An entirely disappointing experience that was a complete waste of both our time and energy!
We recently decided to replace my wife's 13 year old, clean, low mileage Toyota Camry XLE with a similar midsize sedan, preferably another Toyota. After a visit to Rice Toyota in Greensboro, we realized that Cox Toyota in Burlington was closer to us and easier to get to, so we decided to pay them a visit. Immediately, we met a pleasant, unassuming Asian-American salesperson, Paul C. who seemed both knowledgeable and accommodating. After various test drives, we focused on a new 2016 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited that had all the features on our old Camry as well as many new bells and whistles.
We visited a few other local dealerships, and then decided to purchase the Avalon Hybrid Limited at Cox, despite the inflated sticker price ($46,676) loaded with many overpriced options from both the distributor ($699 for "Toyoguard", $598 for paint protection, $449 for remote start, $399 for carpet mats, $229 for a "valance", and $69 for a phone cable and charger, totaling $2,443) and the dealer ($399 for window tinting and $99 for nitrogen filled tires). Upon asking Paul C. for their best "out of the door" price, he showed me their "secret" online price of $40,779, and then proceeded to add in their dealer installed options ($498), a doc fee of $599 (quite high), title & registration fees of $161, and taxes of $1256, bringing the new price up to $43,293. Having done my research with various car and consumer websites, I knew the best price for this vehicle and that a $40-41K price range was more than fair.
After some discussion, Paul presented a price of $41,646 by halving all the fees and taxes, which seemed fair, so I told him that we would be back to complete the purchase, probably on Saturday since my wife is a teacher and school had just started. Paul then insisted that I take the car for her to drive. Since we live so close to her school and she would not have much chance to really drive the car during the week, I told him I would take it only if she could drive it over the weekend and he said he would let me know. Despite messages left for him, he never responded. On Saturday morning, my wife took the car out early to run errands when I got a call from Paul demanding that we bring the car back immediately. I called my wife and we went back to Cox Toyota. Paul still had no explanation and I explained that this had unnecessarily wasted our time and we would have to reconsider our purchase.
The following week, Paul texted me daily pushing the car, even once suggesting a similar Avalon which I declined to consider. Finally on Thursday evening we decided to choose between either a similar Lexus E350 at a much lower price or the Avalon Hybrid Limited at Cox when Paul texted me once again, offering the car for $40,500! We quickly accepted his offer and said we would be down the very next morning with a deposit and I would email our finance application. On Friday morning when I appeared at Cox with checkbook in hand, Paul tells me that there is a problem - the vehicle in question had already been sold to someone from CA on the previous MONDAY, supposedly without his knowledge! His solution was to substitute the previously suggested model. I told him that I would let my wife decide since it would be her car. Later that evening, we went back to Cox once again and my wife looked at the replacement car. She was not happy and even more angry once the finance manager, Angela P., seemed to nonchalantly shrug off our concerns over this gross "miscommunication", even failing to any offer type of sincere apology. Needless to say, we found this quite unbelievable and unacceptable, akin to a common "bait and switch" tactic since none of the explanations seemed plausible or sincere.
Later, after I saw the exact same model for sale in Asheboro at Midstate Toyota for only $38K, I contacted the Cox Toyota general manager, Butch Cox (?), and he offered the same hollow, insincere response as the finance manager. Very soon, I plan to buy a new Avalon Hybrid Limited and it will be from the Toyota dealer in Asheboro.
Funny how when you ask your coworkers or acquaintances about a business, they initially don't say much until AFTER you go and waste your time. Now that everyone knows about our experience with Cox Toyota, people are coming out of the woodwork with their equally bad experiences and those from their friends and relatives. We would have NEVER considered Cox had we known beforehand.
This is how bad companies stay in business with their poor practices and continue preying upon the public! read more