Which dealerships in Northern CO have been the best? Worst?

Hi everyone, welcome to my first post! Step right on in and have a seat.

So I guess I'm looking for a little help with a couple of things:

• Who are the best/most reputable Toyota dealers in northern Colorado, where would I get the best deal on a new Tacoma?
• What have you all been paying for 2016s? I want at least a general idea of what they're going for locally, it seems like inventories are a bit tight so I don't know if it would be better to wait a bit. (I've been through the big sticky on invoice pricing).
• Truck I'm eyeballing - TRDOR DCSB w/tech package (non-JBL), & tow package. If you've gotten one like this recently I'd love to hear your story.

Thanks all!

 

Got mine at Larry Miller. Everything has been fine including service, but there was one little thing during the sales process that bugged me. I bargained hard for a very low interest rate. The finance guy ran my credit report and came back with a number that was much lower than what it is. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe not. I corrected him and got the rate I wanted, so it turned out fine.

 

I bought one of the last 2015 Tacoma's at Pederson in Ft. Collins -- in late August. I wrote the "internet sales" person Megan Alayon malayon@pedersentoyota.com and said "I'm not messing around, I'm going to buy a 2015 Tacoma. I'm not a first-time buyer, I know the game. I'm going to email every dealer in Denver and around, get the best quotes and go with the winner. But I live in FtC, I'd rather deal with you." She was cool, wrote me back, said "You shop around everywhere else first, come to me last, I'll beat their price." And that is basically what happened. I wrote 5 dealerships, got their best deal on what I wanted. She beat them by around $500. If you look at my posting history, you'll see I posted the quote here in TW "Am I getting a good deal?" and the general thought was: Very good deal. You should take it.

There was a goof-up with the truck I wanted (it was on a lot in North Dakota) and I didn't get it (even after I put down money). Megan was seriously pissed at the ND dealership, and I went with my backup truck (which I was fine with, it was my earlier choice before the ND truck). Meghan threw in some goodies (free clear bra etc.). I know it isn't a lot out of their pocket, but it was a nice gesture. And my truck came in from the factory earlier than quoted, and I bought it.

I paid cash, so don't know about loans. The whole time I dealt with Megan in person, the deal was already done. She was cool to work with, knew all about the truck, helped me set up my bluetooth, update the infotainment software etc. before I left the lot.

I had my first 6-month free service recently at Pederson (oil, tire rotation etc). I was sitting outside waiting for the truck, Megan was walking across the lot somewhere, saw me, came running over "Hey! How is your Tacoma? Do you love it???"

Bottom line: Do what I did. Email (don't even go the the lots to negotiate) 5+ dealerships. Let them start bidding. I specifically say "I'm emailing you, Pederson, Erlich, Mountain States... This is the truck I want. Who wants my money?" It worked for me, and it worked really well at Pederson with Megan. You aren't going to get a truck for less than invoice or rip off the dealership -- they are too smart for that. But you will get a decent deal this way, with a lot less hassle and running around. As soon as they know you are talking to 5 dealerships, they more or less jump close to their real bottom selling price.

 

I tried to buy my 2016 tacoma from pederson but never budged on the price. Went to Mountain states and got a good deal and purchased it.

 

I bought my TRD OR LB with the tech pkg including the JBL from Ehrlich in Greeley. Was a pretty easy deal, told them what I was willing to pay out the door after my trade-in and they were able to do it. I wanted to buy from Mountain States since I had bought my Tundra from them and they were great to deal with and the don't charge the stupid handling fee ,or whatever they like to call it, but I would of had to wait for them to find one.

 

This is exactly what I've done, thanks!

 

Ehrlich seems to have some pretty nice folks, they didn't have anything in stock but they were very helpful nonetheless. I'm actually hoping they come in with the best offer!

 

Mountain States has the most votes so far, they also seem to have the best advertised prices. I hope those are good indicators!

 

Just popping in to say thanks for all the help and advice, things are going pretty well so far!

I'll get into more details once I close the deal, I just don't want to jinx it by posting too much too soon.

 

I have only serviced my (new to me) Taco at Mountain States and it was a good experience. I have heard that their sales crew can be smothering so I would do what ronopolis mentioned which is to email first. For me and my buddy(FJ owner) they seemed to be the most knowledgeable on servicing.

 

I'm still leaning toward those guys, it's good to hear that you two have had good experience with their service department.

