San Antonio/Austin recommended dealer?
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T4RDriver
New member
Live in Austin but found nothing but the usual dishonorable stereotypes in Austin, San Antonio, Killeen, D/FW, and Temple. Ended up dealing with Loren Lookingbill [MENTION=128]jeff[/MENTION] Hunter Toyota in Waco. No BS, negotiated over the phone to include my trade, all terms honored. Probably took about four phone calls total to finalize and get a fax of final documents. Recommended.
I responded to your PM but here is my experience while looking for a 2014 here in TX. I was ONLY looking for white so the dealers below were the only ones that had one at the time:
Toyota of Boerne: Nice salesman but price was terrible on both the new car price and my trade in amount. Once I had a much lower quote and higher trade in amount from another Toyota dealer, they then decided they would match that price. Sorry, but I don't deal with people like that.
Alamo Toyota: I get my service done there but after talking to a salesman and the internet sales manager, I'd NEVER buy a car from them. They gave me a price on a Trail Premium that was essentially MSRP and told me these cars are so rare that they only last a few days on the lot. After reading the "What people paid for their 2014" thread here on the forum, I told the salesman their prices were way too high. The salesman then had the manager get back to me and basically said A) the people on this site are lying about what they paid as to make it look like they got the best deal, B) TrueCar figures are bogus and C) there are just too few of the white Trail Premiums available to discount.
Cavender Toyota: After a bad experience with them many years ago, I told myself I'd never buy from them.
Toyota of Ft. Worth: They by far had the best price and also offered me over $1K more for my trade in sight unseen. If I was willing to settle for a non-KDSS 4Runner, I'd have bought from them for sure. The sales manager (Greg Shea) was awesome. He did everything he could to find me the car I wanted at the right price. Once he told me that they couldn't get a car from outside the Gulf States Region, he offered to call the out of state dealer and assist me in getting a good price on the car and also offered to send them the appraisal they did on my 2011 4Runner trade in. If you decide on getting a non-KDSS 4Runner, I can get you this guys phone number and email addy.
Charles Maund Toyota Austin: They gave me the same song and dance as Alamo Toyota but were much nicer about it. They simply said they could not match the lowest price I had from the Ft. Worth dealer.
Atkinson Toyota (Near College Station): These folks were similar to the Ft. Worth dealership with a great price and friendly salesman BUT they were lowballing me on the trade. While negotiating with them, the vehicle sold.
So, in the end, I decided on a 4Runner with KDSS and NONE of the dealers in the Gulf States Region could get one. This resulted in me going out of state.
Toyota of Boerne: Nice salesman but price was terrible on both the new car price and my trade in amount. Once I had a much lower quote and higher trade in amount from another Toyota dealer, they then decided they would match that price. Sorry, but I don't deal with people like that.
Alamo Toyota: I get my service done there but after talking to a salesman and the internet sales manager, I'd NEVER buy a car from them. They gave me a price on a Trail Premium that was essentially MSRP and told me these cars are so rare that they only last a few days on the lot. After reading the "What people paid for their 2014" thread here on the forum, I told the salesman their prices were way too high. The salesman then had the manager get back to me and basically said A) the people on this site are lying about what they paid as to make it look like they got the best deal, B) TrueCar figures are bogus and C) there are just too few of the white Trail Premiums available to discount.
Cavender Toyota: After a bad experience with them many years ago, I told myself I'd never buy from them.
Toyota of Ft. Worth: They by far had the best price and also offered me over $1K more for my trade in sight unseen. If I was willing to settle for a non-KDSS 4Runner, I'd have bought from them for sure. The sales manager (Greg Shea) was awesome. He did everything he could to find me the car I wanted at the right price. Once he told me that they couldn't get a car from outside the Gulf States Region, he offered to call the out of state dealer and assist me in getting a good price on the car and also offered to send them the appraisal they did on my 2011 4Runner trade in. If you decide on getting a non-KDSS 4Runner, I can get you this guys phone number and email addy.
Charles Maund Toyota Austin: They gave me the same song and dance as Alamo Toyota but were much nicer about it. They simply said they could not match the lowest price I had from the Ft. Worth dealer.
Atkinson Toyota (Near College Station): These folks were similar to the Ft. Worth dealership with a great price and friendly salesman BUT they were lowballing me on the trade. While negotiating with them, the vehicle sold.
So, in the end, I decided on a 4Runner with KDSS and NONE of the dealers in the Gulf States Region could get one. This resulted in me going out of state.
