Capitol Toyota

Bizarre and unpleasant experience Earlier in the year, I got a RAV4 Prime with fewer options than I preferred from a different dealership and had been waiting for months in order to upgrade to one with th I got a RAV4 Prime with fewer options than I preferred from a different dealership and had been waiting for months in order to upgrade to one with the Premium Package when one became available. In late April, Whisper from Capitol texted me with the dream car. It was a Prime with the Premium Package. I was ecstatic! I asked if I needed to put down a deposit, and she said that wasn’t necessary. I told her I just wanted to make sure I was able to get it (one had dropped through months earlier). She said “It’s yours!” and “Your name is on it” on Friday, April 22. As the date of the car’s arrival approached, I gave her information that dealerships typically require for a purchase. I asked that a trailer hitch be attached, and confirmed the size of the hitch with Whisper, as we have a bike rack I wanted to be able to use with it. Whisper contacted me yesterday, May 25, and said the hitch was on. She asked if there was a time that day or the next day I could come in to take delivery. I asked about hours, and since the office closed at 8, I said my wife and I could be there at 6. It was agreed. Over my lunch hour, I texted Whisper “Could you send me the final financial sheet? Just want to avoid surprises.” I felt like this was a reasonable request. We all know that some dealerships add fees that weren’t discussed beforehand, and I just wanted to actually see a final figure before I walked in. I got no response at all, which I thought was strange since she had been quite responsive and friendly up to that point. Keep in mind that I made that request at 12:12 pm, and my appointment was at 6 pm. Do I need to directly express that it is disrespectful not to either preemptively send me such standard information, or at least respond to me when I ask for it (with many hours to spare)? I really don’t think my expectation is unreasonable here. Bottom line, I thought it was weird, but set it aside in my mind for the time being. My wife and I went to the dealership that afternoon, walking in at about 5:50pm. I introduced myself to a lady at the front desk, and we sat down. There were a few people milling around, but it didn’t seem busy. We met Whisper at 6:10. She seemed nice and took us to a seat in the middle area and handed us a key and just told us we could test drive it and then talk to the finance folks. She mentioned that she recently had knee surgery. I asked her if it was for a meniscus, and she said no, that it was an ACL tear. We chatted a bit about that. We took the key she gave us and went out to see the car that she had pointed out from inside the building. It was sitting right outside. Since we already had a Prime, we didn’t really need to drive it, but I was anxious to see the cool additional features. Really liked the display differences, the nav system, the 360 parking camera, and the fact that the rear-view mirror turned into a display with the flip of a switch. I seriously had no idea that was what was about to happen until I moved the toggle! Cool feature, meaning that we wouldn’t have to change the angle, regardless of who was driving, and it wouldn’t matter if the line of sight was obstructed inside the vehicle. We linked our phones as we sat there, then got out and went back inside. We met Whisper again and she went and got Jona to do the financials. At some point, when we were talking with Whisper and Jona, she asked us if we wanted to trade a car, and I said, “No, not unless you want to buy a slightly used Prime”. They appeared surprised. She said, something like, “Oh, I didn’t know you had a trade. I didn’t see you drive in.” They also wondered why I was getting another one. “Well, it is an XSE, but it doesn’t have all the cool features this new one has!” I exclaimed. I told them that I didn’t need to trade the car, but that I probably would sell it (the one I already owned) pretty soon, now that I was getting the trim level that I really wanted (people trade up all the time, right?). Jona asked what I wanted, and not wanting to waste anyone’s time, I said that I didn’t want any additional warranty, so there was no need to go through all of that. He said he needed to go through it anyway, and I said, “OK”. Jona was polite. I go by a slightly unusual name, and like many people, he mispronounced it at first. I felt bad that he felt bad. Seriously, no biggie, man. And my wife’s name is even more unusual, for sure. A necessarily uncomfortable part of the financing for me (regardless of the situation, whether opening an account at a bank with your teenager or buying a car) is the question about income, and when you make a bit more than average, you get the feeling that your answer to “how much is your monthly income?” makes everyone uncomfortable. I tell people about the income from my profession, and just leave out my small real-estate