Carlson Toyota

Multiple times when ordering parts. Parts were not ordered. And when I call no one knows what’s going on.

Never again will I buy a car through this dealership. Had nothing but problems with warranty and service dept. I took a 14k loss on my car just to sell it and get rid of it that way I never had to waste time going back and forth to this place again. I’m in sales and this is not how you treat people. It’s such a large dealership that you are truly such a number they really don’t care if you’re happy or not. I have not just had 1 bad experience here but 2 years with my brand new car. I can’t tell you how much time on my days off and calls to corporate I have had trying to work with them but in the end I was fed up and traded it in for a dodge truck at Burnsville dodge and my experience there was night and day compared to this dealership. Scott in service was the only reason I could keep somewhat sane with this dealership.

I had the very best car buying experience EVER with Jihan Moore and Paul Kunz at Carlson. I walked in with no expectations at all other than a vehicle I saw online. Jihan was great-​she took my phone call and answered my questions. I met her at Carlson to see the car and I loved everything about the process. Jihan is knowledgable and fun. Paul took care of my financing-​he is also great. Jihan even drove my other car home for me. I just took my car to Carlson to have my clear coat applied and to get my remote locks. The service department is awesome. Run (don’t walk… you can skip, I guess) to Carlson next time you need to purchase a car. Or get your oil changed. Or if you want to hang out and eat some cookies :)

I went in a few days ago to get my brakes replaced. I told the guy behind the counter what I was there for and the minute I stopped talking I was treated as if I was a complete idiot! I knew from getting an oil change recently that the rotors in the front needed to be replaced because my car would shake when I put the brakes on. The pads were replaced not that long ago so they were still good. The guy told me that they do not just replace rotors, they do pads too. I told him that the pads are still good. He asked what I brought the car in for then and I told him that the rotors needed to be replaced because my car shakes when I put the brakes on! He printed out info on the pads and proceeded to tell me that they were still good and I then said I know so are you going to replace the rotors then and he replied well we can try that. Gee isn’t that what I said when I first got there? Not impressed at all! Yes I am a female and no that does not make me stupid!

Carlson listed the 2010 Prius I bought as a 2012 online, and even listed an incorrect VIN to go with it. But the photo matched the car I test drove, and the price was so amazing (for a 2012) that I bought it without waiting. (I admit that the papers I signed all said 2010, and that’s my error — after a long day, my attention to detail wasn’t at its best.) When I realized the mistake, I called right away and tried to negotiate some kind of make-​up with the sales manager. But after a couple of rounds of what felt like productive conversations, he stopped returning my calls. That was two months, and a dozen unreturned calls ago. So I’m left having paid more than I would have, and feeling pretty bitter about my bait-​and-​switch experience with Carlson. I’d strongly urge people to avoid them, unless you enjoy being lied to and dismissed.

I just had a great experience buying a used Camry through Carlson Toyota. From the first contact to the last, their people were professional, courteous and knowledgeable. I first connected with them online through
, to make sure that the car I was interested in was still available. The internet rep who spoke with me verified that the car was there, asked if I wanted to leave my contact information, and then even asked if it was ok for a sales rep to use the information to contact me. Very thoughtful! The sales rep assigned to me, Tim Froemming, was so great to work with! He was knowledgeable about the car, he wasn’t super pushy, and after we agreed on the car price and my trade in value, he asked if I would let them see if they could get a better rate than my bank offered. They were able to get me a much better rate, and the finance guy I worked with (sorry, can’t remember his name!) was very clear on all the paperwork. I was in and out of there in about an hour and a half, and so happy to leave my sad little junker behind for a really sweet Camry!

