Serra Toyota — Local services in Birmingham

🚫🚫🚫⚠️⚠️⚠️🚫🚫🚫 (Had forgotten some info) Let me tell you about my experience. If I could put a -4 stars, I would. BEWARE!!! STAY AWAY!!! This dealership provided me misinformation and sold a car out from under me after traveling from two states & guaranteeing appointment. Then provide me misinformation on three separate vehicles and attempted to pressure me to sign off on a vehicle that I have not seen in person. They made me wait 2 days from sunup to sundown until the very end of the day and refused go over the bill of sale or any of the documents and just wanted me to sign. Because of their miscommunication in their departments, the vehicle I originally wanted was sold to somebody else after guaranteeing it to me. Because of all the trouble I was not to be paying for a delivery fee for another vehicle and they charged me and the bill of sale anyways so they did not honor their word in that regard either. Not only the salesperson, sales manager, financing department, and accounting manager assured me that they would cut me a check that day for a hotel reimbursement for making me stay longer and their business closing and not completing the paperwork. The following morning they assured me that I would be out of there within 2 hours, it was 9:00 a.m. I didn't leave until 9:00p.m. and they still would not refund my check or give it to me in person. I asked for it various times throughout the day and they reassured me that they would. At the end of the night when 9:00p.m. rolls around, they told me they would not give me my check reimbursement in person because everyone has left for the day even though they refused to give it to me (regardless if I made a purchase on a vehicle are not). The other big issue I had was they charged me a delivery fee on the contract when I said specifically I wasn't paying for a delivery fee on a vehicle from another dealership since they had sold the one I originally wanted. After the salesperson. Salesperson I was with reassured me I wouldn't because he said if he was able to get it there that very day for me to look at, would I consider purchasing it? And I said if they got it to me that day and it had all the specs, I would but I'm not paying a delivery fee from one dealership to another since I was told multiple times that three separate vehicles had what I wanted and they didn't. Once again, he agreed and ran off to go order it. The vehicle was not delivered that evening in time for me to see and I had to stay overnight. The financial department would not go over in depth on the bill of sale or the contract agreements. He would not give me the grievance department information, numbers, or names. I asked multiple times to see the bill of sale and the full amount in it's entirety and I was ignored and expected just to sign without question. I was reassured that they would call me the very next day and give me the tracking information along with the type of service the check was going to be mailed by. It has been 3 days and they are not accepting my calls, no form of communication. I am a disabled veteran and a woman traveling alone and they knew this and I was pressured and provided misinformation for two days straight not including the week prior about the discussion on a vehicle that was sold out from under me after traveling more than 600 miles. I didn't like being pressured by more than six people throughout the day and them asking about my marital status multiple times. This is extremely unprofessional & disrespectful!! When I wanted to leave with MY vehicle prior to buying, I wanted my vehicle and title immediately and dealership refused to return my vehicle prior to purchasing. I demanded my title immediately, got it. Refused my car after Additional charges after agreement were made. I was reassured the miscommunication would be resolved within 1-2hrs. They made me wait 4+ hours after.So after 20+ hrs of sitting in dealership, they didn't honor compensation for lodging or removing delivery fee of vehicle.

Dealership resolved hotel reimbursement...

