Customer Reviews

Not knowing much about cars. Wanted to get a second hand Honda Civic and got one there. Over-paid (my lack of experience was mainly to blame) but in general it was some good experience. Dan was really nice and helpful. Called him back on some potential safety issues and got fixed pretty quickly. He even lent his own car to me when the car was being checked.

I purchased a used Toyota Prius from Putnam Toyota. I called before heading down to verify that the car I wanted was on the lot and so when I arrived it had already been pulled out and placed in the shade for me to look it over. I went on the test drive with Jamal and then completed the negotiation with Lenny Ruttenberg. Both gentlemen were courteous and efficient. The car is in near excellent condition and I paid about $1000 under high blue book. The only significant functional issue I discovered on my inspection was a cut in the side wall of one tire. Lenny agreed immediately that it needed to be replaced. As it was Sunday and his service department was closed, Lenny had the tire replaced first thing the next morning and then delivered the car to my house in San Francisco about 20 miles away. There were only two points of friction with respect to the deal. The first was that after we had agreed on terms I was told I'd need to wait 45 minutes to an hour to see a finance guy to close. Hungry, I said I'd go get something to eat and return and suddenly a finance guy became available. The only other issue I had with the experience was that I wanted to put more of the purchase on my credit card than they were willing to do. This became a point of negotiation and while I would have liked to end up with more miles through this purchase than I did, I think the negotiation around this point was handled reasonably. I would be happy to do business with Lenny again in the future.

Back in May, my wife and I came to Putnam Toyota to check out a used 2010 Scion XD that we had seen on the internet. We had called Dan Dishart to set up our visit. We were pretty excited that the car met our best case scenario, and it appeared to be in great condition. Dan was occupied when we arrived, so we took a test drive with James, who was polite and matter of fact about the price. We decided to take a break and have dinner, and on our way out, we met Dan, who was friendly and engaging, easy to relate to. We returned to the dealership and sat down with Dan to discuss the price. It's set up as sort of a funny game where the salesman (Dan) acts as our representative to present our offer to the big bosses. In any case, while we were sure Dan wanted us to buy the car, he was patient, friendly, and not pushy at all as we negotiated on the price. We ended up buying the car that day, largely in part because Dan was easy to work with. I get a little defensive about spending that much money, and it would have been fairly easy to walk out the door if we had felt undue pressure. There was a little of the "hey, this is a special Memorial Day price" even though the price had been unchanged from the internet quote for a couple weeks, to which I roll my eyes and mutter, "oh, car salespeople." I guess there has to be a little of that. Overall, though, it was a pleasant, even fun, experience. Dan was willing to do everything in his power to help us feel comfortable with the sale. While we worked out the money side in the finance office, Dan was cruising the internet on our behalf to research deals on accessories. The only minor hiccup was that it took a few weeks to get the second key to the car, but that wasn't too big of a deal. I had to nag them a little bit to get them to look for the key. I can't bring myself to subtract as star for that, though. We had fun buying the car at Putnam, and we've been VERY pleased with the car itself. Call Dan, go in friendly with a sense of humor, and buying a car will probably be a good experience here.

I recently purchased a new Prius from these folks. I originally thought I was going to do the Costco or AAA route, but was shocked the prices weren't better and the salespeople claimed they couldn't do any better and were unwilling to negotiate. I noticed Putnam had the exact color and trim combo I wanted (based on their website). I requested a quote and was put in touch with Jeff. He got in touch with me via email right away. A couple of hours of exchanging emails and one phone call later, I was at the dealership getting my Prius. Their price was the best low maintenance negotiation price I found - a good $1000+ less than the Costco price. I didn't push the negotiation too much because I was just over it and after doing research, found it to be a fair enough price. But Jeff was totally nice, relaxed, and cool. The car and paperwork were ready when I got there (as much as they can do ahead of time). I dreaded going through the car-buying process since the last time I purchased a car, the salesmen were desperately looking over my shoulder for some sort of male figure to talk to and kept throwing gender driving stereotypes in my direction (classy and smart). This was about as painless as it gets - I told Jeff what I wanted and he made it happen without asking to speak to my husband, dad, uncle, boyfriend, 7 year old son (you get the point). Jeff gets it. To me, purchasing a car is up there with making funeral arrangements. This experience brought it down quite a few notches. Highly recommended for an otherwise dreadful task.

Dan Dishart was helpful and relatable. I found an ad on craigslist for a 2009 Rav 4 Limited. I test drove with Dan and he let me drive it the way I wanted to. He let me inspect the car as long as I wanted. I found 2 cracks on the windshield a dent and a couple of paint chips. I asked Dan what he could do about those. He pushed for me to have them fixed - and guess what - I just left the dealership with a brand new windshield and body. I appreciate how Dan got things done for me. He told me, "You're paying a premium price, you should get a premium condition car." I've bought cars before and this isn't the typical service I receive. Dan wasn't pushy. His service was patient and knowledgable. He was also very personable and easy to talk to. He even let me use his phone to call my girlfriend when my phone died at the end of the night. And oh I almost, I left my checkbook at my house. It was 1030pm at night and he drove with me to my house. Dan knows what he's doing, and I'm glad he sold me my car. I'd gladly buy another one from him when I'm ready because I can trust him. You can't say that about a lot of dealerships. I highly recommend buying from him and Putnam Toyota in general. The entire staff from the service department to the finance department were cordial.

I have purchased two Toyota's from Putnam Toyota. A Corolla in March 2010 and a RAV4 on Saturday. Both times he has beat the price of another Toyota dealership where I personally know the Sales Manager. Both times Eric Brooks, their Internet sales manager made the buying experience relatively painless, fast and saved me at least a thousand dollars over other dealers. The first time I found Eric, he was advertising New Toyota's on Craigslist. I was skeptical of the prices being quoted, but Eric came through and made a believer out of me. I had already done my research and test driven several new vehicles, so in both cases it was all down to price. All I had to do was call Eric and tell him what vehicle I wanted along with what options. Eric found an acceptable RAV4, quoted me a very good price (especially considering the current 0% loan rate for 5 years) and he had the RAV4 delivered to the dealership. All I had to do was walk in and complete the paperwork. There were no surprises in the deal, it was just as quoted by Eric Brooks. Additional options I wanted to add, will be done at the dealership and were offered at a fair price. All was agreed by phone and email prior to my visit to the dealership. So there was no surprises when I arrive at the dealership. I hope Eric is still around when I decide to purchase another Toyota, because I will be back.