Done with Toyota Dealership

[andrews_dad]

Took my 4Runner in for a state inspection. They said I needed a new serpentine belt, a couple of small lightbulbs replaced (the ones over top the lic plate to illuminate it), wiper blades, and some brake pads plus the cost of the emissions test and state inspection/stickers. Toss an oil change on top of that. Their estimate?? About $850! I started looking at the itemized estimate. About $20 in labor to replace the two lightbulbs?? Yeah, right. Over $25 in labor for wiper blades?? Come on, people! Give me a break!

Told them NOT to touch it. Of course they try to pressure me on the state inspection not passing and the serpentine belt being a hazard. Drive to to a local shop. All of that work is now done. Final bill? $226.93.

 

[My3kiddos]

Took my 4Runner in for a state inspection. They said I needed a new serpentine belt, a couple of small lightbulbs replaced (the ones over top the lic plate to illuminate it), wiper blades, and some brake pads plus the cost of the emissions test and state inspection/stickers. Toss an oil change on top of that. Their estimate?? About $850! I started looking at the itemized estimate. About $20 in labor to replace the two lightbulbs?? Yeah, right. Over $25 in labor for wiper blades?? Come on, people! Give me a break!

Told them NOT to touch it. Of course they try to pressure me on the state inspection not passing and the serpentine belt being a hazard. Drive to to a local shop. All of that work is now done. Final bill? $226.93.

Dealerships are a total crock! I took my car in for some warranty repairs and the guy tried to tell me I was due to have my transmission serviced. I only have 30k miles on my car. I asked him why I would need to have the transmission serviced when they had just replaced the transmission in it 5k miles ago and the manual said the transmission wasn't supposed to be serviced until 100k. The guy just looked at me crossed eyed and said OH.

 

[wdwmaw]

Dealerships are a total crock! I took my car in for some warranty repairs and the guy tried to tell me I was due to have my transmission serviced. I only have 30k miles on my car. I asked him why I would need to have the transmission serviced when they had just replaced the transmission in it 5k miles ago and the manual said the transmission wasn't supposed to be serviced until 100k. The guy just looked at me crossed eyed and said OH.

I think you went to the same GM dealership we went to a few years ago

OT- we will be in the world the same time frame, gotta love fall break

 

[Luv2Scrap]

I did the same thing last fall with my Camry. Had them do the repairs that were covered under warranty, and brought it elsewhere for the rest - cost me half the price!

 

[2luvmickey]

I want to vent about a Firestone dealer in my area.

I bought tires from them, and always had my oil changes and rotations done there. Well, last visit they told me the tires were shot (after 25,000 miles) and I needed new brakes.

Took the car to another place and guess what? Brakes and tires were okay! Needless to say, I will never go back to Firestone again. On the other hand, our local Toyota dealer has always been fair and upfront with us. But, I make it a practice to call places to get a "ballpark" estimate on work needed.

Is it really such a stretch to be honest?

 

[wendylovesdisney]

You have to remember that you are paying for a certified Toyota tech doing the work, not just someone who can turn out to be a hack later. Everything has to have a charge associated with it for the system, but not every Toyota dealer will charge to replace a light bulb.
Now having said this, yes my husband is a Toyota tech and he tells me he sees cars brought in all of the time from other non dealer shops that have to be fixed that either a) were reportedly fixed but not even touched or b) totally hacked to bits by someone who did not know what they were doing. Toyota makes a mistake on your Toyota, Toyota covers it, Joe Blow from the down street messes up your car, not covered.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

I want to vent about a Firestone dealer in my area.

I bought tires from them, and always had my oil changes and rotations done there. Well, last visit they told me the tires were shot (after 25,000 miles) and I needed new brakes.

Took the car to another place and guess what? Brakes and tires were okay! Needless to say, I will never go back to Firestone again. On the other hand, our local Toyota dealer has always been fair and upfront with us. But, I make it a practice to call places to get a "ballpark" estimate on work needed.

Is it really such a stretch to be honest?

