San Antonio/Austin recommended dealer?

[STX4Runner]

I bought my 2010 TE used from Cavender in 2012 and they would not budge on the price one bit, even after I walked out. I eventually went back a few days later because they were not really asking too much, I just initially figured they would negotiate. They were ok to deal with. I go get service at North Park after some annoying experiences at Cavender. If you really want a Trail, look in Colorado, Utah, etc. and see what the prices there are. You can get a cool road trip out of it then.

 

[T4RDriver]

Thank you for the response! Did you visit dealers in all those cities or did you call them/email?

I deal with dealers exclusively over the phone/email as to minimize wasted time. This means you must know exactly what you want, which dealer REALLY has the truck in stock, and what your trade is worth. KBB, NADA etc websites have become largely worthless for establishing trade values so I started going to CarMax for the free purchase appraisal/offer and then leverage that. If you can get the dealer to match CarMax's 7-day offer over the phone, and then hammer out the price on the new truck, you should only have to visit just one dealer.

Most dealers I spoke with in Texas misbehaved in one way or another and were cut from my list almost immediately. Special recognition goes to Toyota of Boerne who quietly slipped in a 2012 truck at the last minute to 'price match' the 2013 deal I had negotiated with Jeff Hunter in Waco (thinking I wouldn't notice). Runner up is AutoNation Toyota South Austin who willfully did not perform the services claimed at my first Toyota Care interval. Caught them red-handed and they admitted it (since there was no escaping the truth).

 

[Jeff M]

I bought my 2010 TE used from Cavender in 2012 and they would not budge on the price one bit, even after I walked out. I eventually went back a few days later because they were not really asking too much, I just initially figured they would negotiate.

The wife and I, soon after getting married, took her Eclipse there to look at a car she was interested in. They took her keys and did an appraisal on it. It came back ridiculously low so we said thanks, but not thanks. Then the salesman started to play the "let me go talk to the sales manager and see what we can do. He came back and we asked for the keys. The guy would not give us the keys! This went on for about 15 minutes with the salesman and sales manager coming out and laughing about it. Wanting to avoid a lawsuit for me clocking them, I told them to hand over the keys or I'm calling the cops. Got the keys and promised I'd never go there again. That was about 9 years ago! haha

If you really want a Trail, look in Colorado, Utah, etc. and see what the prices there are. You can get a cool road trip out of it then.

Agree. The Mountain State Region had the best deals I could find..PERIOD.

 

[ryn996]

Well I've been to Park City but only to Denver's airport so maybe a trip out to Colorado will be in my future. Honestly the shorter the drive back the better. I don't think I can do a drive there and back like Jeff did. I may have to just take what the local Carmax can give me.

 

[Jeff M]

Well I've been to Park City but only to Denver's airport so maybe a trip out to Colorado will be in my future. Honestly the shorter the drive back the better. I don't think I can do a drive there and back like Jeff did. I may have to just take what the local Carmax can give me.

If you can get what you want for your car from Carmax locally, do it! Then just hope on a flight to wherever you get the best deal and drive back. If I didn't have my 2011 to trade in, I would have simply flew to Santa Fe, NM and drove the 8 hours home. Piece of cake!

 

[Misterquad]

NorthPark Toyota. Ask for Javier Vasquez, 210-635-5000. Tell him what you want and he gets it delivered to the dealership usually in a week.

He beat Toyota of Boerne by $6,000 on my FJ Cruiser Trail Teams.

He just found my boss a 2013/14 (idk), white, 4Runner LE with very specific options and beat 2 other SAN Dealer's bids. He had it on the lot in 7 days of the order.

I bought my 2008 Tacoma, 2010 FJ Cruiser and my 2011 Corolla from him.

The service department does a perfect alignment after I lift them too.

I am not related to him just a very happy customer.

As for my current 2012 4Runner TE though, I found it on Ebay and flew to Las Vegas to pick it up. It was listed with $6,000 in mods and no reserve.

 

[ryn996]

NorthPark Toyota. Ask for Javier Vasquez, 210-635-5000. Tell him what you want and he gets it delivered to the dealership usually in a week.

He beat Toyota of Boerne by $6,000 on my FJ Cruiser Trail Teams.

He just found my boss a 2013/14 (idk), white, 4Runner LE with very specific options and beat 2 other SAN Dealers bids. He had it on the lot in 7 days of the order.

I bought my 2008 Tacoma, 2010 FJ Cruiser and my 2011 Corolla from him.

The service department does a perfect alignment after I lift them too.

I am not related to him just a very happy customer.

Appreciate it!

 

[STX4Runner]

If you can get what you want for your car from Carmax locally, do it! Then just hope on a flight to wherever you get the best deal and drive back. If I didn't have my 2011 to trade in, I would have simply flew to Santa Fe, NM and drove the 8 hours home. Piece of cake!

