Koons Annapolis Toyota — Local services in Annapolis

I typically do not write reviews, but I need to in this case to share my total buying experience with Koons Toyota in Annapolis. My overall rating would be zero stars if it were possible as almost the whole experience was painful. There were two exceptions: 1. My salesperson (Amare) was amazing and 2. Our vehicle is awesome as is typical of Toyota’s we’ve owned. Those two points is where the awesomeness ends.

For starters, negotiations sucked as the manager knew what they had…it was a sought after vehicle that fetched an almost MSRP price. I was fine with the numbers, obviously as we decided to purchase. Quite possibly the slimiest part was the entire dealings with the finance guy (name withheld). We made it known that we secured financing previously and all was well until we were days away from pickup. They indicated that our check from our well-established credit union was not acceptable. The finance guy tried, for what seemed like hours, to get us to finance through them (like they weren’t making enough money already). Based off principle, we declined and then decided to say we’d just pay them with a personal check in-full. That was declined and they mentioned that we should just secure a cashiers check prior to coming to the delivery. We did just that….we got a cashiers check in full from our bank. At delivery, finance still tried to get us to finance through them. Basically telling us to just finance it and pay it off immediately after so they can get “credit” for the sale. Yes, slimy for sure. We declined that idea and said we’ll just use our cashiers check. The finance guy then followed by saying we needed to fill out a credit application to secure them financially while the cashiers check clears. During discussions around this, I mentioned us just paying with a personal check again and whether that needed to be secured also. He said no and we ended up paying with a personal check. Of course, we had to endure many dozens of minutes listening to finance trying to sell us additional crap we stated we didn’t need or want. He also had some pretty obnoxious verbal sounds he made. It was truly an unforgettable experience in the finance office—a really bad experience. This made me really think car buying and how I’ll do it next time. More specifically, who I give my business to based on their actions and the initial experience.

Ok, one last thing…we paid just shy of $1,000 for the dealership to conduct the administration of the paperwork. That involved them working with a supposed third party to handle all the Pennsylvania licensing and titling. Suffice it to say that it took them 4.5 months to get us our license and registration. The process for this is usually simple…in fact, while waiting, we purchased another additional vehicle elsewhere and handled all the license and registration ourselves and received everything in less than two weeks. All of this on our own….and free with the exception of Pennsylvania fees.

I have to say this was an exceptionally nasty experience and the only great things we experienced were Amare and our 4Runner. To prospective buyers…please read this twice prior to jumping into business with...

Koons Toyota in Annapolis is AMAZING! November 2024 - after our mechanic called time of death on the Honda CRV with 225,000+ miles that my husband drove for work, we began looking for a used, “new to us” car. We knew we needed a car that would last similar to his previous car. We looked at cars at four other dealerships - and even got close to buying one elsewhere. However, it sold right before we returned to begin the process. That turned out to be a huge blessing because we drove down the street to Koons Toyota to take a look at one more dealership before calling it a night. That’s when we found the best deal on a newer car with a lot of life left! We were able to test drive multiple cars on the spot, and review the Carfax for each of them. We looked up the KBB value and the pricing was on point. We slept on the decision and returned the next morning with the down payment. We were then referred to the Finance department where our financing was “shopped” for us through multiple banks. We seriously had the BEST experience with zero pressure. The whole process from start to finish took an entire day, (so pack some snacks, lol!) but we were able to drive off the lot with a used car that evening! 🙌

However, our great experience did not end there. When our other Honda died after 240k miles and two replaced transmissions, Koons Toyota was the first and last placed we looked. Again, we went to the dealership to find a reliable car and Ulysses helped us test drive three different cars that fit the specs we gave him. We moved to Jayda in Finance that afternoon (who also helped us with financing the previous car!) and drove home with another, reliable, “new to us” car that evening. Ulysses and Jayda were EXCELLENT, as were the front desk and Manager of the showroom and the Finance Manager (name escapes me but he’s Jada’s boss, soooo knowledgeable, and genuinely seems to be the nicest guy! He diligently worked his magic to get us a better rate and keep the monthly payment within our budget. It was a total hero move!) Feeling like a couple of Rockafellers, we drove our SECOND car off Koons Toyota’s lot in three months. I don’t know how they get such great cars in their inventory, and keep such great employees, but it will be the only place we car shop in the future (hopefully a few years from now, lol!) and refer our friends and family. All of the staff is knowledgeable and the customer service is top notch. They took care of everything and we actually enjoyed the car buying process! ✨Go get yourself a new or used car - but save yourself time and money by going to Koons Toyota FIRST! We are STILL talking about our awesome experience. ❤️ Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Ulysses,...

I bought a used car here. This is the 4th car I have purchased from Koons Toyota of Annapolis, 2 new, and 2 used. The Volvo I purchased started to shake badly when breaking. I took it to Volvo and Nealys. Both said someone put new pads on absolutely horrible rotors. I took it back to Koons and the manager had it inspected and told me the rotors appeared to be ok upon visual inspection. I said they aren't ok. I just went to two places to have them inspected and both said the rotors are awful. I asked if he was going to fix them or not, and he said, it was not his decision. I said are you not the manager. He said I am. I said then it is your decision. You can make this right or not. They aren't going to fix them and I'll never buy another car here again. Buyer beware. I guess you can't count on a big dealership like this to do the right thing.

Update: Customer relations reached out to me which was a nice gesture. They put me in touch with the sales manager Ronnie who seemed interested to help but wound up being equally as condescending and insulting as the first manager. He said basically there was nothing that he could do to help since I had put 7k miles on the car. The whole point was that brand new breaks were put on bad rotors. It should not matter how many miles I put on the car. This was confirmed by to shops that had nothing to gain. In fact they would loose the business if Koons had done the right thing and offered to fix it. It's a bandaid dealers use sometimes because the customer won't encounter any problems with the breaks for several thousand miles. By that point the dealer can just suggest it's not their fault or their problem, which is basically what Ronnie said to me. So I guess it's not ok to put new pads on old rotors if the customer notices within 30 days but if it takes them 6 months/7k miles to notice, then it's an acceptable practice. Job well done Koons. Hope it's worth losing a 4 time...