Passport Toyota — Local services in Suitland

TLDR: $1,196.30 and 5 hours to change rims I already purchased. Get your parts on discount through the online portal but don't dare get services here.

I set up the appointment for 7:30am on November 29th. The appointment was to switch the wheel rims on my 2024 4runner. The new rims were on site, and only needed my tires switched over. Parts Manager Tim Campbell had assured me in advance the tire pressure sensors would be able to be switched over. He also assured me the job would only take 2 hours. I arrived on time and my truck was taken back at 7:30. I talked to Tim at 8:00 when the parts department opened to discuss purchasing black lug nuts. At 8:30 Cline Robertson took me back to the bays to get my wallet out of my truck. In the process, we saw my truck was on the lift and my lugs and wheels were removed. At 9:30 Cline approached me with a technician to inform me the sensors would not be transferrable and I would need to pay an astronomical amount for new sensors. Would they accept me purchasing genuine Toyota sensors through the parts portal for a lower price? No. Fine, let's keep things moving. The next three hours were a series of Cline giving my the same two, absurd, infuriating excuses. He informed me that the technicians were being extra careful to avoid scratching the black matte surface of my new rims. He informed me that the tire pressure sensors needed to be programmed. Repeatedly. This is insane and I'm insulted with how stupid staff apparently think I am to give the same, lame excuses again and again. Remember, the wheels were off the truck at 8:30 and the job was done at 12:30. So apparently the technicians at Passport Toyota are so uncontrollably wild, they're prone to accidentally scratching the surface of rims Toyota specifically designed to be mounted on their rough and rugged, off-roading trucks. They need to spend an hour per wheel removing a tire, mounting a tire on the new rim, and lifting the assembled wheel approximately 5 feet off the ground onto the truck. Apparently, the tire pressure sensors Toyota uses also need 3 hours to program and calibrate. Are they used on thousands of tires across the country? Yes. Have they been optimized to reduce wasted time and labor on jobs? God I hope so, because this is insane. I saw at least 5 car owner's come in after me and leave before I did. I got countless shrugs and meaningless apologies with no compensation, discount or anything even approaching a rational explanation. Cline offering me a free car wash at the end of this 5 hour nonsense makes no sense. Your technicians struggle enough with scratching rims during installation unless they have 5 hours to do so. A rushed car wash at the end of a day makes me worried the technicians would forget to take off their sandpaper gloves. They told me what I wanted to hear to set up the appointment, then told me whatever they wanted because they knew I couldn't go anywhere....

Originally wrote on 12/10/24.

EDIT - 12/12/24 - the service manager, D’Angelo, reached out to apologize. He admitted wrongdoing on the technician & service advisor’s side and stated that they should not have recommended 2 of the services that they did AND that the quoted price should not have been that high. All the truer to my above testament. Go somewhere that values integrity & honesty.

Considering the fact that I’ve been a customer of this specific Toyota dealership since 2010, it was extremely disappointing for me to write this review. I can say in absolute confidence that I have lost all faith in this dealership’s integrity and will no longer be returning for any vehicle purchases and/or general maintenance/service and I recommend all who read this to DO THE SAME.

I took my ‘19 4Runner Trd PRO in for a standard 75k maintenance service. Aside from the typical oil change, rotation, fluid check, etc. I wasn’t expecting any issues. What was a result of that maintenance visit? I was told that my spark plugs needed replacement ($800-actual price they quoted), PVC needed replacement ($512), my front/rear diffs had a ‘concern’ ($500) and my ball joint was ‘leaking’ grease ($2600 because they apparently have to replace the entire control arm).

Immediately, my red flags were raised and I started calling around to local dealerships and a buddy who is a certified Lexus master tech at their Rockville, MD location. All across the board, their opinion was that this specific dealership was lying and/or upcharging. After showing the pictures that they documented on file, I received 2nd opinions that it was not any where near the condition they stated. I decided to bring it to 2 SEPARATE independent mechanics who are toyota certified to get an hands on evaluation. Both of them stated that the dealership was lying regarding the condition of the ball joints and the control arm. As well, both of them stated that spark plugs DO NOT need to be placed this early, that the PVC would take no more than $40 to replace and the front/rear diff fluids could be replaced for no more than $100.

Summed up, what happened? Went to this dealership for a routine maintenance. Left with a repair bill that was estimated to be approx $4,000. Called around and took my vehicle to 2 separate independent mechanics and miraculously, I saved $3500 ($150 was for them to do the full diagnosis so realistically saved about $3650).

I get that business is slow, but this practice of business and level of integrity is extremely disheartening. You’ve lost a lifetime customer and I hope all who comes across this review, decides to do the same.

Let it be known that Toyota on Auth Road lies and does it without any hesitation.

P.S - service advisor was CJ Johnson who continuously backed...

I had a very good purchase/lease experience with Passport Toyota. In fact, I drove here from Virginia to purchase my new Toyota because the sales manager La'Quisha Turner was so very responsive when I was shopping for a new RAV4 PHEV, and also gave me the best total price in the area on the model I was looking for.

I'm a skeptical car buyer (as everybody should be), but the team here was respectful and responsive to every question -- and was willing to talk through absolutely everything over the phone or via email, resolving any question I had about the car, the price, or the financing before I came to Camp Springs to finalize the deal. I cannot emphasize how much I appreciated this. Picking up the car is still a long process, particularly if you're financing or leasing, but there were zero surprises when I got there.

As a bonus, La'Quisha offered to help me with the logistics by sending an Uber to bring me to get the car -- so I didn't need to coordinate a ride.

For this high-demand model, I hated that Passport's price included a bunch of so-called "port-installed options" to the package. These are mostly complete nonsense (like $70 for a phone charging cable), and they refused to remove them from the deal, but then they also offered a bigger discount than other dealers, so Passport's net price was still the best.

Similarly, Passport's line item for title & tags was much higher than other dealers, and I was annoyed by that (but again, their total price was still the best). So I was extra-pleased when two weeks after purchase I received a $191 refund check from Passport to cover the "Tag & Title Refund/Overpayment." In other words, the deal was $200 better than even I'd thought. I imagine this was because it was a Maryland dealer registering a car in Virginia.

Kudos to Finance Manager Chris Morris, who I sat with to walk through all the lease details and signatures, and the obligatory upsells (which came with zero pressure). He was great to deal with both before and after the sale (he responded quickly to follow-up calls about my lease).

Bottom line: This is an honest Toyota dealer that has its quirks, but is willing to negotiate and pleasant...