This review will summarize my entire experience with my online car search that led me to Dublin Toyota. I researched, compared and negotiated with 29 dealerships in California. After phone negotiations, Dublin Toyota offered the best price for a certified used 4 runner with low mileage. I actually had a few other dealerships suggest that I go with Dublin Toyota after asking if they could match or beat the offer. I remember hearing from at least two dealerships, "if you can get that price, I would go with them". Negotiations began with Nick (sales manager), he speaks a little fast, but he didn't play any games or angles and was a man of his word. He was also very non confrontational, polite and professional. He offered the 4 runner to me at the price I was looking to pay, I agreed to the terms and he set the vehicle aside for me. I was told they sale at a reasonable price because the volume of inventory that is moved per day. This makes sense, the more you can sell, smaller individual profits add to healthy overall profit and a continuous flow of revenue, happier customers, larger customer base, etc. When I arrived, the lot was, well, enormous. It was however very well designed and easy to navigate. I was greeted by a very friendly sales person. I told him I was working with Nick and he located a sales associate that Nick had designated to work with me. This gentleman's name was Joe T. He was extremely friendly and helpful. He brought me to the vehicle they had been holding for me. Joe T made sure this vehicle looked show room ready for us. I loaded up two car seats and our twins and my wife and I went for a test drive. The vehicle was a 2012 with 35,000 miles on it, you couldn't tell a difference between a brand new one and the one we ended up buying. When we returned I said, "lets proceed, we want it". Although it did take well over an hour of waiting for financing, we later discovered that the reason we waited was because there was a miscommunication about our method of payment, our pre approved loan covered most but not all and the rest was cash down. Since the cash down part was unknown, they proceeded to find alternate financing that would cover the full amount. The approval process took a while, probably made worse by the fact we were there on a Sunday. During the wait however, I discovered the amenities this dealership had to offer. There was a free hot dog/hamburger BBQ held outside with water bottles. I believe the vendors name was George, he was very nice and helpful. We fed the whole family, it was very good and a nice touch as you tend to go without real food for hours when at a traditional dealership. Free high speed WiFi enabled us to use our laptop to find all the information we needed to fill out the forms. They also had a cafeteria that looked nice, but we didn't use it simply because we were full from the BBQ lunch. I did find an issue with an internal plastic seat piece that was attached incorrectly, they said that I would need the service department to take care of that and that I could come back when they were open and they would be happy to take care of it. Since we live 3 hours away from Dublin and at least 1 hour away from the nearest Toyota dealership, they gave me a gas voucher to fill up the vehicle and also gave me floor mats. This worked fine for me. The voucher ended up covering a very large gas bill. A while later after signing all the paperwork, we owned the vehicle. Joe T again was extremely helpful and professional in dealing with all the minor details from speaking to several different people on our behalf to bringing us water and providing directions to multiple places and ensuring that the car buying experience was a good one all around. Since I pre negotiated a price with Nick over the phone, we didn't need to do any price negotiations at the dealership. To summarize: Joe T and Nick were the main points of contact and were extremely professional, courteous and didn't play games. The staff as a whole was extremely polite. We feel we received the best deal possible after comparing 29 different Toyota Dealerships. The Free BBQ lunch, Wifi, Cafeteria and easily accessible facilities made waiting easy, even with twin babies! I plan on buying future vehicles through this dealership and will recommend this dealership to others. I already recommended it to a coworker and my parents as both are planning on purchasing a Toyota in the future. Thank you for the excellent price on our used 4 Runner and the great buying experience. Jacob read more

