Customer Reviews

If you're looking to buy a new Toyota, look no further. Mark Putnam (Internet Sales) at Putnam Toyota Scion made the new car buying experience a pleasant surprise. I did come prepared with a specific vehicle and options in mind and was quoted an internet sales price by Mark for the dealership's standard configurations before I arrived. An important part of buying a new car is feeling like the sales person is on your side, helping you with such an important decision, and Mark definitely delivered on this. At the dealership, Mark took the time to understand all my questions and concerns. There was absolutely no pressure or any underhanded sales tactics. Mark was, simply put, a nice, courteous person genuinely interested in providing me what I wanted and not into pushing unwanted accessories, options, or plans. He even took the time to introduce me to the service department and make sure the car was thoroughly detailed after the purchase and before I drove my new car off the lot. Michael Dobres, the Finance Manager, also gave top notch sales and financial services. I highly recommend visiting Mark at Putnam Toyota Scion if you are in the market for a new car.

I don't normally write these types of reviews, but felt the need to after my experience at Putnam Toyota in Burlingame. Specifically with Mark Putnam, Fleet Internet Manager. I had been shopping for a Toyota RAV4 for a couple of weeks now and knew exactly what I wanted. I also had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to pay for the vehicle based on my research online and with consumer reports data. So I visited a couple of bay area dealerships and received quotes for the vehicle. What I found was that the quoted prices sound great at first look until you see line after line of extra fees tacked onto the final price of the vehicle. These fees (TDA advertising, gasoline, dealer holdback, wholesale financial reserve, etc) start to add up. I already had the number I wanted to pay in my head, I didn't want to play games arguing over these extra fees. Especially fees which are very shady (i.e. dealer holdback). At this point I was getting very tired of haggling over the specifics of the deal. I just wanted someone to give me a fair price for the vehicle with no extra fees attached. That's when I received an email from Mark Putnam, Fleet Internet Manager at Putnam Toyota, asking if I was still interested in purchasing a Toyota. I sent him a very brief email spelling out the exact vehicle I wanted configured to my liking. Within minutes I received a response which clearly stated he had the exact vehicle I wanted with the options I asked for. Right next to this in plain english was the price followed by "plus tax and license". The number was exactly what I was looking for. Hooray. Wait a minute, there has to be a catch here. So I emailed him back asking if his price included all of the extra fees and the extra options I wanted on the vehicle. I fully expected to get back an email saying how he made some mistakes or he forgot to add this or that. Minutes later I received my answer. That was the price, no extra fees, no haggling. Just tax, license, typical government stuff. His first number was the final number. I immediately called him on the phone and told him he had a deal. I met with Mark the next morning and we went over the specifics. And guess what, there were no hidden surprises. I'm now the proud owner of a new Toyota RAV4. It's not every day that I go out and purchase a new car. I had such a positive experience working with Mark Putnam that I felt the need to share with the rest of you. Good luck.

Had a great experience with service. Fixed a noise in about 15 minutes (without charge) that Toyota 101 was trying to charge me $150 to do (and sell me unnecessary parts).

I stopped by Putnam to test drive a used Corolla. I went in on a Monday and was greeted by Gordon, a salesperson in their preowned area. He was pleasant, professional and friendly and took me on a test drive, spent time answering all of my questions and the negotiating was easy and painless. I'm happy with the whole "dreaded" car buying experience because the salesperson was nice, direct and no nonsense.

It is against my principle to give a car dealership 5 stars. This place had the truck I wanted (07 Tundra CrewMax Limited) and the salesman - Alan Baxter - was a no pressure, veteran guy...much appreciated because I know all the BS the youngin's be pulling. Alan held the truck for a day and I came back and took care of the rest...you can't beat 0% financing (thank you Toyota for that)! Alan called back a couple times after the purchase to see how everything was and I gave him a few things to look into and he has followed-up each time. See, you have to give some credit to a SALESman who has already made the sale but is still making sure all is good. Will I buy from them again? Depends if they have what they want! ;-)

Larry in used cars will take good care of you. He assisted myself in purchasing a new Scion xA and my mom in a used Toyota Camry. He's knowledgeable in all car makes and models and will work with your schedule. In service, I received a speedy oil change without an appointment with the help of Rad. He made sure to that I got my free oil change (that came as part of my Scion purchase) and that it was reflected accurately in my paperwork, and then my car was quickly taken inside and put to work. Putnam's customer lounge has doughnuts, coffee, free wifi, couches, TVs and a computer to use to make the time go by even quicker, and they have a shuttle to local areas too, I believe.