business. No need to make it worse (and it’s not that big of a deal anyway). A ton of people make more than I do, but it still feels awkward. We got through that, and then he asked us about how we wanted to pay. I indicated that it didn’t really matter too much. At some point, he and Whisper were asking me about the other car. “Where did you get it?” “How did you pay for it?” I was not sure why those questions were relevant. Can you imagine if you went to buy a Corvette, and the sales people were asking you how you payed for the other one that you have? I use that as an example because the people I know who are into Corvettes frequently have more than one, and tend to upgrade them from time to time. So I felt like those questions were weird, seriously. I ended up informing them that I payed cash for the other car, and would prefer to use credit for this one, since I had plunked down a chunk on the last one. He also seemed concerned when I said I was probably going to pay it off as soon as I could sell my other car. He asked me how long it would be until I payed off the loan (another strange question, from the perspective of a car buyer). A few casual statements were made about how some slightly used Primes sell for more than the new ones right now, and I think Jona mentioned that somewhere some dealership was trying to sell one for over $90k, and that “you should go to jail for that”. All lighthearted comments, I thought. Seriously, right now that inversion of prices for new and slightly used cars is seen all over the market, not just RAV4 primes. I just wanted to make it as simple as possible for them, so that we could move through the paperwork reasonably quickly. Both of them seemed bothered by something, and my wife and I were feeling uncomfortable, and I was feeling like maybe I was doing or saying something wrong. When Jona got the info he needed, he went back to his office, and Whisper left as well. My wife and I sat there. No update, no idea of how long this would take, not even a glass of water. The dealership was almost completely empty by now. 7:00. 7:15. 7:30. The minutes passed and I was aware that the dealership closed in 30 minutes. My wife and I were very hungry by now, and my kids were wondering when we would get back with some food. When we bought our last car at Toyota of Portland, this is not at all what happened. They were friendly, excited, and they had taken the initiative to be prepared and had gotten much of the information in advance. The finance guy took 10 minutes tops. “You don’t want the extra warranty? No big deal.” Swipe left. Next. No one got offended. No one tried to “work me”. It was a smooth experience. Literally, no one had given us any idea about what was going on in over 30 minutes, and it looked like nothing was going on, anywhere in the dealership. I felt like my time was being wasted, and we decided to finish the next day. I texted Whisper “Hey, let’s finish this tomorrow. I’m hungry, as are my kids, and we’ve been here a long time. See you tomorrow”. I waited a few more minutes and then left. Nine minutes later she texted me, “Okay! What time are you thinking? Jona will have everything printed and ready to sign.” At that point I was on the road and getting food and then getting home with my kids for an evening routine. When I replied to that text, I was frustrated. “It needs to be all be ready” was my reply. “Time?” was her reply. “My wife and I can go back around 4 pm.” It was after 9 at that point, and in the morning, I reflected on how maybe things were weird because of my lack of decisiveness about how I wanted to approach the financing, or maybe they would prefer that I put something down or pay it all up front? Did something about my finances offend them? As I found out later, my credit score on their check was 821, so it couldn’t have been that, right? I also wondered how long I would be at the dealership for the second go round. Is it wrong of me to be time conscious? Feeling like something was wrong, and not knowing what do do, I texted this the next morning after I got to work: “It will probably be closer to 4:20. Although it is convenient for me in the short term to finance, I would like this to happen reasonably quickly. If writing a check for part or all of the price will make the process smoother, then I can certainly do that.” She replied, “Everything has already been submitted and paperwork printed. Everything is ready to go. We had multiple deals closing at once yesterday and only two finance managers. We will get you in and out. Sorry for the inconvenience. Jona is aware you will be there at that time. Have a good day. Enjoy your new RAV4 Prime! Smiley face.” I said, “thanks” She said, “Welcome” That was at 7:30 am. At 9:24 am, Whisper sent me this text: “We are going to back out of the sale. You are welcome to call me at 503-399-1011 and ask for Arthur Lyter”. Wait, what!? I immediately called Mr. Lyter (with some paraphrasing from the conversation below) to find out what could possibly be wrong. Maybe it