Toyota of Lake City

Came here on recommendation from friend along with the complete carfax posting on their website. Overall, left feeling good about the whole exp.
My four stars are really for sales person. Naji was great! Super personable and not pushy. Honest family guy who is really just trying to do his best, and he did!
Bathrooms were good (bring a snack, it’s gonna be a minute). Customers waiting for cars getting worked on seemed happy in spacious waiting area.
The minus star goes to a few minor typical car sales type of things that I think happen everywhere. Finance guy trying to up sell gap insurance. The back and forth staff rotation & negotiation on price (luckily had a friend with me who went to bat on my behalf on every little thing). The car I came to see that magically came available after they ran my credit… an so on.
Just see Naji… and bring someone who knows the art of the deal.

I wanted to share my complete story in my review but I’m pretty pressed for time on my lunch hour so I’ll just go over the people I worked with. This is from about a week ago.
Sales Rep George: As one would expect, he was very nice upon introduction and test drive. I told him there was a 0% chance I would be purchasing this vehicle tonight because my financing was not completely finalized and, although he acknowledged what I said, continued to insist that we find a way to get this done tonight because he couldn’t promise me the car would be available tomorrow. Typical sales stuff and nothing that got under my skin. Guy is just doing his job. Outside of that, George was not super helpful during the actual process of purchasing the vehicle but he was always respectful. Overall a very nice man who I enjoyed working with and I’m sure is a good person outside of work. Overall he would get 3 stars from me.
Finance Assistant Stefan: Stefan was awesome and undoubtedly the best part about this entire experience. He had only been working there for 3 weeks, yet anytime I had a question or needed something he would be the guy to step up and get me an answer. He was very honest and transparent through the entire process and I can genuinely say that I don’t think I would have eventually drove away with this car if not for him. For lack of a better term, Stefan was the lipstick on the pig. By the end of it he was the only person in there I felt I could trust. If you go in here you should make sure you get to work with him. If you’re an outside dealership looking for good, honest employees, I think Stefan deserves a call. 5 stars for him.
Finance Manager Rad: Yes, his name is really Rad and he totally acts like a guy named Rad (tool). I can only imagine this is the manager that all of the poor reviews are referring to. Whereas Stefan was a big reason I ended up purchasing the car, Rad was very close to convincing me into walking out and never returning. I could write a 5 page addendum on all of the reasons I hated working with Rad, but for the sake of time I’ll just say he was extremely rude, condescending, impolite, and overall disrespectful. Example. I had received a purchase order from the dealership on a Friday night and when I came back in on Saturday with no cashier’s check from my credit union, Rad proceeded to go on and on about how much time I’ve wasted by not getting this done and that they wouldn’t have even held the vehicle for me if I didn’t do this. Remember, this is my first car buying experience and I was NEVER told to send the purchase order to my credit union. As it turns out, Toyota of Lake City is one of the ONLY dealerships in the state to not accept wire transfer payment from an established credit union (why this is the case I’ll never know… probably because they enjoy being difficult?) so I had no idea I was supposed to physically drive down to the credit union (about an hour away for the nearest office) to get a physical cashier’s check. Despite not knowing this, Rad felt the need to really drill home the point that I’ve wasted his precious time. After probably the 4^th or 5^th time of him spewing the same nonsense, I had to say «I think it would be more beneficial to move on and focus on what steps to take from here». I’d say the only time he ever came off as a nice person was when I was handing him the cashier’s check to finalize the purchase. 0 stars.
So this is my short version of why I would be very hard-​pressed to ever come here again. Yes, this is the short version. If I actually got into a detailed explanation of the different ways I felt deceived, disrespected, and otherwise bamboozled, I wouldn’t have enough time to eat. This experience caused me multiple headaches and took far longer than it otherwise needed to. I didn’t even have time to get into the story about how I brought in an independent inspector to examine the car prior to purchasing and afterward Rad telling me his prognostication was wrong only for his guys to «re-​inspect» the vehicle to find out my guy was correct.
The only reason this review is 2 stars instead of 1 is because of Stefan. Keep up the good work man.

Got my 60k service done here on my Toyota Tacoma, no complaints. They called to keep me updated on the status and let me know when it was ready for pickup. They also vaccumed the interior and gave me a free voucher for the carwash down the street. I would get service here again.

