Sunshine Toyota's Employee of the Year says Aloha to Hawaii!

Around here the name Jon Bradley

Jon and his kids

is synonymous with a great sense of humour, a strong work ethic and being a super likeable guy. Jon also dominates when it comes to awesome feedback from his customers. They love him! With all this in mind, it came as no surprise to many when Jon was named Employee of the Year at our Christmas party last December. He really deserved it! As it has become a bit of a tradition here at Sunshine Toyota to treat the Employee of the Year to a trip for two, Jon was the lucky recipient of a TRIP TO HAWAII with his wife. Massive congratulations again to you Jon!

Kaelna State Park

Having recently returned to Australian soils, we sat down and had a chat about the beauty of Hawaii, I have never been but Jon told me to think movies like 50 First Dates and Jurassic Park as well as the TV show Lost. My head filled with images of relaxed island life set to the backdrop of dramatic cliffs, volcanos and dusty roads surrounded by sparkling turquoise water as I listened to Jon tell me about his favourite part of their trip...

They were feeling a bit lost and a bit like tourists when they came across a shrimp (prawns to us Aussies!) truck convention- Jon said it was awesome- all these old Bedford Trucks selling jumbo shrimp- in true Bubba Gump style! They got some food and got talking to some people and all ended up sharing their feasts. These new friends invited them for lunch the next day and then took them past the resorts and beaches to a beautiful secluded bay where they swam with turtles and were treated to a back catalogue of the history of the North Shore. Jon said that suddenly they felt tapped in- they had some local knowledge and no longer felt like tourists. He said that they have kept in touch with their new friends and are planning on visiting them again. Jon told me that for this reason, the beautiful Waialua Bay on the North Shore of O’ahu was his favourite part of Hawaii. Being “tapped in” as Jon calls it, I think, is the reason he is so damn good at his job- he really takes an interest in his customers, he genuinely cares about their stories and their needs. A very worthy recipient of the Employee of the Year award!

Jon getting into his Hula lesson! 

I fired 8 more questions at our reigning Employee of the Year and his answers are as follows…

1. Were you surprised when your name was called out as Employee of the Year or did you secretly think that you had it in the bag!?

Haha! You can always dream! It was a surprise!

2. How did your wife and kids react to the news?

Darren had called them during the day to let them know. They were all being extremely nice to me when I got home and I couldn’t work out what was going on!

3. Had you ever been, or thought about going, to Hawaii?

Ever since I could walk- always- it just never felt achievable. Ever since I was a kid I had cousins who toured professionally for surfing who would send me post cards from Hawaii, I had posters on my wall from Hawaii, I watched the Elvis movies, I had a surf shop where the whole focus of the surf business was Hawaii. I was going to get to Hawaii, but I just didn’t know how.

4. How would you describe Hawaii in 5 words to someone who has never been there?

Laid-back, Aloha, Welcome Home, Picture Postcard, Surf’s Up!

5. Apart from winning trips to Hawaii, what is your favourite part about working at Sunshine Toyota?

There is variety in each day. The highs and the lows- it’s never the same thing when you walk through the door.

6. Have you got a favourite or had a really memorable experience with a customer?

Hanauma Bay

I have heaps. I had a lovely lady who purchased a pink Yaris from me as a sign of her strength for defeating breast cancer. I’ve had mums who have survived car accidents who will only buy Toyotas for their family’s safety. I have had people buying cars for new jobs, their first cars, the last car before they die, a person’s 50^th Toyota, I’ve had cars that have been around the country 3 times, everyone’s got a story. I like to tap into everybody’s adventures.

7. What is your favourite car of all time?

I’ve always had a real soft spot for the Mustang convertible.

8. Fill in the blank:

I wish…I were drifting on the deep blue...in Hawaii right now.

By Georgie Lazarus

Winner walks away with a brand new boat!

