Gatorland Toyota

Only one star because I cannot give them zero stars. I have a Toyota Avalon Limited that is still under warranty. I lost a small knob that is located on the console between the front seats and is used to regulate heating of the seats. I came into the service department and the representative said they would order the small knob. I got a call saying the part was in and went down to pick it up. Imagine my surprise when the parts department said the entire electronic control switch would have to be replaced, Toyota would be billed about $ 300 for a $ 5 knob. So not only do they rip off their customers they do the same to Toyota. An outrageous and unethical way to conduct business. I live in Gainesville but drove to the Ocala Toyota dealer, they provided the knob and said nothing about having to replace the entire electronic assembly. There is no way I would ever spend a dime with this dealer.

Purchased a 2009 RAV4 used and in the deal they where to replace the drivers front headlight due to moisture in lens and also install a tire cover on rear of car. When car was delivered car was never filled with gas no owners manual in car detail department removed sticker on body and scratched rear door hatch. Drove car to work that day and when leaving work that night drivers side headlight wouldn’t work. So I opened the hood to find they installed a new headlight but never plugged it in! So I fixed it myself turn signal on drivers side front also didn’t work either no bulb was installed in headlight
I called the dealer the next day and was told to come in and it will be taken care of right away. Not so I get there and services says it’s going to be awhile like over a hour to replace a turn signal bulb so I told the services writer if they would give me the bulb and that I would install it myself and they said ok. I walked over to parts and they got the bulb and the parts department installed it for me! Had to return to get car fueled and then again to get owners manual which was a 2010 RAV4 I had a 2009. Only 1 key was given with car and the scratches on rear door hatch was not addressed!

the sales called Mr. Thiel, said to me:” you don’t want to buy a car, you are wasting my time, please leave.”
Really bad sales. I bought a Prius with scratches but is certified pre-​owned from them. After half a year, I tried to trade in for a Tundra. They cut my trade in price because of the scratches. I said I bought it here but they didn’t respond to the fact and played innocent. After I bargain for a lower price, Mr, Thiel brought up these ridiculous words.

We purchased our Yaris here last year. It wasn’t too hair-​pulling of a process that I expected it to be. We went on a weekend and was taken care of directly. The test drive was simple and quick before we decided on the car. Next, the negotiation was simple as well. After sending back a few offers, we actually ended up with a great deal.
We have also been back for regular maintenance. Scheduling appointments take a little work if you want a certain manager. The promised time is always longer than expected, maybe 1.5 hours for an oil change, 2 – 4 for other regular work. They’ve always given a free car wash with service, which is nice.
The lobby is ok. They have vending machines and free powdered coffee, which I’d avoid. I wish they would offer a bottle water or something with this Florida heat. At one time, I saw signs for manicures while you wait, but it looks like that is gone. They do offer complementary rides to work and such if you need to service your car for the day.
Overall, an adequate experience. Nothing spectacular, nothing above and beyond. Nothing to give a gold star to. But, if you expect average service from a car dealership or service center, you won’t be disappointed.

Well, I suppose the joke’s on me since I did take my car here a few times. But this time will be my last, I swear on All That Is Holy. Bad service. Long wait times. Creepy manager who made bigoted remarks. Incorrect info provided by multiple employees. This is one spot to skip!

A bit disappointed in Gatorland. I bought my car here a while back and was coming to get the oil changed because I like to stay loyal.
It took two hours for them to change my oil! Two friggin hours! And it only was expedited when I asked them how long it would be at 1.5 hours into it, when they asked if I wanted more service.

For the sake of not wasting anymore time on this, I’m going to re-​post the email I just sent to the general manager:
We met yesterday; I was in with my girlfriend and we test drove a couple of used Prius.
I wanted to share our complete disappointment with our sales experience. We spent four hours on a beautiful Saturday afternoon getting to terms we were told had been approved and signed paperwork before being told at the last possible moment that we could either take the car at a much higher price than had been signed for or walk away.
As an added insult, the car I drove in with that was part of the deal as a trade-​in had been parked somewhere else on the lot, and we were left to walk around aimlessly looking for it. I also had to peel your stickers off my windshield and reattach my plate before driving home because your salesperson totally walked away after the deal fell through.
Despite all that, I also wanted to thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson as a first-​time car buyer; if a dealership or a salesman seems like they don’t have their stuff together completely, walk away.
We came in to look at a 2014 Prius you had listed as used online. When we were told the listing was erroneous, we should have taken it as a sign of the unprofessionalism we eventually fell victim to and walked away.
There is very little chance we would ever consider doing business with you or any other Gatorland dealership, and we will surely be telling our friends and family about our experience in the hope that they can avoid a similar situation.

This should backup my previous 1 star review.

