I got this rec late as I didn't even think to go that direction in dealership searches. The manager I corresponded with was the most detailed, pleasant, and direct of all that I emailed. 10/10, but late to the dance (which was my doing) and ultimately they weren't able to find exactly what I was seeking. This too was on me given the niche vehicle I was looking for and self imposed timeline.
Fox - front line salesman was BAUWG and won't negotiate. At all. Cool - GLWS. Slow to respond to correspondence as well.
GA:
Marietta; Lowe (warner robbins) - no responses, someone go please check a pulse there.
Beaver - front line salesman was BAUWG complete with heavy add on emphasis of how "valuable" all the add on dealer trash is (PPF, tint, blinker fluid, whatever refuse here). Their initial reply to my reaching out was also in Spanish. Great eye for detail there. No thanks.
MD:
Darcars (Baltimore) - Honestly, they were great overall. Just faaaaaar away - I had to factor in transport or fly/drive costs here. My salesman was direct and they were great to deal with overall. They will be a contender if I am looking for something they have in inventory in the future. IIRC, my guy was specific and quickly indicated they do "out of state deals all the time." I'd believe this given the volume of cars they have and quick nature of responses to my questions and informative answers that usually left other (lesser) dealers befuddled. This salesman was one of my favorite honestly as he was driven to sell his product from a sales standpoint and REALLY invested in wanting you to believe Toyota is the best. He's a good archetype for the brand and ambassador for the dealership.
Jerry's - no response.
No SC dealership had the van I was seeking either in build phase, production, or in inventory.
The entire point of this post is to reward good dealerships with generating leads and hopefully save you time as the buyer. Again, this is my experience I can back up with correspondence proof. I hope your experience is better or at least matches mine at the recommended dealers above. If you want any salesman points of contact with the recommended dealers above, DM me and I will supply them after obtaining their permission.
Ultimately the delta between the vehicle I bought and the sienna we were considering (and I was personally preferring) was too much to ignore and the logical choice was made. HTH.
I was looking for a nice trim/optioned/color Sienna to replace the total loss we recently experienced (sub optimal, but everyone was ok - which is what matters). Apparently this is the most popular vehicle in the US currently which doesn't bode well for me on the "demand" side of the supply-demand equation. I was (somewhat) on a timetable that I self set given the timeline toward the end of November and the approaching end of the quarter and new year. The following is my experience which may be different than yours in the future. My hope is that this helps the good dealers succeed and promotes in a positive feedback loop the change we all want to see in dealing with car dealerships going forward. Similar to the dentist, this is seemingly one the least favorite experience of some people's lives. Following experiences by state:
NC:
Mt. Airy - good to deal with and when you got someone to email you back, they were very direct and reasonable with pricing. The bad is that I couldn't actually get direct replies to my emails with a reasonable timeline which lead to me looking elsewhere in earnest. I got a couple "did you get my sales invoice emails" after they send the invoice, but never replied to my emails tied to the sales invoice. Room for improvement here.
Marc Jacobson - quick to reply, and decent to correspond with overall. I was surprised here as I had heard some not so good things before, but gave them an honest shot. They played the usual dealer games though.
FA/Leith - same experience of business as usual with gimmicks (henceforth BAUWG), "special price for your my friend" shenaningans. Back and forth hem, hawing, etc. nothing special with either dealership ime. I'd only even email them if they had EXACTLY what you were looking for and you could supply a VIN in your point of contact.
Hendrick (Apex) - total waste of time and a bad joke. Never received an itemized sales invoice quote despite asking multiple times. Complete waste of time IME.
Modern - front line salesman was BAUWG. More of the same the higher you go. IME, they think it's still 2022-2023 with respect to pricing. They will be omitted from my future searches and if you value your time, you will too.
Hendrick (Jacksonville) - front line salesman was car dealer business as usual, but once I got a manager the pace and direct nature improved significantly. Overall, a 7/10. I would look to them in the future, but would have measured expectations.
Hendrick (Fayetteville) - front line salesman was BAUWG, but never had a manager to reach out with anything other than a canned response.
