gracie

We may travel to the Lake Wales area in the next few weeks to see our son, who attends college there. We will trade his old car in for a new Toyota. We don't know the reputations of any of the car dealers in the Tampa , Kissimmee, or Orlando areas. Any advice? Any dealer to avoid? I will give him my current car and the new car we buy will be for me. We would rather buy a car in the central FL area where the dealers have more inventory, and to avoid a 7 hour drive back home to the Panhandle in his clunker.

Wednesday

I bought a new Toyota in 2001 in Atlanta and I hate that process, in FL I get my service done at http://www.davidmaustoyota.com/ and it's one of the best customer experiences I have ever had-but I have no idea how their sales team is. Good Luck !

SamH

Hi. I think of buying a new car as kind of a big deal. Unless you are really limited on choice of dealerships or inventory near your hometown, I'd think about getting the new car from a dealer you are comfortable with and having the son drive up on a weekend or break to make the switch. You likely won't have a whole lot of time to car shop and take test drives anyway.

You don't mention what is to become of the clunker, so I assume it doesn't figure into the decision. You can then visit your son some other time in you new car!

gracie

Sam, we plan to trade in his clunker (1995 Jeep Cherokee) when we buy the new car for me. My husband is the one who doesn't want him to drive the car home, or for us to drive the car home. The A/C doesn't work and the doors cannot be locked. I am not sure the Jeep would survive a 7 hour drive. BTW -- I bought my last Toyota from a small town dealership about 50 miles from home b/c the local sales people would not come off the price.

traveller69

Toyota lists the price of their vehicles on their website. The dealers stick to that and the only bargaining you can do is if you are trading a vehicle in - (what they will give you for the old one). We always buy Toyota and Lexus. I like the pricing system because it takes away all the silly haggling. We know ahead of time exactly what it is going to cost and what is included in the price. If you go to Toyota.com you can get exact pricing.

gracie

traveller69 -- My experience with Toyota dealers in general has been very good, with the exeption of the local dealer in 2003. I have bought 4 new Toyotas since 1981, have never paid the sticker price, never doing a trade-in, just a straight sale with cash. No one around here that I know has EVER paid sticker price for a Toyota. Maybe that is just limited to northwest Florida. Although I did have a Pensacola Honda dealer in 1989 tell me he would not come off the sticker on a new Accord. I prompty drove 50 miles to Fort Walton and got a much better deal.

NeoPatrick

I'm really shocked by those comments about no Toyota or Lexus dealers offering anything except on a trade in. I made the mistake of looking at a new Lexus, and got calls from an aggressive saleman for two weeks after I decided I wasn't interested. Every time he called he was offering me more and more off (no trade in). I began to think if I waited long enough, pretty soon he'd pay me to take one. LOL

Meanwhile I've heard numerous arguments here about people going to either Naples or Ft. Myers to get a better deal on Toyota. It runs about 50/50 with the stories of which one gave the better deal, but there have been some pretty major price differences in what the two dealers were offering.

rkkwan

A Toyota or Lexus dealer won't give you a good price on a 95 Cherokee, as they will not sell it on their lot. Rather, they'll just send it to the auction for cheap.

Just locate a Carmax most convenient to you and sell it to them.

lacohn

In my experience... Stay away from Toyota of Orlando--they are terrible to deal with. I bought my Sienna from them and then never went back after the problems I had. Courtesy Toyota in Winter Park is much better.

RedRock

Why not buy the new car in your local area. You will have more time to shop and most likely broker a better deal doing that. Have the son drive his clunker home one weekend and then his "new" one back. Sell or donate the old clunker locally. Then go and visit your son, you wont be spending all that time at a car dealer.

NewbE

Exact pricing?? Oh, that's funny--you almost had me going. EVERY DEALER WILL BARGAIN, yes, even a Saturn dealer, for the simple reason that a car costs the dealer money every day it sits on the lot.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but I just couldn't let that one go.

Gracie, we had a bad-ish experience at Toyota of Orlando, too, but I wouldn't rule them out b/c they have enormous inventory, which helps the buyer to bargain successfully. Just watch the details with them.

Most dealerships have good websites that sometimes even list what's on the lot, which is excellent information to have. Personally, I'd visit the dealers who have the largest number of cars that meet my criteria.

Good luck!

gracie

I want to thank you for all your thoughtful replies. That is why I enjoy this board so much.
Once we decide how to go, I will post again.

gracie

On Thursday night, we decided we would leave for Tampa the next day. Our home computer was down, so I had to wait until the next day, Friday, to search for accomodations. Due to the lateness, all I could get for a reasonable price ($111.) was the Hampton Inn on West Waters Avenue off Veteran's Expressway. It was clean, comfortable, and new, but the sound proofing was terrible. We could hear folks in the hall and in the parking lot -- we were on the second floor. Fortunately, it was near several car dealerships on Dale Mabry Highway. Our first stop was the Lexus of Tampa Bay dealership, and Manny, a salesman gave us some very general assistance --introduced himself and asked if he could help us. At the time, we were just looking because we had to meet our son, who was driving in from Lake Wales, to exchange cars. After the car exhange, we went to other dealerships. We had a bad experience with Stadium Lincoln, so we went to a convenience store to look up the address of another Lincoln dealer. While in the store, a customer mentioned that we should come to the Lexus dealership where she worked. We went on and test drove a car at Northgate Lincoln, then drove to the Lexus dealership. We asked for Manny, but he was tied up, and asked us to work with "Jessica" - who turned out to be the customer at the convenience store we had seen hours earlier! We liked her very much and bought a RX-350 from her. The folks at Lexus treated us very well -- even though we were folks from the small town driving a 12 year old Jeep for a trade-in. I had expected them to be snooty, but not at all. My only complaint was the amount of time it took to complete the deal once we agreed on a price. We were at the dealership for more than 4 hours. However, they did provide soft drinks, sandwiches and other sweets.
We did not care for the salesmen at Stadium Toyota or Stadium Lincoln. The Toyota salemsan was very aggressive but could not answer some very basic questions about the features of the Avalon. The Lincoln salesman knew too much about the features of the MKX - he would not stop talking and let me test drive the car -- even after three requests. The saleswoman at Bill Currie Ford was very kind, as was the salesman at Northgate Lincoln.

Wednesday

ugh...good luck gracie, and thanks for the updates...I'd rather have a PAP done than buy a car....My Toyota quest began years ago and the sales man is insisting I test drive a used red RAV 4...not sure what part of "new only, black or silver only, and I don't do red cars" he didn't understand...it's so stressful !

OO

gracie, the good thing about your hotel...it is right in the thick of most of the dealerships in town. You can just drive from one to the next to the next. Glad you got the deal done.

My husbands company car came from Stadium. You "done good" by moving on!

TxTravelPro

I just bought a new Nissan at CARMAX for about 5000 less than the best deal I could get at the Nissan dealer.
The car I got had 5000 miles on it and was perfectly new.
The Nissan warranty applies, just as if I got it from the dealer.
They gave me the CarFax report. My new car was used by Nissan... it was not owned by an individual.
Anyway... my point is that I got a great deal on a new car from Carmax and you can see every car they have online. You should have a look to see if they have locations in these areas.

gracie

I had checked carmax but they didn't have the Lexus I wanted.