I purchased a Toyota at another dealer but was only given one key. The dealership that I purchased from gave me a PO# to get one at my local Toyota dealer which is Gatorland Toyota. Just so you know the dealer that sold me the car has 5 locations so they are not small by any means
I went into Gatorland and headed to the parts counter to see if they had a key in stock. They did not so they ordered one. Which is ok. The next day they called said the part was in and I scheduled an appointment for the following day. I arrived the next day and my service adviser was Drew. I gave him the paperwork from the other dealer with the PO. I was told it should take less than an hour to program the key. Well after 2 hours he tells me they ordered the wrong key. Then he informs me that the dealership I bought the car from does not have an account set up. But that he did verify that the PO was valid and good. So they ordered another key and I went in today. After an hour Drew said the key is programmed but needed to know how the other dealership was going to pay. Since Gatorland had not set up an account yet for the other dealership. So after another hour and half nothing was accomplished. I had enough I offered to pay for it myself because the other dealership would reimburse me. After that Drew said it was their problem not mine and gave my keys.
So after over 4 hours and two trips to get a key programmed needless to say I will not recommend nor go back to Gatorland Toyota.
First time customer and now a dissatisfied customer.

Based on a simple auto oil change, and a tire rotation; I have not purchased a car from this Toyota dealership.
I’ll be returning for continued maintenance of the car and will update as needed.
I scheduled the appointment about 3 days prior for my first 10k maintience. It was a 9am appointment, and I was in and out in about 45 mins, which was pretty darn fast. I’m not sure if they have been working on their waiting time, or if it was because I was there early in the morning, but it was fast.

Have an appointment? Think you don’t have to wait too long? Think again!

We recently purchased a car at Gatorland Toyota and had a mixed experience. On the plus side, the sales associate was very pleasant and helpful. We test drove several new and used cars and ultimately decided on one we liked. We were prepared with our own financing options and did not need financing through the dealership — however, they told us about their options with a rate under one percent, so we agreed to talk to the finance person.
After several hours of dealing with the sales associate, we were passed to «Rick», the finance person, who had a lot of paperwork for us to sign to finalize the purchase. Before we were passed to Rick, we had asked for a write-​up of all the costs and the final price, which we did not receive. Once we got into Rick’s office, he said we would be seeing that soon. However, he proceeded to place in front of us paperwork for a loan at over 4 percent! While he agreed that our credit was outstanding, he said that the loan was what was available. It also included a hefty early termination fee. At this point we had been in the dealership nearly six hours (and five hours after deciding what to buy), and ended up accepting the loan, but we were extremely unhappy with the experience.
It’s a shame, because talking with the sales associate WAS a positive experience, and I’m told that the service department is also very good. I would hesitate to recommend Gatorland to any because of the shady, strong arm tactics of the finance department, even if the buyer walks in with a check in hand.

My family and I took our car to be serviced at this dealership. We were very pleased with the level of professionalism that was shown to us. They are also extremely nice people to boot. The servicing of our car was taking a good while, and naturally our kids started to complain that they were hungry. Next thing we know an employee went to the vending machine bought 3 bags of potato chips and gave them to our kids free of charge! This same person disappeared for a minute, and reappeared with 3 bottles of water for our children! My kids, went from hating this place because of how long they had to sit and wait, to loving this place like McDonald’s or Chick fil A! While I would be very happy to come back to my car serviced again, it’s really not practical because of how far away they are. Not to mention there’s a Keith Pierson dealership 15 minutes away from my house. Otherwise, my wife and I were pleased with our overall experience here.

I am happy to hear a few of you have had good experiences at Gatorland Toyota… I regret to inform you, however, that I am not part of that list of happy customers.
My wife and I went to Gatorland to buy a Toyota Rav4 and we ended up buying a Honda CRV (from another dealership) just based on the fact that the sales-​lady at Gatorland treated us like such idiots that it completely spoiled the Toyota experience for us… For Christ’s sakes, she wanted to sell us a car without mats and insisted that every Toyota is sold without mats. She was so stubbornly holding onto the mats, she didn’t realize she was losing a $ 23K purchase based on $ 60 mats.
I almost forgot, she assured us she knew what color car we wanted better than we did. Once we started talking about their Service plans and prices, the wheels just came off and we had to walk out.
I guess looking back, I didn’t want to be trapped having to go to Gatorland to get my car serviced. Do not recommend these guys at all! They WILL go out of their way to make you feel like an idiot. After all, who knows you better than Gatorland?