8 hours from Santa Fe to San Antonio?!! You must have been hauling a$$!:bravo:

 

[Jeff M]

8 hours from Santa Fe to San Antonio?!! You must have been hauling a$$!:bravo:

8 hours!! What the hell am I thinking! LOL

I must be getting senile.

 

[STX4Runner]

That's alright. I drove to Santa Fe this summer on the way to Colorado, and I think I remember it took about 12 hours. I was impressed that you could make it in 8. That be about 100 mph average speed!

 

[Misterquad]

Anyone else remember back in July 2008 when Toyota of Boerne changed hands?

The owners and staff moved to the southside and opened North Park Toyota.

 

[3wbdriver]

NorthPark Toyota. Ask for Javier Vasquez, 210-635-5000. Tell him what you want and he gets it delivered to the dealership usually in a week.

BUT HE'S MINE!!! MINE MINE MINE!!! I called dibs first!!!! :fencing:

 

[Misterquad]

BUT HE'S MINE!!! MINE MINE MINE!!! I called dibs first!!!! :fencing:

Challenge accepted:
I bought my first Toyota from him July 18, 2008. "On guard!"

 

[hrod79]

i saw that lifted white trail... it was awesome! i also saw the sticker... they were proud of it!

I bought mine 2 weeks ago today at North Park Toyota in south San Antonio. They offered me a decent trade in on my Tundra, and dropped a couple thousand off the invoice. They had 2 or 3 Trail Editions when I was there, but I think I drove off with the only white one. No overt pressure but they didn't really need it. I was in lust as soon as I saw the lifted SR5 in front of the dealership. And I'm not much for haggling. I told them what I was willing to pay and they got me well under the payment I was ready for. If you call them ask for Claudette Perkins, and tell her Jeff Hall referred you. It's worth $50 to me! :thanks:

To answer your out of state question the hardest part for me was waiting for Louisiana to get back to them with the taxes. We sat for 2 hours waiting for that information to come in, but I did pay Louisiana state and local taxes instead of Texas, and I am waiting for my La plates to come to the house.

 

[Lester Lugnut]

I hear what everyone has said about the SA dealers and their nearby dealerships.

Toyota of Boerne tried to pull a fast one on the wife and I. Was told the vehicle was in Austin - I would need to pay $400 delivery fee. The vehicle was 20 mi. down the road at Red McCombs. Then they wanted $200 to tint the front windows of this truck that was indeed on the McCombs lot. I drove down there the next day and found it. The vehicle was fully tinted and that option was clearly listed on the web site that Toyota of Boerne had access to.
They told us a return call to us would be made. A dealer trade would have to be done. We never heard from them again.

Universal, Red McCombs and North Park would not deal with us. Finally we got the price and options we were looking for at Cavender Toyota. I realize many have been unhappy with them, but I was unhappy with the others just mentioned. Somebody is buying cars from all of these dealerships; else they would sink.

Guess I've never understood why you get jerked around at one and not at another?

After I bought the 4 Runner I started looking for running boards - not nerf bars. SA dealers wanted about $750.00. A dealer in Columbia S. C. wanted $436.00 including delivery. I bought them and in digging around on the web I found auto prices to be a lot better in the southeast than in SA.

I buy all of my Toyota parts from Toyota of Newnan Georgia. 30% less than SA prices. It would seem prices are cheaper within Southeast Toyota Distribution than at Gulf States Toyota.

 

[HerT4R]

Can anyone recommended a dealership in the San Antonio/Austin, TX area? The name of a salesman would be even better!

are you looking to buy new? or used?

i dealt with the used department at Universal (red mcombs) Toyota and dealt with Paul Garcia ([email protected]). I really liked dealing with him and got my CPO trail for the price i wanted and got a better trade value than what carmax offered me. He is a salesman just like all salesman but i didnt mind dealing with him. Drove up from Houston to do business at that dealership because they had what i wanted for the right price.

caution though: i did deal with another sales rep from this dealership (i believe from the new cars dept) and he was a terrible salesman and couldn't tell a TE from an SR5. If i had to deal with the new dept i probably wouldnt go to this dealership based on my experience with that salesperson.

IMO new sales departments vs used ones should be looked at a bit differently.

 

[ryn996]

are you looking to buy new? or used?

i dealt with the used department at Universal (red mcombs) Toyota and dealt with Paul Garcia ([email protected]). I really liked dealing with him and got my CPO trail for the price i wanted and got a better trade value than what carmax offered me. He is a salesman just like all salesman but i didnt mind dealing with him. Drove up from Houston to do business at that dealership because they had what i wanted for the right price.

caution though: i did deal with another sales rep from this dealership (i believe from the new cars dept) and he was a terrible salesman and couldn't tell a TE from an SR5. If i had to deal with the new dept i probably wouldnt go to this dealership based on my experience with that salesperson.

IMO new sales departments vs used ones should be looked at a bit differently.

I'm the OP and this thread is about a year old. I bought out of state, from a dealer in AZ.