My experience at Serra Toyota was very disappointing and disheartening. On April 19, 2025 I made the drive to Birmingham with my husband and parents thinking I would get a better deal and more options than what was in Montgomery. I went to one Toyota in Birmingham and did not have much luck on getting the RAV4 that I was looking for. My dad called Serra Toyota and spoke with Mr. Yao who stated they had plenty of RAV4 on the lot. When we got there Mr. Yao started out showing us all the different options but informed us he had to leave so he handed us over to Mr. Vishal. After going over what I wanted and what I could afford, Mr. Vishal left me believing we would leave with a dark grey colored RAV4 with a sunroof and automatic trunk. I made it clear that those were the features I was looking for. After signing all paperwork and being pressured into a price that I stated numerous of times it would be a struggle for me to pay we agreed to the terms and even to the fact that we had to wait 16 days to receive the car. I was not happy with waiting nor the price but I felt that I would be happy enough to bust my butt to make the payments if it was going to be the vehicle I wanted. We left there with no paperwork because we were told that we didn’t need any until after we picked up the car and apparently no clear idea of what vehicle we purchased because when we returned to pick up the car on May 6, 2025, I was very underwhelmed at the initial sight of the car which was light silver…. I got even more depressed when I saw it had no sunroof and the trunk was manual. I expressed a deep dissatisfaction with the whole situation and I felt lied to and dismayed. Mr. Vishal stated that they had to change the car/package to fit the budget that we asked for but that was not explained to us as I know I kept stating that I wanted a sunroof, dark grey, and automatic trunk lift and he said that was included. Mr. Vishal led us to believe that the only thing that would be missing or different from the car was that we would not get leather seats or heated seats or the best audio in the car which we were fine with but we were sure that we would have the sunroof and automatic trunk and the color we wanted. I understand that those things are out of my price range now but the fact that I was not told that before purchasing does not sit well with me. I was pre-approved prior to the visit with 40,000 which was enough to buy what I wanted and I could afford the payments and was talked into getting financed by Toyota thinking it was a better deal and I came with a trade in only to get a car and deal that I did not want. I trusted that I was in good hands to get what I wanted and to leave happy but instead I left depressed and upset that I will be busting my butt to make payments on a car that I do not like. I felt conned and on top of that the lack of paperwork that I did not receive after leaving made no sense to me. I received no loan paperwork, spec paperwork, nothing. Just left in the dark. I just feel like I could have stayed in Montgomery and got a car that day off the lot that I wanted versus coming to Birmingham and dealing bc with this headache in search for better options and deals. After purchasing I constantly got the run around about having received none of the financial documents that I signed and they still have not paid off my car that I traded in so now Nissan is calling me asking why am I late on my car payments. George in finance seems to have no regards to this and it is him that likes to give me the run around and leave me on hold or sit in his office and leave me out on the floor waiting for paperwork. This has just been a level of unprofessionalism that seems to be getting worst rather than better. I traded in my vehicle so I fail to realize why I have to be the one to call and check in on Toyota as to why they have not paid off the car. Not only is this business still now owing up to their mistakes and have not fixed it, they are acting like children instead of a...

Predatory and dehumanizing; they held the keys to my car while repeatedly forcing a new car on me outside of my budget, and ignoring about a dozen of my requests to see anything else.

I messaged Abdoul the night before about test driving used cars, and he told me to come in and ask for him the next day. I did that, and they said that he was out of town for the week and no one was scheduled to work with me (I later messaged him about it, and he said a family emergency came up, which was contradictory to what the other employees had said, so I believe that was a lie to make me feel sorry for him, though I can’t be certain). Emmanuel worked with me then, who was pleasant enough until he ignored my repeated requests to only test drive used cars within a certain budget, of which I know they sell. He brought out a new 2025 model, which I told him I wouldn’t be able to afford, but still test drove to get a feel for the model car I was interested in. I asked him what older models they had for sale, and he started a spiel about how “You’re not taking yourself seriously enough, and you deserve to have a new car”. I said no, and he disappeared for 30 minutes (which I assumed was for pulling cars for me to test drive) but when he returned he had the paperwork for the 2025, pointed at the payment options and said “just circle and sign which option looks best to you” which shocked me so much I had to stare blankly for a minute. I, once again, said no, and that I would like to test drive other cars. He essentially shamed me for suggesting that, but once again disappeared for a long time. He came back and said “ok, we’ve got a great deal for you on the 2025,” so I asked how many months the “new deal” was, which Emmanuel refused to answer over and over (it ended up still being 8-12k over of my budget). At this point I had told Emmanuel that I had to leave by a certain time for my job, and that I needed my keys back, since they had taken them at the beginning to price my car. Every time I said I needed them back, he said “sure thing, let me just explain this first” which happened 3-4 times. It was over 45 minutes since asking for my keys back that they returned them, which is a level of predatory tactics I didn’t expect them to be capable of. I finally got the keys after having to raise my voice at 3 different people. When I rushed out to my car because I was running late for work, the manager followed me out to my car trying to get me to sign things at the last minute, never once even mentioning anything other than the 2025. I felt crazy by the time I was leaving, because I would have probably bought a used car from them if they hadn’t insisted on manipulating me and believing that all my “no’s” meant “yes”. I don’t know if the manager was pressuring Emmanuel to sell me this specific car or what, but it was all absurdly disrespectful. I would avoid Abdoul, Emmanuel, and their manager who I blame more than either of them, whose name I unfortunately don’t know. This is their daily routine, their jobs involve the customer not being brave enough to call them out, and it’s fundamentally dehumanizing and predatory. Horrible place,...