Toyota of El Cajon
Customer Reviews of Toyota of El Cajon
Review type:
Stressful stay away
by Pumpkin on 12/16/2024Buying a car at Toyota of El Cajon was the most stressful and horrifying experience. The salesman Robert lied to me about the warranty and the price of the car and the value of my trade. When I tried to leave because they were lowballing me… on my trade, they took me to the back to see the sales manager Adel who began insulting me telling me I don't know the car buissnes and I do not know what my trade is worth and they were not gonna be able to give any more for my trade, so I requested my keys to my car then Adel said he would pay off my trade but nothing more, then he tried to put me in a higher tax percentage and that's the second time I requested my keys because I was tired of Adel trying to recuperate the difference from the trade. Adel said he would change it, then Adel charged me the same price for my car with no convenience package as what my friend had just paid for his car with the convenience package, I did not notice that even though Adel stated he would change the price because the convenience package was about 1k difference he never made thise changes and I didn't notice and messed up by buying this car. If you want a stressful day and not happy with your purchase go to Toyota of El Cajon or any dealership owned by these guys, Honda of El Cajon, and Lexus El Cajon. The car i bought had a big stain in the back, and when they tried to clean it it made it worse with another stain.Honest dealer.
by dutta on 08/16/2014Questions: What makes a business great? Answer: It is the ability to rectify a mistake and going the extra mile to accomplish this goal. It is the fortitude and culture of a business to defend its good reputation by providing exemplary… service to its customers. This is why I feel Toyota of El Cajon is a great business. They turned an unhappy customer into a loyal customer for life. For a car dealership, it is truly an extraordinary feat and high standard of ethics. Initially, Toyota of El Cajon made certain statement regarding payment. However, due to low credit score, Toyota Finance charged a higher interest thereby causing the agreed upon payment to go up. Once, the owner of this family owned dealership, Gary K. became aware of this issue, he immediately took action. Gary, in fact, used his influence and persistence to get Toyota Finance to reverse their decision regarding the rate tier. Gary's staff and managers work relentlessly with Toyota to resolve this issue. Sales manager, Paul S., went above and beyond the call of duty to tenaciously remain involved until the matter was fully resolved. Ross, the sales person was a perfect gentleman and acted as such throughout the transaction. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised by the dealer's steadfastness in making this car buying experience a perfect transaction. I would recommend this family owned dealership to my friends and family for a straightforward car buying experience. Off course, I shall return to this dealership whenever I need a new car.Worked exactly as it should
by carbuff50 on 03/08/2009Used internet quote and received a call back from Hewa, price was good, upfront, had the car, set up the time to pick it up, all went very, very well. That is exactly how it is supposed to work-very pleased.Played price shell game when I went into the dealership
by dog144 on 01/25/2009I contacted twelve dealerships in SoCal by internet looking for the auto configuration I wanted and with the best price package. TSEC offered the lowest price by email among the twelve I polled. When I went to the dealership to make the… deal I got the old surprise add-ons to the price. Then the haggling began. It became a price shell game. I left with no intention to work with this outfit.Actually stood by their internet quote.
by auntbea3 on 08/14/2007We had done all the preliminary research on Edmunds and settled for the 2007 4runner with 4wd, 6 cylinder and roof rack. That's all we wanted. We had our own financing and had no trade in. Color, music and all the bells and whistles were… not important. We explained all of that through emails and told the internet salesman that we were "Edmunds Educated" and weren't going to play any games. They had their 2007 inventory and knew that they were getting ready for 2008. He had a basic vehicle with a roof rack and tow package that wasn't selling because it didn't have all of the extras. And, that is exactly what we wanted and weren't going to go for anything else. The internet salesperson ended up giving us $500 below the invoice (about $5000 below MSRP) and wrote the figures in an email quote. When we got to the dealership, he had a folder ready with our info, had the vehicle running for a test drive, then took us into the dealership and put us through to the contracts person. He was straightforward and didn't play any games, what was previously written on the email was exactly what we paid. We did have to wait a while to get the vehicle detailed. Total process 2 hours.Freindly but non responsive
by jkl56 on 01/08/2014updated 06/11/2025Requested a quote from this dealership and was contacted immediately by an actual person. The person was nice enough however unwilling to provide me a price on the vehicle I was looking for. Stated that it was a new body design and until… the actual vehicle was on his lot, a price could not be issued. Finished the conversation by saying he'd be in contact often which really doesn't do me much good when purchasing for a vehicle. Needless to say, his e-mails are now SPAM and the phone calls have subsided.Horrible Service & Violent Salesman
