Heritage Toyota

As we all know, 2009 was the year our economy dropped off a cliff. For my wife, my son and I, we were no different. To add complexity to the matter my wife and I delievered an early, but in the end healthy b a cliff. For my wife, my son and I, we were no different. To add complexity to the matter my wife and I delievered an early, but in the end healthy beautiful baby girl. We were thrilled when our sweet heart was able to come home. Being self employed and with my wife recovering slowly from a difficult pregnancy, I was left at a cross-roads. Was I to help nerture the family emotionally and with supervision or back to an already slowed down business? It was needless to say a challenging time, nonetheless in retrospec staying home to help my family has brought us closer together than ever before. In the end, like with many hard decisions come hard consequences. My favorite vehicle of all time, was repossed as we, like many others fell behind for reasons out of our control. I can honestly say that I had never felt like a failure, in business or life until the reposession. To me, I had let down my children, wife, dogs and family. I was hard on myself even though if given the same choice today, I would have to chose the same way again. After the reposession my credit fell faster than the stock market in 09'. Plumetting 100's of points. We purchased a beater vehicle and drove her into the ground. My children could never ride with me in this vehicle as there were no adequate saftey features. In Feburary of this year, with the business running in full speed and things looking strong for us financially, we looked at securing a reliable pre-owned vehicle. For us and for many others, a pre-owned vehicle at this impass would acheive two distinct and seemingly equally important goals. We would begin rebuilding our tattered credit well at the same time having a safe, secure and affordable vehicle for our growing family. We went to three dealerships, all turned us down. Two of them were very hurtful and embarrassing to talk with about my situation. The third was at least more respectful but again wasn't able to put anything together for us. The frusteration and embarassment from the reposession rose the surface again. I wanted nothing to do with getting another vehicle, EVER again! I decided I would purchase another used vehicle privately. A friend of mine recently took a job for Heritage Toyota, purchasing and selling vehicles at wholesale auctions. I spoke with him, he already knew about the reposession and my situation. As a good friend said, knowing my goals of buying a house in the next five years and the importance of strong credit, now more than ever before, could not recommend that I purchase a used vehicle with cash. I told him I agreed of the importance but that no one, in their right mind according to the previous three dealerships are going to finance me with a reposession 6 months ago. We debated on what to do for a couple of weeks. Finally I agreed to speak with another sales persons, Jason Queinville of Heritage Toyota. Scott said that Jason "won't sleep until he gets you accurately represented in front of banks." I didn't buy it. Another sales person another pitch and another denial with more frustration, no doubt. Or was it? Walking in I sat down with Jason. He said he was close friends with my friend Scott. Said he was expecting their first baby girl and completely understood my situation and the tough, challenging decisions I was left to make. Then he ask me something no other place had, what type of vehicle do you want? I laughed out loud. I asked him if he did not hear from Scott about the reposession, about the three other denials and the constant slap in the face of not producing a strong, safe vehicle for my family. Jason sits next to a gentlemen named, Ryan who was politely listening in as we discussed. Jason and Ryan said in sync that they would get me in front of the lenders with respect and make sure they understood my situation, who like most of us had been challenged financially in the past year. I didn't buy it. I told Jason that I wanted a recent model Altima if I had my pick of any vehicle. Know what he said? "Altima? You want an Altima? I am having my guy bring it around right now. It's an 05' with low miles, sunroof, easy access car seats and strong saftey features." How much is this going to cost? I can't get approved and what about warranty? "All being taken care of right now, don't worry just test drive your new car." In all honesty I thought he was out of his head. I drove it. It was better than the Nissan I had repossed. It had more power, more features and appeal. I loved the car but as sure as I am breathing knew it wouldn't work out. I sat in the waiting room thinking about how he was going to blame the denial on the banks or on the lenders. Tell me to come back in a year and he could guarantee an approval. I was wrong. Jason asked what my down payment is I could afford and told me not to go higher than what I was comfortable with. Asked me where I needed my payments, again we went over everything. I tried to leave with my wife in our van but he insisted that I take the Altima home as it was virtually mine. The next day he called me and simply said, "Lets sign this thing." I couldn't believe it. What he was saying I, I just didn't buy it. I went down to the dealership. He required a lower down payment and secured an even lower monthly payment then what we had discussed. Sitting in the room about to sign the paper work, I still didn't buy what they were saying, but the car, the car? Yeah, I bought the car! I can't thank them enough! More

Landell is a young salesman who went above and beyond what I expected to make my shopping experience successful. I highly recommend Landell as a salesman and Heritage Toyota if you are looking to purcah what I expected to make my shopping experience successful. I highly recommend Landell as a salesman and Heritage Toyota if you are looking to purcahse a Toyota. I was blown away by them. I was in a terrible accident a couple of months ago and could not come to the dealership so Landell brought cars to me and the information I needed to make a good choice. What can I say beyond what I have said? Oh yes, I love my new Corolla!!!! More

