Open Road Toyota of Richmond

This review is for a recent experience with the sales department, specifically, the section of the sales department that calls and tells me that they want to buy my vehicle back.
So, I received a phone call telling me that OpenRoad Toyota is interested in buying back my vehicle. My reaction was, «Umm, really? Why?» The voice on the other end basically said that there’s a demand for my vehicle. This is a first, but ok, sure, I’ll play along and see what this is really about (the things I do for Unilocal!). Luckily for them, I had a service scheduled coming up in a couple of days from the call. Coincidence? Maybe. They told me they’ll have a look or assess my vehicle while it’s in service. So they booked me to see a «retention» or «sales» manager” (I think this is what they’re called) on the same day as my service.
The day came, service was done to my vehicle and I went to see the «retention» or «sales» manager. He sat me down, and went straight to it. Bottomline, he wants me out of my current 5 year, 0% financing contract, with less than 3 years left AND into a 3 year lease, for $ 100/​month less than what I’m paying now. This might make sense for him, but definitely not for me. He went on to lecture me about the pros and cons of leasing vs financing. At the end of the lease, I saved $ 3600, and without a vehicle. Makes sense? Nope. Not to me. I actually like the vehicle that I purchased so do plan to keep it for quite some time. All of a sudden he became my financial advisor. I find it funny how he keeps pushing me to switch over to a lease, and yet at the end of his spiel, it’s up to me. And then he goes on to push again, and in the end, it’s up to me again. Let me tell you something, it is up to me and I say ‘no’. Nice try. And they also didn’t assess my vehicle while it’s in service. Their intentions are pretty clear. So if the dealer (any dealer) calls you back and tells you they want to buy your vehicle back, you’d know why.

Absolute worst dealership I have ever dealt with…
They will stick a defective part in your car and admit to it but does nothing to fix it. This is not the first time they’ve done it to me but guaranteed it is the last. Absolute bunch of crooks!!!
These guys need to go Audi of Richmond and ask them how they treat their clients right.
Good riddance to Toyota and especially Open Road Toyota Richmond.

Friendly staff and great managers!

Sorry Guys, bought a car from the white rock toyota because it also took me a while to get a sales person down to reception. Nice when I had his attention, but I felt shoed away.
Literally drove to White Rock and bought a tacoma on the spot. Thought you would be interested in knowing that

I tried to buy a whole new 2014 Camry here. But the odometer in our contract is 28 km, by the day I was paying and about to get the car, it is 84 km. 84 km for a new car? And the manager Trevor try to make me feel that 82 km is a reasonable number. And I said I want my money back because it is not what you promise me. This manager told me, okay, you could just walk away with your money, but I need to charge you the transporting fee, the accessory fee… etc.
that’s totally not make sense to me!!! I asked where those 84 km comes from, they said: it could be varied. They don’t know. And I asked if it could be a demo car or for test drive. He said it could. Then how can you ask me to pay a whole new car price on this?

Dealt with three different Toyota dealerships and ended up buying a Toyota Tacoma here. Let’s start off with how we came to that conclusion.
1. Started with Jim Pattison Toyota on Burrard by Davie Street. The salesman was super friendly and chatty and he thought he’d make a quick sale until we sat down to discuss numbers. I have haggled for every vehicle I’ve ever owned (finding that Lexus was the only one that wouldn’t come down on price by much and all I could get was free merchandise). He told me that that because of their central location and thus expensive rent, they move inventory very quickly and were aggressively priced. He knocked off $ 500 off the list price of a brand new vehicle… and that was it. He told me he couldn’t do better. I asked if he was serious and I told him about another dealership that would. He told me to just go there. So I took his own advice and left.
2. Granville Toyota was awesome. Derrick is awesome. If you don’t want to haggle for a car or can’t bring yourself to get over the shame/​stigma/​fear of doing it, then I suggest Openroad or Granville Toyota because both were stellar. The only reason I didn’t buy at Granville Toyota was because he couldn’t beat the price at Openroad. If I wasn’t haggling, I’d happily buy from either. Great experience here (to the point I’ll write a review for them and give them 5 stars).
3. Openroad Toyota was great. I called to see if they had the vehicle we wanted to test drive available, and they said yes. Showed up, went to reception and a salesperson was asked to come meet us. We told him what we wanted, he asked for a driver’s license while he went to grab the keys. Within 15 minutes we test drove it and decided to mull it over.
When we came back, we were given the option on two demo models and a brand new one. It made more sense to buy a brand new one. Ryan and Eddy gave us the best price available and we signed the paperwork and put a down payment and waited for the vehicle to arrive within a month (popular colour so we had to wait).
Got a call that it arrived early so we made an appointment to pick it up the next day. Everything went super smoothly.
I’ll admit I’m biased. I already bought a car from Openroad (another make of vehicle) so I am familiar with the company and love how they do business. Aside from Richmond Acura and Openroad, I’ve never been treated so well as a customer. So when my friend was given the choice between Granville Toyota and Openroad, she was fine with either because they were both so customer oriented that it was only the bigger savings here that sold us.
I’d recommend this place to anyone. I’m disappointed to see all the negative reviews but I guess we all have different experiences. I definitely don’t think it matters how you dress but maybe it’s the attitude? I don’t know. I came in here dressed in jeans and a tshirt and so I know the service isn’t about appearing like you can afford a car. Who knows.

