Destination Toyota Burnaby

Service Department review
I have been taking my Toyota to Destination for 4 years now. The service is excellent; and they have a fantastic woman service advisor who really takes the time to research things for me and explain differences. I really love an automotive dealer who employs knowledgeable women as I believe for many of us, who have been patronized when dealing with car stuff, a good female employee can create a sense of trust. Mind you, all the service advisors have been good at destination; some are, however, outstanding.
The repairs they have done on my vehicle are excellent and they don’t try to sell me service I don’t need. Plus they wash the vehicle! Recently I received a discount on service because it was Family Day! That is pretty good.
They are the cheapest I have found for switching out winter tires with summer ones. Very economical and very quick.
The customer service woman who sits to the side has been excellent every time I have been there. She notices who is there, who is waiting. She comes into the lounge and fills us in on the progress with our vehicle. Her attentiveness and good humor make the wait pleasant.
I highly recommend this dealership for repairs and maintenance.

DO NOT SHOP HERE!!! IT IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME!!! I wish I could give it a below zero rating!!! They are ruthless, lying jerks and really know how to take advantage of people who simply want to buy a vehicle. They advertise their prices for what appear to be great deals and when you go to negotiate, they tell you the vehicle is sold. They try to have you buy something else and when you tell them that you will look somewhere else, they claim they have the best deals in town. Then they tell you that the person who bought the vehicle is out of town and will be picking it up soon. Meanwhile, the vehicle is still advertised online and sitting on the lot and it has been over two weeks now!!! I never thought a company could stoop so low to conduct an advertising ploy like this. I wonder how the sales managers sleep at night?

I have usually bought cars from owners, so it was my first time going to dealerships. I did not realize how rare it is for car salespeople to be women. After a series of bad experiences at other dealerships, I finally found myself at Destination Toyota.
The entire experience was positive and professional. From the saleswoman who was great leading me through the process of buying a car through a dealership for the first time, to the staff (reception, finance, etc) who I continued to deal with for a few months after buying the car, it ended up being an overwhelmingly good experience with a vehicle I’m still happy with.

Really regretted going to this dealership. Nothing but bad experiences and dishonest people. Not customers but only profits oriented. Do not recommend!

Message to the sales staff at Destination Toyota:
Here are some tips on what not to do when you are trying to sell a car to a woman.
Do not: talk exclusively to her male companion, especially after she points out that you are doing so.
When showing something on the computer, do not: tilt the computer screen away from the woman’s view.
Do not: walk around the showroom talking to the man and pausing only once: to usher the woman into a passenger seat.
When both people want to test-​drive the car, do not: usher the man into the driver’s seat and tell the woman to sit in the back.
Do not: say something to the woman that you would not say to the man, such as «I’ll park the car for you.»
Do not, when the woman has turned you down and is competently parking the car, scream «You’re going to hit that pole!»
When she refuses to re-​enter your office, do not: yell «I’m sorry!!!» four times at the top of your lungs.
Do: practice equality. Treat women as human beings. Who knows, you might actually make a sale.

I have been using these guys for quite a while and I guess I have tolerated them for as long as I can stand. The first incident occurred where the changed how the front reception desk operated, I used to be able to walk up to people like Don and book my car in and leave it quickly and leave to go to work at 7am. They then instituted a process where I had to check in with reception and wait to be called even though the people that book the cars in were basically sitting faffing with papers and NOT servicing customers while customers waited. very poor service. People are in a hurry and need to drop cars off quickly, we don’t have time to wait while staff basically shuffle papers.
Then there was this rude girl who basically was clueless when it came to customer service and was just outright rude (not the receptionist who is always friendly), seems to be at a stand just to the right as you walk in the door, after my first encounter with her, i refused to deal with her. Anyway basically tolerating how they treat customers which is appalling.
Then the most recent event was we took our car in have them look at the fan belt which was making a loud screeching sound, you could hear us coming half a mile away, of course they did a half a**** job and came back and told us they could not find any noise, as soon as we got home the car was clearly making a whining noise again. I escalated to the service manager and general manager who basically took the side of the service manager that they did their best. I was simply looking for an apology and that we could of done better. Basically they couldn’t less that the mechanics, the service manager and the general manager are all basically incompetent and clueless to what real customer service is.
We took the car to a different Toyota Service Center and they found the issue with the fan belt.
I seriously encourage these guys to look at how they treat customers, because by making customers wait and doing poor reviews on mechanical complaints, they failing miserable in my eyes.
Not recommended, look at other service centres and stay far far away from these guys.
I took both my cars to a different service centre and won’t be back any time soon.

— rude manager
— don’t like bitter feedback
After visiting for oil changes and other warranty jobs, they normally send email for service evaluation. I replied those email few times and complained about few things like they made my car dirty and their fix didn’t last long. One day service manager told me that my email is «nasty». They asked me feedback of their service and if you complain about it, they will treat your feedback as nasty thing.

–Friendly staff.
–Parking can be tricky, sometimes next to nothing…
–Got in for a service appointment the same day for a couple recalls.
–Shuttle driver is very nice.