Went to Heritage a number of times. Needed a 4WD so was looking at the RAV4. Loved the looks but the ride was a little bumpy. Went in as a Costco customer and was sent to Scott. He was ok but always looked looking at the RAV4. Loved the looks but the ride was a little bumpy. Went in as a Costco customer and was sent to Scott. He was ok but always looked and acted depressed. Took us to Larry Lucier, the sales manager, to get the special Costco price. Larry was arrogant and was ordering Scott to do this and do that. Acted just like Lumberg from Office Space. Made us very uncomfortable. Went back a few times to try the Sport model RAV4. Scott annoyed us when he asked how many times we needed to take the vehicle for a test drive. We loved the looks but didn't like the ride. We finally went to Handy Toyota in St Albans. What a difference! We worked with Mike Boomhower. Very patient. We tried the RAV4 a few times and still felt the ride was too bumpy. Mike was great, very patient unlike the Heritage crew. We came up one Wednesday evening to try another drive. Mike was out and Adam was there. He suggested a new AWD vehicle, the Venza. We drove it and fell in love with it. Pf course, we took it for a few test drives and bought it from Handy. Unlike Heritage, Handy;s staff were always courteous and seemed genuinely concerned about our needs. Avoid the arrogant staff at Heritage, go north to Handy's More

This dealership's sales people are way Too aggressive, not willing to negotiate on price... they jump down your throat to make a sale....not friendly, not flexible, not fair.....wouldn't recommend them to not willing to negotiate on price... they jump down your throat to make a sale....not friendly, not flexible, not fair.....wouldn't recommend them to anyone, they keep you waiting, they play the money game and are not CUSTOMER SERVICE oriented, just MONEY oriented....go to handy toyota in St. Albans... More

I really wanted to buy a truck from Heritage because they are local. And I had a good idea what I wanted: a 36-month leased 2009 Toyota Tacoma Access cab pickup truck. Which is why, when I went to Heritage t are local. And I had a good idea what I wanted: a 36-month leased 2009 Toyota Tacoma Access cab pickup truck. Which is why, when I went to Heritage to check it out in person, I thought it would all be pretty straightforward. Apparently, this was not to be the case. I stopped in and checked out some trucks before doing my research. This apparently did not sit comfortably with Pinhas (pronounced "Pinkas") as he wanted the sale right away. Despite a warm visit and test drive, he turned aggressive by the end of our visit by saying "I don't understand why you aren't buying right now." My reason was simple: I will be sleeping on a large decision like this. Given his persistence, I literally had to bark at him that I was not on HIS schedule, but mine. So I left. He made his obligatory follow-up call that still pressed for a sale right away. My research, however, revealed that Toyota had a much better deal going on with the double-cab model. In fact, the deal priced the double-cab - a much bigger truck - for $50 less than he was quoting me for the Access cab ($269/mo vs. $320/mo). He said it was a "different truck altogether" which I respect in many ways, but inventory is inventory. And auto sales had just hit record lows in March/April of 2009. Pinhas also said he spent a "significant amount of time" with us, as if I should be compelled to make a huge purchase because he spent possibly one hour chatting with me. A week later, my wife and I went back in to Heritage armed with research and a check book in anticipation of test driving the double-cab and entering an agreement. Pinhas was with other customers but he let us test drive a Tacome double-cab. It was nice (of course) and when we sat down afterwards, Pinhas did his obligatory "Let me see what price I can get you" schtick. He returned: "You picked a very nice truck. Here's our number...." It was $340/mo assuming $2,000 down. I pointed at the actual printed out ad from Toyota's website: "It says here that if I put $1,999 down, I can get this truck for $269/mo," I said. Pinhas once again disappeared. When he came back, he said the truck had an additional option of chrome wheels which I don't care about. That was it. No other explanation, as if to say that chrome wheels are worth another $70/mo for 36 months. After the song and dance and Pinhas frankly not being able to refute what my research showed, he brought me over to Peter Mickle. Peter was friendly and dove right in: "That's the number I have on my computer screen right here." He turned his screen so we coud see it, as if that would make it official and I would cave in to the higher price. I again showed him the Toyota ad and said that was the deal I wanted ($269/mo w/ $1,999 down). Peter tried saying there were taxes and registration on top of that. But the ad said those were included. We went back and forth and basically got nowhere. I even came to the point of pointing to the ad and saying: "This is my expectation. What do you have here on the lot that meets this expectation?" Peter gave me three model numbers (two of which were repeated) in a very non-caring, bitter manner. Here was the kicker: Peter then asked, "Why do you want this truck?" I couldn't believe it. After all we had discussed, he was going back to truck 101? I said I had my reasons and was curious as to his question. He said: "You seem to be looking for a different truck from one day to the next so I'm trying to determine what you're looking for." He said it in that condescending way that would take the heat off him and make me look like the fool. My wife and I walked out. On a call the next day, Pinhas revealed that he had a truck to fit my needs. At that point, I was done with Heritage. They wasted a ton of our time attempting to play their little head games (read about the games on Edmunds.com) and demeaned us to the point where we did not feel like rewarding such behavior. Although it meant 1/2 hour drive, we took our business to Handy's Toyota. Heritage was a waste of our time. If you like silly head games, fuzzy math, high prices and overly aggressive sales, then Heritage is your place. More

Internet leads employee was friendly and helpful enough, but sales was a different story. The salesman was never very friendly. I looked at two used cars here, both of which had major problems. When I broug but sales was a different story. The salesman was never very friendly. I looked at two used cars here, both of which had major problems. When I brought up the idea of negotiating on the price or them doing repairs in order to make a deal happen, he responded hostily. If a dealer cares about profit over safety, as Herigtage appears to, I'd say avoid it More