Bell Road Toyota

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
Do not go to this dealership. Reading the previous review I can't believe it. They did pretty much the same thing to me. I brought the vehicle in for the 90,000 mile service. There was nothing wrong with the vehicle as far as I knew I was just trying to be good and bring it in for service. Well, at 3pm they give me a call and tell me that I need a $1,600 repair (interesting that this is the same number as the previous review!!!). The recommendation was that I replace the "front lower control arm cracked bushings". I COULD NOT get a straight answer out of the guy as to whether this was truly a safety issue or it was something that could wait until I ACTUALLY NOTICED SOMETHING.
Well, I declined that but he convinced me to get new brake pads, again even though I had noticed NO SYMPTOMS of the brakes needing work. But he got me anyway - I guess I can be a sucker sometimes.
When I arrived to pick up the car he also informed me that they told me about the suggested repair 6 months ago when I brought the vehicle in. Well, nothing happened in that 6 months including the fact that I noticed NO PROBLEMS with the vehicle - oh except when I LEFT the dealership at that time there was a NEW sqealing noise that happened when we backed out of the driveway. So now I'm wondering if they had anything to do with these problems (I mean, did they drop the car???). We had to bring the car back at that time to get that problem addressed and they did eventually make the squeak go away - mostly.
Honestly I don't know why I went back except for the fact that it's the closest dealership to me.
Anyway, wanna hear something funny? As I'm driving home I notice that the MAINTENCE LIGHT IS ON!!! It was NOT on when I brought the vehicle in for service. So I call at 6:03 pm and the guy has left already so I get to leave a message. Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.
I have been here a few times and had a few different service reps and have NEVER had a good experience. I've taken the vehicle to two other dealerships (one in another city before I moved here and one way across town). Guess I'm going to the one across town from now on.

On top of all that he also recommended that I replace the entire rack and pinyon steering mechanism because there's a small leak somewhere - I have noticed no problems.

If you're reading this guys - PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY AND WHAT IS OPTIONAL REGARDING REPAIRS. Do not try to sell people stuff they don't really need - it will hurt your business in the long run. You should assign a severity level to each item, like yellow, orange and red. Red means fix this NOW or you might die. Orange means this may be a problem within 6 months and here are the symptoms to look out for. Yellow means - if you are very paranoid about your car and want to keep it running at tip top shape no matter the cost then do this now. Until you understand this you will keep pissing off your customers (by the way, I bought a Prius somewhere else AND did a $1,000 repair elsewhere because I wanted to avoid you guys - so yes it does hurt your business).

Oh and by the way - the brakes he convinced me to get - the coupon price is like $109 for new pads - I have the coupon book. But, he convinced me that they HAD to re-machine the rotors so the total was $210. So I agreed to it because he insisted - but WTF, that's deceptive to say you can replace your brake pads for $109 but then it REALLY costs $210.

If you think I'm being unreasonable - here's the total amount of repairs/services he recommended, remember now this is a TOYOTA with NO PROBLEMS THAT _I_ KNOW OF:
$3247.95
Sure, guys - let me reach into my back pocket REALLY far for that.

Anyway, goodbye Bell Toyota - hello CarTalk.com mechanics files...

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
Do not go here to service your vehicle!!! I went here this weekend to get my timing belt replace, only to find out I needed to do an additional $1,600+ worth of service (the majority ~$1,000 to replace all 4 motormounts). It sounded expensive, so I went to an independent shop. Not only did they find it unnecessary to change all 4 motormounts, but that only one needed to be changed (the dogbone motormount), which only cost ~$100 and could have been changed at the same time as the timing belt. In addition, Bell Toyota didn't honor their original price to replace the timing belt, and wanted to do an additional $500 worth of Power Steering Flushes/Transmission Flushes/Brake Fluid Flush that were not necessary.

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
I went to Bell Road Toyota to find a RAV 4 and ended up driving away in an awesome FJ that I was able to finance for less than the RAV! John, my sales guy was very low pressure and let me take my time in the decision. Now all I need to to is find some trails around here to test the 4X4 system and I'm all set.

