Michael La at San Francisco Toyota Scion

My experience with San Francisco Toyota was superb. Ryan Dong was the Internet Sales Manager (car dealer) who was helping me. He was caring, courteous, patient and most importantly very honest and upfront. What made me choose working with Ryan was not only the excellent care for the client but also his 100% honesty about all the costs whereas I had car dealers from other dealerships just give me *fake* low prices, lying about disposition/car return fee being included in the 1-pay (paid upfront for 24 months) price of the leased car. Also did I mention that SF Toyota gave me the BEST price out of all the dealerships in Bay Area? So once more if you want somebody to give you the best deal, genuinely care and be honest with you work with Ryan Dong. He and his team: Phil Yue, Business manager and Michael La, Sales manager worked together as a team giving me their 110%. They all cared and made a genuine personal connection with me. A car lease from SF Toyota was a truly wonderful experience where Ryan, Phil and Michael made it as painless as possible...actually they made it a really fun and positive experience. I felt really well taken care of before the sale, during and afterwards (Ryan contacted me already few times to make sure that I'm comfortable with my new car and he's there available to help even though he already made a sale). Those guys are creating a new paradigm of experience in a car dealership. If you want THE BEST head on over to San Francisco Toyota.

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If there can be such thing as a "great experience" buying a car, than this was as close to it as I will probably see in my lifetime.

After researching cars online and at other dealerships, my husband and I decided on a Toyota Highlander. At our first Toyota dealership (see my Putnam Toyota review), we were not able to come to an agreement. So, home we went to look for the exact car that we couldn't get and try to locate it.

I did a search for Toyota dealerships in the greater Bay Area. There are many! Most had instant chat, which is great. I chatted with 4 of them and nobody had the color and options that we were looking for. At 3:30pm, New Year's Eve, I was giving it one last shot with San Francisco Toyota. I "chatted" with Nicole and told her exactly what I was looking for and wanted to buy something today (sales tax was going up 1/2% on Jan. 1, 2013). She asked for my email or phone number so the sales manager could talk to me regarding specifics.

Michael La phoned me from SF Toyota and immediately I was at ease. He asked about my previous experience at other dealerships and how he hoped he could help me. He stated that while he didn't have the exact color interior I was looking for, the price may change my mind. Well, he was right! My husband and I decided to go ahead and drive into the City (at 4pm on NYE) to look at the car and see if we could "settle" on a different color interior. When we got to the dealership, Michael told me the car was on it's way from the other showroom on Geary and could we wait about 10 minutes. About 15 minutes passed and he came over and explained that they were having trouble locating the car and most likely had been sold during our drive up from San Mateo. While disappointed, we just figured it wasn't meant to be (especially because the interior color was not our first choice).

During the wait time for the Highlander, Michael had our car appraised for a trade in. While it wasn't exactly what we hoped for, it was way more realistic than what the other dealership had offered. When the Highlander didn't show up, he felt so bad about us driving up there, he upped the trade-in and began his search for another Highlander.

Success! Michael was able to find us a car (albeit in South Lake Tahoe) with all the options AND the preferred color interior. So, at 5:30pm on New Year's Eve, we started the paperwork for the new car. At this point, the dealership was empty. Even though I felt horrible about doing paperwork so late, everyone made us feel at ease. We finished with everything a little after 7pm.

In all, we dealt with 3 people at SF Toyota. Michael La, Sammy Lee and Phil (sorry, don't know last name) the finance manager. They were all excellent! So personable, knowledgable and most of all, helpful!

The one downside to the dealership is that there is no play area/kids room. We had to bring our 3 year old with us and that made it difficult to complete the process.

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Doug Donnellan is to be commended to have such nice, friendly and knowledgeable
associates in one of the best, no, THE BEST Toyota dealerships in California.
From the time we drove up to their location @ 1701 Van Ness Avenue and were greeted by the employee on the driveway to assist us, taking our old Camry and directing us to Michael La's office, we felt very much at home.
Michael then had Sammy Lee and himself guide us through the very easy decision to purchase a new Camry.
The nexrt step handled by Philip Yue was one of the easiest financial transactions
since the last time in December 2006 when we purchased a 2006 Highlander and were assisted by Queenie.

We will continue to rave about San Francisco Toyota to our friends and family.

To Michael, Sammy and Phiip, thank you so much again for everything!

Sincerely.

Mike & Janice Pingatore

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I had a great experience dealing with the three gentlemen I listed above. They were knowledgeable and friendly during the whole process. I thought so much of them that I "white soxed" them all when I picked up the new car. I would definitely recommend SF Toyota to others. I have dealt with the dealership since 2005 when I purchased my 2005 Prius and during all service on the vehicle. Keep up the great work.

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Very good price and nice service. I would like to recommend this dealer to my friends. It worths our trust. No hassle during the whole process.

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Excellent buying experience! Low key sales process; far from your typical 'hard' sell experience. Good follow through. Great price. Thorough new car orientation. Delivered on everything expected and requested.

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