Review:
I’m 70, and I’m sharing this so other people — especially seniors — don’t end up in the same situation. I brought $22,000 in down payment/trade equity on a 2025 Camry with an MSRP around $28,000. But Toyota Financial Services later showed I was somehow financed at $48,000.I had another Toyota dealership look at my paperwork, and they immediately said the numbers looked “stacked.” That was the moment I realized this wasn’t just a simple misunderstanding — the structure of the deal didn’t match what I was told in the finance office. No one — especially an older buyer — should walk in with that much cash and walk out with this kind of imbalance. I’m posting this to help protect others. Please slow down, read every figure, and don’t assume the contract matches the conversation. If this helps even one person avoid what I went through, it’s worth posting.
JE
Jim E.
You can do much better in the Austin area
This was my go-to dealership for 6 years. I bought cars here, serviced my vehicles exclusively here, referred new Texans here for sales and service. I recently wanted to replace my 2019 Toyota Rav4 purchased here. We also have another Penske dealership vehicle we wanted to replace at RR Toyot but wanted to see how they would treat us. I wanted to buy a new Toyota Crown Insignia listing at $53+. I went to MY dealership anticipating a couple of hundred dollar discount as a 6 year customer who has referred others. No discount... No acknowledgement that I was a valued long-term customer. No discount even though I sent the deal back several times to the sales manager who knew who I was, but no deal. Ultimately, I pulled my deposit for the car and wrote to management. No response. BTW, I checked with other area Toyota dealers not tied to Roger Penske. They were willing to offer discounts and answer questions even though I was never their customer. Imagine. A side note here, if you live in any area where Gulf States Toyota supplies cars to regional dealerships in Texas and elsewhere, cars are inudated with questionable options you would not normally buy. In my case, Gulf States added $4100 worth of questionable options. Things like illuminated door sills, paint protection, etal. To add insult to injury, RR Toyota put the pressure on during the sales negotiations. They wanted me to buy another $3000 of useless options that "they really wanted me to have". A grand total of $7100 of questionable options on a $50k car. Imagine. Imagine especially if you are a longterm customer? Round Rock did come back, after I pulled the deposit and moved to another car with a very stupid deal that made no business sense claiming there was a "miscommunication". This seems to be a common excuse to customers that they don't realize/ care are critical to their customer base. Long-term customers. After 6 years, I can say that their service department with but 1 manager is far more focused on longterm customers vs their sales department with a multitude of managers and assistant managers who collectively seem to not know who their customer base might be. After the fact offers and dumb statements like "miscommunication" is lazy talk in my view. My strong advise here is there are many other Toyota dealers in the Round Rock and Austin area who are not Penske dealerships. Avoid them until local management and Roger Penske takes an interest in long-term customers vs making a buck today until there is a major change in dealership leadership and sales leadership. If I'm wrong here, prove that to me and everyone else.