was offensive that my wife and I left, but it was 30 minutes to closing, and we were getting so little attention, it’s almost like that’s what Whisper wanted anyway (and I politely texted them my decision, since we had been abandoned in the lobby for half an hour). That had seemed to me like a reasonable approach on my part. I asked Mr. Lyter what was going on, and he told me that “everyone who met with you yesterday felt disrespected”, and “we have a right to refuse to sell to anyone for any reason”. I paused for a bit to collect myself. Did he have the right guy? I asked why people felt disrespected, but he wouldn’t be specific, he just repeated himself. I told him that I thought we were all having generally pleasant conversations, and besides, I actually felt like we were being disrespected. He asked how. I began to set up the scene by describing the questions about a potential trade. “Really, is that a weird question, to ask about a trade?” he asked curtly. No, I said, I’m getting there, and I mentioned to him the unusual questions about where I got my other Prime, and how I paid for it. He told me that some finance questions are natural, and I agreed (those questions are still weird and patently unrelated to credit worthiness). He said that his employees mean a lot to him, and we should just part friends. Trying to collect my thoughts, I told him that actually, I felt like that was pretty unprofessional of him. He had jumped at this decision without even speaking to my wife or myself, the clients. Shouldn’t he or someone from the dealership have reached out to us to see what our perspective was, to see if we were having a problem? I had been waiting for 4 months for this car. He reiterated that he didn’t have to sell me the car. I told him this just seemed so unusual to me, that (and I can’t believe I actually said this, but it was on the fly, after all) maybe some kind of discrimination was going on. “Really, he said, on what basis?” he said. “I don’t know, I need to figure that out,” was my reply. The line suddenly cut. Seemed like Mr. Lyter hung up on me (and probably called his legal department since I brought up a trigger word in our society right now). Seriously, though, I was wondering what was at the root of all of this. I had patients to attend to, so I called him back several minutes later. Once again, I had to reach out to him, which I think is pretty messed up. This time, Mr. Lyter’s tone had changed. He seemed to have calmed down and was not nearly as defensive and emotional. Maybe he had expected me to lose my cool before. Anyway, he explained to me that people had been flipping cars, and it was harming dealerships, and depriving people of cars who had waited in line. “Some people actually need the car. Maybe their other car broke down.” he said at one point. Although I sympathize somewhat with what he was saying, being a small business owner myself who has to navigate the vicissitudes of the market, the fact is, I’m just a customer with good credit who had waited for a car like everyone else on the list. I told him what I detailed above about what led me to get a second Prime (which is what I told Whisper and Jona as well). I told him that I was sorry if I had offended anyone, and texted the same to Whisper a bit later, as follows: “Hey, just wanted to say I’m sorry if I offended anyone (mortified even) at your dealership. I know you guys are busy.” I now got the distinct impression that the “disrespect” that he had mentioned earlier (but would not explain) really had to do with the fact that I already had a Prime, and they felt like others were therefore more deserving. It seems to me that the feeling of “disrespect” was a pretext/excuse to cover for their real issue with me and my wife. Apparently already reconsidering his earlier declaration about backing out of the sale (that he had passed on through a sales associate via a text, rather than contacting me himself), Mr. Lyter expressed an interest in my Prime, asking me what I had done with it, and then if I wanted to trade it? I had already told Whisper and Jona that I was willing to trade the car. No one had asked me about that possibility until I was in the dealership talking with Jona, and they didn’t seem interested. Arthur and I discussed it a bit, he trying to convince me that it would be best if I traded it to him, but by this point, I had a pretty bad taste in my mouth, so to speak. He made some expected points about how it would be hard to sell the car I had since it was a ’22 and didn’t have a KBB value yet. He said he was concerned about the lack of availability of cars, and told me that if a customer resold a car within six months of buying it, the dealership lost credit for the sale. I was disinclined to do more business with someone who moments earlier was reneging on a deal out of what seemed to be akin to righteous indignation, all the while making vague accusations of me “disrespecting” people. I agreed to do the original deal (where I buy a car that I had waited for for