Mike Kauspedas

Review of Burt Toyota

I went in with my wife and kid to test drive a Tac...

I went in with my wife and kid to test drive a Tacoma and how car seat friendly they were. The salesman was very quiet during the test drive and never went over the features of the truck despite telling him I was comparing it to a Frontier. Would have been nice to at least have a walk around, point out some of the things Toyota does better than Nissan, etc. Another dealer did a much better job selling the truck. After we got back from our quiet and uncomfortable test drive we took a quick look at numbers and then left. My wife and I mulled it over and she dashed my dreams of owning a truck with the need for a practical car. We own two Outbacks and needed to replace one of them so we decided to just upgrade. Turns out Groove had the best priced lowest mileage Outback so I went back, test drove, and decided to purchase.

Groove is your typical dealer with not exactly high pressured sales, but close enough. I think they held over a lot of the Burt mentality. Compared to dealers like Kuni and Schomp they aren't as friendly and they work to sell loans not cars. You'll get the inevitable question, "what would you like your payment to be?" and then the negotiations revolve around the monthly payment (if u choose to finance there). There's running back and forth with the sales manager and the blank piece of paper with the offers on it. Once you agree to a price you go back to the finance salesman who pushes warranties, gap, paint protection, interior protection, etc. Be careful before taking that car home, you'll be signing a doc stating you'll pay a $500 restocking fee if you bring the car back under their "4 day 200 mile guarantee" and of course the standard $50/day $.50/mile.

In fairness, the finance process was fast and straightforward. Probably the least amount of time I have spent in the finance office. Also the price of the car was fair and under fair market value. They also gave me more for my trade - which to be honest wasn't worth a whole lot. A lot of that had to do with financing through them so they get the kick back on interest plus whatever they make off the trade and the sale of the used car. I'm ok with all that, it's a business and they need to make a buck.

Getting the car was actually the best part. Someone called me to find out when I was coming in to pick it up. It was cleaned and had a full tank of gas and parked up front. I dropped my trade off, grabbed my old plates, and off I went.