Great Lakes Dealership Reviews

So in my buying process I quickly found a distaste for several Michigan dealerships and thought that something like this really would have helped. Please try and keep discussion to a minimum and just leave the reviews here. I'm talking about real, honest reviews, not the stuff that gets pruned on Yelp!

Dunning Toyota - Ann Arbor, MI
My experience here wasn't horrible, but their selection was poor every time I visited. Usually 2 used trucks and 1 new one (almost always in a package I didn't want, like 4cyl AC). They were very pushy when I went in to talk about a trade-in and kept trying to push a 2014 Baja on me that I had no interest in. This is right before the 2015 MY hit and I'm sure they were just trying to dump inventory before the TRD Pros were available. I really would have loved to order a 2014 DCSB in Spruce Mica but at that point they were unwilling to order (orders were effectively stopped for 2014 MY trucks). In the end I didn't buy from them because they were quite unwilling to work with me to get me the color I wanted, Spruce Mica, in the cab configuration. On a previous visit I was pawned off on the owner's son working as a salesman. He then pawned me off on a trainee for a test-drive and basically didn't take my inquiries seriously at all.

Spartan Toyota - Lansing, MI
My experience here was very brief. Again, very limited Tacoma selection. They pushed me off on what I can only imagine was a salesman in training. Or at the very least one that was into cars and not trucks. Rather than give me information or look for information on the trucks he just spouted things as fact (which were completely untrue). Things like:
"All TRD Off-Road models are 4x4"
"The prerunner was discontinued last year, it's the lowered street truck with only 2wd"
"The xRunner is a 2wd truck with 4wd suspension".

For months after he would try and contact me about new trucks that were coming in that were "close"... I wanted a DCSB Spruce Mica. "Oh, this Pyrite Mica DCLB (Sport) just came in." ... You get the idea.

Basically I went once and was so disappointd with their salesman that I didn't even ever give them a second chance. I thought about outing him to his manager as a complete liar and showing how bad he was at his job in hopes that he would be moved to a different role or fired, which ultimately seemed cruel and vindictive so I just never gave them a second chance at business.

Jim White Toyota - Toledo, OH
I finally ended up purchasing from Jim White, purely out of the fact that they had a lease turn-in (2013 DCSB, Auto, Spruce Mica, TRD Off Road)... I wasn't disappointed in the experience. The salesman kind of understood that I wasn't there to bullshit and after calling and confirming the truck was still there I drove down the day after to take it for a test drive. I could have been in the truck a day later but because it was the Christmas holiday (tested it on the 24th) there were some delays. They got lucky that they had what I wanted (as did I), because I probably wouldn't have ever considered ordering or buying new from them otherwise. They seemed willing to work on the price with me and even better yet, let me swap the TRD fakelock wheels and skid plate off my AC that I was trading in! No real questions asked... I think part of this was likely because I was literally going to be the last person to purchase from them before closing their books for the year.

Overall it wasn't a bad experience, the best I've had in the area. I don't know if I'd blindly recommend them to someone who was looking to order new vs picking exactly what they wanted from Spartan Toyota or maybe one in Kalamazoo (I'm in Jackson, MI, so we don't have a dealership, but there are 3 in less than an hour drive).

 

I am rooting for Tesla to change the way we buy cars.