Best Dealership in the Sound

I gave Michaels a try given the feedback in this thread and it being the closest dealer to me but had an unpleasant experience with one of the sales manager who wasn't interested in negotiating despite having written agreements from another dealer. The sales manager claimed the price was a lie and a sales tactic to get me in the door at the other dealership. Also, low balled the value for a trade-in which eventually after haggling back and forth gave me the number I asked for (~4,000 higher than the initial offer). Ended up picking up a '21 OR at another dealer in the Seattle area for the price I had in writing the following day. Of course, your mileage may vary but it seemed like Michaels wasn't interested in my business.

 

I got a much better sales price and trade-in offer from Marysville. Michael’s was pleasant and professional and had a large inventory but was several thousand dollars more in the end.

 

I’ve learned to not go to Bellevue dealerships and expect a deep discount, or any discounts really.
Someone has to pay for the fancy waiting area and fireplace.

 

Haha pretty much. Looks like most of us can agree...a hard pass on Michaels Toyota. Someone from Longview WA posted today that he got 5k off MSRP (even posted his quote w/signature)..just waiting to hear back which dealer that was!

 

Contact the Bremerton dealership for a quote, and always remember to not get roped in with the extras when you get to the finance/paperwork office.

 

heartland? Is this where the person was quoted 5k under? Thanks for the advice

 

not sure where the other person got their quote, but I got my truck from Heartland. It was a good price and sales tax was lower compared to King county. Noting that this was pre COVID, so your experience may be different, but an email inquiry is fairly low effort for a quote. Good luck!!

 

Heartland is the WORST Stealership that you will find. They will lie to you, cheat you, steal from you, and rob you !

And their Service Department could not be more incompetent and incapable !

There is absolutely no good reason for anyone to ever patronize that place; and there is every reason for people to stay as far away as possible from that place.

Unfortunately for me, I speak from personal experience. Do yourself a favor, and go anywhere else.

Edited to add:
It is no coincidence that after nearly 1200 views of this thread, there is not even one vote for Heartland Toyota in Bremerton, WA.

 

Sorry to hear that. My experience wasn't smooth but I made it out OK without any of the items they tried to pitch in the finance manager's office and I paid the price we agreed on before I drove out there.
For service, I've had good luck with Doxon Toyota in Auburn.

 

I had a decent experience with Dustin at Toyota of Tacoma- went to a few in the sound and they offered me the best deal and went ok with the Dustin (Sales). Still took 4 hours because the finance guy kept coming back with funny numbers. Ended up getting the agreed upon price.

not a dealership question but anyone know a good place near Seattle to get a retrax one XR?

 

I have to agree with Tonered and say I had good dealings with Rodland in Everett. Bought my 2019 TRD Sport there, they take good care of you after you buy which is good in my book. And I have to agree with gForceDude and say stay away from Heartland in Bremerton. Totally suck. Sales and service.

 

Hey guys,

I am in NY so don't take anything I say as relevant !

I was curious to see how your experiences compared to the ratings on Dealer Rater. I wondered if these ratings are valid and if this is a good / reliable / trustworthy source of date. According to Dealer Rater, here are the top 5 in the greater Seattle area (I picked a zip code in Seattle to start the search but it gives you the top dealers in the State). Again, don't take my word for it as I have no personal experience. But wanted to see how this stacked up agasint your experiences:

1) Heartland Toyota (Dealer of the Year): 4.8

2) Burien Toyota: 4.7

3) Rodland Toyota of Everett: 4.7

4) Toyota of Lake City: 3.8

5) Toyota of Kirkland: 3.8



Link:
https://www.dealerrater.com/directory/98101/Toyota/

 

Well, I have had pretty great sales experiences with Rodland, Magic and Marysville. The only times I’ve been burned were with Rodland’s service dept. Not every time, but enough to be very cautious about continuing with service there. I really wish I had more confidence as Rodland is my local dealer.

 

Thanks for the feedback. The dealer I bought from in CT (I drove from NY) was the highest rated and my experience there was excellent. But it is too far to go to get service on the vehicle. I wonder if Dealer Rater only takes sales into account and not service. I will check.

Thanks for the feedback ... I wish there was more of a Dealer Rater that focused exclusively on service since many of us buy trucks based on price and available from dealers far away and want the best, most professional service possible.

 

I have not read ALL of the posts in this thread but of the ones I have it seems everyone is judging "Best Dealer" solely on price. If that is what you are looking for in "Best Dealership" then simply google what Toyota you want, pick the lowest price and go.. they all come from the same place.

When I consider what makes a dealership "Best" it has zero to do with price, it does not even come up in my decision making as price can be had anywhere if you have even half decent negotiation skills. I consider "after purchase" service and support, service department help, how clean/organized the shop is (Yep I ask to view the shop, had only 1 dealer tell me know in 20 years).

With all that said, after 6 months of looking around for dealers I found two that seemed to be great. One was in Olympia and the other Tacoma. Toyota of Olympia was just a tad too far for me to travel to often so I decided to purchase from Titus-Will Toyota of Tacoma (NOT Tacoma Toyota btw, which was very low on my list). Now my personal experience with Titus-Will since I purchased my truck as been well above my expectations. I had an issue with my factory Roof rack (whole write up in another thread) and they took care of it when it became clear Toyota was not going to. Thru that I was able to speak directly with the Service Manager for everything, he followed up, setup the service, and took care of the problem.

The whole team seems to be very client focused (Not customer focused, which is a one time transaction view) and go out of their way to make sure I am taking care of, now it should be pointed out I did not do a Karen when I had my issues. I kept calm, collective, and patient.. after all it was not the dealership problem that Toyota created, they were just the middleman.

I have gone back to them several times now to get work done (extra's I wanted) and while it may have cost a bit more over a non-dealership mechanic I knew the attitude and caring Titus-Will provides so was willing to pay a bit more.

I guess, just like all things in life, if you base on just price you end up getting what you get.

 

Well Im off to Heartland tomorrow for the 20k checkup and oil change. Not my favorite dealership but its the closest for the free checkups and oil change. Would rather go back to Rodland in Everett but just too far away.

 

Whelp, after 4 months of trying to put a Tacoma together how I want it for a reasonable price, all has gone out the window. Just put a deposit on a 2021 TRD Pro Lunar Rock. Build date is 3/15- so should see it first half of April.

 

Congrats! That sounds like a really good problem to have! Hopefully it’ll turn out to be a blessing in disguise in the end.

 

I went through I5 Toyota. Got a good deal on a new trd off road!

 

Congrats! They are pretty aggressive on pricing . Worked with them for a while, but they wouldn't discount any parts add-ons.