four months). In that conversation, he mentioned that a friend of mine (whose name I won’t mention here), worked at the dealership. This man is a friend that I used to play tennis with. He is a classy guy who had a job at a big firm in Portland and told me a year or two ago that he got a job at a dealership in Salem, and that he was really happy with it. I had forgotten exactly where he said he worked, but ultimately, it seems that my friendship with him helped me through this unprofessional situation. I have not yet spoken to him about any of this. Somehow this must have crossed his desk during this whole ordeal. After my conversation with Mr. Lyter, I later texted him the following: “Hello Arthur. This is (my name), btw. Just wanted to follow up on our last conversation. At this point I’d like to do the sale as it was originally, without a trade. Thanks. My wife and I can be there at 4:20. Is that still a good time?” I received this later text from Mr. Lyter in response: “We will sell it to you. So you understand we have a list of 250 people that want a Prime and would not have kept you on the list knowing you already got one. We don’t sell over MSRP to help our local customers that have supported us for almost 100 years. (My friend’s name) spoke highly of you, so we will see you at 4:20”. There is a bit to unpack there. I felt pretty guilty for even wanting to trade up at this point. Man, it was like I was “stealing food from the mouths of babes”. I mean, my mom was exceptionally skilled at organizing elaborate trips on Guilt Air, and believe me, I was a frequent flyer. I just kept thinking that hey, I was just a guy that wanted to upgrade my car. This was not illegal or immoral in any way. Why should I be made to feel like this? Not only did Mr. Lyter express those sentiments to me via text and over the phone, but now I realize that those sentiments are likely part of the culture at Capitol Toyota, and what influenced members of his workforce to feel that way and treat me and my wife in such an aloof way at the dealership. So, Mr. Lyter and Capitol Toyota deigned to sell me a car, against their scruples, it would seem. He told me that he would have reneged on our deal based on his beliefs regarding property I owned (and not with respect to financial worthiness). Yes. That is it. Based on his judgment about the quantity and quality of my property (having a Prime already), he would go back on the word of his associate, who said, “It’s yours!” months ago, and he apparently changed his mind because someone I happen to know at the dealership recognized my name and convinced him to alter his choice. So how am I supposed to feel as the owner of a Toyota living in Salem, where I had the worst car-buying experience of my life? Where I was made to feel like an immoral jerk for wanting to upgrade my car? Seriously? I dreaded physically going in to get the new blue Prime. I felt like absolute crap, and although I wasn’t guilty of anything, I really didn’t want to deal with them. I wanted to puke, knowing how they apparently felt about me and my wife. We arrived, and Samuel seemed genuinely nice. Sure, the people I met at the dealership, including Mr. Lyter, were courteous to me and my wife when we went to pick up the car, but I couldn’t help wondering if it was because they either realized that they had erred in treating us that way, or perhaps, still entrenched in their openly held beliefs about my lack of worthiness as a customer, changed their bearing under duress, or at the direction of someone who outranked them in the organization. The Prime is a great car, and Toyota is a company that makes great cars. I’m super happy to have one, and I’m glad I was ultimately able to get the model I wanted. Do I want to return to have my service done there (having been treated like that)? Will I ever want to purchase another car from Capitol? It’s a small town. Illahee is a small community. My friends know I like cars. Many are surprised I got a Toyota, but I sing its praises. We talk about our car experiences, and believe me, this was a very disturbing experience for me on multiple levels, and occupies a salient place in my memory. Not only were my wife and I treated dismissively and with disrespect in many ways detailed above, especially by Mr. Lyter, but Mr. Lyter on the phone and in a text directly expressed his intent to discriminate against me as a consumer based on the specifics of my property unrelated to credit-worthiness (effectively, my economic situation, in that I specifically owned a piece of property that he felt made me an unworthy customer). Also strange is the fact that he had one of his sales associates text me to tell me that Toyota was backing out of the sale, instead of contacting me or my wife himself. He ended up being willing to sell us the car only because someone high up in your financial department happened to recognize my name. To me, these choices and the attitudes that engendered them fall below any basic standard of professional behavior. More

