Magnussen's Toyota of Palo Alto

> 3000 $ of Repair Costs, Still Ubable to Fix the Problem I am very disappointed with the service. I have an old RAV4 2004, more than 200k miles by now. My car is experiencing life threatening problems wit I am very disappointed with the service. I have an old RAV4 2004, more than 200k miles by now. My car is experiencing life threatening problems with the ABS / Fishtailing warning light. It started about 16 months ago. While going on- and off-ramp the freeway, at a certain left turn steering angle and slope, the ABS Fishtailing warning light engages. Most of the times, it is only the Fishtailing / ABS warning light. However, reproducibly, the ABS kicks in and engages the brakes! The warning beeping goes on for 30 seconds, while the car is breaking. It takes a lot of calm and effort to keep the car on track when this happens. The velocity for this condition is ~30 to 40 mph. The roads are dry and the tires are ok. This has nothing to do with either tires, road condition, or my driving. The car has not done that in the 8 years before. I first brought the car to Magnussen's in May 2019. They were not able to reproduce the issue, but performed a costly maintenance of 1300 $ and replaced some parts (gasket, air intake hose and filter and things like that). I thought that replacing these parts would have fixed the issues. It did not. The condition got worse. I brought the car again in September 2019. This time, a different service advisor was able to diagnose and reproduce the problem - they replaced the "Steering Angle Sensor" because they felt some "slight dead spot" at the steering angle I described. Fine, I thought. Another 1600 $. What can I say. The problem got worse. I finally took the car again, today. Now, the same advisor that did the first "repair" told me again that he couldn't reproduce the issue. How come the 2nd advisor could? I told them that is not acceptable and that I would like to speak to his manager. After more than 3000 $ in repairs, the problem is still not fixed. It got worse. I offered to reproduce the issue in front of his eyes with him being in the car, but due to COVID-19, that's not possible. ALSO - they would be unable to reproduce the condition as I describe it, BECAUSE WE HAVE NO MOUNTAINS HERE! Are you kidding me!!! I described the situation how to reproduce it again and again. Actually, go to Pacifica State Beach from Palo Alto, go OFF RAMP, and you will FEAR FOR YOUR LIFE as you descent to Pacifica State Beach. The ABS engages, starts beeping for 30 seconds, the car brakes repeadedly, and all passengers fear for their lifes. I have many witnesses for this behavior of the car. Also, the warning light goes on with every on/off-ramp freeway situation. Telling me that they can't reproduce the problem because WE HAVE NO MOUNTAINS HERE is just RIDICULOUS. And here is another one - in May this year, AFTER having 2 full "service high milage maintenance inspections and packages", I suddenly had a complete engine failure. One of the ignition coils had burned out! In the middle of the night I had to be towed by AAA. This had caused error codes before. How come that a car that is under CONSTANT AND VERY EXPENSIVE MAINTENANCE at Magnussen's has such a major engine failure? Should that not have been spotted in the maintenance services? The guy in the other small workshop that replaced the coil immediately recognized that the coils were overdue and about to fail. At Magnussen, they didn't. Hmm. So, I am pretty done with Magnussen for now. It does not hold up to its standards and high ratings here.The advisors don't know what they are doing it seems - they are not trying to reproduce the problem, telling the customer they can't, because we don't have mountains / hills in California here! They replace (expensive!) parts "at random", hoping it will fix a problem. The price is premium, the service is not. Recommendation - if you have an older car, STAY AWAY from these guys. They don't seem to know enough about car repair / diagnosis to fix "non standard or difficult problems". You will be better off with a small garage / workshop that pays attention to detail. And are willing to put in the extra effort / hour to solve the customer's problem. More