Scott Clark - front line salesman was BAUWG, but ultimately they softened and were ok to deal with. Not great, but not awful. I was surprised with this given some experiences from their non-sales side of things mentioned on the boards.
VA:
aUTonAtIOn in Leesburg - Far and away the worst of any of the dealerships I was talking to. I asked multiple times for itemized sales invoice and never received it. I saved the text thread as to remind myself to never deal with them in the future should I have a smooth brained moment and forget in the future.
TN:
Johnson City - I got this rec late as I didn't even think to go that direction in dealership searches. The manager I corresponded with was the most detailed, pleasant, and direct of all that I emailed. 10/10, but late to the dance (which was my doing) and ultimately they weren't able to find exactly what I was seeking. This too was on me given the niche vehicle I was looking for and self imposed timeline.
Fox - front line salesman was BAUWG and won't negotiate. At all. Cool - GLWS. Slow to respond to correspondence as well.
GA:
Marietta; Lowe (warner robbins) - no responses, someone go please check a pulse there.
Beaver - front line salesman was BAUWG complete with heavy add on emphasis of how "valuable" all the add on dealer trash is (PPF, tint, blinker fluid, whatever refuse here). Their initial reply to my reaching out was also in Spanish. Great eye for detail there. No thanks.
MD:
Darcars (Baltimore) - Honestly, they were great overall. Just faaaaaar away - I had to factor in transport or fly/drive costs here. My salesman was direct and they were great to deal with overall. They will be a contender if I am looking for something they have in inventory in the future. IIRC, my guy was specific and quickly indicated they do "out of state deals all the time." I'd believe this given the volume of cars they have and quick nature of responses to my questions and informative answers that usually left other (lesser) dealers befuddled. This salesman was one of my favorite honestly as he was driven to sell his product from a sales standpoint and REALLY invested in wanting you to believe Toyota is the best. He's a good archetype for the brand and ambassador for the dealership.
Jerry's - no response.
No SC dealership had the van I was seeking either in build phase, production, or in inventory.
The entire point of this post is to reward good dealerships with generating leads and hopefully save you time as the buyer. Again, this is my experience I can back up with correspondence proof. I hope your experience is better or at least matches mine at the recommended dealers above. If you want any salesman points of contact with the recommended dealers above, DM me and I will supply them after obtaining their permission.
Ultimately the delta between the vehicle I bought and the sienna we were considering (and I was personally preferring) was too much to ignore and the logical choice was made. HTH.
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Glad to see you had a similar experience that I had with my rec, Johnson City. My guess is the manager you spoke to was the same guy I had. They were all very interested in my 80-series, pix and mods. The manager had mentioned how he was dealer modding vehicles with wheels and other stuff before it became common at toyota dealers...not sure how much truth there is to that, but also no reason not to believe him.
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If he's a legit enthusiast, I am totally on board with granting creative slack with statements like this (harmless imo). If they use them to try and manipulate/drive things that's something else and along the lines of some of the slimy stuff I encountered with some of the above dealers.
That makes sense. When we were talking I had already purchased the car so I’d think there’d be no point in blowing smoke up my ass. Idk I’m definitely not as experienced with new car shopping as it seems you are. Learned a lot from this thread honestly.
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"experienced".....maybe....I was looking over the totaled car's records and saw stuff that I would NEVER go for today. Lesson learned (stupid tax, knowledge through experience gained, etc). I'm not the smartest, strongest, or prettiest guy around but I can say I'm one of the more tenacious people I've come across in my life with few exceptions. If I have a goal and direction, I will accomplish the task whatever it takes.
Anyways, I am glad this helped. Again, the whole point of this thread is to benefit the buyer with a good dealership experience with positively reinforcing good business practices.
In CLT, I found Town and Country to do well. Some of the sales team there came from Scott Clark, frustrated by the lack of “dealing “ from that place and the openness to negotiate deals at Towns and Country. This was buying my ‘24 Land Cruiser. Scott Clark and Hendricks attitude was more of a”we love our cars and don’t want to let them go”, T&C wanted to sell their cars.
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Thanks for this. I must have missed t&c in my search. I don’t know if it was due to inventory or what. Good to know nonetheless.