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I bought my 2012 Trail from Champion Toyota after really bad experience at San Marcos Toyota. Long story short: I called San Marcos to confirm they had the Trail they had listed online on their lot. They confirmed so I told them I was on my way that afternoon. After driving there from North Austin in rush hour the dealer I had talked to on the phone wanted me to drive a SR5 first and that if I committed to buying from them they could get the Trail sent to their lot. They never had it to begin with...
I emailed Champion the next day with what I was looking for and the price I wanted to pay. They had it on their lot within 3 days and I paid exactly what I expected to.
casey
'78 fj40
'12 t4r te
I emailed Champion the next day with what I was looking for and the price I wanted to pay. They had it on their lot within 3 days and I paid exactly what I expected to.
casey
'78 fj40
'12 t4r te
Through my extensive searching, I came to the realization that, for the most part, if there was not an actual picture of the car on their webpage, then they likely did not have that car on the lot and would have to have it transferred from another dealer.
ryn996
New member
Thanks for the very detailed reply. I responded to your PM as well.
ryn996
New member
Man, so many bad dealers out there...it's frustrating. Thanks for the info!
ryn996
New member
Good to know!
Rob_E
New member
I drove out to Tegeler Toyota in Brenham (about 1.5 hours east of Austin) about a year ago to get the exact truck I wanted (end of model year 2012 - for the shifter 4wd, with convenience package, and some other options).
In my searches I quickly learned that, as was stated earlier, just because it's on their website doesn't mean they have it. Usually it will either say "Available" or "In Stock". Available means it's somewhere within the 5 state (!) region. Before I knew this I called the dealer - Charles Maund here in Austin - where I saw it listed, and they said, "I'm sorry, that one's been sold, but we have a few similar to it..." Of course, they never had it.
I finally found the actual truck by Googling the VIN, which was listed on Charles Maund's website. That took me to Tegeler Toyota and Chris Wade. This is a dealership out in the country whose primary customer base is the farming community. There was little haggle and I got my new truck well under invoice (I paid $32.5k and list was around $36k). When my girlfriend and I pulled up, Chris, who I had spoken with on the phone, had the truck ready to go. He asked, "Ever driven one of these before?" I said "No." He handed me the keys, told me of some backroads where I could test out the 4 wheel drive, and said "Have fun." I was driving my new truck home to Austin within two hours.
I have to tout this experience because two months later my girlfriend and I drove to Houston to get her a new Subaru. The experience was absolutely horrible. We ended up with her car, but not without considerable stress and a ton of high pressure, not to mention the sales people yelling at each other and fighting over us, right in front of us.
I'd encourage anyone to check out Tegeler. I wish I could go there for service but AutoNation South Austin is right down the road. They're efficient with the services, but I can't speak to their sales. I didn't deal with anyone else in Austin after being lied to by the first dealership.
I hope this is helpful. Good luck!
In my searches I quickly learned that, as was stated earlier, just because it's on their website doesn't mean they have it. Usually it will either say "Available" or "In Stock". Available means it's somewhere within the 5 state (!) region. Before I knew this I called the dealer - Charles Maund here in Austin - where I saw it listed, and they said, "I'm sorry, that one's been sold, but we have a few similar to it..." Of course, they never had it.
I finally found the actual truck by Googling the VIN, which was listed on Charles Maund's website. That took me to Tegeler Toyota and Chris Wade. This is a dealership out in the country whose primary customer base is the farming community. There was little haggle and I got my new truck well under invoice (I paid $32.5k and list was around $36k). When my girlfriend and I pulled up, Chris, who I had spoken with on the phone, had the truck ready to go. He asked, "Ever driven one of these before?" I said "No." He handed me the keys, told me of some backroads where I could test out the 4 wheel drive, and said "Have fun." I was driving my new truck home to Austin within two hours.
I have to tout this experience because two months later my girlfriend and I drove to Houston to get her a new Subaru. The experience was absolutely horrible. We ended up with her car, but not without considerable stress and a ton of high pressure, not to mention the sales people yelling at each other and fighting over us, right in front of us.
I'd encourage anyone to check out Tegeler. I wish I could go there for service but AutoNation South Austin is right down the road. They're efficient with the services, but I can't speak to their sales. I didn't deal with anyone else in Austin after being lied to by the first dealership.
I hope this is helpful. Good luck!