They used typical lying method which tells you they can beat any price and make you come down to the store. When you arrive, they don’t show up and have another sales take you through which of-​course isn’t the price you discussed. I’ve only talked to one sales person so when I say «they» I actually meant the sales guy Alex. Maybe you guys would have better luck with other salesman.

Jackson Hu is AWESOME! I’m LOVING my new Camry! I’ve already driven it around a bit and showed it off to some people. It has reached and gone beyond my satisfaction. I have not gotten the survey yet, but I’m anxiously waiting to give you the BEST review :) Thank you so much again for the wonderful service you have given me. I would recommend Jackson to anyone who is looking for a car (especially newcomers). He has really helped me feel comfortable enough to be at a dealership. It really felt like a friend helping out a friend rather than a salesperson to a customer.

Sleazy car salesman.
After I inquired about a car, Undui told me that they had the specific model I wanted in stock and that he would sell at «close to his cost.» But when I arrived, he told me that it had just been sold. I found out later that they never had the vehicle — they were just trying to get me in the door.
The manager then tells me that they can order the car but it would be at MSRP. He then tries to convince me to buy another car that he has available.
It’s deceptive practices like this that give car salesmen such a bad reputation.

I am so disappointed in The lack of honesty and integrity in this dealership I leased a 2015 Avalon XLE hybrid and they are supposed to be going for 299 a month with $ 3000 down I am paying 475 a month with Way more than that down because I only owed 13,000 on my car which was worth way more than that and I put 5000 down as well my credit score of 843 should definitely not be punished in this manner I hope they enjoy this $ 475 a month for the next two years because I will never buy another car from Toyota after being treated this way very dishonest dealership stay far away from these people unless you want to be ripped off… no integrity

Despite reading poor reviews, I came here to check out the Costco auto pricing. The initial sales associate, James (I believe) was very kind and I’d like to think that he was genuine. However, when it came down to pricing, the Costco program was not the best deal so I opted out. Not to mention the ridiculous required «green package» which included one year tire warranty and something about nitrogen in tires. Since this is a brand new car, I highly doubt I’d even use the warranty .
In comes the «manager», I wish I remembered his name so everyone can avoid him like the plague. He was rude, disrespectful, and most of all, dishonest. He accused me of lying and being «evasive». Told me their Costco deal was the lowest price and that they were actually losing money on the sale. Well in an instant, I found an Internet deal that was a thousand dollars cheaper than their «lowest price». Of course, they had some measly excuse which I later verified to be false. They wouldn’t even let me see the pricing again after the manager sat down!
The worst part was the managers refusal to let me leave without telling him the «price I wanted». Well, I wanted the lowest price possible and the Costco price was not it.
I may be a 20-​something female wearing a pink shirt, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t do research prior to this meeting. The same car at a Toyota dealer up north was $ 2k cheaper and they even threw in cargo mats.
Please keep in mind that the low rating is not because of their high prices, but 100% attributed to their lack of customer service.

Its Nice and New Place. To purchase a vehicle here is disasterous and make you feeling CHEATED. Oh well, this place just doesn’t need our business.

Not happy with the service here. They are not a customer service friendly company. They sold me a highlander with nearly bald tires and tried to tell me they were safe and two other tire retailers confirmed my fear they were not. I asked for a quote to buy tires from them despite and they wanted to charge me 1400.00 for tires after I had already spent over 30 000.00 there. All other tire retailers offered the same tires for 800.00. I also was a Costco buyer and the attitude was very disrespectful and insulting as a result of being a Costco buyer. No willingness to even discuss options for price and pretty much seemed annoyed that I came with my Costco number. I suggest trying other Toyota dealers before these folks and if you are a Costco buyer you may want to look at other options for buying.