Cheers! Mike & Calum enjoying their coffee break in the tinny

Are you the sort of person who always wins things? I’m not! I feel like the world is divided into 2 types of people… the winners and the non-winners! I know a man who has won the lottery…twice! He set his grandchildren up with deposits for their first homes with the first win and shouted himself a 6-month cruise with the second. Seriously. My friend’s mother has won the meat tray raffle so many times that it has become a family joke that she doesn’t go to the butcher anymore- she heads straight to the Yacht Club when the family needs meat! Me though, nothing! Never! I guess the old saying, you’ve got to be in it to win it rings true- but imagine if you had forgotten that you were in it, and then you got a phone call from SunshineToyota saying Congratulations! You are the proud new owner of a STACER 395 PROLINE tinny complete with trailer, 12 months boat and trailer rego, Smooth Water safety package, boat tie down, motor support and engine flushers: valued at $7,000! You would have to be pretty rapt with that!

This is me presenting Len with his brand new tinny package!

Enter Len Fox. Len and his wife bought a car from us in March during our “Win a Tinny” competition that we held in conjunction with North Coast Boating. Anyone who purchased a new or used vehicle during February and March went into the draw to win. Len said that he was so happy with his new Hilux that he had completely forgotten about filling in the entry form to win a boat. He was taken by surprise when our super salesman Jon rang him with the good news!

Len was chuffed when he came in to collect his prize; he loves the water and already has a boat. Len told me that he had decided to give his old boat to a 14-year-old kid that had been having a tough time lately. He said this kid had always wished for a boat and that this was the perfect opportunity to make his dream come true. Needless to say, I had goose bumps after hearing this! What an amazing “pay it forward” story! So congratulations Len! Enjoy the Hilux and enjoy the boat, and maybe think about buying a lottery ticket today as you are on a winning streak! 

By Georgie Lazarus

Len & Jake from North Coast Boating

Sunshine Toyota's Easter Egg Hunt- A GIANT Success!

Holy Easter Eggs Batman! Now we know what 7,500 chocolate eggs looks like- and just how quickly kids (and some grown ups!) can devour them! We (at Sunshine Toyota) held our first ever Easter egg hunt at the Alex Surf Club on Easter Saturday, 4^th of April 2015 and it was a GIANT success! We had our fingers and toes crossed for a sunny day in the lead up to the big event and were glued to BOM on the morning to schedule our hunts around the torrential rain that was apparently headed our way. We needn’t have worried as Mother Nature was on our side and saw to it that we were kept mostly dry and even let the sun come out for a while! The Weatherman must have felt a bit silly after predicting storms for the entire Easter long weekend. By 8am there were so many kids champing at the bit to get at the chocolate! It took all of the manpower of the 30 staff members, who came down to support, to hold them back!!! 

We had sectioned off 2 areas (thank you to Rapid Hire in Kunda Park for the bollard donation) for the “5-12 year olds” and the “under 5s” and gave each kid a bag for collecting (thank you to The Kiosk in Alex Heads for the bag donation). There was so much excitement in the air as Sunshine Toyota’s Dealer Principal Darren Venning started the countdown… 10…9…8… the kids started some good-natured jostling at the starting line to secure the best spot…7…6…5… their eyes zeroed in on the brightly coloured tin foil they could see in the trees… 4…3…2… We actually thought the kids were going to explode from excitement!!! As Darren yelled “1 Go Go Go!” there was squealing and laughing and kids tumbling over each other to fill their bags with chocolate. Some of the bigger kids were able to collect more eggs than the smaller ones and it was a very proud moment when those bigger kids climbed the Life Saver’s tower and threw their eggs down for the younger kids to collect. Such a great bunch of kids! I think they all enjoyed the visit from the Easter Bunny too (thank you Tammy!).

With heaving bags of chocolate the happy children headed over to choose their free balloon creation and to get their face painted (thank you Twisted Mr for being such a wonderful part of the day) and to collect some goodies from the Sea FM Cruiser (thanks Sea FM).

We did another 2 hunts, with different kids joining us as the morning went on. Some came dressed up as Easter Bunnies and others came straight from the ocean. My award for Man of the Match definitely goes to the smartest little 4 year old in town- who figured out that Darren was hiding eggs outside of the designated area and just followed him around! Every egg Darren hid, this little guy popped in his bag, what a genius! The look on Darren’s face when he turned around and couldn’t see any of the eggs was priceless!