If you want a great example of how a car dealership can make themselves lose a sale, read on. My fiancé and I went into Carlson Toyota looking to buy a Toyota Sequoia before the holidays. We starting working with a sales representative and test drove a sequoia and were ready to buy. Our sales rep convinced us that it may make more sense for us to lease instead of financing a portion of the purchase price which is what we were planning on doing. Both my fiancé and I had never before wanted to do a lease because we always thought it ended up being very pricey and not worth it for your money. That being said, our sales rep was adamant that it was a good deal and we should look into it. He even quoted us how much it would be and we were shocked by how low the payment was. It was so low that we both told him we were surprised and asked him if that could possibly be right. He said it was. Well, the price was too good to pass up, so we started the paperwork. However, as soon as he started putting things into the computer and came back with the details for us, the lease cost had somehow doubled. We asked why that was and he couldn’t explain to us so he got one of the finance managers to speak to us. She brought us into her office and was incredibly condescending. She started speaking to us as though we did not understand how a lease worked. She also told us that we couldn’t expect to calculate how much we thought the lease would cost on our own and get upset when it didn’t match what they quoted. We tried to explain that our sales rep was the one who had told us the wrong number initially which was why were confused and trying to understand and she brought in another person who also condescended to us and talked down to us as though we were babies who did not understand how a lease worked. The icing on the cake was when she asked us if we would be willing to look at another cheaper car so that we could afford the payments. Well, here’s the deal, we could have afforded the car we were looking at whether we did it as a lease or not. We just were trying to understand why we were quoted one number and then it doubled. She should not have assumed that we couldn’t afford it and we were incredibly offended. We walked out and went and bought the exact same car at a different dealership the next week. Carlson Toyota made the biggest mistake that you can make in the sales industry — assuming that they know what a customer can afford without asking them. That combined with blaming us for a misunderstanding caused by their very own sales rep was enough to sour us on Carlson Toyota forever. Perhaps we just happened to encounter three of the worst employees at Carlson, but seeing that we only spoke with three people and they either didn’t know what they were talking about or made us feel as though we were not customers that they wanted, we were not impressed. I would recommend going to another Toyota dealership over this one to anyone.

The dealership employees are not good on following up the calls. I had to leave multiple massages
and finally the management intervened.

Not all salespeople are created equal. My wife and I were reluctantly in the market for a minivan. We were put into contact with Tim Froemming through our bank since Carlson was one of their preferred Toyota dealers. We worked with Tim for over a week and he kept us up to speed via text and email regarding the vehicle we were interested in. In the end we took a dramatically different approach regarding the vehicle we decided to purchase, but given all of the downer reviews of some salespeople I thought I’d give a quick shout out to Tim and recommend him if you are looking for someone to work with at Carlson.

Needed to unload our 2 Toyotas (2001 Avalon and 2006 Sienna) for a couple of 4wd Rav4’s. Searched on internet throughout the cities and made a couple of connections/​inquiries at local dealers without luck. Carlson Toyota had the largest selection, so we jugs took off and made the trek — so glad we did! First off, nice showroom and awesome support from our sales associate — Blong. Very attentive, he listened and asked good clarifying questions. The whole process was smooth — numerous check ins, continual updates, friendly financing… Highly recommend!

It’s unfortunate that such a pleasant experience with salesperson Gigi was absolutely RUINED by the finance person.
I’d recommend that you secure your financing in advance, if possible and RUN from the in house financing, if possible.
I actually sold cars before so I’m not surprised by the typical antics of a car dealer, but the arrogance and rudeness of the finance person at Carlson was unprecedented, which was too bad.