We just bought a Highlander from Lake City Toyota. I love the car but if I had to do it over, I would have gone elsewhere.
First of all, their service is similar to a wolf attacking its prey and the sales manager stated they hated doing business with Costco members because they make more from others that have no idea! They even separated us from other customers to make sure we didn’t let others hear that their deal wasn’t nearly as good since they like to add fees that mean nothing and with the Costco program you can’t do that as easily. They told me if we walked away they would sell the car easily for more and we would do them a favor. Costco expects them to be ethical and fair they told me. But, Every time I questioned a fee they told me to ignore that line. When I wouldn’t and asked them to remove the additional fees, they asked if I was a finance person. No, but I’m positive when I’m being fed BS. I feel bad for others that trust them.
Then at the end, we found a chip in our glass within 24 hours of buying the car and they basically told us «too bad too sad» when I complained and told them I expected more from them. Well I said that I would report it on the ratings since I was unhappy that he didn’t do any type of inspection with us. When I told him I was angry, the salesman’s response was «I feel you are attacking me» and hung up on me. I simply said that I was really upset about his response and lack of concern and planned to report his reaction. He said he would tell his boss to give us a call. He hung up on me cutting me off abruptly. His boss never called us back. We are sure he didn’t tell her the truth. Unless his boss is just an unprofessional, since we never heard back. Not sure what he ended up doing but we don’t think he was honest about our conversation. Super unprofessional.
If you go in prepare for aggressive vulture-​like sales associates until you purchase a vehicle, then prepare to not be cared about and everything is your problem.
Even the rental given to us today had one bar of gas in it, was dirty, and had over 50k miles on it, in addition to it not even being a Toyota! Talk about being given crappy treatment. Our previous dealerships we have used never treated us badly or acted like we didn’t matter. Today I’m disgusted and really disappointed but they have our money now so they reached their goal. Will never return again and plan to tell Costco about the trash talking they do about their customers since they say they can easily take more money from a non-​Costco Member and prefer to not use Costco.
I’m still fuming about the service and disappointed that we didn’t matter the second we left with the car.

Now for a review for the trade in process. This is an update.
I was told at time of negotiation because my vehicle is from Canada with metric (km) mileage, they would have to sell my car to a wholesaler and was too expensive to put in MPH odometer. So basically they couldn’t give me as much because of this. Well, lo and behold, I went on their website today to see my car on their used website for over twice what they paid me!
Yes the car is clean, in excellent condition, no accidents, minor wear and tear (it’s a 10 year old car!) but they totally used pressure cooker tactics in negotiation and I fell for it. We love our new to us SUV but I am really sad to have fallen to their tactics. I would have rather held onto my car as it was worth way more to me than what we were given.
Somebody is going to love my old car, but I guess my advice to those trading in is to shop around and do your homework! I wish we did now, but unfortunately hindsight isn’t helpful after the fact.
** For some reason Unilocal deleted my previous review and replaced it with this one. Our transaction from start to finish seemed seemless but wool was pulled over our eyes in a couple ways. We had good customer service from Caryn K. and CJ Singh helped settle a major issue we had with our salesperson. Problems: told we bought a CERTIFIED used Toyota, it wasn’t. Our tires had 80% tread but lots of cracks in rubber — their OWN service department said it was a hazard. So, no way it could have been certified if they saw these tires. ToLC replaced tires to settle issue. Also, we were told by salesperson we bought a «sport edition» of our Highlander. In actuality it was a base model and previous owner added leather seats. They justified a much higher sales price because of this. Lastly, as described above, we got ripped off on my trade in. I give 5 stars to Caryn for customer service, 3 stars to CJ for his help. But, it was CJ who told me my car would be hard to sell and they’d have to sell it to a wholesaler because it’s a Canadian car, etc.
Should have used my better judgement and not bought our car that day and subsequently get ripped off on our trade in. Very disappointed now that hindsight is helping shed the light.