This is where I purchased my first new car, 10 years ago. Back then it was a fast, easy, and painless experience. The salesman was very interested in making the sale and treated us well.
If you know me, you will know that I am a die hard Toyota compact economy car fan. Those cars last forever. And, most importantly, so does the AC. I sold my Echo for almost as much as I paid for it, after owning it for 10 years.
Well, I returned from my hellish living experience in NYC. I came back to Florida and had to buy a car immediately, otherwise life would suck and I would not be able to get around. I researched online and the Yaris was the best and cheapest option for me at this point in my life. Where I am basically broke until I get settled in. Stick shift is all that I like to drive, it creates a bond between the driver and the machine. Automatics are for rental cars and high maintenance lamers. Just kidding, well maybe not.
So, I was specifically looking for a hatch back, 4 door, stick shift, Yaris, in any color other than red or white. I emailed the various dealerships looking for the previous sentence quoted at $ 14,000. Gatorland called me back immediately and stated that they can get this exact car for me within a few days and that the price was not a problem. None of the other dealerships were able to hit that price. That day I went in to the dealership in person, to purchase said car immediately, with money in hand. They then told me that they did not have what I was looking for a tried to sell me something else. I haggled, and haggled, and almost three hours later I managed to put a deposit down on a black Yaris, 4 door, sedan, loser automatic for $ 14,500. Three degrees of seperation from what was originally promised in an email and on the phone that morning.
I guess getting what I really wanted was too good to be true here. But, at least I got something. The sales staff and managers said that there was a communication problem with the supplier. The sales staff here really made no effort to make the sale and were not interested in whether we purchased a car or not. It is not like it used to be where they need to make sales anymore. The manager actually told us that their met their goal for the month and that they did not need my sale! That their goal is to turn cars as quickly as possible with little or no effort.
After asking around, this happens all of the time to people. They bring people in with lies just to get them to buy something, and basically waste their time. If I was not in dire need of a car, I would not have made my purchase here. Hopefully next time I will not have to be in this situation again.

(Note: My rating is strictly for auto repairs and services — never bought a car from here)
If you look on aggregate review sites for Gatorland Toyota, the reviews are dismal; the vast majority however are regarding people trying to purchase a vehicle. From the standpoint of someone who has been bringing their car here many years for repairs however, I have nothing but good things to say about the establishment.
The two main pluses regarding their service is that the atmosphere is great and the jobs seem to be done efficiently. Most of the times I take the car in for an oil change. You can schedule an appointment over the phone or also online, which is extremely convenient. You can certainly find cheaper places to change your oil in this town; often there are coupons either online or in Mint magazine to defray the cost slightly. When you take your car in, often there’s a slight line of cars to wait in; this is usually the only part of the whole process that they could be more efficient about. Once you’ve dropped your car off and gone inside it’s quite quick. They used to have a policy that the oil change would take no more than 30 minutes or else it would be free or discounted; I don’t quite remember because I’ve never had to take them up on the offer. I also assume this policy still exists but again since I’ve never had to use it I haven’t paid much attention.
The nice thing is that once you go inside to wait it’s a very pleasant experience. The interior is very large and spacious, as well as quite clean and brightly lit. There are pretty comfortable couches where you can watch television, or you can chat with the floor people if they’re not too busy. They’re not all particularly receptive to chatting, but you can usually at least a couple who are very helpful if you have questions. To boot, there’s free wi-​fi in the lobby while you wait. Also free is the coffee (which I admittedly abuse when I have to wait for longer repairs) and often in the mornings there are free pastries as well. These little attentions to detail are what help this establishment stand out in my mind.
If during the course of any service jobs additional issues pop up, they will approach you before making any repairs, and I’ve never had any of them get pushy about it. I used to hold off on their recommendations and take my car in for a second opinion at another garage and also to call around to check on price comparisons for the repair jobs. Most every time their prices were in line with what other places around town were charging and I never got the sense that they were ‘over-​diagnosing’ my car with repairs it didn’t really need. Albeit I’m really not much of a car person either.
One final point that I’m happy to make note of is that this establishment has always been honest about their repair times. I don’t mind if a job take 10 minutes or 10 hours; I just want to know ahead of time so I can plan my day accordingly. At other garages around town I’ve been told a job will take 2 hours only to have it drag on to 3, 4 or more hours. Recently I took my car in to Gatorland for a 60,000 mile check up — which takes a few hours — and actually had the car back in less than their quoted time, which was enormously refreshing.
All in all I’ve been very happy with the service and repairs I’ve received on my car here at Gatorland Toyota. One of the main complaints people have is their customer service, and people cite unpleasant experiences they have had with managers or other people. Because I’ve never had a complaint, I unfortunately do not have anything to say about the management one way or the other. But the people I have spoken with — from the sales folks, to people at the register to the guys (and girls) doing the repairs — have been mostly helpful and friendly. The experience on the whole for repairs has been a good one and I gladly go back time and time again.