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New Taco and Dealer Review (SF Bay Area)

SilverSurfer

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Today, I picked up a Solar Octane 24 Tacoma TRD OR longbed with the premium package from Livermore Toyota.

Scenario: My kid‘s 2001 explorer broke down and she needed a replacement vehicle right away. She always liked the Silver Bullet, the 24 TRD OR Tacoma I bought a few months ago, so she bought it from me. That left me without a pickup, and that couldn’t stand so I started a new search.

Bay Area Market
The SF Bay Area Toyota Tacoma market is a mixed bag. Many dealers are offering 2-3k on older stock.Depending on the locale, some still have markup on certain colors/configurations. Of course Pro and TrailHunters are 5-15k over msrp.

I must have called every Bay Area and Sacramento area dealer this week looking for a specific build.
Build:
Color Preference 1: Solar Octane
Color Preference 2: Bronze Oxide.
Trim: TRD OR
Bed: 6’
Package/Features: Upgrade package, 14” display.
Other: Spray On Bed Liner.

There were 3x as many Bronze Oxide examples as Solar Octane. In fact I only found 3 solar octanes in the entire 300 mile radius search area that fit my build preferences.

Dealers: Most wanted to play some sort of game. Come see it and we’ll make you a deal…blah blah. However a few were straight up, Freeman in Santa Rosa, Salina’s, and ultimately, Livermore.

Freeman could have had my business but weren’t as discount aggressive as Salinas or Livermore.

I called Livermore and it turned out they told me that they just took delivery, that day, of a unit that had everything I wanted, however, it also had the $8800.00 premium package. It was over 55k msrp and way more than I wanted to spend. I ended up talking to one of their sales managers, Sal, who was surprisingly great to work with. He informed me he had a SO coming in a the end of November and offered the best discount by far on it and agreed to hold it for me. He also said he could work great pricing on Tundras. The pricing he shared with me was better than anyone I’ve seen in the area.

I decided to wait on the unit coming in at the end of November, but I wanted to go see their Tundras, so I arranged a visit for this morning.

Experience:
I arrived at Livermore Toyota about 10:20am and met Rick, the sales person who Sal asked to greet me and show me whatever interested me. Rick wanted to show me the 55k Tacoma and offered a test drive. I made it clear that it was more than I wanted to spend on a Tacoma and then agreed to drive it.

After seeing it in person, honestly, I was starting to think about it.

It drove perfectly fine and when we returned, Sal met me and I was straight up with him about it being more than I wanted to spend, and he was with me asking for a chance to structure a deal on it. I was skeptical but agreed.

While they worked on the “deal” I went and looked at some Tundras (Yes, I know their issues). When they were ready, Sal surprised me with a much bigger discount than I expected. We talked a bit more. There were no add on’s of any significance, a set of inexpensive metal painted door edge guards. Just to be clear, nobody even came close to their discount.

We made a deal. They cleaned it up and it’s in my driveway now.

Some dealers just suck. This one had one of the most straightforward and pleasant purchasing experiences I’ve ever had.

I highly recommend Livermore Toyota and encourage anyone in the market to give Sal and Rick a shot at your business. If they treat you the same as they treated me, and I’m sure they will, you will not be disappointed.

2024 Tacoma New Taco and Dealer Review (SF Bay Area) IMG_3899


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2024 Tacoma New Taco and Dealer Review (SF Bay Area) IMG_3899


2024 Tacoma New Taco and Dealer Review (SF Bay Area) IMG_3900




2024 Tacoma New Taco and Dealer Review (SF Bay Area) IMG_3917


2024 Tacoma New Taco and Dealer Review (SF Bay Area) IMG_3895
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evlfred

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If they made a hybrid limited in solar octane I woulda bought that in a heartbeat
 

Chileburger

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Congratulations! I purchased my trd off road from seaside Toyota and had a great experience back in March but then got the itch to switch things up a bit. My truck was white and had the 14” screen but didn’t have all the cameras or the ventilated seats. Also really like the hood scoop on the sport so I looked around and was able to work out a really good deal on a silver trd sport with the premium package. They gave me huge trade in value on my off road and were aggressive with their pricing and rate. I lease so it made it easier to make the trade. Unfortunately more original/local dealer wasn’t able come close.

Toyota is continuing to build 24s. I’m guessing they will switch to 25s pretty soon but there is an inventory of 24s in the west coast especially 5 foot beds.

I hope you enjoy the heck out of your truck and again, congratulations!
 

WKTJR1

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When I finally get my truck and receive my "buying experience" email, I plan on calling out every dealer I have dealt with.
 

ramble22

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Glad to hear you had a good experience with Livermore. I had reached out to them about buying a Limited Hybrid and unfortunately had the opposite experience. Completed the transaction via SmartPath online, but they refused to put their approval in writing until I showed up in person to "see what we can do for you". It was a clear bait and switch, and my salesman Assad didn't appear to be dealing in good faith.

Coincidentally, I ended up purchasing from Freeman in Santa Rosa, and they were reasonably good as far as dealers go.
 

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SilverSurfer

SilverSurfer

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Interesting experience but not surprising. The phone ”pickup” lottery, ie who picked up your call, often guides ones experience. I try to talk with a sales manager or the GM whenever possible to shortcut the no authority salesperson experience.
 
 



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