The service department is incompetent and scammy. Incompetence is dangerous and costly when it comes to vehicle work. The problem seems to start with the service department management, who are also incompetent. Your worst fear when taking your car in for service is that the work will be done incorrectly, or that you will be charged way too much. Both of these happened to me at Toyota of Lake City.
I brought my 2010 Toyota in for a brake job. Should be simple, right? They must do dozens or hundreds of these in a year. Wrong. They totally botched the job.
They quoted me the cost of replacing the front brake pads, which is the work that I wanted done to my car. They also told me they wanted to clean out accumulated dust in the rear drum brakes, and said that would cost several hundred dollars more. They said the dust cleaning wasn’t essential, so I declined that work.
When I got the car back, I noticed that the entire car shuddered when I used the brakes. The faster I was going and harder I pressed the brake pedal, the worse the shuddering was. I called the dealership and spoke with the service manager, who downplayed my concerns and blamed it, sight unseen, on my refusal to have the dust cleaning work done. This upset me, as my car was now in worse shape than before I brought it in for service, and of course I paid hundreds of dollars for the «privilege» of having this happen. He claimed that he had seen this happen when the dust wasn’t cleaned out, yet despite the fact that he seemed to possess this knowledge, when I had originally refused the service, he hadn’t warned me that my car might be returned to me in worse condition.
Turns out he was full of BS anyway.
Fast forward some time later and I took my vehicle to a competent, independent mechanic. He found that the actual problem had nothing to do with «accumulated dust.» Turns out, Toyota of Lake City only turned one of the front brake rotors, and left the other one as-​is. Likewise, only one side of the front brakes had been re-​greased. I’d paid full price for a half-​assed job from Toyota of Lake City. After about 30 minutes of work by the independent mechanic, my car drives like it should once more.
Oh, and Toyota of Lake City’s quote of several hundred dollars to clean dust from the rear brake drums? My independent mechanic let me watch as he showed me what that job actually entails: simply removing part of the rear brake system, turning the removed part on its side, and tapping it against something causes a pile of dust to fall out. When the car is already up on the rack for a brake job, it literally takes a seasoned mechanic 2 minutes to do this job.
Unbelievable, but lesson learned, I guess. I won’t ever go back to the scam artists at Toyota of Lake City.

I’m the owner of a 2013 Toyota I purchased in October of 2012.
A year ago i would have given this place four stars but my last two experiences with them have left something to be desired. The customer service has been terrible. It is impossible to get anyone on the phone in service and if you do happen to reach someone and they are not your «advisor» they will not be able to help you. Don’t expect the advisor to call you back either no matter how many messages you leave. There will be no guarantees of a ride from a shuttle to get your vehicle, no answers as to when your work will be finished and you will probably spend more than a week trying to get someone on the phone who can actually schedule your appointment in the first place.

«Awesome Experience!»
Got my 2014 Prius here just a few days ago — thank you so much to George Chaker for a great experience. George was great. He explained everything with detail. Good deal on the new vehicle. There was no pressure to buy ‘right now’ .The financing department was great too. Again, everything was explained in detail. Overall, a top-​notch operation.
If you want to buy a vehicle at toyota of Lake City, look for George Chaker– He is great sales person to work with. He were professional, friendly — not pushy — He were just there to make my buying experience the best it could be. I walked out of that place with a new car and a new friend. Hey George, keep doing what you are doing — you rock man!

Mixed reactions to this place… some of the regular «icky» sales tactics mixed with some great people; it just depends on who you get.
In the sales team I’d like to highlight Todd for dealing with me on a first annoying day, and David for having such amazing refreshing straight-​forward friendliness. It definitely made a difference. I’d say seek those guys out if have to come here. I’d probably had given this place a 4 or 5 star review if they were the only ones I had to deal with.
At a later visit, the service department was extremely friendly, although fairly busy/​slow for the job they were tasked with. Solid enough.
Overall… it’s a place that is trying to sell cars and make money… with the expected result.

If you’re really browsing and early in the buying cycle don’t go here! My wife and I were casually looking for a highlander. We stopped in here during the week, and it was immediately greeted by a sales person. He was open, full of information, and really had a passion for this car — definitely pleasantly surprised with the experience. The dealership itself loos pretty new and is nicely laid out.
We did a test drive and decided to come back to check out a trade in. After that we agreed we should price our trade in to start to look at numbers. That’s when it got pressured and frankly rude. The manager came back and said, «we’re not going to run an estimate for you. You can look these up on kbb and get a range.» He promptly slide the keys across the table. We were shocked at the customer service and left immediately. He then had the audacity to continue calling us during the week to identify three more highlanders that had come in.
He sales person was great — would definitely buy from him. He management makes me not want to ever return.

