Toyota of Berkeley

This review is for the service shop which is located on the channing side of the block and separate from the dealership area off shattuck. They open at 8am on Saturdays (closed on Sunday) so if you scheduled an appointment (which can be done online) for that time and arrive early don’t be surprised to see the place shuttered. Drive into the service garage and they will give your car a number. Jo helped me complete paperwork at one of the stands up front. She was happy to answer questions and address any concerns. I went in for my standard 5k mileage service as part of the free 2 year service plan with new car purchase. They have a small, no-​frills, clean waiting room with 6 chairs and a couple magazines. I was about the 4^th car to drive in and the entire service ended up taking 2 hours. The car came back in the same condition I delivered it, service light was off, and I trust they did their job. They also filled out a sheet with all the parts of the car they inspected (tires, breaks, engine oil, etc.) for your records highlighting the condition of each component).

Terrible location to purchase a new vehicle.
Decided to purchase a vehicle elsewhere due to not honoring terms and being disrespectful.
— very discourteous
— did not honor stated rebate/​sales terms
— were not honest when asking simple questions
— was not interested in negotiating a better or alternate deal
Do yourself a favor and purchase your new car elsewhere.

Great service on my Tundra. .
Needed brakes and a little tlc on the fluids and Blue team
Techs got her back on the road again. .
Thanks Jo in Service!!! Will recommend you to all my friends .
–Virgil

Made an appointment online, easy enough. Online scheduler told me very clearly that the appointment would take an hour and a half. When I did the paper work at the service center they then told me they have 20 cars ahead of me and it woukd take four and a half hours! That the only way to get service quicker is to schedule an early am appointment. What is the point to schedule an appointment? Little to nothing at Berkeley’s service center…
Don’t bother getting service packages from them or bring your car here. Go to a local shop you will get better service and better work from what I hear. The only reason I am going is because my car came with a service package.

It’s kind of a scary thing to have a recall– but I was assured and well-​taken care of by Jo in service. Very punctual and friendly. Will come back.

Rude and disappointing. Unwilling to be flexible with car rental return and bill insurance company. Small inventory.

I went to this dealership with my friend to help her find a car. This place is a complete nightmare! I hate car dealerships and this place has really brought brought my hate to the next level. We were looking around to see which car she liked the most and of course, the salesperson approached us and asked if we needed any help. We replied «No, thanks. We are just browsing» and he walked away. After 15 minutes, the same guy comes back and tells us to stop wasting «their time». What an awful thing to say to a potential customer! We were simply looking around to see which car we liked the most; this is a big decision for God’s sake. I told them to go to hell and we left. Do not even bother coming here! Just find some other place; you will be much happier and less edgy!

Went there this morning on ¹⁰⁄₉. Sales person didn’t provide help at all, asked me to check price and vehicle specs ONLINE… Very disappointed, Toyota gotta be more concern on hiring staff

I scheduled my 10k complimentary maintenance at 18^th month if the purchase. My plan is to do the 20k at 24^th month so that i will get the oil change every 12months. However, the service team changed my 18month maintenance to 20k without my consent. And when i bring back my car for the last 24 month complementary maintenance, i was told that i only have 25k left, which is basically doing nothing. They played the trick to schedule the 20k early so that we cannot do free oil change last time. They say that even though my mileage is 8k, they need to do 20k at the 18^th month because time is consideres. This is non sense because:
1. 18÷24=0.75 while 20÷25=0.8, which means 20k at 18^th month is too early.
2. If they do not honor customers’ mileage selection, why they put this in their schedule system?
3. I confirmed with other toyota dealership that they do not enforce higher mileage maintenance before when time is due but mileage ia not due.
This dealership is dishonest. Do NOT trust them!!!
I will BBB them and fight to the end.

They just put one hard inquiry on my credit report without letting me know, well done, Toyota of Berkeley.

