Simi Valley Toyota

I was interested in a Toyota Prius that was priced at $17991 at a DCH Honda dealership in Lemon Grove, CA. Christian, the salesperson, had originally brought this vehicle to my attention and showed me t $17991 at a DCH Honda dealership in Lemon Grove, CA. Christian, the salesperson, had originally brought this vehicle to my attention and showed me the stats on the vehicle and said he could get it to the dealership in Simi Valley easily because they were sister dealerships through DCH. I noticed that it was coming from a Honda dealership, not Toyota, so I specifically asked if this car was certified and had the certified warranty. He replied "yes absolutely they all are." I went home that night to sleep on it and decided to look at the car on the Lemon Grove website, the price at that time was $17991 on the website. The next morning I decided to look at the website again and the price had been reduced to $14995. I immediately called Christian and told him that the price had been dropped and that I was interested in buying it. He was very surprised that the other dealer had lowered the price and expressed that he thought it was a mistake. He called the Lemon Grove dealership and confirmed that the price was indeed CORRECT, he then told me that he would not be able to offer me the vehicle at $14995 because it still needed to be certified. When I asked why he had told me the vehicle was certified when it was NOT he claimed he didn't know that it was coming from a Honda dealer. I don't believe that was true because he was the one that explained that it was a sister dealership the day before. So I asked him what price they could offer and he told me that the total certification and "shipping costs" (he had not mentioned shipping costs before this) would bring the price back up to $17995. (Hmmm convenient). I obviously was not happy with being lied to and made that clear to him. I was seriously contemplating making the drive to Lemon Grove to purchase the car there and just buy an extended warranty through them. He told me he would have his manager call me to see what they could do. A few hours later I got a call from Nick the general manager at Simi Toyota. He told me that they would be willing to offer me the car at the price the Lemon Grove dealership was offering, which he said was $15995. When I told him the website advertised it at $14995 he told me to check the website again, because what he was seeing was $15995. I happened to have the webpage already up on my computer and refreshed the screen, they had changed the price from $14995 to $15995. I felt a bit like I was being duped, but still thought that $15995 was a fair price for the car with the certified warranty, so I asked him to have it shipped to Simi. I went down the next day to test drive and really liked the car. I worked with Nick that day and felt he was more honest and straight forward than Christian was. I went home feeling good about the car and told him that I would be back with my fiance the next day, to have him test drive it. Nick had told me that I would be working with Christian the next day because he would not be in. I was a bit worried about this. We came in the next day and my fiance inspected the car. He immediately brought to my attention that there was significant wear on the front tires and they would need to be replaced very soon. When I mentioned this to Christian he said he wasn't sure if they would be able to put new front tires on because the "deal" that we had worked out was with Nick and not him and he would not be able to change it. (I was thinking, didn't this car go through a certified warranty inspection, shouldn't this have been caught??) Nick had told me the day prior if we had any problems to give him a call. So I asked Christian to call him to see what could be done. He called Nick then handed me the phone telling Nick I needed to talk to him about something. (we were still in the middle of the test drive, I was in the passenger seat). I explained to Nick the problem with the tires and he told me to tell Christian to have their mechanic look at it. I relayed this message to Christian. It turns out that the service department was closed that day and I would have to come back another day to have them measure the wear on the tires to make sure that it was above the certified standards of 5/32". A little frustrating when the car should have gone through an inspection and they should have already measured this. Also at the beginning of the test drive I had noticed that the low tire pressure warning light was on and asked Christian about this. (Again, this car supposedly went through a certified inspection, shouldn't this have been caught??) He assured me that it was just the weather that caused this and it was normal. Suffice it to say, I had my doubts. The light ended up staying on all day, and it was a nice sunny day, not freezing cold. Another thing that happened at the beginning of the test drive the day before--when Christian went to demonstrate the smart key door sensor, it did not work. He told me that the keys just needed to be reset, and this was an easy fix. (Again, shouldn't this have been caught??) When I came in the next day with my fiance he told me that the keys actually didn't work and I would be getting a "brand new set." (exact words) What I was actually given was one used key (that started the car and locked/unlocked it but did not work with the door sensor) and one new key (that didn't work at all). He then told me to get them reprogrammed I would need to go to a dealership in Oxnard because they do not charge the dealership for the reset fee. I asked him why I was getting one new key and one used key when I was told I was going to get "a brand new set", I felt I should be getting 2 brand new keys to make a "set". He replied that Nick was already giving me a good deal and I should be happy. (Ummmm ok.) I explained that the way he worded the expression of "a set of brand new keys" was misleading. Ultimately in the end I bought the car with the promise that 1.)They would check the tires to see if they needed replacing, 2.)They would check the tire pressure when service was open on Monday 3.)I would be driving to Oxnard to get my keys reprogrammed. When I came in on Monday to get the tires checked, the mechanic measured them and indeed said they were below the certified standards. (Did this car go through an inspection at all?) They needed to order the tires and I would have to come back when they came in, also at that time they would check the tire pressure warning light. Nick said they would be calling me when they found out when the tires would be in and also to give me the information about who to see at the Oxnard dealership to get my keys reprogrammed. When it reached Friday and I still had not received a call I called Nick to find out if the tires had come in. He apologized for not calling me, and told me the tires would be in the next day and I should come in the next Monday to drop my car off to get the tires put on. He also said that they would be reprogramming the keys at their dealership after all. (I guess whatever deal that Oxnard was giving them was not available anymore?) I was happy to not have to drive out to Oxnard and thought that it should have been planned this way all along. I dropped my car off that Monday and they gave me a ride to work and picked me up at the end of the day. I was happy to see that the tires were on, the pressure warning light was off and both keys worked. When working with Nick I felt that he listened to me and did his best to accommodate my requests. When working with Christian I felt he would say anything to get me to buy a car, regardless of whether it was the truth or not. I don't feel like Christian listens to his customers questions or thinks before he answers, he just says whatever he thinks you want to hear. Also he touches you on the arm frequently like you are best friends, which can be a bit off-putting. I prefer a bit more professional approach. I also got a call from him today AT MY PLACE OF WORK following up and asking when I was going to write this review. How he got this number I do not know, because I am actually at a different office today than I am normally at and I did not put this office number on my application. The number that I gave him to contact me was my cell phone. He did not call my cell phone, he somehow called here, interrupted my exam with a patient that I had at that time on an extremely busy morning, just to ask if I was planning to fill out this review. I found this very inappropriate. Ultimately I am happy I bought my car, I do love it. I also feel I received a generally fair price in the end. I felt like I had to fight tooth and nail to get that price in the end, and it was a bigger ordeal than it should have been. I felt like I had to watch over every little detail of the purchase to make sure I was not getting screwed out of money because I could never really trust what I was being told. I am also concerned with the certified "inspection" process that the cars go through at this dealership. More