I’m not generally one to write a negative review for a company I haven’t truly done business with. But, my recent, brief, experience at Toyota of Lake City was so, well gross, that days later I’m still disgusted and angry and feel like the company deserves a full-​on blistering one-​star review.
First some background/​context.
My current ride is a 2003 Ford Ranger with 120,000 miles and really bad brakes. To say that the vehicle is utilitarian is generous. It’s a money sucking death trap. So, faced with the prospect of expensive repairs, high miles and a passenger capacity of three (and a family of four), I started flirting with the idea of upgrading. I’m not interested in anything new, but if I could find something that was an ’09 or ’10 with 40,000 miles, well that would last me a long time.
Which is how I ended up at Toyota of Lake City one recent Sunday peering into the driver-​side windows of the three four-​door Toyota Tacomas they had on their used car lots.
…13…14…15…
Fifteen seconds is exactly the amount of time I had before a sales guy globed onto me, presenting himself as my new best friend. That’s fine. I didn’t really mind. The vehicles were locked, so I was going to need his help if I wanted to sit in one anyway. The start of the conversation was very cordial. I explained that I was just looking and asked some questions about the three models that were parked together. I asked if I could sit in one – the least expensive one – and he was more than happy to grab a key.
At this point I was still ok with this guy’s help. I know not all car lots keep all of their cars unlocked all day, and this is Lake City after all. On any given day, an unlocked vehicle might quickly be turned into a bed for one of the locals. After about 2 minutes he returned with a keyfob – for the most expensive truck.
Seriously?
Annoyed, I climbed into the truck. Even though there was exactly zero chance that I would be buying this particular vehicle, at this point my interest was more about comfort and room. «Start it up,» he suggested. «Nah, that’s ok,» I replied. I had no intention of taking this vehicle out for a test drive and starting it isn’t going to show me anything I don’t already know. I assume it runs.
While I can’t dictate verbatim the conversation over the next few minutes, it went something like this:
Him: Take it out for a test drive.
Me: No thanks.
Him: You really should take it out for a test drive.
Me: I’m really more interested in just sitting here and checking out the interior.
Him: Hey I have an idea, why don’t you give your wife a call and have her come down for a test drive.
Me: (Now in the back seat.) You know, after sitting here in the back seat for several minutes, I’ve decided that there’s really not enough leg room for two teenagers and the bench isn’t really that comfortable. I’m gonna pass.
At which point I attempt to get out of the back seat only to find myself blocked by this guy. Not blocked in a menacing way mind you, but blocked as in it was distinctly awkward for me to get out while contorting myself around his stationary body.
Now I’m really annoyed – but maybe not so annoyed that I would write a one star review.
As I start my truck and begin to pull out of the lot I see someone in a suit desperately running towards me from the new car lot across the street, frantically waving his arms. What is it? Has something terrible happened? Am I dragging someone under my car?
I slam the breaks and quickly unroll my window preparing to hear some tragic news.
Panting he arrives. «Hi, I’m the manager here. [Salesman] tells me you’re interested in one of our beautiful Tacomas. Why don’t you take it out for a drive?»
I kid you not.
Imagine the worst stereotype of used car salesmen you can – pushy, poor listeners, not trustworthy, high pressure – and that’s what I encountered that day at Toyota of Lake City.
The worst.

At Toyota of Lake City, smoke and mirrors come standard with every vehicle purchase.
They still use this oldie but a goodie, «that vehicle was sold but this one (exact same model with no additional features) will cost you [whatever you came in agreeing to pay plus a couple thousand dollars].»
Other ones like «good guy, bad sales manager» and «add-​ons (Green Package) you never wanted as negotiation tools» were also used.
It is an exhausting experience buying a car here.

I scheduled an oil change before a road trip for 8:30 am thinking I’d be in and out without a problem. Boy was I wrong.
I got into my appointment on time and I should have immediately known I was going to have a bad experience. Why are there so many employees at computers doing nothing if only one can help me? I don’t think getting my name, odometer mileage, and service information is that difficult.
After waiting idly in my car for much too long, the correct «adviser» finally came and took my keys. He said it’d take 90 minutes and I optimistically thought, «maybe he’s overestimating».
Unfortunately, it took two hours and I have no idea why. How can a service department be award winning if it can’t do one of the most basic jobs in a timely fashion? And why would they let me schedule an appointment if they knew it would take so grotesquely long?
Overall, I’m distraught, confused, and disappointed.
On a side note, it’s great that there is a Caffé D’arte and a new lounge, but they don’t recycle. .. what? Was I even in Seattle anymore?
Oh and thanks for letting me know about my hazardous (and dirty) floor mat by throwing it on the now soiled back seat.