DD had the same experience with Firestone. She took her old car in for the State inspection, and they said it wood need $1400 in repairs to pass!
Took it to a local garage and after they eliminated all the UNNECESSARY stuff, it cost under $400!

 

[wdwmaw]

You have to remember that you are paying for a certified Toyota tech doing the work, not just someone who can turn out to be a hack later. Everything has to have a charge associated with it for the system, but not every Toyota dealer will charge to replace a light bulb.
Now having said this, yes my husband is a Toyota tech and he tells me he sees cars brought in all of the time from other non dealer shops that have to be fixed that either a) were reportedly fixed but not even touched or b) totally hacked to bits by someone who did not know what they were doing. Toyota makes a mistake on your Toyota, Toyota covers it, Joe Blow from the down street messes up your car, not covered.

I do want to support this fact. We tend to forget about what we are getting. The mechanics are certified and should get more pay then a local mom and pop, not to say one is better than the other. It is like a para legal compared to a lawyer, an RN compared to a LPN,a midwife compared to an OBGYN, or a teacher compared to a teaching assistant. The pay is compensated to the level of training.

I also want to say that the parts you are getting is totally different. My DH works on lots of things and he can get parts at 3 different places here in town, like Advance Auto parts. He always says that if you spend a little more the part will last 2-3x's longer.DS put a battery in his truck last winter form one of the places DH hates to go to. DS had a friend working there and thought he got a great deal, Well lesson learned, the auto place had to replace the battery a couple of times under watanty before we just went to a different auto parts place, spent a little more and haven't had a problem since.

OT-I support Toyota workers, thank you

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

my toyota had a noise about a month back and so I went to my dealership. Explained that it was making a noise that was not normal (I had no idea what it was) and could they look at it.

The response was "we're so busy with the recalls right now, it will be several days until we can look at it, if then."

really? "if then". So I thanked them and went somewhere else.

 

[bored]

They don't call them stealerships for nothing. PS - some of the worst mechanics I've ever dealt with had the ASC and were certified blah, blah, blah. Just like anything else having some title after your name doesn't = great at what you do.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Love, love, love my Toyota dealer. Always polite, helpful, get follow-up emails and phone calls from the service department. Worked with my insurance company when my car was hit by a drunk driver and didn't charge me a penny above my $500 deductible. Told me they'd wait to get paid by my insurance company.

 

[bonoriffic]

Sit in the waiting room of the dealer you are considering. Listen to how they handle and deal with existing customers. In 30 minutes you'll probably know if they are fair and honest or just looking to squeeze every dollar from you.

For example, while waiting for my car to be done I overheard this conversation. Well we found the problem, and it is X. It looks like it was done some place else. You might want to check if it is under warranty there first, otherwise we can fix it and it will cost $Z.

That exchange there convinced me to do all my service at that dealership. Loyalty also has advantages when it is time to buy a new car. Performing all your service on the car at the dealer is a huge profit potential, and a negotiating point.

 

[andrews_dad]

They don't call them stealerships for nothing. PS - some of the worst mechanics I've ever dealt with had the ASC and were certified blah, blah, blah. Just like anything else having some title after your name doesn't = great at what you do.

Stealerships! That seems about right. Just for a simple oil change and tire roatation you are looking at a huge bill. A place like WalMart Tire and Lube will do it for 1/2 the price.

If I need a heart surgeon, I'll go to a specialist that charges a pretty penny. If my son gets pink eye at daycare, I don't care if it is some med-school drop out who later got his degree online or in some 3rd world country that calls in the script. Maybe the dealer "expertise" will shine in complex fixes, but light bulbs, oil changes, wiper blades, and brake pads ain't rocket science.

 

[daughtersrus]

If I need a heart surgeon, I'll go to a specialist that charges a pretty penny. If my son gets pink eye at daycare, I don't care if it is some med-school drop out who later got his degree online or in some 3rd world country that calls in the script.

Wow!