Worst Experience at a Dealership, Ever! I went there to get a hole in my tire plugged and they charged me$128.65. That is the cost of a brand new tire. I had to pay for this absurd amount im I went there to get a hole in my tire plugged and they charged me$128.65. That is the cost of a brand new tire. I had to pay for this absurd amount immediately, because I was in a hurry to get somewhere, but later called the dealership & they gave me the General Manager, Shelly. I asked her why it costed so much to plug a tire, and she said she was going to speak with Octavio, my service advisor, to get more details and then call me back. She called me back and told me that Octavio charged me a diagnosis fee of $60 - which I thought was preposterous, because not only did I tell him there was a nail in my front driver's side tire, but the spare was currently on and I showed him a photo of the nail in my tire AND HE WROTE IT DOWN IN MY WORK ORDER. So he clearly lied to his own boss. So Shelly then said she would go ahead and refunded me the $60 diagnosis fee. So now my bill is $55.85. Fast forward 5 months and I never received my $60 refund for the diagnosis fee. So I called Shelly and asked her why I never received it and she said "The business office was not able to find where the check was issued". So she "reissued" it. I got the check in the mail a few days later and it was for $50. She had signed the check in person. Why would she sign it, if it was for the wrong amount? I was so upset, that I called her boss, (the owner - Sandra) with hopes of expressing my horrible experience with Shelly. Sandra told me she doesn't take these types of calls (complaints) so I asked her for the contact info of who does. She said that Shelly does.. I asked Sandra to confirm that she is the owner and she said yes, so that makes her Shelly's boss. Sandra ended up (uncomfortably) taking my call and she was extremely defensive. I told her the story and she said: "What do you want from me? A full refund?" and I replied "It's not about the money, it's about the experience". Then, she told me she would talk to Shelly. I then emailed Shelly accepting the full refund from Sandra and Shelly wrote back saying "I contacted Sandra and she confirmed she made no such offer". I called Sandra again and she accused me of lying and hung up on me. More

By far the best and smoothest buying experience I've ever had. I bought a 2020 corolla hatchback and throughout the whole process I did not feel pressured and best of all I did not leave the dealership emoti had. I bought a 2020 corolla hatchback and throughout the whole process I did not feel pressured and best of all I did not leave the dealership emotionally drained. Steve was super easy going and helpful! More

Very happy with my purchase today of a camry hybrid at palo alto Toyota. Very kind and helpful when explaining the information with the camry. Thanks palo alto Toyota. Very kind and helpful when explaining the information with the camry. Thanks More

Mileage Service Easy to arrange an appointment on a Saturday. Courteous and helpful staff. Took longer than expected, but was informed ahead of time that they were ru Easy to arrange an appointment on a Saturday. Courteous and helpful staff. Took longer than expected, but was informed ahead of time that they were running behind and it was a late morning appointment on a Saturday. More

I brought my car for mileage service and Randall Ricalde was the person who took a very good care of it. There are several years since I started to bring my car for service at magussen’s Toyota and I’m very was the person who took a very good care of it. There are several years since I started to bring my car for service at magussen’s Toyota and I’m very happy with the service I had gotten all the time, employees are very kind and friendly. And the most important thing, when I drive my car, I do it with the confidence that it’s care has been in good hands with Magbussen’s Toyota of Palo Alto. More

Warranty maintainence & oil change As always, this Toyota Service Center was easy to arrange an appointment with, efficient at taking our van in and prompt (ahead of schedule) at phonin As always, this Toyota Service Center was easy to arrange an appointment with, efficient at taking our van in and prompt (ahead of schedule) at phoning us when the work was completed. Can't ask for much more. More

Great experience and very flexible even with my credit history situation (very limited history record as I lived a board for some time). Would recommend this dealer shop and sales team!!! history situation (very limited history record as I lived a board for some time). Would recommend this dealer shop and sales team!!! More

I’ve been going to Magnussen’s Toyota for service and maintenance for years now and even though I’ve had good and bad experiences with them in terms of customer service, overall, the repair and maintenan maintenance for years now and even though I’ve had good and bad experiences with them in terms of customer service, overall, the repair and maintenance work that they do is always solid. My car’s hitting 13 years now and still runs smooth. Alex Ramirez is also a great service advisor if you want transparency and someone trustworthy and honest that won’t try and pressure you to add on service or repairs that you don’t need. More

Services good friendship, Octavio explain very details for me to understand the services for keep my car safety. He is very helpful and good service. Thank you good friendship, Octavio explain very details for me to understand the services for keep my car safety. He is very helpful and good service. Thank you More