I had been looking for a safe reliable used car for my mother. It seems like when ever she has ever bought one from one of these so called reputable local car dealers, she has gotten burned. I wanted to help her with this and have been really looking for a good deal with a Toyota brand. Toyota is top dog for reliability. We purchased a used Toyota Yaris from a local car lot for her to drive while doing local shopping. She is 87 this year. She is of course retired and gets SS. She purchased the Yaris with money from her retirement savings. She is very very sweet and honest person who has helped other people all of her life, especially, young people. I explained this to the salesman at the car lot because I wanted them to know a little about her. I wanted them to know that she was not some rich person, but, an elderly person on a fixed income. For a couple of days, after she actually paid for the car, she kept talking about how nice the boys at that car lot were and what great manners they had. Well, the price was great on the Yaris and it drove so good that I did not pay any attention to the warning lights on the dash, "after all", the salesman said, "it's just a seat belt indicator light and it's nothing to worry about". "The car has been in a miner fender bender, but, the fender has been fixed". It was an "As Is" purchase and I thought nothing of the "As Is" paperwork that she signed. After she paid them for the car, they told me that they would take the car to Dublin Toyota and after the "seat belt indicator light" had been fixed, would deliver it to the house. My mother was just so happy. Such nice boys. That was on a Sunday. We heard from no one for 3 days. Finally, on Wednesday, I called Dublin Toyota and was transferred to a service consultant named Louis Lanza. I gave him the vin numbers to the car and he found it on the computer. He said that they had the car, but, no one had authorized the repairs. I asked him how much the repairs were and he replied that the were in the area of $4500.00. The airbags in the car were inoperable, sensors were needed, etc. Louis said that the car had been "clipped pretty good". I called that car lot and informed them of my conversation with Louis at Dublin Toyota. I was told that they did not know about the airbags, and that the salesman that we delt with was not there that day. I was also told by another salesman that was there "don't worry, we will take care of you". After not hearing from anybody at the car lot by the next afternoon, I realized then what a signed "As Is" sale really is. I had to now speak to my mother regarding the additional $4500.00 in repairs the little Yaris needed to even be legally driven on the road. She was beside herself and it was all on me. Thanks guys, I'll remember this. She was devastated. I have seen this happen to her over and over and over through the years and now this is on me for being a slow thinker. $10,000 was already way over what she actually intended to spend, but, it was important to me that she have the freedom of driving when ever she wanted, for as many more years as she wished, and mot be at the mercy of these tow truck drivers or local repair shops who could not even fix a 94 mercury Topaz so it would run for more than 10 minutes. We made the decision to pay Dublin Toyota the money beings that the car still had quite a bit of factory warranty left. I went to Dublin Toyota and met with Louis. He was a very pleasant man and very patiently listened to my story. They had already done a complete safety check and everything else looked good. The repairs and parts were all itemized for me to see and I gave him the "Go Ahead". He told me that they would have the car for about a week. This was on a Friday. On Monday afternoon, Louis called me and sounded happy and excited. He said that after replacing some wire terminals and some other things that had gotten damaged from the collision including some kind of computer, that our cost was only going to be $2,240.00 out the door. You saved the day Louis. My mother now has a new hero and you, Louis, will have our appreciation and customer loyalty forever. He still could have charged us $4500.00 and I would not have known the difference. He was really proud of himself for saving us that money. I will always remember that. If your looking into a new Toyota, a used one, or even need a repair on one that you have, go see Louis Lanza at Dublin Toyota, you won't be sorry, we certainly were not. read more

On Aug 2nd, I took my brand new 2016 Prius, purchased 4/28/2016 from Dublin Toyota, Dublin, CA, for service regarding a loose parking brake. Since my husband and I had such a pleasant experience with the Sales Department when buying our car (in particular with Mohammed), we were looking forward to developing a similar relationship with the Service Department (for we expect to keep this wonderful car for quite some time). About a week ago, I noticed that my parking brake had suddenly gone slack and was not functioning properly. I had to almost floor it for it to catch. My husband checked out the situation and said it was not a big problem - the ball on the right rear emergency brake cable had come loose from its socket. See attached photo. He could have fixed it himself, but since the car was brand new and under warranty, he asked me to take it in for servicing. I called in for an appointment and was given a very timely one for the next day at 9:00 am. I was also promptly notified via text re my appointment and told, when I arrive, to ask for Eric, my Service Advisor. Wow, what efficiency! When I arrived, I was promptly met by Eric, who inquired about the reason for my visit. I told him that my parking brake was very