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Took my 4Runner in for a state inspection. They said I needed a new serpentine belt, a couple of small lightbulbs replaced (the ones over top the lic plate to illuminate it), wiper blades, and some brake pads plus the cost of the emissions test and state inspection/stickers. Toss an oil change on top of that. Their estimate?? About $850! I started looking at the itemized estimate. About $20 in labor to replace the two lightbulbs?? Yeah, right. Over $25 in labor for wiper blades?? Come on, people! Give me a break!

Told them NOT to touch it. Of course they try to pressure me on the state inspection not passing and the serpentine belt being a hazard. Drive to to a local shop. All of that work is now done. Final bill? $226.93.

Wow, I'll take $20 to replace some light bulbs, and $25 for wiper blades! It's amazing the crap that people (dealership and non-dealership) try to pull!!

 

[ceecee]

I felt the same way at our Ford dealership....every repair was at least $1000.00. I did get some work done at Jiffy Lube and quickly learned my lesson they replaced it with a part that didn't fit and I ended up with $1500 of repairs because of it. We did finally switch dealerships and the second one seemed a lot less expensive, we got a quote of $1800 at the original and $1300 at the second. Of course we had to pay $50 just for the quote!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I took my 2009 Edge to my local Ford dealer for servicing. I knew from their warning me that the cost for the replacement wiper blades is about $52. So I bought two Michelin blades at Wal-Mart and brought them with me when I went for service; they installed the blades for me at no charge.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Same experience at our local Toyota dealership last spring. I have never had any work done there, but I got a coupon in the mail for a cheap oil change. They told me the front tires needed replacing (they said it would fail state inspection), serpentine belt was worn and battery would go dead any time. They wanted a fortune for all the repairs, but told them just to change the oil replace the rear wiper blade (b/c Rav4 rear blade is not avail at any retail stores.) They actually didn't charge me labor for the blade! LOL

1- tires were fine, we replaced them 6-7 months later before the winter, and even then they would have been fine for a few more months
2- serpentine belt was about than 1/2 the cost at my independent mechanic (less than $100)
3- there is a battery that got a great review from Consumers, only available at Walmart so we took the car there. Before they would sell it to me they wanted to test the battery, it was fine. That was 11 months ago. Car sits at Boston Logan airport M-Th everyweek, sometimes for 2 weeks straight. Battery was fine all winter! This reminds me that next time I go to Walmart to take the Rav so I can get it tested again-lol!

Last summer our other car needed a light bulb and my dad could not get it out at all. I took the car to the BMW dealer expecting it to be a fortune, it made me sick thinking of what they were going to charge. Turns out when you arrive the greeter at the service department pulls out the old bulb, sends you in to the parts department with the dead bulb so they can see the part #, buy a new bulb and bring it back to the guy and he puts it in for n/c. I was (pleasantly) shocked! I was out in less than 10 minutes and I think it was less than $25 total at the parts department!

 

[andrews_dad]

Same experience at our local Toyota dealership last spring. I have never had any work done there, but I got a coupon in the mail for a cheap oil change. They told me the front tires needed replacing (they said it would fail state inspection), serpentine belt was worn and battery would go dead any time. They wanted a fortune for all the repairs, but told them just to change the oil replace the rear wiper blade (b/c Rav4 rear blade is not avail at any retail stores.) They actually didn't charge me labor for the blade! LOL

1- QUOTE]

I've had this at my Toyota dealer, too. Tak eit in for Oli Change and they come out with a list of recommended work that will run you $500-1000 bucks. I wanted th oil changed. I think those coupons for cheaper oil changes are the bait to get you in the room.

 

[01spirit750]

I guess I have bad luck with dealers, luckily I am a mechanic and only use the dealers for warranty work.

Here are some of the non warrantied work I was told I needed:
Case 1- Dealer advised that we needed a new water pump and that only their mechanics could do it, due to having to practically removing the motor.
I replaced the pump on a Sat morning in less then 1 hour, which included stopping and going the autoparts store to get some gasket sealant.

Case 2. After having warranty work done, dealer advised that the car needed tires and front brakes which meant it was too dangerous to drive. I knew the tires needed to be replaced and declined on both. Pulled the pads on Saturday and they were still like new (over .25" of material left).