I got royally SCREWED at another dealership for service (I'll drop the name after I get a truck under contract), so a good quality service department is really important to me!

 

Ta-da! Got one ordered - should be here in May.

• $33730 - TRD OFF ROAD DOUBLE CAB 4X4 V6 AUTO (Magnetic Grey Metallic)
• $900 - Delivery processing and handling
• $2330 - OR/Sport Prem & Tech Pkg (non JBL/DC Only)
• $650 - Towing Package
• $209 - Carpet Floor Mats w/Door Sill
• ------
• $37819 (MSRP)

I got it for $35,174 before TTL. How'd I do?

 

I thought I'd update this with a cross-post from the "What did you pay" thread.

OK, NOW I think I understand where some guys are getting prices "under invoice".

For simplicity's sake in the following examples I'm excluding taxes (they're complicated in CO) and there was no trade.

Invoice price for the rig I ordered was $34951. Out of the seven dealerships I emailed, the LOWEST offer anyone would take was $35,174 ($196 over invoice).

Four dealerships dropped out before I got it that low, so now I'm only dealing with three.

• Dealership #3 will take no less than $35,100 plus approx $500 in dealer fees - nope
• Dealership #2 will take $35,174, but has no dealership fee at all so it's a straight $35,174
• Dealership #1 REFUSES to waive their dealership fee ($526.20), but "wants to talk". These guys kept their dealership fees, but dropped their price to $34,648.00. They are now at $303 UNDER invoice, but with their dealership fees their price now matches "Dealership #2" at a total of $35,174. These are the guys I ordered from.

Technically, I paid $303 under invoice w/o fees. Or did I?

ETA: If I ever bump into Ronopolis, I owe that guy a beer or two! Not only is his method effective, it was FUN!

 

You got a good deal. I don't get hung up on "invoice" or "blah-de-blah fees". I think those number are mostly made up any way. The bottom line is: What did you pay to drive it off the lot? Think about it this way -- you contacted 7 dealerships and you got the best deal you could from 7 dealerships. If you killed yourself negotiating more you could save, what, maybe another hundred or two tops? The dealerships that dropped out early -- they were saying to themselves "OK, this guy knows the game. Let's pass on him and wait for Mr. Sucker to walk through the door so we can milk him." YOU WIN.

I'm really glad the "email and let them fight it out" technique worked for you. Especially for a new vehicle, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. And like you said, it is kind of fun. You are in the drivers seat. The dealerships are actually sweating the competition, instead of you sweating being steamrolled by a car salesperson.

GOOD JOB!

 

Thanks! I like to think I'm a pretty decent negotiator in general, but MAN I dread the whole car-buying experience.

All in all, I really got everything I wanted at a price I felt was fair (REALLY fair). The ONLY bummer is that I had to order it to get the exact configuration I wanted so I get to play the waiting game now, my build date is April 27.

Bottom line for the guys that DON'T want to negotiate, it was my experience that the lowest initial price was from Mountain States. I suspect they're a "volume-unit" dealership vs. a gross profit model, they seem to be much more interested in moving inventory than maximizing profit on every sale.

 

Stainless,

I am going through the same process currently and have had good dealings with a couple dealerships and some less than honorable dealings from one in particular. Curious as to which dealership you ended up ordering from?

 

Larry Miller (a.k.a. Boulder Toyota) is who I've been working with on my order, they've been pretty decent so far.

On the good side they didn't ask for a deposit for my order, PLUS they matched the lowest price I got out of 6 other dealerships. They're even working with me on my order change too, I changed my mind on the color so they're going to set up a dealership trade so I get what I want.

On the 'meh' side they tried to low-ball me pretty badly on a potential trade, they wouldn't budge on only offering low KBB for my '98 Taco (one owner, maint. records, great shape) so I pulled that from the deal.

On you "less than honorable" dealership, was it Pedersen by chance? They screwed me royally some years back, for about $2K on maintenance that was either totally botched or not done at all ($2011.54 exactly, before some Pedersen rep/troll decides to shoot his mouth off). I wouldn't cross the street to piss on their service manager if he was on fire at this point, let alone buy anything from them.

