Which dealership is best for buying new Yaris?

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Hello - I'm new.

OK I like Yaris and I want to buy one. So, I called nearest Watford Wayside Toyota and asked for a test drive. I want diesel, sorry they said we don't have any current diesel models to test and you can't test the new Yaris until 1st September anyway. All right, I thought and phoned Aylesbury Steven Eagell; spoke to a guy called Izly. He confirmed 1) they had a diesel to test and 2) I could test a new Yaris. Great, I thought and on Saturday 20th August set off due north...

Dealer is in a good location, parking, inside air conditioner working, very friendly greeted by Izly. Let's come inside he said and discuss what I wanted. Then came the first question. 'Are you ready to place an order today', he asked me. I must admit, I have not bought very many new cars in my life, let alone on the first day. There are many factors I consider important before I put my signature down, not least my other half's final Okaying it. Nonetheless, if the deal is right - what the hell - 'Yes, I am ready to order', I said.

Currently, I drive 55 reg C220CDI Auto, Izly took details, then went to talk to his finance manager and came back with an offer of £4,500 as trade in value. Mind you, as Parkers' suggestion for trade in is around £7,500, I thought of mentioning that the stated value was below what I expected. All right, Izly said, for calculation, we'll use the figure of £5,000, and look, there is 6.9% APR on a loan of the balance instead of usual 9.9%. That was a shock for me as somehow I thought I might get it interest free. Unfortunately, at present there is no interest free loan from Toyota, it was explained to me. I wasn't sure I liked the figures and Izly asked me how much I wanted for my car. So, I added the same figure he deducted from Parker's recommended value - £10,000 I said. Izly smiled. Great stuff! Now, let's have a test drive.

We went for a drive on a 10 reg Yaris; Izly drove for 5 min away from the dealership and then let me drive back in - on B road I got up to 45 mph. I really loved it. Izly was saying, 'Why don't you buy this car?' It turns out he used to work in "Phones for You" somewhere in Oxford before selling cars in Aylesbury. As a salesman, he now had a Toyota as his company car. I asked him about his preference and his reply was "RAV4" - fair enough, at least he is not like the people across the road from Honda who preferred to own VWs.

Having returned, Izly went to consult his boss again and came back, saying that the difference between current and new model is not that great, so we can look at ordering a new one. Yes, let's do that, I agreed. We went back to the table, I was offered a drink and, 10 min later, Izly was back with a printout. He said he was going to explain to me the printed offer he had. 'Unfortunately', he said, 'I can't give it to you, unless you actually place an order. That is because in the past some people would take the printed offers and then go to a different dealer to buy their Toyotas'. 'We run this business almost like a family', he continued. 'If you make an order, you'll get the printout', he said.

I have to say, as you might have guessed, it all went pear shape from there. The basic figures were these. New Yaris base price £14,760, metallic paint - £420, treatment - £395, GAP insurance - £395, fuel - £45, totalling - £16,015. Minus trade in - £5,000. Financing - £11,015 for 3 years at £217.22 a month x 36 months with guaranteed value of £5,040 at the end of three years. No options were offered to me or even mentioned, I guess there was no time for that. I repeated that the value of £5,000 was not what I expected. Izly then asked how much I was expecting and I said, '£10,000'.

What happened next, I was not expecting in the least. Izly said, 'You're joking?’. To which I replied 'No.' He then said ‘Will you now go and ask Watford if they'd give you £10,000 for your car?' That sounded like a leading question after all, so I said, 'Yes'. At which point, Izly stood up, still holding his printout (or my printout I should say), and walked away. I mean, literally walked away without so much as saying anything. So, I too then had to leave.

After this incident something changed in my perception of car sales people, in particular, those at Aylesbury’s Toyota. Especially as what Izly did he seemed to have gone to his head office several times, so he must have been following instructions on what treatment to carry out to a customer. All I can say, shame on them! It didn't change my attitude towards Yaris, not really, but it did affect me. If I sold my car privately and had money I needed to buy Yaris, would I go back to Aylesbury? Definitely not! I do hope that someone perhaps can suggest a better dealership for me for buying a new Yaris.