loose. We went out to check it and even though he had to almost floor it before it caught, he told me that this was "normal" with new cars. He said they were designed to be loose so that the brake pads did not contact the rotors and cause excessive brake wear. Really? In our time, my husband and I have jointly adjusted and bled brakes, performed tune-ups and oil changes, repacked CV joints and wheel bearings, and completely rebuilt our 1978 Toyota Corolla engine; down to the main bearings. I certainly knew that it was NOT normal for the parking brake to suddenly go slack as it did. I did not, however, contradict nor set Eric straight and just left the brake problem for the mechanic to resolve. When I arrived at 3:00 pm to pick up the car, I asked Eric what was the source of the problem. I was informed that my brake just needed "some adjustment" and that the mechanic "tightened the adjusting nut 12 notches" and it was fine now. He did not mention the unattached brake cable. When I returned home, I asked my husband to check under the car to see if the problem had been fixed. To his surprise, the ball and socket were still disconnected, but with the ball now jammed up to its mounting bracket due to "the adjustment!" The mechanic never bothered to check under the car. So now I have an overly tight left cable and a jammed right one! But, problem RESOLVED according to Dublin Toyota Service! Give me a break---pun intended! I e-mailed this message to Dublin Toyota via their "We welcome your feedback and comments" site and received a reply from the sales department. They asked that I contact the service department. Sales couldn't forward the message? Apparently Sales and Service don't talk to each other at Dublin Toyota. Needless to say, my husband and I are not impressed by our first experience with Dublin Toyota's Service Department. So who is to blame here? * Toyota, who pays the dealership for warranty repairs, but only allows 15 minutes for and emergency brake adjustment? * Dublin Toyota who doesn't want to lose money on warranty repairs? * The Service Advisor who is under the gun to get 'em in and get 'em out? * The service technician who can't take more than 15 minutes to do the job? Or perhaps this was his/her first experience with brakes? * All the above? I vote for all of the above. But then, that's their problem. Our problem is now finding a shop that we can trust to service our new Prius. At this point, we favor the independent shops. My advise: Deal with sales; forget service. My husband re-attached the brake cable and re-adjusted the tension to "12 clicks." read more

Hi, I went to Dublin Toyota dealer in California to trade in my certified pre-owned 2010 Toyota corolla which had $6000 worth of damage on it. I went to them specifically as I had purchased that car from them and I was happy with the service that they provided. The dealer said, they would pay me $3000 for it and sell me a new 2013 Toyota corolla. I agreed to it as KBB value showed that a good trade was $10000 on my damaged car. I went ahead and signed for the new car and released my old car to them. Financial team also sold me extra warranty around $4000. On the second day I noticed on the bill that trade in value was actually '$0' as they had miss calculated the payoff amount I had on the old car as $8525 when actually it was $5525. I went to them to ask about it and they explained to me that they "adjusted" the cost to body shop bill for $6000. As per their calculation - trade-in value $3000, Body shop bill - $6000, so the actual pay off on my car was 5525(earlier car loan)+3000(auto body shop bill) = 8525. I felt a bit cheated as I was under the impression that I would receive $3000 on top of the damaged car. As per my calculation - the actual payoff amount on the car = $5525 - $3000(trade-in) = $2525. I reluctantly agreed to their calculation as I did not have time or patience to deal with them. However, the next day they changed their story and called me back saying that the auto body shop was asking for a price of $9000 for repair and they now considered the car totaled. Since they did not deal with totaled cars, the contract was void and I had to sign a new contract only for the new car and take back my old car. I was completely shocked as this was the auto body shop they dealt with internally I had taken my damaged car to their service center and they were the once who sent it to that body shop. They had even called the owner of this auto body shop the day I signed the contract to confirm the charges. Had he not informed them that the charges would be $9000 then? I felt that I was in a bad deal and wanted to cancel the whole deal and get my car back. The Toyota manager 'then started to harass me with legal consequences, they said I could not cancel the whole deal as I had driven the new car for 2-3 days and it was now used car. The contract was now void as I had traded in a totaled car which was a wrong thing to do and will be punished by "California law" ! I had only one option left and that was to sign a different contract for the new car and accept my old car which was still at