by toyotacamrysd on 12/04/2013updated 06/11/2025My wife and I decided to give Toyota of el Cajon a shot at our business. We had taken a couple of test drives with other dealers but the other dealers did not have the color and options we wanted. We made arrangements with Marwan F. (Sales… Manager) to come in and test drive a specific car at a pre arranged price with the intent to purchase that night. We went into the dealership and we are assigned to Simeon O. We started our test drive and once we reached the freeway I asked that we drive for a few miles as we were planning to buy this specific car in the next hour. Simeon told us that we needed to pull off at the next exit and we were only allowed to drive 1 exit before buying a brand new $28,000 car. I explained to Simeon that to feel comfortable spending this much money we wanted to drive at least 3-4 miles to feel comfortable. With my wife driving the vehicle she was already getting nervous with a man sitting behind her being very rude and abrupt with us and telling us to pull over and that the test drive was over. Personally, I understand that we came in at 8pm and the night was almost over but we had pre arranged the drive and purchase price already with the sales manager, it was a slam dunk sale for them as we and had cash in hand. Simeon said we were stupid to want to drive more than 1 exit and he had been doing this for 15 years and no one needs to drive more than 1 exit to test out a car. I told Simeon he was being extremely rude and acting like [non-permissible content removed]. He proceeded to start yelling at both my wife and I that we were [non-permissible content removed] and he made more money than us and he would bash our faces into the ground the moment he got out of the car, as well as his son was more obedient than us.... Needless to say he went from 0-crazy in a matter of seconds. After over 20 threats on our life and hitting the back seat and screaming at the top of his lungs at us.....all while I called his manager and had him on speaker phone the entire time for him to hear the exact threats he was making! I decided to call the police, who were dispatched to secure our safety. After the Sales Manager offered us to take the car as loaner, Laura B. the PR person from the dealership called to apologize. She was very nice and apologetic. I felt that the sales manager and PR person cared to apologize but I did wonder what the owner Greg K. thought about the situation. I was told that the owner would call a couple of days later. After 5 business days later and no call or care from the owner combined with the fact that I called the dealership today and found out that Simeon was rewarded with his behavior with only being suspended from work for a day and was able to keep his job, I decided to write this review. Simeon O. was allowed to threaten customers lives all while being on speaker phone with the sales manager and the only discipline he received was a day suspension. On top of that the owner was requested to contact me regarding the situation and he felt it was not worth his time. The very next day we went to Toyota of Carlsbad and purchased the very same car and were in and out of the dealership in 2 hours. I recommend that Toyota car buyers find any other Toyota dealership in San Diego other than El Cajon.New Scion purchase
by connie30 on 07/06/2011updated 06/11/2025The process was very friendly and professional. I can say it was the first vehicle I've purchased that I didn't feel lied to or pressured. We got exactly what we wanted and were able to finalize papers and drive off within hours.Purchasing new Venza
by skasendorf on 07/06/2011updated 06/11/2025Excellent!!Congratulations on your new car! We are glad to see that you enjoyed your experience at our dealership. If you ever need anything, please contact us. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for service specials that are exclusive to our followers. We appreciate your recommendation! Thank you, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
Excellent sales service, didn't waste my time
by mphippsm on 07/02/2012updated 06/11/2025I had done all the research on what I wanted, so I called them up, asked if they had the car I wanted: a manual 5-speed Yaris. They said "yes" and we talked a little about the price and they actually came in under my target price. So, I was… very happy. There was no wasting time haggling. Just came in, paid, and got the car. My sales representative was Jose Franco and I highly recommend him. Very straightforward and easy to work with, no annoying sales "games." THANK YOU!Thank you so much for taking the time to write this tremendous review! I am so pleased to hear that your experience with Toyota of El Cajon was so wonderful. We strive to provide nothing but the best for our customers and it is nice to see that goal being met. Jose is a valuable member to our team and he will be so delighted to hear you enjoyed your time here. If we can help you in any way possible please don't hesitate to ask! We look forward to seeing you soon. All the Best, Daniela Provenzano Guest Relations Manager
"Old school" dealing with clients - sad to have in the 21st century
