I just bought an 08 4Runner, Urban Runner package from Preston Toyota in New Castle, PA. They're located about an hour North of Pittsburgh and maybe thirty minutes East of Youngstown OH.
I drove up and looked at the vehicle on a Thursday then came back the next day and purchased it. The buying experience was relatively painless. There were the standard long waits every time the salesman walked away but I've come to expect that. My salesman was not pushy at all and has been willing to help with the issues that have came up. His knowledge of the vehicle was so-so but I had already done a lot of the research myself.
I didn't ask them to move on the "no-haggle" internet pricing that I had seen on the vehicle but I did get them to come up $1000 on my trade-in offer and throw in a hitch mounted bike rack.
Another thing that I asked them to take care of was a headlight unit that was filled with condensation. This was not a thin mist of condensation, it was large water droplets. I assumed that this would be covered under the comprehensive warranty that comes with a certified pre-owned vehicle. They agreed to fix it in order to "do whatever it takes to make the sell" instead of replacing it under warranty. They said they would take a headlight unit with no condensation out of another 08 model and swap them. I said that would be ok. This is where the trouble starts.
When I got home, I noticed that the approximately 1" x 12" painted to match trim piece that goes below the headlight was loose. Much looser than the opposite trim piece. Upon closer inspection, I could see that it was being held in by some type of thick black tar-like adhesive on one side. Then when I lifted the hood, I found the same trim piece sitting on top of the engine cover. How it rode there for 50+ miles without falling out of the engine compartment or onto a hot engine component and melting is a mystery to me. Anyway, I got to looking at the two pieces and realized that they had put the trim piece from the other vehicle on my car and left my trim piece on the engine. They were both black, but a noticeably different black. When side by side, the other had a multi-color sparkle, mine was deep solid black. I also found that on my piece there was a metal attachment clip that had broken off or had fallen off of the one installed on my car. So what did they decide to do? They decided to hold it on with some gunk. Argh bad mojo.
Luckily for me they were doubly incompetent(I hate to use harsh words but I didnt know what else to put here, I also considered deceitful.. anyway where were we at) they were doubly incompetent and not only gunked the wrong part on but also left the correct part in plain site on top of the large flat plastic engine cover. I was able to replace the part myself, which snapped tightly and securely into place since it had the appropriate clip. I then called them back and let them know that I had the other piece. I'll be returning it when I go back for the bike rack.
Then I noticed another issue, an even bigger problem. The headlight unit that was swapped out doesn't match! I've since found that the SR5 headlights and the Sport headlights are different. SR5's are bright chrome and Sports are "Smoked Chrome". Argh again. I haven't contacted them regarding this yet but will later in the day. Hopefully they don't give me any resistance regarding this, if they do, I'll do my best to let the world know. If they fix it with no hassle then great, no harm no foul... well with the exception of using gunk to glue pieces on long enough to get the vehicle off of the lot. Either way I'll update you guys.
Argh! FAIL! I'm beginning to sound like an f'n pirate.
I will still say that in despite of these couple of speed bumps, I would buy from them again and would recommend them to others. Hopefully this works itself out smoothly because a good car dealer is hard to find and they still have the potential to be one of the best that I've dealt with.
I drove up and looked at the vehicle on a Thursday then came back the next day and purchased it. The buying experience was relatively painless. There were the standard long waits every time the salesman walked away but I've come to expect that. My salesman was not pushy at all and has been willing to help with the issues that have came up. His knowledge of the vehicle was so-so but I had already done a lot of the research myself.
I didn't ask them to move on the "no-haggle" internet pricing that I had seen on the vehicle but I did get them to come up $1000 on my trade-in offer and throw in a hitch mounted bike rack.
Another thing that I asked them to take care of was a headlight unit that was filled with condensation. This was not a thin mist of condensation, it was large water droplets. I assumed that this would be covered under the comprehensive warranty that comes with a certified pre-owned vehicle. They agreed to fix it in order to "do whatever it takes to make the sell" instead of replacing it under warranty. They said they would take a headlight unit with no condensation out of another 08 model and swap them. I said that would be ok. This is where the trouble starts.
When I got home, I noticed that the approximately 1" x 12" painted to match trim piece that goes below the headlight was loose. Much looser than the opposite trim piece. Upon closer inspection, I could see that it was being held in by some type of thick black tar-like adhesive on one side. Then when I lifted the hood, I found the same trim piece sitting on top of the engine cover. How it rode there for 50+ miles without falling out of the engine compartment or onto a hot engine component and melting is a mystery to me. Anyway, I got to looking at the two pieces and realized that they had put the trim piece from the other vehicle on my car and left my trim piece on the engine. They were both black, but a noticeably different black. When side by side, the other had a multi-color sparkle, mine was deep solid black. I also found that on my piece there was a metal attachment clip that had broken off or had fallen off of the one installed on my car. So what did they decide to do? They decided to hold it on with some gunk. Argh bad mojo.
Luckily for me they were doubly incompetent(I hate to use harsh words but I didnt know what else to put here, I also considered deceitful.. anyway where were we at) they were doubly incompetent and not only gunked the wrong part on but also left the correct part in plain site on top of the large flat plastic engine cover. I was able to replace the part myself, which snapped tightly and securely into place since it had the appropriate clip. I then called them back and let them know that I had the other piece. I'll be returning it when I go back for the bike rack.
Then I noticed another issue, an even bigger problem. The headlight unit that was swapped out doesn't match! I've since found that the SR5 headlights and the Sport headlights are different. SR5's are bright chrome and Sports are "Smoked Chrome". Argh again. I haven't contacted them regarding this yet but will later in the day. Hopefully they don't give me any resistance regarding this, if they do, I'll do my best to let the world know. If they fix it with no hassle then great, no harm no foul... well with the exception of using gunk to glue pieces on long enough to get the vehicle off of the lot. Either way I'll update you guys.
Argh! FAIL! I'm beginning to sound like an f'n pirate.
I will still say that in despite of these couple of speed bumps, I would buy from them again and would recommend them to others. Hopefully this works itself out smoothly because a good car dealer is hard to find and they still have the potential to be one of the best that I've dealt with.
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