Advantage Toyota of Valley Stream — Local services in Town of Hempstead

If you want to feel like you're getting ripped off, have no clue your future car will ever arrive or even exists, or generally feel bad inside this is the place for you! One star for the popcorn.

We walked in with an appointment, got assigned to Mr. Durant. Had already spec'd the car online to get said appointment, so we knew exactly what we wanted. Despite this, we had to sit through a sales pitch for every other type of trim as we reiterate exactly what we wanted. Ok fine. After an hour of this, we confirmed the car and trim we wanted but were told they could not find that specific car/features combination and upsold us. I asked if we could order the specific car and wait extra and was told that "was not possible." Ok, fine. Was told 6-8 weeks and they would locate the upsold vehicle. Ok, fine. We said we were open for any car color other than red. Left a deposit and went on our way.

Over the next two months, crickets. I honestly thought it was a scam and that deposit was gone. I called the dealership and Mr. Durant explained that tariffs were making everything harder. Ok, fine. And then every couple of days, he would call to explain he was trying to find a "not red" car for us and it was taking extra time. Ok, not funny but fine.

Then back to crickets. Then a month of no contact (at which time we had a baby so we weren't in a rush). Ok, fine. Then we got a call that the car was almost being done being built specifically for us in Japan. I'm sorry, what? Why did we not get a courtesy call about getting the actual car we wanted? But even then, we were told another 3-4 weeks and Mr. Durant would call back. After 3 weeks we called him and we were told it was being shipped. Ok, fine. We called again, got texted a screenshot from a computer showing the photo of a car (?!) as a status update. Ok, fine. Then I got a call on a Thursday that the car was "in the country" and he would call the next day once he found out the details of when the car would arrive at the dealership. No additional information was available when asked. Ok, fine. The next day he did call (!) and said pickup was the next day. Surprised and not able to commit to the next day with a newborn, he yelled at us and said we had to come in and he "told you yesterday that the car was here." No sir, you did not. Ok, I'm now pissed.

We got scolded at the dealership for not arriving with a cashier's check. But how would we arrive with a cashier's check without knowing the final price for the car? Yes, that's correct - we went to pick up the car without any written explanation of the car "custom built" for us or it's price. Customer service at it's finest. In the end, the car has different features than what we discussed but I would have paid to never see these people again.

Tl;dr: spent 4.5 months waiting for a car, dealing with an uncommunicative and combative sales person, paid more for a car than expected with less features than discussed, nothing ever provided in writing. Makes you feel real...

On December 14, 2024, I bought a Toyota Corolla 2021 at Advantage Toyota, located at 400 Sunrise Highway, Valley Stream, NY 11580. A week later, it was raining, and when I used the windshield wiper, it ripped. Then later that same week, one of the yellow lights on the car’s dashboard came on. The next day, my husband was behind the car and noticed that the right-side reverse light was not working. We tried several times, and the light worked intermittently. I got a Carfax notified me that the tire rotations were overdue since 10/09/2024, and the brake inspection was overdue since 09/26/2024. The salesperson, Carlos Andujar and his supervisor financial Manager Luis Valdes, had both told me that if anything happened to the car, I should bring it in for service, as I am paying for the warranty and the car was certified. On December 27, 2024. I went to the dealer, dropped the car off for service and was told I needed an appointment although I explained that Mr. Andujar and Mr. Valdes told me to bring the car if anything happened to the car. The car was able to get looked at and I was told that it would be an hour and a half wait. I then asked for the salesperson and his supervisor, but both were off that day. A lady in sales, whose name is Sharmica, spoke with me. When I explained everything to her, essentially that the car was sold without addressing the services that the Carafax listed, she told me that Carfax takes time to update. I knew this wasn’t true because I use Carfax regularly, and updates usually don’t take that long. She said she would call a manager in the service department to talk to me about it.

I felt the car had not been properly checked before they sold it to me, which was disappointing given the price I paid. The service manager told me that my car would need to stay in the shop until Thursday. I refused to leave my car because I am paying a lot of money for the it and the warranty. A few minutes later, they found a courtesy car for me, which made me feel that something was wrong with my car. How could they initially tell me to wait for an hour and a half, then later say I needed to leave the car for four days? They ended up changing the oil, replacing the bulb, changing the tires, redoing the emission inspection, replacing the wiper, etc. It is concerning to think that something could have happened to me because the dealer sold me a car that hadn’t been properly checked.

On Sunday, December 29, 2024, at 2:09 PM, I called Toyota Financial Services to file a complaint. The lady who spoke with me, named Maria, told me she didn’t know what the next steps were but gave me a case number. She said someone would contact me within 24 to 48 hours. As of today, January 1, 2025, no one has contacted me from Toyota Financial or the...

I didn't expect to purchase a vehicle the day I walked into Advantage Toyota, but I found the right one and went home with a 2022 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Limited that I am happy to call my own.

I was glad to have Stevens Jean as my Sales Consultant. The Finance Manager Jessica Gipson was also a pleasure to work with. All in all, my purchase experience that day went fine.

So why 3 stars? A couple of reasons. The first, had it been the only misstep, would have been forgivable: my new-to-me vehicle was given to me with less than 1/4 tank of gas. In my excitement after the purchase, I drove off without addressing this. However, when I called Stevens about 10-15 minutes later, he was very apologetic, made it clear that it should have been filled up and promised he would make it right, which he did the next day when I returned for my rental vehicle that I had left there overnight.

But this is what got me: When I returned the next day with my sister and brother-in-law to retrieve my rental, I was impressed by how clean the dealership lot was, given the fact it had snowed the night before. But when I got to my rental, which was in a Customer Parking spot directly opposite the front entrance, not only was my vehicle not cleared off, snow had actually been piled around it from their clean up of the lot. I really wish I had taken a picture, because you would have thought it was personal, the way the entire lot was clear except for the space around my car. Maybe it was because it was a Honda?

I found that to be incredibly disrespectful of me as a customer. I understand that they did me a solid by allowing me to leave my car overnight. However, my brother-in-law should not have had to shovel out snow from around the car so he could drive it out. To his credit, Stevens did clear the snow off the rental when he returned from gassing up my new ride. But that soured my purchase experience and ended things on a negative note for me.

I'm sure Advantage Toyota won't be too bothered by this review because, as we all know, businesses in NYC tend not to care too much about giving great customer service. And they already got my money, so I guess that was that for them. But if management truly cares about providing a satisfactory customer experience from beginning to end that builds trust and encourages referrals, I hope they'll take note of how this was handled and think about how I could have been treated better. Because, really, would it have been that much of an inconvenience to make sure I came back to...