Cramer Toyota of Venice donates $100 dollars to the Fraternal Order of Police

Cramer Toyota of Venice donates $100 dollars to the Fraternal Order of Police Venice Lodge #57 for their “Shop with a Cop Program.” This is a back to school program that the Venice Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police started years ago to help disadvantaged children in our community. Cramer Toyota of Venice donates every year to the Shop with a Cop Program both to support the Fraternal Order of Police, but more importantly to help the children in our community. According to Richard Bond the General Manager of Cramer Toyota of Venice, “We like this program because the money goes 100 percent to the kids. We are dealing with the local Venice Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, they make sure every dollar is spent on the kids in our community. We are proud to help out and look forward to this program because we know it make a difference.” Last year this program helped more than twelve local children get supplies for school that they would not have been able to afford otherwise. If you want to make your own donation, please contact the Venice Fraternal Order of Police directly at 941-815-4048, ask for Keith Quick.

Cramer Toyota of Venice partners with Rhoades Advertising Group

Cramer Toyota of Venice partners with Rhoades Advertising Group to enhance web presence of their primary web address of www.cramertoyota.com. Cramer Toyota of Venice had previously been relying on their own internal people to promote their website and drive traffic to the website. Cramer Toyota of Venice also used traditional methods like newspaper advertising, business card advertising, radio and TV. Other ways that Cramer Toyota of Venice promoted their website was by making sure that every printed piece of paper leaving the dealership had their web address printed on it. According to the General Manager Richard Bond, “Our people had done a great job within the scope of what we could accomplish using traditional methods. It became obvious that we needed to take it to a new level and that internally we did not have the resources to handle this. It is important that we get the customer to www.cramertoyota.com because once the consumer reaches this page the likelihood of them purchasing a vehicle greatly increases.” Cramer Toyota’s partnership with Rhodes Advertising will allow people trained in this field to drive ever more customers to Cramer Toyota of Venice’s website. Bond continues by saying “Reviews of what the Rhoades Group has done with other clients made the choice to go with them simple.” For further information on how this worked for Cramer Toyota of Venice, please contact Richard Bond directly at 941-484-9000.

Cramer Toyota of Venice announces record sub-prime auto loans funded in June.

Cramer Toyota of Venice announces record sub-prime auto loans funded in June. A record number of Cramer Toyota customers were financed through non-prime or sub-prime sources last month, according to General Manager Richard Bond. “it was an extraordinary month for Cramer Toyota of Venice. We were able to help so many customers that have recently had their credit negatively impacted.”
Cramer Toyota of Venice recognized that traditional banks and finance companies were no longer lending to customers with lower credit scores. The dealership set out to create a small network of local finance companies that were willing to lend. “I would like to thank our lender partners, especially Gulf Coast Auto Credit for providing much needed financing. I know this is a service we will continue to provide to the local community” Said Bond. Cramer Toyota of Venice has built a solid relationship with Gulf Coast Auto Credit recently funding its 100 loan. Bond reports, “Gulf Coast Auto Credit is by far our largest sub-prime lender. Our relationship with them has now helped provide over 100 good people with reliable transportation”. Cramer Toyota of Venice is currently looking for ways to increase its used car inventory so that it can continue to offer this valuable service to the citizens of Venice.

Dwight Brown achieves Master Status

Cramer Toyota of Venice wants to announce that it has 4 sales people who qualify for the 2010 Master Sales Status. These four sales associates will get the chance in August to take a timed test. If they pass, they will achieve the 2010 Master Sales Status. Unlike other product tests that Toyota offers, this test is special. You only get one chance to pass it and if you fail, you are unable to take it for another year. Up until the study guide comes out in early July, nobody is sure who qualifies to take the test. It depends on your years of service, level of prior training and cumulative vehicles sold. Last year only one sales associate at Cramer Toyota of Venice managed to pass the test. That employee, Dwight Brown got to enjoy the status of being Cramer Toyota of Venice’s only Sales Master for 2010. According to Dwight, “ It was the toughest test I have ever had to take from Toyota.” Besides national recognition from Dwight’s fellow Toyota Sales Associates, Dwight enjoys the respect of his fellow workers at Cramer Toyota of Venice. Whenever a customer has a question at Cramer Toyota of Venice that nobody knows the answer to, Dwight is the “go to” person. Cramer Toyota of Venice hopes to have all 4 of sales associates pass this year. This should make Cramer Toyota have the highest percentage of Sales Masters in Sarasota County.

John Wood moves to the service shop

Cramer Toyota of Venice announces that it has promoted John Wood to the shop. John Wood originally from Colorado, moved to the Venice-Sarasota area a few years back. He had many years of experience as a Toyota Master Technician, but had recently switched to being a Service Advisor. John states, “The main job difference between being a Technician and a Service Advisor is one person directly fixes the vehicle and the other deals with the customer. In simple terms, one deals with the car and the other the customer.” John was a very successful Service Advisor at Cramer Toyota of Venice, many months he was their top performer. He seemed to have a special knack of speaking with the customer and finding out what was wrong with their vehicles so the technician could recreate the issue and fix the problem. After many years as a Service Advisor at Cramer Toyota of Venice, John asked Josh Jorge the Service Manager at Cramer Toyota of Venice if he could go back to the shop. According to Josh, “It was a simple decision for us, John showed a great depth of knowledge about the Toyota product over the last few years and we know he will contribute greatly in the shop as a Technician.” Cramer Toyota of Venice is proud to have John’s knowledge of Toyotas in the repair shop and wants the consumer to know we now have the strongest depth of Technician knowledge in regards to Toyota in the Venice area.