I bought a new prius from them.
Avoid this dealership, unless you enjoy the following:
–enjoy getting harassing calls at work 2 weeks later for $ 300 because the finance guy didn’t communicate with the manager for the exact trade-​in figure.
–enjoy the test drive guy who doesn’t provide any insight into how the car works, so you have to come back next week so another person goes over the car with you.
–enjoy being promised a wait of an hour for paperwork to wrap up the deal and waiting over 3 hours.
–enjoy false statements from the seller :“true car is a scam” –he can’t match their prices; and he doesn’t know that my wife just used true car at a bmw dealership and it was legit. Should’ve went to another city and saved 3 thousand.
Did I mention getting harassed more than once?
Good luck if you read this after you bought the car from them. Supporting local businesses sometimes isn’t worth this headache. .
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I can’t believe I didn’t read some of these reviews before buying here :(
I bought a Subaru Forrester 2004 from these guys. Was told the vehicle was in excellent condition and that I would get a discount. After already sitting with the salesman to finalize the sale, another couple came in and asked to look at the car. The salesman backed out from the discount of $ 500.
I still bought it cause I was already there and it still seemed like an OK deal… WITHIN 3 MONTHS I ALREADY HAD $ 1,000 worth of repairs. Engine sensor went out, breaks started screeching and I had to remove the pads and fluid, all wheels needed replacement due to very bad alignment. AFTER 10 MONTHS I ALREADY SPENT $ 3,000 on repairs. Radiator malfunctioned, head gasket burst. After I took the car to a specialized shop they were sure I was scammed on Craigslist, saying the car was in horrible shape WAY before I bought it.
DON’T BUY HERE

NO STARS
This is my first time here and I don’t think I’ll be coming back.
My Scion Iq was broken into Wednesday night. Bad timing considering I had 2 graduations in my family over the weekend. I called dealership on Thursday to check if they have the replacement. Girl says she would call RIGHT back. Never did. Fine. I called them back and I ordered the part over the phone and it would be delivered Friday morning. Understandable since I don’t really have a common car. Made appointment with Tim to get it done Friday. Explained my situation regarding important weekend. Confidence level 9
Dropped off car with Tim at 9:30 Friday I was told it would be ready by late afternoon. Got a message at 3:27 only to be told that the replacement never showed up. I called back to ask when glass is expected to arrive. Answer: «I won’t have an answer until it gets here» Not the assuring response you want to hear. Confidence level 5.
Went back to dealership. Redeeming factor: guy at the parts department explained the fiasco that happened with San Ramon parts plant. He took me to speak with Ray to try and expedite. I explained my weekend situation with Ray. He says I can bring back my car early Saturday morning but he can’t guarantee he can have it done. Confidence level 0.
I get my car back and no joke… they didn’t even vacuum out the broken glass. I did a 180 asked for a refund on the part. I’m taking my business somewhere else. I hope Oakland Toyota is not managed by these clowns.
Suggestions for service department.
1. When you say «I’ll call you back» do it or tell people «call us back»
2. When you promise someone a car in the afternoon and you don’t have the part by 12:00. Call the customer back so arrangements can be done.
3. If you sense an upset customer. Try to make them feel better instead of being an ass.
4. If it’s your shortcoming. Make it right! Make the upset customer a priority. Maybe a complimentary car rental. I understand it’s a Scion but with this kind of service I’d never upgrade to a Lexus.
DISAPPOINTED BY SUPERVISORS WHO AREN’T EMPOWERED TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT!
BTW. During all of this not once did I raise my voice or use profanity. I believe «you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar» — But who wants flies…
BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE!

I just bought a Prius here from Bill Blinks. I had the best service. It was easy and painless. No hard sell. I was treated with respect and didn’t feel like anyone was talking down to me (shame on you one Toyota in Oakland).
I highly recommend Bill.