Bought a new (used) car here. Overall, I felt like I got a good deal on the car I purchased and a reasonably good price for my trade-​in. The sticker price of the car was already well under what I would have expected to pay, so I didn’t even have to bother with the vomit-​inducing practice of haggling (when I asked the salesman why it was such a low price, he said they are a «no-​haggle» dealership, and they have a big enough inventory that they can put their most competitive price up front).
The salesman/​finance guy/​used car manager that I worked with were all pleasant enough, but it was pretty easy to tell that they were in a rush to close the sale.
without further ado, here is an easy-​to-​digest list of pros and cons:
Cons–
1. I got patted on the back and shoulder a lot while I was there. I know this is a sales technique to make me feel like I’m the Wally Cleaver to their Eddie Haskell, but it came across as creepy and uncomfortable. I don’t want to be «best pals» with these guys, I want to buy a car for the best price I can and be treated as a discerning consumer.
2. They initially offered me an absolutely laughable trade-​in price for my car. We eventually settled on a fair compromise, but I wish they would just cut the crap and not pretend like they’re making a dire sacrifice by «giving» me $ 500 extra for it.
3. I asked about financing and if it would be possible for them to beat what my bank offered. When they came back with some numbers, they were licking their chops to have me sign the paperwork. My wife was out of town and her flight came in that evening (probably not until after they closed) – I told them that I would prefer to have her look at the car before I signed anything, and then they got pushy and pulled out the «someone else has asked about this car like 6 times today» line.
While I was confident that this car would be a good purchase, I was extremely irritated by how they handled the situation, and they were walking a fine line between selling a car and insulting my wife. (Memorable quotes include, «does your wife know what a good car this is?» and «what sort of problem would she have with it… the color?»).
4. The car had less than half a tank of gas, and they didn’t even offer to fill it up for me.
Positive things they did:
1. As I mentioned, the price of the car was extremely reasonable without having to talk them down.
2. The car itself was in fantastic shape, and despite the lack of a full tank, they did bring it through the carwash for me. I absolutely love the car, but that has more to do with the previous owner’s care and the manufacturer’s engineering than the dealership.
3. The financing they offered did beat what I was quoted from my bank, and the finance manager was very clear about the terms. He discussed the optional extended warranties and other obligatory junk, but he was pretty clearly doing it because it’s their dealership’s policy.
Will I buy my next car from Carlson? Maybe if they have exactly what I’m looking for. In order for me to give a definitive «YES!» to that question, they would need to kick their customer service up a few notches.

OK, so Carlson totally stepped up. I got the mirror replaced at no cost to me — for parts or labor. Thank you Carlson! I love having a reason to feel less cynical. :-)

Where do I begin? The sale person Sara was terrible at her job. She made my husband wait over an hour to do who knows what even though he had sent the paperwork far in advance. She had NO IDEA what was going on half the time. She told him (mid-​trip to driving seven hours there to get the car) that they could no longer sell the car (even though they could and did).
The finance manager was also terrible and surly, too. We had to repeatedly call them to A. fix our taxes on the deal (they charged us double AND then charged more taxes to our credit card), B. finish the paperwork, C. send us the Kindle that we PAID FOR and was in the contract, D. finish the process so we could get our plates… Which we still don’t have and now the temporary sticker has expired.
Honestly, it was the worst experience my husband has ever had buying a car. Do I recommend them to anyone? No, not even my enemies deserve that sort of treatment.

We went down to purchase a car and had a good experience. We knew what we were looking for when we arrived, making the process much smoother.
The sell wasn’t very pushy — but again, we knew what we wanted and it was obvious we were there to buy. No issues getting going on the test drive — just brought the keys and we were on our way.
The loan application was pretty smooth and they were very friendly, kept coming out to make sure we knew where in the process they were and what to expect.
Overall, from the time we arrived, to when we drove off the lot was pretty quick (2 hrs). Not much complaints here. The price was a bit different from the internet cost — which we expected (draw you in with one cost, and then tell you why you can’t have it), but it was only a few hundred dollars difference, not thousands.
Overall very pleased with the service and process.

I showed up here without an appointment because the splash guard was falling off the bottom of my car. I was immediately taken by the beautiful building and awesome atmosphere they have in the showroom and waiting area. It looked all classic, yet futuristic, in architecture, like the buildings in Gattaca.
Big screen TVs, comfy couches, free cookies, and Caribou Coffee! It makes the Toyota dealer I usually go to look like a used car lot. I was hoping it would take them a while to fix my problem just so I could sit around and feel pampered, but no.
About 20 minutes later my car was fixed — they took off the piece that was broken and didn’t charge me a dime (rather than attaching a replacement piece without asking, which would have cost several hundred dollars, and which wasn’t really necessary).
Even though I live in Oakdale, they have my business from now on.