 

Stainless,

Interesting, it was Larry Miller in Boulder. I had gone about a similar exercise that you did to order your vehicle. Had agreed upon price with Larry Miller via email. I specifically called out in all of my emails to and from them that the pricing I was asking for was inclusive of the Dealer Handling Fee. Their sales person confirmed my pricing. When I came in to complete the purchase, the scenario below unfolded:

1. The person I had been corresponding with was not available, so they gave me someone new. To be fair, he did text me that he would not be there shortly before our appointment time.
2. I had to talk sales guy #2 through the entire terms I had agreed upon with sales guy #1
3. I showed them all the emails and text correspondence with sales guy #1
4. Sales guy #2 tried to sell me other colors / options / stuff I didn't want
5. Sales guy #2 went back and forth to manager's office about 6 times
6. At this point, I've been there at least an hour when I was supposed to just be coming in to sign paperwork
7. Finally, ask to talk with manager. She says that sales guy #1 is not allowed to negotiate on price and that "she would talk to him on Monday"
8. Lots of loud conversation ensued as I had an agreed upon deal in writing. She also pointed out that their email signature says "Prices do not include dealer handling fee of $500". I said I was fully aware of that which is why when I was negotiating with sales guy #1 that is why I typed in my email "Price inclusive of Dealer Handling". I clarified that specifically because of their silly email signature.
9. She said they could not do the deal I wanted...she said they could do the deal for about $700 more than I had asked for "if" they could change out a bunch of options in one of their orders in allocation
10. This all went down on a Saturday evening. She promised to call me on Monday, because apparently she (the manager) could also not approve my negotiated price. She had to speak with the "General Manager" and was not willing to call him on Saturday
11. Monday rolls around, I get a text from manager saying she will be calling me later that day. She also kindly pointed out that 2 vehicles matching my criteria were in CO at other dealers (side note, they kind of did, but one was wrong color/options and one was someone else's pre-order)
12. No call on Monday....frustrating
13. I text them back on Wednesday asking if she is going to call me
14. No response...crickets. That was 5 days ago

Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated and will not be taking future business to Boulder Toyota. The lack of integrity was impressive, even for a dealership. If sales guy #1 cannot negotiate price, don't allow him to negotiate price. Honor your sales people's commitments. I work in a service industry and I've eaten way more than $700 on a deal to keep a customer. The lifetime value of a loyal vehicle customer has got to be pretty high.

I'm glad you had a much better experience than I did. Still looking for the next truck...

 

I had the same experience with both Pedersen and Stapp. Both of them were very nice, but for a 2016 Tacoma it was going to be MSRP + D&H, no exceptions. They both told me they couldn't keep them on the lot, so they were under no pressure to deal. I was about to give in and put a deposit down with Pedersen, since I've dealt with them before and they are closer to my house, but decided if I was going to have to pay MSRP, I could at least avoid the $500 D&H charge by going with Mtn States. I emailed them from their website that I was looking to order a new Tacoma and received a phone call from one of their sales guys within 5 minutes. I told him what I wanted, he gave me the price, and took my order over the phone. Total cost was about $2200 less than I would have paid at Pedersen. My cost was $36880 (before tax, no trade) for DCSB V6/AT 4X4 TRDOR with P&T (w/JBL), mud guards, all-weather liners, & sill protectors.

 

My baby's finally here! I swear man, that's the longest seven weeks I think I've ever had to endure.

If I had to do it all over again though, I would have probably gone with Mountain States. Like the Beer:30 said, their sales guy comes back in like five minutes with the lowest offer you'll get in Colorado (by quite a bit). I used Mountain States' offer to get the dealerships closer to me to compete; and in the end it was Larry Miller (Boulder Toyota) and Stapp (in Frederick) that were still in the game out of the seven dealerships I contacted.

I finally went with Larry Miller, and while the price was right, DAMN do those guys have a hard time getting their shit together. My salesman called me Friday morning to say that they had it and I could pick it up any time that afternoon. I couldn't do Friday so I told him I'd get it in the morning Saturday. Even after I got done dealing with the finance guy (had to finance part of it), the detailers STILL weren't finished with it. Once they were finished, we found that they forgot to fill the tank so we had to wait for that as well.

Final deal:

• (7544G) TRD OFF ROAD DOUBLE CAB 4X4 V6 AUTO (Black)
• (HH) OR/Sport Prem & Tech Pkg (non JBL/DC Only)
• (TO) Towing Package
• (CT) All Weather Mats (Door Sills)

$34,648.00 (truck and options)
$ 526.20 (dealer fee)
$ 2302.00 (sales tax)
----------
$37,476.33 (I haven't put plates on it yet)