Middletown Toyota — Local services in Middletown

I saw a 2022 Tacoma on 11/5/21 on Middletown Toyota's website and called to confirm availability. I spoke with Gena Simmons and was told the truck wouldn't be in till mid-December. I was fine with that. I asked about pricing and was told that I would be charged MSRP for the vehicle. I was pleased with that considering Tacoma’s are sought after anyway and with the current shortage, most other dealerships are charging several thousand over MSRP. I had her email me the out the door price including all charges. Vin etching was included in the itemized pricing and I told her I didn't want it. She said that sales manager would suggest I get it but to discuss it when I go through receiving and signing the sales contract. I said that was fine and gave her my credit card number for a $1,000 down payment. She said my card would NOT be charged until I signed the sales contract which she said I should receive it in a day or two.

Early the next day, 11/6/21 I received the sales contract through email from Otto Ficken and the sales contract had the vin etching included. I emailed him back immediately and told him I didn't want it and to please remove it and send a new contract over. Meanwhile I checked my credit card and I was charged the $1,000 deposit even though the contract had not been signed yet. I emailed him on 11/7 two more times (not realizing they were closed on Sunday so I shouldn’t have expected a response that day), again on 11/9, again on 11/11 and lastly again on 11/12. Never once did I receive a response from him. I also tried calling but every time I called, he was with a customer and never returned my call.

I decided at this point I did not want the vehicle and tried calling the dealership on 11/12 to cancel. I was told the owner is the only one that can cancel this transaction and he was “on vacation”. It seems odd to me that he is the only one that can do this and if he is away on vacation, I have to wait for his return to cancel? Frustrated as I was, that same day I decided to just dispute the charge on my card with Chase. They said they would put a hold and I wasn't responsible for the charge. They would give the merchant two weeks to respond but the charge wouldn't be removed from my account until two weeks was up.

Also on 11/12 I decided to email Matthew Martin who is the "General Sales Manager". This guy was the absolute icing on the cake. I decided to let him know that his staff has been completely unresponsive and because of it I didn't want to move forward with the purchase. His response was "I see you asked for vin etching to be removed and you can get this cheaper elsewhere. I have moved the Tacoma to another customer. I will advise our credit card company of your cancelation. Have a great day." He also didn't seem to care that his staff was completely unresponsive and I got the notion that he was sticking up for their poor communication over me, the customer.

Meanwhile the date is now 11/21/21 and the charge remains on my credit card. Clearly Matthew didn't "advise our credit card company of your cancelation". I ended up going to Colonial Toyota which I should have done in the first place. They actually know how to treat a customer.

11/26/21 Update: Owner's reply below did not address any of the concerns I noted.

11/30/21 Update: The $1,000 deposit still remains on...

Terrible place to purchase a vehicle when you’re buying out of state. It’s as if they think an out of state customer is never going to come around again. I’ve personally experienced very bad communication.

Updated: I purchased a 2019 F-150 with a clean car fax from Middletown Toyota with only 15,300 miles. When I first saw the truck Bob pointed out multiple plastic plugs that were covering holes that were drilled into the cab and doors. He told me the previous owner had done this to spray a rust-prevention product into the cab. The delivery attendant told me he worked at a Ford dealer before and that the cab was made of steel, which at the moment I believed with some slight hesitation at first. Having driven over 6 hours to see it, I didn’t think much of this seemingly small detail. However recently I brought my truck to a Ford dealer for service and a wheel alignment. I got the truck back and the steering was still pulling to the right. So I brought the truck back to the Ford dealer that did the wheel alignment and they said that if they make more adjustments AND the truck keeps on pulling to the right, they will have to take a look at the suspension. I got the truck back again and it still was pulling to the right, implying that there was something wrong beyond a wheel alignment… something was bent. This got me thinking that the truck was in an accident. I asked around to body shops about the plugs and even showed a photo of these plugs to a collision repair technician with 20+ years of experience and he confirmed that the truck was definitely in an accident because the 2019 F-150 has an aluminum cab. Keep in mind there are at least 5 on each side of the truck. With some of the plastic clips missing under the hood and a broken piece of plastic found in the grill, we concluded the truck was in fact in a front-end collision. So, I bought a truck from Middletown Toyota that was in an accident without knowing it or being informed about the fact that it was in an accident. Yes, I could have done more research on things to look out for when buying a used vehicle, but I genuinely thought this was a perfect truck since it only had 15,300 at the time of purchase. There was NOT A SINGLE ACCIDENT REPORTED ON CAR FAX, which to me just means that it wasn’t in a collision with another vehicle, because it didn’t need to be reported to the insurance company. I definitely hold some responsibility here, but I believe strongly that Middletown Toyota knew about the truck’s history and never told me because they wanted to sell it. What can you...

I recently took my 2025 Toyota Rav 4 (Purchased at Toyota of Middletown) in for my 5,000 mile tire rotation. I’ve had Toyotas for over 40 years. NEVER have I received such terrible service and been treated so poorly at any dealership. This was my first experience purchasing from Toyota of Middletown. I had a 11:00 a.m. appointment. When I made the appointment I was told that the service would take one hour. Unfortunately, I had brought my 3 yr old and 5 yr old grandchildren with me. After an hour and 15 minutes I inquired on how much longer it would be. The children were getting bored and hungry. I had brought enough activities to keep them busy for an hour and their lunch boxes were in the car, we were going on a picnic after. The service rep rudely told me it was being worked on. He argued with me that I hadn’t been waiting over an hour. We waited another 1/2 hour and I went back to the service desk again. Again was treated rudely. I asked to talk to the Service Manager. When he finally came, he was not rude, he made a lot of excuses for the poor service and went to check on the progress. He never said he would talk to the sales rep about his rudeness and lack of effort. The service area is very busy and there are vehicles going in and out. It was not a safe environment for me to be standing with an arm full of toys and two small children. The service manager said the vehicle was being “finished up” and they would bring it out. The service rep checked me out and told me my vehicle was in space 21 on the left side of the lot. I was expected to walk out in a busy parking lot with two small children and find my car. I was livid. Now, 2 hours after arriving, I asked to speak to the Service Manager again. A different person came out. I had to repeatedly ask for the Service Manager to return. When he did and I pointed out how dangerous it would be for me to go out in the parking area looking for my car. He had it brought around and did apologize, but by this time I was livid. The children were hungry and fussing. We were there well over 2 hours. Unfortunately, I purchased the service contract...