Royal South Toyota

I'm sharing these pictures and this story because I'm really proud of Toyota's Sienna minivan. I drive one personally, or rather my wife does. She has an older Sienna model with a lot of miles, and she drives it every day to bring our kids from place to place. She's running errands, picking them up from school...

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Late November saw the soft opening of our brand new Pre-Owned Center, on the north side of our campus, The Quarry Pre-Owned Lot! We snapped these pictures last week, and we take these shots as good omens for the month to come!...

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This is the Central Indiana Toyota Dealers fourth or fifth year sponsoring the Colts, and this year I've been able take more advantage of that sponsorship. I've made it to a pair of games and interacted more with the organization. Our sponsorship's produced several cool moments over the years, but I don't know if any surpass being able to attend the Colts vs. Miami Dolphins game with 30 of our best customers....

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The Project got a big step forward when the crew laid down asphalt! Check out the progress we've made since our last post!...

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Another post from one of our favorite local bloggers! Always good to get some reading recommendations, as the weather is getting colder...

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Moving slowly, getting bogged down with permitting, waiting for utilities, and coordinating all the contractors, but the project moves along. The lights are up and curbs are poured. Here is a panoramic view of the project from the middle rear of the project area. Fun to think about how far we've come in a few months....

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Most customers don't really appreciate the artistry that lives here at the Royal South Toyota Collision Repair Center. They know that when their vehicle is wrecked, they bring it here to our Collision Repair Center to be fixed. They drop it off, or have it towed...and then days later they come and pick it up. WaLa! Their vehicle looks like new again! But there are lots of steps, behind the scenes, that get those wrecked vehicles back together. An incredible amount of teamwork goes into taking a wrecked or damaged vehicle and getting it back in tip top shape....

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One of the factors delaying our project, and causing soooooo much headache, is the sheer amount of famous Monroe County Limestone under the topsoil. The project lot is mostly limestone, which makes cutting trenches, digging support posts, foundations, bioswells, and other features so difficult. CUTTING THROUGH...

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Today brought some parking challenges, as we had to cut a four foot wide trench into the north corner to gain access to the main water supply pipe. I don't know much about plumbing, but it is wild to think the whole building's water supply comes from a pretty small...

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The project hasn't really interfered with our parking lot or traffic flow until this morning--where they had to install a culvert eight feet under our parking lot, right in the middle of our minivan row. We understand that these interferences are going to just be a part of the process, but it is still a bit frustrating to have to work around a big 'ol hole in the parking lot. But...

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Here are some action shots take in mid April of the project next door. We have a corridor into the lot now, but just gravel. We've got the drainage ditches mostly dug and are working on excavating the final sections of our drainage piping. Lots of dust on our truck row...and watch out, you can't roll the back wheels into the grass anymore...

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Here we go! After talking about expanding our dealership's lot for over two decades, we're finally embarking on the journey to finish the lot next door. We're going to keep the "rocky" topography and create one of the most natural looking parking lot/structures in Bloomington. We're so pumped. The first phase in this project is to take out some old growth on the side bordering our current north parking lot. And don't worry--we're replacing the trees we're taking out at a nearly 3x1 ratio. Our plans call for a ton of green to be replanted once the lot gets paved...

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For a long time now, Royal South Toyota has had a "Pets Welcome" policy. I don't think we post it anywhere, but we welcome pets into the customer lounge or showroom. In today's culture, it is sometimes good to clearly state your company's policy on something like that--so here it is: Pets Welcome! Some of our favorite visitors are four-legged ones..

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Here is another post from our resident blogger and Sienna owner, Beth!

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Its always fun to learn about your past--where you came from, your 4Runner's (pun intended!). On that topic of nostalgia and dealership history, I had an interesting email from a customer last week. Michael Conaway emailed me out of the blue, and asked me if I had ever heard of "Downtown Toyota of Bloomington". Michael had found an old door emblem that said "Downtown Toyota" and wondered if I had ever heard of it. I hadn't heard of that store, but I asked Mr. Royal if he had ever heard of that store...

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I've mentioned in previous posts that the Car Biz doesn't have the best reputation for honesty, trustworthiness, etc. There are a lot of reasons for that--but one I think is the easiest to fix is that most of our customers don't know us personally. Buying a vehicle from a stranger can be uncomfortable! And if all you've heard about the Car Biz, or car dealerships, is that "you can't trust them" or "there are some bad apples out there", then you're gonna have your guard up...

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WINNER of the "Drove the Farthest for the New Whip" AWARD...Jack from Georgia! I love the way the internet has changed how we sell cars. I was an early adapter back in 2005/2006, when I was hired by Mr. Royal to help out with our sister store, Royal on the Eastside's, Internet Sales Department. Back then, we had a regular salesman handling all things internet. If a customer emailed us, he would respond. This guy was a great salesman, great at customer service, but a horrible typist. He was unfamiliar with Windows and email. It took him forever to get back with customers, and he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out how to consistently send emails. He was always deleting...

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Here is proof that Camry owners are ballers! I'll provide a little context to this video. A group of guys get together and play basketball waaaaaay to early on Tuesday mornings. Pretty competitive game, with a running clock. We play to the buzzer. Tuesday morning, the shooter's team was down by one with literally down by one-point with seconds left. A couple of missed shots to put the game away, and then...THE MIRACLE. The shooter drives a 2012 Toyota Camry XLE that he bought brand new from us here at Royal South Toyota...

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Everyone loves free tips about how to make meal time better, and I received these tips from a Sienna mininvan owner. She's got four kids, and always has a a full table come meal time. For all of our customers who love their big families (and need their Swagger Wagon's, #SiennaLife #MinivanLyfe), this is a neat post....

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Being a small business owner, I always enjoy interacting with other small business owners. Today, I got a visit from Don, the owner of Revolution Bike & Bean, here in town. Don bought the venerable bike shop about a decade ago and has run it since. He retired from professional racing...

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Friends will often ask, "So what do you guys do when it snows really hard? Do you hire a snow removal company? Do you close for the day?"...

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I'm starting this online journal for several reasons, but one primary reason is that I really enjoy showing the everyday life of car dealerships. It is a fascinating business, unlike any other work I've been a part of, and I enjoy pulling back the curtain a bit to show what this world is like. While trying not to get carried away with New Year's-type resolutions, thinking about posting every day and spending hours hammering out posts detailing my day to day, but I think trying to post once a week about something happening in Bloomington, something happening at Royal South Toyota, is a good start.

My first post is actually a year in the making! Just after the January 2nd, Toyota Month End Close, we got word that...

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