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
Just bought a new Toyota Tundra from Bell Road and I have to say the experience was good. I read some posts on this site and was a little concerned about doing business with them but called anyway about a specific Tundra they had in stock. Bill Avord was friendly and helpful and my new Tundra is awsome.

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
Had an appointment for today at 9 a.m. My wife took in the new hybrid Camry and no appointment. She was told that it would be done, nevertheless, in one hour. At 11:30 a.m. she was told it had been done for 1 1/2 hours but no one had told her.

Never again. And, our next vehicle will be purchased soon.

Back to Larry Miller.

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
I rate this dealer as I have because I have in previous years dealt with them. Today I scheduled my Hybrid for its green service. A time was set with the service manager to bring the vehicle in. I pulled my vehicle in prior to the specified time and waited for someone to at least recognize that I was there and would be with me shortly. Then another custome pulls in behind me was waited on and still no recognize my presence. I have noticed over the years that this kind of behavior has grown to be common among most dealers when you have inconsiderate employees....

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
Bought a used vehicle from Bell Road Toyota. Found a document in my glove box afterwards that said Enterprise Rent a Car. These fools sold me a rental car without disclosing that information! When I questioned the owner, Joe Aleccia, he said I initialed a carfax report that said it was a rental. I told him this was not possible as I read EACH and EVERY paper I signed. I asked him to fax me a copy of this report. They FORGED my initials on the report! They didn't even have the letters of my initials correct. Now the owner will not return my phone call.

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
My 5 month old Toyota Prius was rear-ended. Bell Road Toyota was the nearest Toyota certified body shop and since the car was so new and also a hybrid, I thought it would be best to take the car to a Toyota certified shop. Boy, was I wrong!! My car has been back to Bell Rd Toyota 4 times now, after an initial wait of 4 weeks before the repairs were completed. The first time, they neglected to fix a dent in the body and replace a decal on the bumper. The second time, the car wouldn't start after I picked it up, and I believe they charged those repairs to the manufacturer as a warranty repair. The third time, I sent the car back because the gap between the hatchback door and the wall of the vehicle was twice as big on the right (where the repairs were done) as it was on the left and the weather stripping on the right rear passenger door kept coming off. When I went to pick up the car, it was obvious that the door was adjusted to even out the gaps. I drove all the way home (almost 30 miles) and then later went to back out of my garage and noticed that the angle on my back-up camera had changed after Bell Road adjusted the hatch-back door. I suddenly had a view of the rear bumper and the license plate. I had to take the car back again and they once again charged it to the manufacturer as warranty work. What?! There was nothing wrong with the camera until their body shop messed with it. When I had talked to the manager, Mike, he had nothing but excuses. They missed the dent and decal because the insurance company didn't tell them. Bull! It was in all the paperwork. They didn't know I had a back up camera on the car. Bull!! Every Prius I had test driven before I bought my car had a back up camera. This is a certified body shop that I had my car for a month and in that entire time they never put my car in reverse? Who are we kidding here? I would never, never recommend this body shop and because of this experience I would never shop at this dealership.

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
We went in to look at the new FJ Cruiser. Balked at ther 5000 dollar wheels. The sales person, Michael, understood and then made a suggestion of maybe going with a 4runner instead. We fell in love with the Sport Edition and Mike fought hard on our behalf to get payments where they were in line with very little hassle in the end.

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No

Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Bell Road Toyota:
Every STEREOTYPICAL DEALER TACTIC WAS USED ON US. Initially, they were not friendly as I have a youthfull appearance despite my age, I was greeted in a hostile manner from the beginning from the dealer from Romania (I forgot his name). I'm Romanian so I don't mean this as an ethnic slur, I'm just trying to identify the dealer and he is the only one there from Romania as he gladly informed us. He pulled the "lost keys" routine on us in which our dealer asked for our keys to test drive the vehicle only to lose them prior to returning the keys to us. They do this to keep you in the showroom longer and eventually submit to whatever price out of sheer impatience. They also attached several bogus charges on the final document such as "restoration" charges and a $500 "office fee"

What was even more disturbing was that the manager was in on the scam. He came to us trying to "cheer us up" but when I called him on the "lost keys" act, he knew I was an informed customer and gladly wanted us out of there.

Share on Facebook

Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No