Atlanta_man
New member
How's buying across state lines working these days ? I am asking about the financial implications of buying in one state and registering in another. Surely they don't hit you for two sales/use taxes <?>
I ran across these folks as well in my seach and while they didn't have the car I was looking for, they had great prices on those they had on the lot. As you said, these smaller dealers have less overhead and will not only give you a better price but also treat you a hell of a lot better since they are very dependent on referrals.
Exactly! I also did the trick of running the VIN through Google and 9 times out of 10, you could pinpoint exactly which dealer actually had that car on ON THEIR lot. They would also likely give you the best deal in it.
You should NEVER have to pay taxes twice. Someone said something about this happening if you buy a car in California. It was something along the lines of if you actually take possession and drive the car off the lot in California, you're paying the full CA taxes on it even if you don't live there. Not sure if it's fact or not but it's just what I heard.
All states are different and handle the taxes differently. The way it worked for me in AZ was, since their tax rate is lower than TX, they collected the full AZ amount of taxes at the times of sale and then, when I register the car in TX, I only pay the additional amount OVER the lower AX tax rate. So in the end, you're only paying the tax amount you normally would if you bought the car in your come state.
Again, I'm no tax expert so check with your state and the state you may be buying in!!
3wbdriver
New member
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.
With 5 Toyota dealerships in San Antonio, 1 in Boerne, 1 in San Marcos, 2 in Austin, 1 in Bastrop, 1 in Round Rock (plus the others mentioned) you would think there would be more positive reviews. And all of these dealerships are all within a 1 1/2 hour drive.
One of them needs to get smart and learn about this forum. Or any forum for that matter, So many deals to be made. I am no dealer but I would rather have several small deals instead of just a few good deals. Referrals are great but so are repeat customers. And once you get a clientele list big enough, that just want to deal with you (because of the great service and great deals), you don't have to be struggling to go out and look for customers... they are calling you.
:rant:
That's my little rant.
One of them needs to get smart and learn about this forum. Or any forum for that matter, So many deals to be made. I am no dealer but I would rather have several small deals instead of just a few good deals. Referrals are great but so are repeat customers. And once you get a clientele list big enough, that just want to deal with you (because of the great service and great deals), you don't have to be struggling to go out and look for customers... they are calling you.
:rant:
That's my little rant.
The Alamo Toyota internet sales manager told me he does in fact read this very site. He then proceeded to tell me that folks like to get on these forums and claim to have gotten the best price in an effort to "one-up" each other. According to him, it's just a game to try and claim to be the guy that got the "lowest" prices when it's probably not true.
Hey Alamo Toyota internet manager, I ended up getting my Trail Premium with KDSS for more than $2k less than the "deal" you offered me on yours without KDSS. I'll be sure to bring my paperwork in when I need service next time so show you how full of shit you are.
I'll chime in here and say that if you are looking for a Trail Edition, your best bet is likely going out of the Gulf States Toyota region to get the best deal. I used the USAA car buying program and called most if not all the dealerships from San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, and Austin looking for a good price. None of these places wanted to haggle on the Trail Edition. The worst experience I had with a sales guy was at Champion Toyota in Austin.
At the end of the day I ended up flying up to Denver to buy my Trail Edition with KDSS and Entune from Groove Toyota for $40k out the door (including taxes and tags etc) and got a nice vacation/road trip with the money I saved buying out of state. It wasn't too much of a hassle dealing with the Texas taxes or bringing the truck back.
Don't be afraid to look in New Mexico and Colorado for a Trail Edition, they were thousands of dollars cheaper than anywhere in Texas.
At the end of the day I ended up flying up to Denver to buy my Trail Edition with KDSS and Entune from Groove Toyota for $40k out the door (including taxes and tags etc) and got a nice vacation/road trip with the money I saved buying out of state. It wasn't too much of a hassle dealing with the Texas taxes or bringing the truck back.
Don't be afraid to look in New Mexico and Colorado for a Trail Edition, they were thousands of dollars cheaper than anywhere in Texas.
The best is North Park Toyota. That's where I bought my 2014 Trail and my last Toyota a few years ago as well. The dealership name has nothing to do with its location (It is on the south of town). They have a great selection (very large lot) and their prices are very good. They do not have the rip off mind set that some dealers have IMO.
I have a lot of experience with several Toyota dealerships here in SA, and North Park is the best to buy a new vehicle IMO (I sometimes use Red McCombs for service because it is closer). I do not work at any of them by the way.
I have a lot of experience with several Toyota dealerships here in SA, and North Park is the best to buy a new vehicle IMO (I sometimes use Red McCombs for service because it is closer). I do not work at any of them by the way.