FAILS SERVICE *********
post behalf for my frd.
Richmond Open Road Toyota ruined my frd FRS
she went for servicing for oil change… the mechanic didnt close the oil cap properly so was driving 1 day without oil cap.
or maybe they pour too much engine oil that thermo expand and so the cap came off & was at the bottom of the car
FAIL FAIL FAIL
LOMA =)

I like to post positive reviews but when a dealer FAILS in so many aspects of their business, I want to tell everybody I know. I live in Richmond and this is the closest Toyota dealership/​service shop in the city. When I bought my first Camry from Budget Rent a Car in 2002, I came to this dealership to have the alarm installed. I got great service at that time and that was when I started coming back.
My bad experience with them started about 5 years ago when I went back to them to get a replacement for my alarm remote. I tried getting a replacement but the company that makes the alarm is not in Canada anymore. I tried to order through the web from different company but was not successful. So, I went back to Open Road to ask them if they could help me get 2 replacement remotes since they were the ones who installed the alarm.
I was surprised when they said, «We did not install your alarm». I was shocked and told them that they did. I asked to speak to the manager and the manager ‘explained’ that they had an outside contractor install the alarm for me and that the dealer will not support any work because of this. I said this was never explained to me when I first got the alarm. That was the reason why I went to the dealership, to get a ‘Toyota’ alarm system. The manager wanted to get me out of there as fast as he could. I eventually ‘reasoned’ with him and he promised to fix the 2 defective remotes we had. I was happy at that time and continued to use their service.
My 2^nd bad experience with them was when I was shopping for a Sienna and I came to this dealership a year ago. I found the exact model I was looking for but they were about $ 1,000 to $ 3,500 more than similar ones I found. I asked the salesman the reason why this is higher than most of the ones I found and instead of pointing out the features and benefits of this particular one, he went into «because we are a better dealership» and we are better than the rest etc.etc. I walked out a little pissed and went to the Chrysler Dealership (can you believe a Toyota Sienna at a Chrysler Dealer?) in Langley that had excellent customer service.
So, fine. approx 8 months ago, I brought my Sienna to this same dealership to get my regular maintenance done, change oil etc. I also received a letter from Toyota Canada informing me of a ‘recall’. It seems like my Sienna has a potential problem with the spare tire cable carrier and I had booked to have this done. The service appt lady booked me for it and confirmed to have this included in the servie. When I arrived on the appointment day, I was told that my van had already received this service. I asked «Are you sure because I would not have received this recall letter if it was already done». She assured me it was done.
I accepted what she said, picked up the van later and drove straight to get my passport, when I got out of my vehicle, and walked to the passenger side, I saw a small dent on the side. The maintenance guy/​driver had put a dent into the side of the minivan and didnt inform me! I had no time to go back and with their attitude, I am almost sure they will deny it. To this day, I still have that dent on my mini-​van.
Another 5,000 kilometers and I went to a different dealership to get my regular maintenance done. I related my story to the dealership about the recall and he checked my record. Sure enough, my mini van was never serviced for the spare tire cable! That dealership did the fix and had left me happy with them. Why would Open Road Toyota lie about a very serious problem? They could have told me they were busy but should NOT have lied.
One bad experience is not good but 3 bad ones are enough for me. l would give them no stars if that was possible. In fact, they deserve a negative 5. Avoid this dealership at all cost, because that could cost you your life.

GF took her RAV4 in for service a few months ago.
It was supposedly a major service, we told them the AC filter needed to be changed (I checked it before).
When all was said & done, they said it was OK.
The filter was absolutely full & gross!
We emailed them the picture and they apologized, delivered a new filter (and coffee cup).
After that,. the transmission (after a supposed flush & fill) was acting strangely,
the transmission fluid was black, gritty and smelled bad!
I think they flushed it with OLD transmission fluid!
The GF was too scared to take it back.
Never again, will I ever deal with Richmond Toyota!
(funny they had a job posting for a new lube tech shortly thereafter)