The team at Sunshine Toyota feel strongly about supporting and strengthening the community. It was such a pleasure to put on this event for the local kids- their faces on the day were so rewarding. We are definitely going to make this an annual event and next year will be bigger and better! Thank you so much to everyone who came down to help make the event such a huge success and a special thank you to Marty and Ash at The Alex Surf Club. See you next year!

Rod's Top 10 Tips For Buying a Pre-Owned Car

Buying a used car is trickier than buying a brand spanking new one. Ideally you want the newest car with the lowest numbers of kilometres that you can afford. Buying through a reputable pre-owned car dealer is advised, but here are my tips to not end up with a dud when buying from a private seller or from a dealer.

1.   Research, research, research! Know your stuff. 

2.   Contact the seller and ask a lot of questions like these:

  • How long have you owned the car?

  • How many owners has the car had?

  • Why are you selling it?

  • Do you have a full service history of the car? 

  • Has the car ever been in a crash?

3.   Make an appointment to see the car. If through a private seller, it is always better to see the car at the seller’s home- if they are reluctant to do this they may be trying to hide something!

4.   Always go to see a car in daylight. In the rain or in the dark, car damage and imperfections may not be seen. 

5.   Take a friend with you (preferably someone who knows about cars) as they may notice something you don’t.

6.   Ask to see the car’s log book, vehicle inspection reports and make sure the roadworthy certificate is under 30 days old. 

7.   Licensed dealers are obliged to guarantee that the car has not previously been declared a write-off, hasn’t been deregistered or stolen and that there is no money owing on it. This information can be harder to gather from a private seller. The best thing to do is check with your state transport authority. In QLD that is the Department of Main Roads www.mainroads.qld.gov.au

8.   Take the car for a test drive. Make sure you drive the car under all kinds of conditions to get a real feel for how it drives. Take it up to highway speed and on roads with different surfaces and listen for any unusual noises. Check the hand brake on a steep hill.

9.   If through a private seller, check their driver’s licence to be sure that the name matches up on the paperwork and get original copies, never photocopies. Alert the appropriate authorities that you are the new owner of the vehicle.

10.  Make sure that all of the seller’s information is on your receipt and organise your insurance         before you drive away. 

Sunshine Toyota’s Easter Egg Hunt @ the Alex Surf Club!

Here at Sunshine Toyota we love the beach and we love chocolate so we have come up with a very exciting way to combine the two! 

This weekend on Easter Saturday, the 4^th of April 2015, we are hosting our first ever Easter Egg Hunt at the Alex Surf Club. We are so excited to get amongst the community and put on a really fun morning for the whole family. There will be a jumping castle, a face painter and a balloon artist- not to mention thousands of chocolate eggs! The merriment begins at 8am, so come on down and say hello, we’ll be the ones in the red shirts!

Laurie Loves the Lifestyle!

My name is Laurie and I have been a Sunny Coast local for over 20 years, my family and I love the lifestyle and spend majority of our free time lapping up the beautiful beaches we have access to. Whether it be at our local beach in Mooloolaba, or loading  up the kids in the Hilux and heading up to Double Island Point. We love our 4 wheel driving and we do our best to get out as often as we can.

I consider myself to be extremely lucky to live in such an amazing place, and being able to have such a great life work balance. Here at Sunshine Toyota over the past twelve months we have been expanding our call centre, this has given me the opportunity to further develop my career, as well as having the flexibility to be able work part time and be home to pick my kids up from school. This I am so grateful for, and I am sure my family are too.

Meet the Finance Team! Part 2

Hello!

My name is Charlie Roy and I am one of the Business Managers here at Sunshine Toyota.

I moved to Australia back in 2007 from England and have been in the Motor industry ever since!

Starting off in Fleet sales, and working though New vehicle Sales, pre-loved sales, as customer care manager and now as a Business Manager.

I recently married my wonderful husband in a beautiful ceremony in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and aside from looking after Finance and Insurance I love to spend my spare time exploring the glorious coast, enjoying all the lovely cafes/restaurants and shops.

I have had the pleasure of working with Sunshine Toyota for the last two years and I envisage many many more years to come!