Updated for April 2016:
My overall experience based on email correspondence with marketers for this dealership and recent service issues have really soured me since leaving my first review more than a year and a half ago.
The sales person who leased us our Yaris has since moved on to another Toyota dealership and I think we’re going to follow him downtown and find another service location as well. I don’t particularly feel cared for as a customer based on my last few visits on account of service issues (things do happen) and a general lack of interest in making it right.
January 2014:
We bought our first new car together in September 2012 at this location. Entry level car with the 2012 Yaris, but the Sport Edition just to be cool. It’s a hot item at
, believe you me.
I was really surprised to get a 5-​star experience buying one of the more basic cars, then already a year old, on the lot. The test drive was pleasant and our budget was respected. Our sales person was young, but had been in the Toyota business a long time and really understood that building a relationship with us was more important than making the highest-​margin sale. The Yaris was on our radar, but so were at least 3 other cars from other manufacturers and if we didn’t have the sales experience we did, I am not sure we would have moved on the Yaris as quickly as we did or at all. We’re glad we did. Also, we got a sweet fleece blanket that’s useful as back-​up blanket in the car and is great in the house — score! That’s our sales experience on the day-​of.
Fast forward 9 months and we showed up for an oil change at the dealership. By coincidence, our sales person called to wish one of us a happy birthday (and he was considerate enough not to call on the day, but near it). We popped up to visit since we happened to be there, told him we were expecting twins and that we might want to look at a larger vehicle. Without trying to sell us, he let us casually explore and talk about our long-​term needs — that’s the value of building a relationship versus closing a sale. We stuck with the Yaris and it works.
Another 5 months later, we had a service issue due to an error by someone in parts or service. It was pretty significant for us, but not that big in the grand scheme of the world, because the twins were growing and both time and energy were scarce. When I talked to our sales person about it, he got me in touch with the right people to just make things as right as could be once we all acknowledged that $*17 happens sometimes. No one, no company, is going to be perfect all the time, but the response to adversity is what defines overall character and I can’t say enough about Destination Toyota in that regard.
Huge points for being sales people you don’t need to take a shower after meeting and huge points for character as a company. You can feel good going here without having to be on-​guard.

My friend’s recent visit for an oil change prompted me to write this review of the service I had back in 2007.
I took my new 2007 Yaris for an ICBC claim to Destination Toyota. I had meant to take my claim to the Kingsway Honda that my friend told me about and I wish I listened better.
I specifically told the receptionist to call MY phone number and not the one on the claim because it was my parent’s phone number on it and I did not want them to know about the accident or to worry as they usually do. Besides, they don’t speak English. BTW, my car was the victim of a hit and run and my parents for some strange reason will still think it’s my fault. They called my parent’s phone number and I heard nagging for weeks. I even mentioned this to Destination Toyota and they just had a dumb look, «Oh.»
Upon getting the car back I inspected the paint job and it had a grainy appearance, unlike the smooth paint job on the other side. Also, the rubber banding inside the car door to prevent moisture coming in was not put in propering and the tubing was dangling loose at the end. Humidity and moisture was collecting inside my car because this was not done properly. The side lights were screwed back in so tightly that the body was warped and the paint was cracked.
I also noticed that the mileage had increased by 200 km when I got my car back. This is a new car and I hardly drove it.
When I brought this back to the attention of Destination Toyota, the man fluffed it off saying that this is the way it is and that there is nothing wrong, blah blah blah. Several friends had looked at my car and said this is shoddy workmanship and I mentioned this to him. He basically patted my head and sent me off saying there is nothing more they can do.
I made an appointment with ICBC and they looked at it and agreed that this should be done over again. I told them I felt Destination Toyota was being negligent and their carelessness should be considered before they can be certified to do ICBC claims. I said that there should be something on the forms stating the mileage before bringing in the claim so the garage don’t go on a joyride with the owner’s car while in their hands.
Immediately following the ICBC re-​assessment, I get a call from Destination Toyota to come back and have my car redone. They were very apologetic and I’m sure ICBC gave them a verbal lashing.
When I got it back, the interior smelled like some pissed in it but the job looked better. I left it at that hurrying out just to never to go back to them again.
It took awhile to get the smell out and to this day the car has a lot more humidity problem than when it was new.
Needless to say, my friend did not like his oil change experience (twice!) He bought his Prius from them and they were asking dumb questions about stuff they should have on their file. They do not pay attention to details and their staff have a communication problem between departments. Other people have told me of horrible experience with Destination Toyota. When I see good reviews of them online I wonder if they are family or friends of DT.
My friend now goes to Downtown Toyota and I go to their affiliate Granville Toyota and we get the BEST service. Sure, I pay a little more but I get peace of mind. They don’t try to upsell unnecessary service or parts. They even dissuaded me from doing a service which I requested because my car was still in very good shape. Their work is guaranteed and they even call back to hear my review.
For service, Destination Toyota NO NO NO!
Granville or Downtown Toyota YES YES YES!

* One of the better ones *
In the ongoing Prius purchase saga this was one of the better dealer visits. The salesman was very personable and very knowledgeable about the car. There was a little bit of flexibility on the pricing, and the trade-​in manager was also a little flexible on trade-​in value.
We were close to a deal that would make sense, but were cursed by lack of availability once again. So the negotiation was put on hold until clearer availability date could be figured out to see if we could reach a final deal.
My dealings were positive, and I would certainly consider them again in the future.