Toyota of Hollywood — Local services in Los Angeles

Absolute CROOKS. Want to know why car salespeople have a bad reputation? It’s for reasons like those demonstrated by the individuals I interacted with at Toyota Hollywood, particularly the managers. Here’s what happened in my personal situation:

I found a car listed as available on the dealership lot, and called to confirm. I spoke to Emanuel and Jaime (a manager) on the phone. I was firm in expressing I did not want to make the drive over, if they were not going to honor the MSRP value on their website for a 2025 RAV4 Hybrid XLE Premium. The number online was $40,479. I understand that many dealerships add unnecessary additional accessories in order to increase their profit. I communicated that I would not be paying for any dealer add-ons, and to please not waste my time in driving over if they would not be willing to remove those from the purchase price, and to honor the MSRP. Jaime assured me that he could work with me on the price if I came in person, providing the impression that coming in close to MSRP would be possible. Jaime promised me he’d be available when I arrived, as well as Emanuel, and that they would have the car ready for me to test drive.

I arrive, am escorted in by a new sales person that is neither Emanuel nor Jaime, who I had not spoken to over the phone. She goes to find the car keys, and from where I am sitting at her desk I can hear a lot of frustrated employees — they don’t know where the keys to the car are, let alone where the car is.

They finally walk over to tell me the vehicle isn’t even on property at the dealership yet. It was supposed to arrive from a “sister dealership” two days ago, but no one seemed to know where it was or when it was coming. A manager named Julio came over to apologize to me for the mix up. Clearly, some disorganization and lack of communication occurring at this dealership. Ten minutes later, they come to tell me that actually they located the car and it would be arriving in 5-6 minutes (lucky for them).

I test drove the vehicle. Then, I sat down to discuss numbers with the female salesperson and Julio. Julio offered to remove many dealer installer accesories from the price. Essentially, we reached a number that I told them I would be happy to pay for the car and he then said they’d take it to “upper management” for approval.

Jaime finally appears after having been in meetings. He sits down with two price sheets, and begins to show me numbers: he shows me a value for the MSRP that is $5000 MORE than the online MSRP, far more than anything that had been brought to my attention in the full 2 HOURS I had already been at the dealership (ie $45,479). He explains that he doesn’t sell vehicles without a markup. And mind you, this $5000 markup comes with nothing. It is simply the dealership trying to make more profit, because they think they can. Then he walks through the thousands of dollars in dealer add-ons they also want to charge me, bringing the total out the door price to ~$14,000 over the MSRP. I declined their offer and walked away. They proceeded to send me multiple follow up texts within the next two weeks to sell me a vehicle.

Absolute bait and switch tactics at play, and a frustrating, huge waste of my time to drive over, after I had made it very clear on the phone what my budget was. It’s unfortunate to see car salespeople living up to their reputation. They will tell you anything to get you to walk through the door.

I know there are several positive reviews for this dealer as well, and we can’t generalize completely, but I share my personal experience so that you can walk in with this understanding of what you may be in for as well. Best of luck to anyone trying to purchase a new vehicle during the current political / tariff-threat climate.

On a positive note, Toyota of Downtown LA honored MSRP and I walked away stress-free with my dream car. My advice, steer clear of Toyota...

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED: do not buy, lease or service a car with this dealer!

See attached photos.

After 5 hours of sitting in the dealership I was sold (by Scott) a new, but damaged vehicle: clear coat damaged on trunk, roof, and hood visible under direct lighting i.e. sunny day or garage (I got the car on a cloudy day which concealed its otherwise glaring damage). Immediately I sought help from the dealer to correct the issue. This was about 24 hours after signing the lease. A sales manager (Marcello) said they would send my car to a shop to get it fixed, assuring me it "wont be done here" and "I want you to be 100% satisfied".

When I came to get my car after it was "worked on" my wife and I found absolutely nothing was changed. In fact they added swirl marks to the car everywhere, further damaging the finish. After 5 minutes of looking at the car, we looked up and everyone was gone for the day - no one seemed to care to stick around to see if we were satisified; in fact, it seemed they had prepared to disappear quickly. So we left and decided to come back the following morning.