the body shop. I felt cornered and since I had no idea what to do in this case, I signed to contract as he insisted to do it on spot, he could not wait for me to think about it and get back to them. Their lawyers would file a case and there would be legal consequences even for 1 day. Completely overwhelmed, I signed it. The next day I incurred the charges for keeping the damaged car at the body shop for 1 week, towing charges and got my damaged car back. The whole deal was an ordeal for me and my wife. We trusted them exclusively. My pre-owned Toyota corolla 2010 was purchased from them and when the damage happened, I went to them and they took it to the body shop which they dealt with internally. It is starting to feel like the whole deal was preplanned by them. I had clearly mentioned that I would go for a new car only if they gave me a good trade in price. Now, not only do I possess the car that was damaged with $9000 worth of repairs as per the body shop estimation, I also have a new Toyota corolla 2013 for the full price which I did not intend to own or purchase. Is there any way to claim for compensation or file a case against them for pulling such a trick on me? I would appreciate any counsel that you can provide. read more

My initial expectation from the Toyota Dublin dealership was: I would like to try the car, I know what car I need though I'm not sure about trim level. Visit 1: The first point of contact was able to propose me what I need from the first attempt. I tried it, it's ok, I though. Me, but that was a car for my wife rather than for me. She didn't like my choice and provided her must-to-have requirements. That shifted trim level to top. Carlos was able to find what we need easily. Our kids became monsters. Final. We escaped without talking about prices. Visit 2: We knew what rim level we want, we had initial estimate and we didn't know what the deal price can be. I lost not so much time in negotiations as I expected. Finally, I was given what I wanted. Numbers. They are the most important. I had to ask to transform them to a form I can read and that was the first surprise for me. The manager sitting at the computer gave me them immediately. Just a second to print. When I asked him to change some parameters and I was given breakdown I don't understand, I asked him to print them in a different form and I was surprised that he did it in advance. I don't trust humans. I trust numbers. It takes several seconds for professional to evaluate the deal. I spent half an our to verify the numbers. I found that the numbers are reasonable. In my understanding reasonable means that I see how the price is formed and what factors are under dealer control and what they can't change. I was not able to choose what deal I would like to choose. I was tired. Visit 3: I knew what option from the previous visit I want. I just had to get confirmation that the deal is still in place and do the paperwork. Filled a form (single page, 15+ lines, not more), waited an hour or so to get to finance department specialist that described me what I'm going to sign. Quite quickly. 10-15 more minutes to do final check-out of the car before leaving dealership. Summary: total time (approximately) is 2 hours for the first visit, 3 hours for the second, 4 hours for the third one. You need to figure out what car exactly you need. I was not able to do it from the first attempt. Not from the second either. You need to understand if the offer is the best on the market (let's say 50 miles range from your home). And you need to check numbers and be sure no one else can beat it. This is my impression form the dealership and not from the car. I can express my thoughts about the car only after some time. Please note that initial point of contact, the person showing car to you will not discuss prices with you. Though he will be your main point of contact. One more side note. We were choosing between some base/mid level Acura MDX and top level Highlander. My impression from Acura dealership was negative. Initial point of contact was friendly. Though the manager who had the right to discuss the price was no flexible. When we asked him to offer us initial (the worst) price, he provided us numbers, when we tried to negotiate, he was very generous. He asked what price you want? 100$ per month, ok. Any wish you want, but he wasn't negotiating, he was just moving payments from monthly to down-payment. When we pointed him that we would like to have better offer and not moving moneys from one part of the payment to another, he just told that we can't have it. Bye. At Toyota it was different. Despite I had some negative impression of single person, I talked in high voice, but I didn't have to continue my conversation with him and I don't consider it as something I have to complain about. Please watch "Suckers" (2001, comedy) and you will recognize the pattern. It's not about Toyota. It is about any and all dealerships. read more

