Santa Cruz Toyota

The most horrifying experience I've ever had with a dealership! The salesmen, including the sales management at Santa Cruz Toyota are a strong-arming, manipulative, and threatening gang of xxxxx! Particularly ****CHRISTOPHER SKOG**** SALES MANAGER AT CAPITOLA. Once I was brought in by the person who showed me a few cars, I sat down with a salesman who was from New York (I will need to get his name), who basically said I was wasting his time when I said I didn't want to pay the amount presented for a 2016 Nissan Sentra with about 85K miles on it. They tried to get almost $17 THOUSAND dollars from me!!! A few of his exact words were, "Why did you look at a car you couldn't afford!?" I requested another sales person who managed to move numbers around on the sales sheet to make it seem like I was getting a good deal and he refused to stay focused on the overall cost, by always bringing my attention back to the monthly payment. He kept intimidated me softly until I agreed to buy the car. When I went in to see the finance manager he promised me a specific interest rate if I would purchase a warranty on the car and he lied to me by stating that he received no commission for purchased warrantees (I later found out from SKOG that the finance person did indeed received commissions). I asked the finance person if the low rate he was offering me would remain the same if I didn't buy the warranty and he said yes. After hearing him out on the warranty offer, I declined it, and he pushed my rate back up, lying that he never said it would stay the same. When I got home and took a better look at the contract with less pressure, I realized that they lied to me about the bottom line cost of the vehicle and that I agreed to way more than the car was worth... The next day, I went back to SCT and tried to get my money back... That's when I encountered ****CHRISTOPHER SKOG**** SALES MANAGER AT CAPITOLA. He scared me!!! It looked like he was boiling over as he conceded to my requests to drop the price. I got confused because there was more money manipulating by SKOG and I agreed for the SECOND time to keep the car, because I felt less tortured if I just dealt with the mistake I made by not being able to stand up to this team of xxxxx, and kept the car. Once I got the car home, the door handle broke, there was a knocking sound every time I would accelerate and decelerate, ALL of the door and window stripping started coming off, and the brakes were squeaking. I tried to get the issues handled through SCT maintenance department which was a total joke and hours of wasted time. That's when I decided to take the card back and do whatever it took to get my money back, even if it meant protesting with signs outside of their offices, which I was prepared to do. Here comes ****CHRISTOPHER SKOG**** SALES MANAGER AT CAPITOLA again! After going rounds with him (hopefully I'll find time to come back to this review with more details on this last interaction with SKOG), and him turning all shades of red again, he reluctantly and upsettingly agreed to return my money. So there I was, needing for SCT to help me get home because they kept my trade-in, and I had to empty the car and load everything into the SCT taxi van. I was finally home, but without transportation to get me around and back and forth to work, but I was just glad I made it out alive. In conclusion, after having 6+ inquiries on my credit report by Santa Cruz Toyota from this ordeal, upper management refused to give me a letter to forward to Experian to get the inquiries off my record (Experian said SCT had the ability to remove the inquiries since I never purchased the car)... So now, I have to wait 25 months until the inquiries drop from my record. I will NEVER go back to SCT to buy a car and I will tell EVERYONE I come in contact with who is shopping for a vehicle to dodge SCT with all their might! Believe me... I will get the word out! My nickname isn't Miss Networker for no reason. Once I submit this review, I am promptly going to post it on YELP and any and ALL other review formats I can find. PLEASE THINK 5 TIMES BEFORE BUYING A CAR FROM SANTA CRUZ TOYOTA IN CAPITOLA. YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWORNED.

Miserable. This dealership represents everything that is dirty and gross about buying a used car. They do hard sales, crazy time wasting delays and more crap. Just a little insight on today. They took my keys to get an appraisal of our used car. I told them it had to be quick because I needed to pick up our daughter from school. They then came back 10 minutes later with an insulting offer. I was now running late. I told him I’m late picking up my daughter. He said no problem. Give me a minute. Then was gone for another 10 minutes. The other sales guy sitting with me kept saying he’ll be back with my keys. I kept on standing up saying I have to leave. I’m late. The sales guy came back again with another offer for me. By this time I was furious. I said I’m late and needed to go. He said “ your obviously here to make a deal and buy a car. Let’s make a deal.” I demanded my keys, and he said “ I’m not here to keep you like a prisoner!” That’s exactly what he was doing. I felt dirty, used and pissed. I took the keys out of his hands and left. Carvana is looking like a good option right now.