by nmikmik on 07/08/2013updated 06/11/2025Got this dealer as a possibility amongst other dealers from Edmunds car price request service. Was in the area (I live far away) decided to stop by and talk to the seals person. They just happen to answer my request first too (I am sure… automated thing) right after my initial request. Chronologically; Came to the dealer around 10:45, met the salesman, drove the car. Waited for my wife to show up, took her about an hour, but from that time, lets say from noon until 4pm! we were going back and forth. I just asked for a current Toyota special, but all kinds of reasons and excuses were given to me to talk me into believing that I have to pay more. The sales person kept saying he is at his job for 3 month, fine, but the first manager tried to get me to pay initiation (sounds like fraternity? ) fees, and that is when Toyota does not mention it at all on their specials ad. That one actually claimed that he is doing this for 13 years and knows how it works, so I guess I must pay as he says because he has experience ripping people off? I actually told them all, one at the time, I dont expect them to pay me to get the car, I am willing to pay a reasonable profit over the invoice price to the dealer. I guess, what I call reasonable $300-$350 is not reasonable enough to them. They managed to adjust me up from the advertized special (lease), to close to $20 above that price, I am really glad they did not have the color that my wife wanted, so they had to locate the car and I was going to come back next day. Overall I spoke to one salesperson and three! managers, was told all bunch of excuses ranging from inexperience to I am a manager from another store so what are you doing asking me for more money, but dont know why??? Since I requested prices from few different dealers, I was receiving quotes from them as well, while I was dealing with El Cajon Toyota. So next morning, I waited and waited for the salesman to call me with news on the located Camry, noting at 9, nothing at 10 so I thought what the heck, ( I really felt uncomfortable and been taken advantage of, when I left the dealer) why dont I reply to couple of them and see what they say about the price they can give me. By the way, none of them were giving me lease prices, just discounted price on the car I wanted. I wish Edmunds would have that option of specifying if I want the buy or lease. So one of the dealers, give me all the information on the lease with payments, residual no money down and happen to have the car. It took me less than an hour to; drive the car, go over numbers, sign the papers, shake hands and go home. My wife thought I was joking when I came home and told her she has a new car to drive. The dealership looked a lot less snazzy compare to Toyota of El Cajon, but completely different atmosphere there and no hassle purchase more than makes up for it. I'd really appreciate if "customer relations manager" does not bother answering this post, because I tried to get a hold of him/her all morning long, nothing. The only good thing i can say about Toyota of El Cajon, they have a really good coffee :(Great Company to do business with!
by azurebob on 09/18/2012updated 06/11/2025As a businessman, I have purchased over 40 vehicles over the years. I found Toyota of El Cajon to be professional and fair. I would recommend them to anyone.Nothing makes me more happy than another very satisfied customer! I am so thrilled to hear you experienced our commitment to customer service while visiting Toyota of El Cajon. The whole team will be thrilled when they read your amazing review. Thank you for taking the time to write this tremendous review. Please, let us know if we can assist you in any way, we are here to help! We look forward to seeing you soon! All the Best, Laura Brewer Guest Relations Manager
Smooth Transaction
by dmedress on 01/22/2014updated 06/11/2025Purchased a 2013 SE Camry 3.5 Fully loaded from Jose F. the Internet Sales Manager in November. Our friend Kathleen that works at El Cajon Toyota suggested we work with Jose. We contacted him via email. The initial email provided all the… information needed to find the Camry SE 3.5. We received a response quickly with total cost minus Tax and License. Very smooth transaction. We did not have a trade in therefore the sale was fast. Both my husband and I have excellent credit scores so obtaining the 0.0% APR for 60 months which included Toyota Care was a plus. Jose was very professional, polite and respectful. I would do business with Toyota of El Cajon in a heart beat.Toyota of El Cajon - Costco Program
by samplefam on 07/07/2011updated 06/11/2025We went in on two consecutive days. On Saturday we went in and tried to lease/purchase the vehicle, I felt very pressured and did not like the sales managers tactics. At that point I found out about the Costco Auto Buying Program. I called… them and found Toyota of El Cajon was a registered dealership with them, so on Sunday I went in to the dealership and did everything Costco told me to do. I got to buy the car for $2,000 less than they tried to sell the car to me the day before...except with no pressure. It was nice!Congratulations on your new car and thank you for taking the time to tell us about your visit! We are glad to see that in the end you were able to get the car that you wanted in a pressure-free environment. Please contact us if you ever need anything! Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for service specials that are exclusive to our followers. We hope you continue to enjoy your new car! Thank you, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
Great Experience
by tanyamnelson on 07/11/2011updated 06/11/2025I had a great experience going in to by my used toyota. They were very speedy and i was out within 2 hours. They have followed up with me to make sure there isn't anything else i have needed.Tanya, congratulations on your new car and thank you for taking the time to tell us about your visit at our store. All of us at Toyota of El Cajon appreciate your recommendation and are thrilled to see that you had a positive experience with us. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to contact us. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for service specials that are exclusive to our followers. Come back to see us again soon! Thank you, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
El Cajon Toyota rocks!