Cramer Toyota of Venice donates vehicle detail to support Venice High Volleyball

Cramer Toyota of Venice donates a full vehicle detail valued at $100 to the Venice High School Volleyball Boosters. Venice High School Volleyball, one of the top ranked Florida programs depends on local support to supplement their budget. Venice High School Volleyball has over the years achieved District Champion Status 14 times making them one of the most successful programs at their level. In addition to achieving District Champion Status 14 times, the program has been part of the Elite Eight 10 times and the Final Four 5 times. Finally, in 1998 and 2005 Venice High School Volleyball was the State Champion. According to Cramer Toyota of Venice General Manager Richard Bond, “As a local business in Venice, we try to do our part to support the local sports programs. Cramer Toyota of Venice has over the years supported many of the local sports programs in many different ways. The nice thing about sports programs is that it helps the local youth.” Cramer Toyota of Venice wishes Venice High School Volleyball luck in their coming season.

Cramer Toyota of Venice adds 2011 Sienna Van to its rental fleet

Cramer Toyota of Venice adds a 2011 Sienna Van and 2010 Highlander to their rental car fleet. This brings the total number of rental vehicles offered to 6 making them the largest Dealer Owned Rental Fleet in Venice Florida. Rental vehicles are used by Cramer Toyota of Venice for their customers who have to leave their vehicles in the body shop or the service shop. Cramer Toyota of Venice has one of areas largest full service body shop and repair facility featuring two down draft heated paint booths. In addition, Cramer Toyota of Venice has the latest color matching paint software ensuring that the paint is a perfect match every time. Body repairs take a few days to a few weeks and Cramer Toyota is proud to be able to supply our customers with a brand new fleet of 2010 and 2011 Toyota rental vehicles. Cramer Toyota of Venice also rents vehicles out to anyone for any reason much the same as any other rental car company. Cramer Toyota of Venice Controller Jodi McKinney states, “We try to keep our rates very competitive with the local agencies. Many of our customers rent our Prius for short term vacations or for visiting friends and relatives. Now we offer two bigger vehicles that our customers can use to haul things around in.” Once a vehicle cycles out of the Cramer Toyota of Venice rental fleet, it goes to the used vehicle lot where it is sold for thousands less than a new vehicle. According to General Manager Richard Bond, “We cycle the cars out about every 6 to 9 months. In many cases the cars have between 5,000 and 10,000 miles. As we cycle vehicles out new one arrive ensuring our customers get the latest safety and technology when they rent form us.” Rental cars at Cramer Toyota of Venice do require advance reservation either on the phone or via the web site. Current rates are also posted on the web site for the customer’s convenience.

Silent Sale - Prices Not To Be Repeated!

Exclusively at Cramer Toyota of Venice
One Day Only Sunday, July 4th, 2010 • 8AM-8PM
For your shopping convenience, come see over 600 cars, trucks, vans and sport utilities with all prices drastically reduced! There will be no salespeople, managers, OR employees, on premises to disturb you!!!
(No one will be available to even answer the phones!)
These Prices will never be repeated
Prices will be honored one day only
Monday July 5th 2010 from 9AM to 8PM
Because models are arriving daily, the owners have ordered management to eliminate excess inventory at any cost. All Prices will be slashed to the bone and will be clearly marked on hanging tags in each vehicle. Bring a pen and piece of paper, write down the stock number and price, come in Monday, as early as 9AM. First come, first served. There will be multiple USED CAR appraisers to create a bidding frenzy on your trade.

$AVE THOUSAND

Duane Robertson Retires

Cramer Toyota of Venice would like to announce the retirement of Duane Robertson who decided to live the good life after 20 years of loyal service. Duane worked for the dealership originally as a Toyota Certified Service Technician before taking over as the Service Manager at Cramer Toyota of Venice. As the Service Manager, the department grew under his guidance, increasing business and staff along the way. After many years as the Service Manager, Duane took over the Body Shop running that department successfully for many years. After Duane felt he had accomplished all that he could in the Body Shop he then tackled the Warranty Administrator job. For many years Duane watched over the Warranty operation at Cramer Toyota of Venice earning the respect of the entire Toyota Team. For the last few years of Duane’s service at Cramer Toyota of Venice, Duane has worked in the Parts Department. According to Richard Bond the General Manager, “Duane has touched every department in the fixed operations side of the business, leaving each department a better place as he moved to the next. He will be missed dearly.” July 1, 2010 marked the day that Duane was presented with a Toyota NASCAR jacket and a huge BBQ lunch was held in his honor. Everyone at Cramer Toyota of Venice wishes Duane a happy retirement