Hello everyone, I just got my new 2007 Corolla LE from Dublin Toyota. I researched exactly what I wanted and got the invoice price Edmunds.com. Then I emailed several San Francisco Bay area Toyota dealers asking for their best quotes. I sent emails to Hayward Toyota, Walnut Creek, Oakland, Sunnyvale, Toyota 101 I listed the exact model I wanted: 2007 Corolla LE, AT VV Audio 6 CD system BE Front and rear side airbags And I told him I wanted either silver, gray, or desert sand colors Ken Tam responded right away with an email (within an hour) He listed the car they had in stock: either med gray or dark gray color 2007 Toyota Corolla LE (1822) Automatic Options: FE AW BE AB VV CF (VV) Audio Value Package (AW) Alloy wheels (BE) Driver & pass side & side curtain airbags (AB) Anti-lock brakes (VV) Audio value package-6cd changer, cruise control (CF) Carpet Floor Mats His price was about $750 under invoice. I checked on edmunds.com Was it too good to be true? I head of stories of bait and switch, So I asked for confirmation if he had the car in stock to buy today, and I also asked for a total price out the door, showing all tax, and fees. Ken emailed back right away, price, sales tax, fees for registration, doc, and tire fees. The total price was good. So I called him up and faxed him my preapproval letter from my credit union. I told him I was ready to close the deal quickly and I did not want to deal with delay tactics from the dealer's finance dept guys. I met him the same day at Dublin Toyota, and Ken let me test the exact car, it was ready and waiting. Ken processed the sale quickly. He was very professional and the numbers were exactly what he listed in the emails. No tricks and no funny business. I just had to wait a while for the finance dept, since Ken did not handle that part of the sale. It was a long wait, but I was fine since I knew I was saving $750 under invoice. I just waited in their service dept with a TV and free coffee and tea. The finance guy was also pretty professional. He had to do his pitch about service plan, and extended warranty. I told him politely no thanks. Since I had my own credit union financing, I did not have to play games with the dealer financing. I got a good rate from Lockheed Fed Credit Union. So I was done after about total of 2 hours. Not too bad. And I got the exact price and car that Ken listed in the email. Would I buy from Ken again? YES!!! Would I recommend him? YES!!! Thanks for reading my post. At first I read the negative reviews about Dublin Toyota, but it turns out everything was great. Just know that car salesman move from dealership to dealership, so don't be scared away by bad reviews. Find a responsive person who replies honestly in their emails, and see if you can get all the final details down, do this all by email. Be prepared, know exactly what you want, get the prices down in email, and talk to Kenneth Tam. Also get your own financing ready before you go. I'm an actual customer, not a fake. So I hope give more business to Ken. He's a breath of fresh air amid all the foulness in the car biz. Oh another thing, Ken was a real standout in how he responds to emails. So that's why I chose to go deal with him. I only got another email response from Walnut Creek toyota, and the numbers they quoted didn't even add up. sheesh. You can email me if you have any questions. My email address is sfninersfan at gmail.com You can read my car buying tips at buycorolla.blogspot.com I did it, I'll show you how to buy a new car with the least pain and stress. You can dot it. PS. I posted this review as well on insiderpages dotcom read more

I've had my last straw today with Dublin Toyota Service Dept. I have purchased 2 cars from Toyota, a Certified Pre-Own , and a Scion. I have taken both cars for service each time, loyally to Toyota. The first time I had the car serviced, they advised that they could not rotate my tires for two reasons. 1, the tires are of a difference size so cannot do a back to front. 2, they could not remove the rear right side tire because of a cross threaded stud. My reply was, well, okay, so they don't need to be rotated then will I get a price cut on the maintenance then? They advised yes and let me go on my merry way. After my most recent maintenance in August they informed me everything checked out great, no malfunctions, or recommendations, I have the paperwork to show it. Then I began to notice that my tires were extremely worn out on the sides, and interior, it looked like sand paper with thread, and metal wire exposed. The car is a 2012, and has been in my possession for a year with less than 30k miles. I began to do some research, and started to speak w/ tire techs in the area, and they informed me that potentially the wear is not normal. They recommended i go to dealer and address this. When I returned, they immediately tried to sell me new tires... when I addressed my concerns it was blown out the window, and told me basically that they were simply due; when I asked about a warranty, or any information regarding that he told me to go to a Lexus Dealership and inquire about that. He then pointed out, that on the inspection done in august it showed the thread was 3/32, and that it clearly shows there on this little display here, that you should have replaced