Set up an appointment to have my 2021 Prius prime have its 5000-mile checkup. The appointment was at 10:15 AM and requested a pick up at 12 noon. I called the dealership at 1 PM to find out what was going on. I left a voice mail and never received a phone call back. My wife drove me to the dealer at 2 PM to get my car. On arrival, 4+ hours later they hadn't even started my car. I requested immediate return of my car and left the dealership discussed. All that they had to do was a quick tire rotation and check fluids, a 1/2 hour job, and didn't do it. I have owned Toyotas for over 40 years and never have I had such poor service. I will never return to that dealership again. I will use independent mechanics from now on.

Overcharged for service by several thousand dollars. I had my car serviced there regularly and my car was certainly in their system. But when rodents chewed my wiring harness, their estimate was $2000 more than other area dealerships. When I called up corporate to complain, Toyota of Santa Cruz said - "Oh, what years is your car? Sorry, we gave you the wrong bid." What a load of crap!!!

This review is from my experience on June 29, 2021, as I’ve been extremely busy but this has always been in the back of my mind. This was the second time I’ve had service performed from Santa Cruz Toyota. This is not regarding any specific employee as everyone is always very helpful and courteous. I’m writing this in hopes that SCT will implement new methods for their so-called appointments and that they can provide their service appointment reps with accurate information pertaining to required time allotments for maintenance repairs and services especially those that require hours of labor to be performed correctly and thoroughly. I had setup an appointment and specified that I wanted the 90K-120K major and minor services performed minus the duplicates per the OEM maintenance manual. Some of the major services were timing belt, inverter coolant replacement, spark plugs, cvt fluid change, differential fluid replacement, along with the regular maintenance of oil change, tire rotation, etc etc etc. I also indicated and emphasized to the rep and tsr that I’m planning on a long cross country road trip and there will be some minor off-roading involved so I just want to make sure everything is safe and sound as I’m a solo female. I was also coming from about an hour away one-way and if I needed to leave it overnight I could do so, otherwise I would wait for it and walk around town. The rep on the phone indicated that they had a 1pm appointment for their next available day, though I preferred morning but did have an urgency myself to get these preventative maintenance items resolved. I even asked if that would be enough time before they closed and made sure they were aware that I wasn’t entirely local and they said it would be fine so I brought my vehicle and arrived at 12:35pm and there were several cars in front of me in the various lanes and many more arriving behind me as I sat in my car and waited for someone to check me in and assign my ticket number under my wiper. Anyways, it seems as if most of the employees in that area were all at lunch at the same time and were making their way back to work which is no problem at all but just stating it in regard for the current check-in system that is in place upon arrival. It’s now almost 1:30pm and I’m feeling kinda anxious but keep quiet as the employees are checking people in. However, it’s only 1-2 employees and being executed in a seemingly random method. But I think maybe some of these cars behind me were here earlier today and told to come back later or something?? But as it’s now approaching 2pm and I have not yet been checked in, I overhear from a few cars behind me something that indicated they were not here earlier so I finally decide to speak up after I had gone inside to double check that I am following the correct procedure for check-in. Finally able to wave down an employee, I explain that I’ve been waiting here since 12:30pm and was scheduled for 1pm service and I’m not sure of their protocol for check-in but why are the cars behind me being checked in before me lol? I understand that side by side isn’t as obvious and don’t mind being last in that regard but obviously I’m here before the cars behind me including the cars in other lanes that are obviously behind me. The employee is friendly and apologetic and I am finally checked in and I think assigned the last tag number at this point with approximately 10-15 cars behind me most of which have tag #’s ahead of mine. Once I’m checked in I go inside and meet with the service agent and explain again what I’m there for. It’s now about 2:30pm at this point and the employee informs me that the timing belt procedure alone for my car takes 4 hours maybe longer depending on other factors! Well I then explained what happened in the check-in line and even point to my car’s location and it’s obvious to them as well that I should be before many of those other vehicles. So what appears to be a manager is called over who then calls a mechanical technician and asks if they can get this done before closing and it seems I’m good to go for at least the timing belt and inverter coolant flush but am told that the 120K mile service will have to be performed at another time. I’m only at about 112K miles but was trying to be proactive and also save labor costs. Knowing what I now know, I would have been adamant that it all be performed at same time because apparently lots of the same parts are removed for timing belt that are removed to replace spark plugs along with some other components that could have all been performed at the same time seeing as what the mechanical techs were able to complete in approximately 3-3.5 hours for the ‘bargain’ price of almost $1400.00! While I was checking out and paying, I also inquired with whom appeared to be the manager as they were dressed in business formal attire about the ICS reset procedure as I had recently had to replace my 12V battery, but they told me that is not necessary and something to the effect of that doesn’t exist. Well I know for a fact that the procedure is in ALL of Toyota’s OEM Service Repair Manual’s for my vehicle and I own 1 of the 4 volumes. But I do not have the sophisticated scanner nor Techstream specific to Toyota vehicles which all cost thousands of dollars and require subscription fees and so am unable to accurately complete this function. But I only learned this afterwards as I wasn’t entirely sure of it at the time or I would have been adamant even though it was about closing time now! A couple weeks later I open my hood to do some other stuff to my car and check fluids and such and notice these 3 black plastic trim clips on top of my driver’s side headlight under my hood. I realize they’re for these covers for my inverter side of engine bay and see that some arbitrary and broken clips were used as replacements. This would not be such a big deal except that these specific clips are no longer available to purchase from Toyota and are rather unique and there are no alternative replacement options per Toyota Parts. These are original to my older 2006 vehicle but also cause me to question what else was rushed, overlooked, misplaced, etc etc?? However, I just include that I was called by someone at SCR while waiting for my vehicle and asked about changing my CVT (transmission) fluid which actually was a small cost so I agreed. But I really do not think that ALL of the maintenance items would have been addressed in the timeframe given the above circumstances. Specifically, I really wanted the chassis nuts and bolts checked and tightened if necessary and I emphasized all of these items that are per Toyota’s Maintenance Manual Protocol List due to my future travel plans involving lots of driving with remote locations and minor off-roading. Well this whole experience has pushed me more towards as much DIY automotive as possible. SCT is a super busy location and I initially chose them based upon the reviews but this last visit left me disillusioned and resentful due to how much money I spent and how much I could have saved by having the correct timeframe allotted for what I initially scheduled and thought I was there for by having all of these specific services, for 90K-120K miles as indicated in Toyota’s Maintenance Manual, performed at the same time without additional expensive labor costs that I’ll have to pay in near future to get these services performed. Or hopefully I’ll be adept to do them myself before my mileage interval arrives.

