Christopher Salamone

Review of Sun Toyota

DO NOT BUY A CAR FROM SUN TOYOTA EVER! I had bough...

DO NOT BUY A CAR FROM SUN TOYOTA EVER! I had bought a certified Toyota Prius from Sun Toyota in New Port Richey back on 02/08/14. My friend and I had stopped into the dealership to look into trading in my Infiniti; I was looking for a car with better fuel economy since I drive a lot for my job. I had selected a 2011 certified Prius with 47,000 miles. Throughout the sales process it was NEVER disclosed to me (and my friend who was with me at the time later confirmed this) that my car was involved in a rear end collision just a few months prior to me having purchased it! I would later find out that the crash my car was involved in was severe enough for the police to respond and resulted in the complete replacement of the rear end section of my Prius.

In retrospect, finding out my car was involved in such an accident actually helped explain the on-going problems I had with my car since having purchased it from Sun Toyota. The first thing I had noticed was that my stereo would sometimes work or not work (the unit would go on and off without me actually turning in on or off?) I would bring it into the dealership. When they would inspect it, they would not be able to repeat the malfunction so they never would fix the problem. I have brought the car into the Sun Toyota Service Center at least 5 times for this issue alone without any resolution. Then, I noticed my hatch back license plate lights would sometimes work, not work, or one would work, when my lights for the car were turned on. Back to the dealership I went for this problem several times, again without any resolution. Eventually, Sun Toyota s Service Center told me it was an electrical problem not covered under my certified Toyota warranty. Then one morning I had noticed my rear bumper was coming unattached from the car. Upon further inspection, I found the bumper was not attached correctly to the frame of the car. At the time I just assumed someone had ran into my bumper in a parking lot or something. However, now I know better.

This takes us to about three weeks ago when I brought the car back to Sun Toyota to look into trading it in for a newer Prius model. Upon my discussion with one of the sales associates in Sun Toyota Used Car Center it was revealed to me for the first time that my car was in an accident. To make matters worse, Sun Toyota was claiming that they could not give me the full value for my trade-in because the car had been in an accident! I was furious and explained to the sales associate that I had never known about my car having been in an accident. He told me that they had disclosed it to me when I had bought my car. When I asked for the signed Car Fax proving that they had disclosed it to me, he told me that they would get me a copy. It took three weeks for me to get a copy and nearly an hour at the dealership waiting for them to make me a copy of it, but of course I was right I did not sign the Car Fax!

Please do not buy a car from this dealership! Their sales department is awful, the level of disrespect and dismissiveness I have received is truly unforgivable for a business. Shame on Toyota Corporate for allowing such an establishment to bear their corporate name. I am now saddled with a car that no dealership wants to buy because of the accident it was involved in and a car that is literally falling apart around me. Take your hard earned money elsewhere and avoid Sun Toyota in New Port Richey at all costs!