by baybthumper on 07/07/2011updated 06/11/2025I love my new 2011 Toyota Tacoma! I had a very good buying experience at EC Toyota. I will say it took longer than expected to complete the sale, but they made sure I was happy in the end. I would buy my next car or truck from them in a… heartbeat! Jennifer D.Jennifer, Congratulations on your new Tacoma! All of us at Toyota of El Cajon are thrilled that you had a good experience at our store. If you ever need anything, please contact us. We are more than willing to help! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for service specials that are exclusive to our followers. We hope to see you again soon! Thank you, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
Above and beyond.
by jimbo1234 on 07/07/2011updated 06/11/2025Ross and Dan went above and beyond the call of duty to get us in our new car. thank you guys we love our Highlander. Francine and JIMFrancine and Jim, congratulations on your new Highlander! Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your visit at our store. Ross and Dan will be excited to see that you were pleased with their customer service. Please contact us if you ever need anything. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for service specials that are exclusive to our followers. We hope you continue to enjoy your new Highlander! Thank you, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
Well worth the trip
by flagmann on 07/23/2011updated 06/11/2025El Cajon Toyota is great. I could not find a Tacoma regular cab, 4x4, 4cyl, AUTOMATIC in the Phoenix AZ metro. 5 speeds everywhere. I looked here to find what I wanted. Set the miles to 500 and found five to choose from Toyota of… ElCajon. Called and spoke to Jamal Best and told him I would drive over the next day. It a 6 hour drive from Phoenix. No regrets. Got fair market value price. Gustav the finance mgr beat my credit union loan rate. He was quick,knew how to get everything precessed with no delays. Overall experience was excellent. It was worth the drive!!! Everyone was friendly and wanted to make our buying experience easy. I drove my new toy 6 hours back to Phoenix and I am very glad I made the trip. Now I have a reason to go back for service. Two years of free scheduled maintenance and Mission Beach.Congratulations on your new Tacoma and thank you for making the long drive to come see us! We are so happy we had the car you were looking for. I will be sure to tell Jamal and Gustav that you were more than pleased with their customer service. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to contact us. We are always ready to help! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for future service specials that are exclusive to our followers. We look forward to seeing you again! Thank you, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
New Prius
by gspogies on 07/06/2011updated 06/11/2025This was my first time purchasing a new vehicle and they made it pretty easy. my salesman Carlos was very easy going. His supervisor was a bit pushy but what do you expect he is a car salesman.Congratulations on your new car and thank you for taking the time to post this review. Carlos will be happy to see that he was able to make your experience a positive one. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to contact us. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for service specials that are exclusive to our followers. We hope you continue to enjoy your new car! Thank you, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
GREAT PLACE TO BUY A TOYOTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by baluyot on 07/07/2011updated 06/11/2025I purchased a corolla from them about 6 years ago and bought another one this year. I love the new building they moved to since it's beautiful, has wifi, has a nice play area for kids. The people are very friendly and helpful. It was a… great purchase experience. I highly recommend Toyota of El Cajon!. BTW, I live in North County.Congratulations on your new Corolla and thank you for coming back to see us again! We are so happy that you enjoyed our new location. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to contact us. We are here to help! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for service specials that are exclusive to our followers. Thank you for the great recommendation and we hope to see you again soon! Best Regards, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
BAD EXPERIENCE, NOT RECOMMENDED
by tomb12 on 10/26/2011updated 06/11/2025Awful experience by the dealership personnel Sales person was ok , but the sales manager where rude to me and to my wife. Their service department is a rip-off. Never going to come back to this place.On behalf of all of us here at Toyota of El Cajon please accept our most sincere apologies for the negative experience you had on your recent visit. Our number one priority is to provide the highest standard of customer service and I'm sorry to see that goal was not met. I would like to invite you to contact me directly so I can discuss, and better understand, the details of this situation with you personally. We truly appreciate you feedback, and I hope to hear from you soon. Walt Lyman - Guest Relations Manager 619-270-3195.
Connie, congratulations on your new car! We appreciate you taking the time to reflect on your visit with us and post this great review. All of us at Toyota of El Cajon are thrilled that you had a pressure-free experience. Please contact us if you ever need anything. We are always ready to help. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for service specials that are exclusive to our followers. We appreciate your recommendation! Thank you, Michelle Candelaria - Guest Relations Manager
by toyotaelcajon on 07/07/2011