It took them 4 hours to tell me they couldn't fix a simple nail in my tire and I'd have to buy a new one, then told me it would be ready when I got there, then when I told them I wanted my old tire (which they clearly did not expect to hear), it took them 45 more minutes to produce it - never got the nail like I'd asked for. It seems obvious that someone doesn't want to do their job. Management should refund my expense. This was the worst experience I've had at a Toyota dealership.

Not blaming the folks that work there but management- if I have to leave my car for a simple oil change for 4 hours after making an appointment a week ahead somebody doesn’t know what they are doing- it’s gone from bad to worse - why bother if you can’t even do a simple thing like that in a timely manner.

Not at all what it once was. Now lackluster, confusing, and not interested in keeping or building genuine relationships. Not a very passionate Toyota dealership.

Their service department is actually worse than their sales department. When I brought my car in for a warranty problem, they told me I didn't know what I was talking about and my car doesn't have any problems. I have a RAV4 that has known gas tank issues. The service guy refused to document my issue and the sales manager didn't return my 3 phone call. Service guy told me my gas tank was 4 gallons smaller than it actually is which is why he claimed I didn't have any problems. We went to showroom floor to look at another new vehicle's Maroni sticker and he finally admitted I was correct. Scary when I know more about the vehicle than a service tech.

I was able to call and get a refund on the Theft Deterrent fee device since I feel like I didn't need it. I was under the impression that it was an alarm, but it is just a sticker. They agreed to send a refund to me.