your tires. Well, isn't that what we pay professionals for? To let us know, and recommend repairs, and maintenance that our car actually needs? Since I am clearly not a tire tech, it sure would have been appreciated if these "professionals" said something about it. So then I ask him, if on my piece of paper, it shows anything else I should know about my car that maybe recommended. He then advises my rear brakes are at 5ml which are OK, and that my front are at 3ml which are in the caution, but do not require immediate replacement. Again, information that would have been GREAT to know ONE month ago. Clearly you get the type of service that you pay for. I will never return to Toyota Service Center for ANYTHING, nor will I ever purchase a car from their lot EVER again. The customer service reps appear to be helpful, they understand, but as soon as you step into the service center it's garbage, it's defensive, not my fault, and finger pointing basically at jargon that they expect the average person to understand, and research themselves. -Oscar A. Edit: I spoke with the Service Manager Cindy over the phone, she was very concerned about the service I had received and asked me to come in for an alignment check, and also addressed a concern regarding the HVAC that I had for quite sometime now. Immediately she got me the assistance I required as soon as I arrived, set me up with one of her service personal and unlike the previous experience it was on point, he wanted to help, and cared about my concerns. He got in the car with me, felt the issue I described about the HVAC. Cindy knew I had to get back to work within the next few minutes, and she already had a rental car ready for me. My vehicle was ready by end of the day, I picked it up and it felt like new. Cindy you were a great help, restored my faith in Toyota, and I look forward to visiting again at my next service. Thank you read more

I have never filled out survey till now. Just one suggestion to all the readers please gets second opinion about your vehicle before visiting Dublin Toyota. Service Advisers (Eric Davidson) at this location are always trying to up sale package deals. If you refuse just expect a phone call because after leaving your vehicle at the dealership your service adviser will call definitely after 2 hours to notify service tech. encountered a problem with the vehicle over the phone. Service Adviser expects you to give them permission over the phone to fix the problem and get $ 330.00 worth of unnecessary charges. The incident occurred with me on January 4th 2012 when Eric Davidson said my vehicle was missing 2 hose which connects to the air filter over phone. I immediately went back to the dealership and walked with Eric Davidson to services area where my vehicle was located. It's now 12:20 pm nothing was done to my vehicle as we approached the front of my car the hood was open and Eric explained where the 2 hose were missing from. One of the Dublin Toyota technicians overheard the conversation and decided to take a look inside. He found both hose were disconnected hidden in between transmission and air filter. Eric Davidson didn't apologize for lying, but ready to charge me for the missing parts. Eric showed me the second problem which was oil spill which needed to be cleaned up. The oil was fresh, clean, and Eric didn't mention anything in his prior 2 calls to me. I realized he was misleading me to believe someone else other than his service technician did this which will cost me to clean up along with my so call missing hose. So if you were in my shoes will you trust Eric Davidson after the incident? I went back in the evening to pick up my vehicle at 4:15 because Eric promises me everything will be complete by 4:00 pm. I encountered Eric Davidson by the service office entrance he explained to me Highlander had another recall and the technician is uploading the software at that moment Eric said," Hay can you sit in the waiting room" I realize how unprofessional by referring me hay instead of Mr. or Mrs. Name. After waiting till 5:30 pm, I decided to speak with the service manager. I was very upset and rude to her and I apologized to her. I felt she needed to understand what I felt the entire day. After, hearing what I had to say services manager walked out to service office to speak with Eric Davidson to find out both side of the story and I respect that. She came back with Dwayne assistant services manager who is pretending to know every about the incident so he tried to cover up the situation by explaining to me that he saw the technician had oil all over the engine, but he was not aware Eric Davidson said two hose were missing. Again, covering up for his associate hurt his own credibility. I appreciate the women manager for handling the situation promptly and understanding something did occur. I brought my vehicle 3 years ago and serviced my car only at this dealership for past 3 years, but this incident which began at 9:00am was unforgettable. "BE AWARE" IF YOU USE THIS LOCATION FOR SERVICES PLEASE CONTACT THE SERVICES MANAGER INSTEAD OF ALL THE ASSISTANT SERVICE MANAGER. read more