*** This review is really for the IQ and Scion and the Toyota brand. The dealership and the management are not part of this review. Otherwise it’d be a 2.5 or 3 star review).
Came back here for the IQ Scion event with SR Auto (makers of cool looking IQ’s) and the Roaming Dragon (caterer).
I came with my beat up «yumped and jumped» rally-​x Yaris and stuck it out like a sore thumb in front of the Toyota dealership.
They usually don’t pay attention to my car, I have to say, it’s something that Asians tend to scoff at with uncomprehension. I did however buy that Yaris brand new from Open Road Toyota a few years back. Did I feel any Toyota love from them? Nope.
They should because of all the beating I did on this car, it’s a testament as to how durable a Yaris is. Having said this, I’m pretty sure that little IQ is just as durable. Maybe not the body panels, but the frame is. Which means if you get into an accident (god forbid) You’ll come out ok.
I’m also familiar with the 1.3 litre engine as it came with the Vitz (Yaris) I drove in Japan and the IQ is gutsier. The car’s ¹⁄₃ the size of the Yaris afterall, so it better be peppy, CVT tranny and all.
SR Auto did a bang up job on making the orange IQ look like it could chew up a Lancer after it beat up on a flock of Smart cars!
So, I like the car. Great review. The dealership? We’ll have to wait and see. I started off with their Scion Facebook page and they seem to be only interested in kids who want to tune a car and look cute. They’re not really interested in us older folk with the money to buy one. They want to target our kids who go to us with the money to buy one for them! Such is their marketing.
Kinda like tabaco companies marketing to 14 year olds through their advertising. Sneaky!
But hey! It works and kids are buying them. And the nice thing is that they’re not getting 400 HP cars and racing aroung the streets in them. I truly think parents who buy their kids overpowered cars are all idiots. Lesson learned rich daddy guy.
Don’t buy them a Ferrari or Aston martin. buy them a Scion IQ. That’s the smart thing to do! Sheesh!
So buy something a bit more responsible and don’t turn your kids into killers with a car. Get a Scion.
Hopefully you’ll get good honest service and that they’ll continue to take care of you even after you’ve bought your car.
Lets hope Open Road Toyota’s management team treats you well, even through tough Toyota times and brake failures. They certainly didn’t do me justice.

Possibly the worst customer service ever.
After online research and a prior test drive, I went in to OpenRoad ready to buy a car that day. It took about 30 minutes in the showroom to wave down a salesperson, after having to hound the sales managers for help. The salesperson was, without a doubt, one of the most rude and callous people I have met to this day (last name Hunt, I think). He saunters over, impatience in his face, and barks, «What do you want.» Then essentially tells me that unless I write him a cheque for a car immediately, I would be wasting his time. Has selling a car become so easy that no effort or manners are required?
Needless to say, I did not buy a car from him and vowed never to purchase a Toyota because of that experience. If you are set on a Toyota, try one of the other dealerships around town, unless you enjoy being talked down to.

Remember my last review? Well this last experience I have had with them (hopefully the last ever…) is not any better. Service here is really a lot less than mediocre — lack of attentiveness to the customer and there seems to be a lack of communication between internal departments.
Being that my car was still under its 3-​year warranty, I had found a glitch in my back-​up sensors which happens only in below-​zero weathers (just one or two degrees below). Long story short, first time I brought it to OpenRoad’s attention, they said they would check it – but since the weather was warmer by that time, they couldn’t replicate the scenario and just gave me the car back saying that everything looks fine (oh, by the way, they kept no record of this visit). Second time (by this time I had moved my business over to Granville Toyota, which is over a year later), Granville was able to find out what was wrong — one sensor was dead and attempted to contact OpenRoad to tell them more details so that they could help me get it replaced. Apparently OpenRoad refused to tell them anything and said that the customer (me) would have to go to them directly to get that replaced. Granville updated Toyota’s central database about this defect on my car and told me that OpenRoad will have access to this information as well. Granville even printed out a description of the defect on my service invoice so that I would have some record of it.
So here’s the kicker: I went to OpenRoad and the Service department told me that they would need to test it out again. I told them that Granville had already tested and specified that one of the sensors was dead. However, they insisted on doing the test themselves — guess what, the weather was warmer by then and they, of course, could not find anything.
So what did I do? I told the Service department that I need to speak with the people who would deal with warranty issues — and was directed to the Finance department. They spoke with me and said they would look at the car again and replace the sensor as per Granville’s findings. When I came to pick up the car, I asked the person there if they had replaced the defective sensor, and he/​she told me yes. Again, no paper record/​statement saying that they fixed the problem was given to me or written down — I would not be able to know if they did what was asked or whether they just danced a jig around my car and called it a day.
Oh no, the story does not end here. Lo and behold, a cold front came to Vancouver and what did I find out? My sensor is still defective…
This time, I insisted on speaking with the Service manager — who agreed to completely replace my entire back-​up sensor system. How did I know they really did it this time? Because the back-​up chirping sounds different than before… even then I made sure to clarify that if there is any problem with these sensors, I would be covered.
They even had the audacity to attempt to charge me to rent a «courtesy car», until I had a talk with the manager.
1 defective sensor under warranty
4 visits to «fix» the situation
Numerous hours spent on going back and forth with Openroad to settle this matter.
I’m out.