The next day we asked to speak with the person who worked on the car to understand what they did. Some kid walked up from the back (at Toyota, so Marcello straight lied that it would "not be done here") and apparently he just give it a wash. That was another two trips and days wasted for a car wash that only worsened the issue.

At this point the car wash kid tried tell me that "they're all like that". A clear insult to intelligence, this naturally made me furious: it's a brand new car, kid. The sales manager (Raldo) standing there acted dumb repeatedly saying "I don't know, I'm not an expert" and "we can have them wash it again" when asked for a real resolution. I asked for the service manager (Michael) who had, earlier that day (now my 4th or 5th trip there in a week), briefly made eye contact with me before scurrying behind the building never to be seen again. At this point I was talking to air and could get help nowhere. My anger was at 11 and I was about to explode.

I was able to get a hold of the GM by showing up to the property at the same time he was scheduled to be there for a branch meeting (830am). This was extremely challenging - he was well guarded by the people at Toyota of Hollywood. He arranged for my car to be repaired at a body shop. Finally (or so I thought). On my 6th visit to the dealership in 8 days. Probably 15 hours of my + my wife's time wasted on this, and they didnt even pay for my rental car (which will be challenged with Visa).

After the body shop (Eli's in LA) worked on the car, everything looked great. Until it was washed, and everything showed back up again - so apparently Toyota told Eli's to just conceal it and not really fix it, or Eli's is also incompetent.

Dealing with these people was the worst consumer experience I have ever had in my entire life. The stress, anxiety and anger is difficult to put into words. A complaint will also go the BBB. In retrospect I wish I had just eaten the loss and taken it to a body shop myself and had it done correctly. At this point I am sick of it.

If you want to be cheated (sold a damaged car), lied to ("we'll repair it at a shop" / proceed to wash it on site), insulted ("all new cars are like that") and ignored (wouldn't make eye contact with my wife when she was speaking; people disappear and you can never find them again), come here. But I'm going to guess you don't want any of this.

Car dealers are scumbags, but Toyota of Hollywood wants to be at the top...

SHORT VERSION: Toyota of Hollywood does high-quality repair work, but make sure you keep close track of your service history, because many of their technicians don’t look at it and they’ll soak you for hundreds of dollars of work you don’t need if you’re not careful.

LONG VERSION: I’ve had my car serviced every 5,000 miles at Toyota of Hollywood for the past few years, and used them for minor repairs, and usually they’ve been good. But the last visit has motivated me to post this review, because I was lied to about all kinds of services I don't need.

I brought my car in for a hybrid battery replacement in December, a major and very expensive repair that I trusted to the dealer because I wanted to make sure it was done right. (That repair was done quickly and correctly, like most, hence the two-star review.) Their technicians did their multi-point inspection, and I was told that in addition to the hybrid battery, I needed new tires because the current ones have less than 2/32" tread left, and that my brake and transmission fluids are dirty.

I declined new tires, because just 3,500 miles earlier in September, Toyota of Hollywood’s technicians told me my tires had 10,000 to 15,000 more miles in them. I also declined the fluid changes because something in my memory told me I had had those done recently. I took the car home after the repair and measured the tire treads with a $5 depth gauge; all were at 4/32", which is right around where they should be given that I'm 55k miles into their 70k mile tread warranty. In addition, I checked my service history and saw that I my transmission fluids had been flushed and replaced 3,500 miles ago at my previous service in September at great expense. My brake fluids had been replaced at the previous service 8,500 miles ago. Both of these fluids should last for years, not a few months.

I’ve had similar experiences in the past, though not quite as egregious. In one instance, Toyota of Hollywood replaced my spark plugs (120,000 mile service life) 107,000 miles too soon because they couldn’t access the car’s service records from Toyota of Glendale, and I wasn’t yet aware that I needed to be the vehicle history police. (This problem persisted for years, and I eventually had to make a technician log into Carfax to prove I had serviced the vehicle at Toyota of Glendale.)

I bring my car to Toyota because I trust them to do a better job than a random technician in the neighborhood, and I like having all my service history in one place. But it appears some of the techs don't check the vehicle history at all before recommending services. If I have to actively manage the service history to avoid spending hundreds of dollars on wasteful, unnecessary service, I might as well save money and take the car to Jiffy Lube, where at least I expect that sort...