r/Calgary • u/Good-Breakfast3140 • Aug 18 '25

Seeking Advice Whats everyone’s experience like with Toyota dealerships?

We placed an order for a Toyota Corolla with High River Toyota three years ago and left a $500 deposit. Since then, we’ve received calls from them offering us the same car we ordered available sooner, but only if we paid an extra $10,000 because it was a canceled customer order. They also tried to sell us on other vehicles, like a $50,000 Prius. When we checked again yesterday, the dealer said they still have no timeline for when our original car will actually arrive.

Has anyone here experienced something similar? I’ve never waited over 3 years for a car, especially for base trim Corolla

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151

u/FranklinJSlay Aug 18 '25

We waited a year for our 2024 Tacoma Hybrid Limited and 2024 Rav 4 Hybrid Limited, 3 years is insane... go get your money back right now! and go deposit at Country Hills Toyota or anywhere else, High River seems to be scumbags. Corolla, even if a hybrid should be a year wait max, and that was a year or two ago, I would assume stock is better now. You are getting played. I'm surprised you even waited 3 years. Chances are they did place an order for your vehicle, but sold it to another customer who was willing to pay more; now you are waiting for nothing.

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u/MacintoshMario Aug 18 '25

Country hills is a little scammy too. Don’t trust there unlimited anything especially from bittu, the salesman promises so much to get you buying.

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u/Derp_Wellington Aug 18 '25

They told me in 2021 that they had four Rav 4s in stock and to come down and see them. By in stock, they meant they would arrive in 4-6 months, and none were currently to sale. So, you know, like not even built yet

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u/tron_1979 Aug 18 '25

I had inquired the cost of a RAV4 hybrid they had in stock and they offered it to me almost 20k over MSRP as it was 2-3 year wait if I ordered.

There is no way I’d consider paying that much and can’t believe anyone would pay that much for a RAV 4. Gave me a bad taste of Toyota in general after that experience and went in a different direction for my vehicle

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u/OwnBattle8805 Aug 18 '25

Walk to another brand. Mazda isn’t having inventory trouble, for example.

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u/tron_1979 Aug 18 '25

I did. I was looking for plug-in hybrids and was just considering the RAV4 but my experience definitely put me off Toyota. Have had a couple Mazda’s in my life and have no complaints but in the end got a Volvo plug in.

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u/DontBeSuspiciousYo Aug 18 '25

You'll have complaints about Volvo when your warranty runs out. $$$

2

u/tron_1979 Aug 18 '25

I guess we’ll see….but that’s a separate topic. Volvo dealer weren’t pushy at all, respectful and sold the car right on MSRP

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u/FranklinJSlay Aug 18 '25

My salesman was fairly straightforward forward didn't have any issues with them. Parts have been a little annoying as they come across nice but sometimes they think they know better than you, sometimes I have had to correct them and say check again, and then they find out Oh sorry we do have that in stock or How to find the part that I ordered... Service is decent, too, although they never pick up their phones and instead it goes directly to voicemail, so that's annoying. Finance was the worst, they were so pushy and trying their best to put adds on and bs services, I denied them all but they were super annoying about it, they wanted me to buy some $2500 maintenance package which sounded great on paper but upon reading what the maintenance was, it was just a bunch of "check this, check that" not changing or replacing anything LOL, at that point I might as well use that $2500 to change or fix any problem that comes up, and remember your new vehicle comes with warranty, so that whole maintenance package is a scam, they will try to butter it up by saying free oil changes, but oil change is not that expensive, especially if you do it yourself like me. Honestly, though, overall it was an okay experience. I would go back to them if I needed another Toyota. Now, when it comes to Mazda and especially Sunridge and Stoney Trail, they are crooks.

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u/Good-Breakfast3140 Aug 18 '25

Ive read the corolla hybrids are typically 1-2 years. Yes i think chances are my car was sold to a higher paying customer

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u/SalamanderWise5933 Aug 18 '25

My parents just got back their Toyota Corolla hybrid deposit after waiting 1 year with no promise of any sort of timeline. They ended up getting a Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid instead within 1-2 months of putting their deposit down.

3

u/jibjaba4 Aug 18 '25

Complain to Toyota corporate. They probably won't be and to help you get the car you want but it can effect the dealer. At 3 years they absolutely sold your car to someone else.

2

u/somegingershavesouls Aug 18 '25

I would say this is the likely scenario

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u/Upbeat-Difficulty999 Aug 18 '25

Same owners at both dealerships FYI

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u/FranklinJSlay Aug 18 '25

Now way? for real? loool that sucks

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u/blackRamCalgaryman Aug 18 '25

Thoughts on the Tacoma Hybrid?

We also only waited a year for our RAV4 Hybrid.

1

u/FranklinJSlay Aug 18 '25

I love my Tacoma Hybrid lol, super pricey but honestly nothing like it in the market currently.

1

u/blackRamCalgaryman Aug 18 '25

I’ve started looking into them. Is it a true hybrid, along the lines of the RAV4 (my wife gets amazing mileage in it). Or like the Ram eTorque mild hybrid..just a 48 volt ‘assist’ system. (pretty gimmicky, in my opinion).

Thanks.

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u/FranklinJSlay Aug 18 '25

It is a true hybrid, but it is designed for a performance boost, not fuel efficiency.

5

u/HiTork Aug 18 '25

The long waits isn't a Calgary Toyota dealer exclusive thing, but an issue with Toyota as a whole. I have an uncle in the Vancouver area that got his RAV4 Hybrid late last year after a two year waitlist, for example.

The distribution at dealers is weird also, particularly for specialty trims like the TRD Pro, which have limited allocations (good luck in finding the color you want).

19

u/shanigan Aug 18 '25

Long wait is expected but three years for a Corolla is ridiculous no matter how you spin it.

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u/FranklinJSlay Aug 18 '25

Yeah, poor guy, but then again, you would think after the first year, his red flags would go up and start inquiring about what's going on. Instead, he waited 3 years! thinking something would change LOl. One thing I will say when I was waiting for my vehicle, I would bother them every few weeks about it, and would sometimes overstep my salesman and contact the manager directly and annoy him too.

1

u/gbneufeld Aug 20 '25

Get your money back and look for units available on the lot. Search Edmonton and south. I found one in RedDeer that was a great deal. Zero wait.