**update**
I had my care serviced at the Albany location, because it’s closer to my house.
I got a call 15 minutes before service closed (though I didn’t know that), telling me that my car was ready, I said that I’d be there in a few minutes, finished what I was working on, and walked over to the Albany location. When I arrived, I saw that the service department had been closed for about 20 minutes, and NOBODY was available to help me get my car. A sales associate tried to find someone, but nobody was around to help me get my car.
Apparently, the manager on site cannot help a person access their vehicle.
Also, nobody called me to say that even though they heard me say that I’d be there in a few minutes, they were closing, so I’d better get there fast. I understand that my «few minutes» went on a big longer than we all anticipated, but I’ve had similar calls from tire shops years ago when similar things happened.
I am incredibly disappointed with the lack of service I received. Thank goodness I didn’t need to be anywhere this evening, or my disappointment would have transformed into full-​on anger.
However, if they charge me storage fees, I will likely go berserk.
Ah well, I guess I now know to go elsewhere to get my car serviced. Too bad that it has Toyota of Berkeley’s name on it, because it is reflecting poorly on a business trying to recover from a horrible reputation.

If you need a new or used car go see SAM ROBERSON. He’s super friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. I highly recommend him for the job! I had a great experience from start to finish.

Horrible experience
Came on Friday to lease a car, set down with one of the mangers, pick up the car I want and agreed to come and signed the paper work after on Tuesday .
They promised me they are not the typical car dealers and the price will not change and that’s what it is because they want my business .
I spend 3 hours here on Tuesday morning and guess what, the Manegar that was here is not around, they can’t reach him by phone so the price got higher by $ 2000 and they said, you can come tomorrow to talk with him if you want the car but we can’t give you that price.
They did exactly what they said they will not do

AWFUL SERVICE!
Took my 7 calls to finally hear back about my car that was in service. Was told that they called me and my father, but neither one of us had any missed calls or messages. It is raining this weekend and I desperately need my car and they have not tried in any way to accomodate or make sure I get my car. DO NOT GO HERE, in the customer service department they are understaffed and incompetent!

Great service from time of phone call to final stroke of the pen, aside from the long waiting for administrative work to be completed (I sort of expected this from any dealership anyhow). Kriss picked me up from my location and took me to the lot that housed the car that Natalia, the informative sales rep who took my phone call, recommended (a 2010 corolla with less than 4k miles… rare!). Kriss never pressed me, never asked how much of a downpayment I could make until we came to the paperwork (and here they make money off commission), and was authentically friendly and funny. We shared plenty about our lives actually throughout the test drive and during the long wait for the folks at finance to get the papers together. Don’t sleep on his knowledge either — he knew the story behind the car and was able to answer all my questions about the car.
Rudy, the finance manager (which I think is one of perhaps 10 hats at this location), was also friendly, funny, and clear about the terms I was consenting to. He’s patient in explaining legal jargon and though I know he has a number of projects hanging on him, I was never pressured to rush through the process. He also allowed my check to be held until funds for the downpayment was secured (within a few days).
I would definitely come back here and recommend them to friends.

Black-​ops Covert Reconnaissance Mission
As an employee of the school of higher education in the city of Berkeley, I was coming back from a quick bite to eat when I thought I would complete a new mission my lovely wife had recently assigned to me – to help decide what our new, second car should be.
CHALLENGE: Closely examine both target vehicles on the premises without being approached by a dealership employee.
This was going to be a tough challenge, as there were no other customers in the small-​ish showroom when I approached the targets. In the «main» showroom space, there were four cars, three Prius and one Camry — all hybrids. I wanted to look at Car One: the metallic grey Hybrid V and Car Two: the white, slightly-​used, 2014 Camry Hybrid. Main Obstacle: The orange Prius C and the other Prius sandwiched between the two.
I must have been on my A-​game today, because I was in there for a total of about 10 minutes, walking stealthy back and forth multiple times between the two cars. I got to sit in both driver seats, check out the spacious back seats of the Prius, AND open/​close both trunks a couple of times to compare cargo capacity.
At first, I only saw the lady at the front desk, so it was relatively easy to avoid detection. However, when a second employee sat down at the adjoining counter and THEN three other employees were spotted, I thought for certain my cover would be blown. However, my elite training paid off.
As I was prepared to exit towards the rendezvous point, my wife called. OH NO! How could I pick up the phone, explain to her what I was doing, and still escape detection!?! Even though I had to abort radio silence in order to tell my wife where I was and explain to her what my perceptions were of the two cars, I still somehow managed to walk out of the dealership without hearing the potentially deadly sounds of «Target Acquired».
MISSION: COMPLETE.