I have seen the Capitol Toyota commercials on TV and thought, “ya, that’s what the people are paid to say”. But it is actually better than the ads say. We purchased a 2022 Highlander and Kristina was thought, “ya, that’s what the people are paid to say”. But it is actually better than the ads say. We purchased a 2022 Highlander and Kristina was outstanding to work with. Then we worked with Jonas on financing and there was no pressure or up selling, and he actually saved us half a percent on the interest rate. We will definitely be return customers, and recommend family and friends to Capitol Toyota in the future. More

I have dealt with several Toyota dealerships over the years and this one is one of the best. They paid me top dollar for my trade in that nobody could match and got me out with a sweet deal on my new car years and this one is one of the best. They paid me top dollar for my trade in that nobody could match and got me out with a sweet deal on my new car. Surprised by some of these other reviews because everyone I encountered was amazing and polite. I was in and out within about 1 1/2 hours. I would definitely recommend capitol Toyota to anyone. More

My window sticker and car were both set for 5k between oil changes. I called and scheduled an appointment a month out because that was the soonest they could get me in, hire more people if you are that ba oil changes. I called and scheduled an appointment a month out because that was the soonest they could get me in, hire more people if you are that backed up. I took time off work and when I showed up they turned me away and said I needed to wait 10k miles because I got synthetic. That would have been nice to know, maybe in the sticker, in the car settings, or when I called to schedule the xxxxx appointment. At least it was only one day wasted unlike my last oil change, which was done at 5k miles, where they brome a skid plate bolt, tried to drill it out but were unsuccessful, then handed my they keys and hoped I wouldn't notice. I would never buy a car from them just because of those two first service appointments. They are the epitome of the reason dealerships get a bad reputation. More

Called to make a service appointment. Over 3 weeks for an oil change. Time to find another dealer. Unacceptable. an oil change. Time to find another dealer. Unacceptable. More

This is just my experience, but this dealership is taking full advantage of the vehicle shortage and doesn't mind wasting customers because they know the units will move regardless. This is to the point wher full advantage of the vehicle shortage and doesn't mind wasting customers because they know the units will move regardless. This is to the point wherein they will simply lie to you, waste your time (have you come in with no intention of helping you) and are incredibly rude in the process. The culture at this dealership is one of making an individual feel they are irrelevant in an apparent attempt to gain an upper hand. I would walk to work before buying an automobile from this dealership. More

Most pleasant experience with a car dealership ever! David Quezada was exceptional from beginning to end, going above and beyond not only with his professionalism, but more importantly his authentic c David Quezada was exceptional from beginning to end, going above and beyond not only with his professionalism, but more importantly his authentic care and ability to make things happen during an in opportune time for my husband and I. Then we entered David Williams office to seal the deal with his genuine kindness. The entire interaction was that of pleasure, thanks to David and David! Kerry, Tom, Credence, & Rabbit More

Went in for my first free oil change and ended up with a missing bolt and a broken bolt in my skidplate causing it to rattle around. They tried to drill out the broken bolt and only succeeded in screwing up missing bolt and a broken bolt in my skidplate causing it to rattle around. They tried to drill out the broken bolt and only succeeded in screwing up the hole in the skid plate. Then proceeded to hand me the keys like everything was fine. If I can get them to fix it, that will be the last time I let them touch my car. More

Bad experience- cavalier attitude by all employees and a totally inept title clerk. Also no communication from management. Over 60 days and no license or registration due to a series of mistakes by Capitol. totally inept title clerk. Also no communication from management. Over 60 days and no license or registration due to a series of mistakes by Capitol. They obviously don't care about customers once they get your money. More

I purchased two Toyotas from Capitol. One was a new Camry and the other was a used Corolla. They really screwed me on the Corolla. I was repeatedly lied to by several different so called asst. managers and e and the other was a used Corolla. They really screwed me on the Corolla. I was repeatedly lied to by several different so called asst. managers and even the main manager about the damage the car had sustained. Each of the four said they would be helping me and them quietly disappeared from the scene. I purchased the car for my disabled my son and the car was unsafe from the time it was driven off the lot. The front end had been severely damaged and they say they had no knowledge of the damage. The wreak did not show up on the Carfax report they gave to me. My mechanic found the damage when he inspected the car but the dealership would not even bring the car in to see if it was safe to drive. The front rim had been bent and we would not even find that out until months later. I have spent a lot of money just trying the fix the car to make it safe. I wouldn't recommend Capitol Toyota to an enemy. Just the fact that so many said they would help and then faded away and came up with no help. This was the last communication to Capitol and they ignored it. Kyle So far we have not heard from anyone about the Toyota we bought in October for our son. We thought we were buying a safe car for him, but that is not the case. I already forwarded you the invoice from my mechanic, who also discovered damage to the front, crooked headlight and repainted front bumper. This was all noted the day after we bought the car when we took it to our mechanic for an inspection. He found the alternator barely attached. It was just hanging there by a thread with a very long screw. He showed it to us before he replaced it with a new alternator. We know the car had a collision at some point, but it is not mentioned on the carfax. This week our son noticed that one of the front tires was low, so he stopped by Les Schwab to get some air in it. They noticed something wrong and removed the tire, only to discover a bent rim. This just adds to all the other damage previously mentioned (pic attached). It is painfully clear that this car had a front end collision. The previous owner patched it up and traded it in to you and we ended up with a lemon. Our son had a trucking accident 14 years ago. He has an artificial disc and a fusion in his neck and his days are mostly spent reclining on ice packs. He needs a safe, reliable car for his physical therapy appointments. . . More