I did the 2 required oil changes as part of my "Toyota Doesn't Care" program and will never go back. The first oil change on my not even year old truck and the technician dumped oil all over my fuse box, and oil all over my brand new $300 Odyssey battery, after I complained I was offered another free oil change... yay?

My fiance recently took her Subaru to the dealer by our house (she did not buy there due to shady sales people). They tried to sell her brake pads all around which she declined, took it to my shop that I use for tires and they called saying that one of her lug nuts was crossthreaded on the stud, and she was missing 2 more lug nuts.... So they gave her her vehicle back with basically 2 lugs holding her wheel off, and she drove downtown in rush hour traffic multiple times before the issue was discovered. At the same visit she also had the oil changed, her car slowly started leaking oil from the drain plug, and the plug was not tightened, it became looser and looser until the car pissed a puddle of oil on my driveway and I crawled under and tightened it myself. She went and paid for 2 services at the stealership and they F'd up both of them... needless to say I'm now doing her and my oil changes from now on. I've always done my own, but I will now be doing hers as well since we can't trust stealerships to do the most basic maintenance without almost losing a wheel or blowing up an engine....

that really sucks...I would think the dealer would know what they are doing!!
rob

I don't know what you guys are complaining about. My dealer is always going above and beyond. Got an extra drain plug gasket on my GF's RAV. No charge.

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Dick Dyer in Columbia did the exact same thing to me, except they lost my lug key in the process. manager had to run all over the bay looking for it. Buncha morons there. All the techs looked like they were 16 years old, vaping and playing grabass. Never again!

I confirmed on Tuesday that they also lost my wheel lock key. Service advisor acted like this was a normal thing when I called. He just asked me to bring my truck in so they can get me the right key, no apologies, no ownership of the fault. It's ironic because I had my oil changed by my trusted indy shop on Friday and I brought up my apprehension of taking my truck in at 10k for the "free" dealer oil change.

If such little care goes into a simple tire rotation, the dealer is not touching anything else.

I'm coming to the conclusion that, as others stated, these dealer techs are useless. Just yesterday I had one tell me that a weird thing my engine has been doing at 5200 RPM recently was, in fact, the rev limiter....the red line is at 5800 RPM. (FACEPALM). Another once told me that all cars are supposed to have rattles in them. I can go on and on. More often than not, I feel like I'm telling them how to do their job, and, considering how much we're obsessed with our rides, I bet that most of you on here feel the same way.

A lot of you guys on here are very good at fixing cars or know how to do most things. I am not a handy guy with cars but i can do regular stuff to cars without getting dirty i.e. filters, wipers, bulbs etc. I am good at diagnosing issues that may arise with my car but i don't have the tools or knowledge to be able to fix them. I wish i had someone to show me how to do it or had/have a car to be able to tinker with. I do take my car (T4R) (Highlander) to Firestone for regular maintenance but the dealership for repairs and/or recalls. If your an ASE certified mechanic, you are on the same level as other ASE mechanics right? No matter where you work? Now i understand that at Toyota, you will obviously know more about how to fix Toyotas than someone at Firestone, but it's all the same right? I have observed that a lube tech no matter where they work is the same "type" of person and has the same types of qualification. It just seems like a gamble no matter where you take your car too. Just cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Nope.

Are all NFL QBs, computer programmers, etc. of the same talent based on a rating?

I've dealt with ASE tech who couldn't find their ass in the shower. Dealerships are full of them. Part of the problem has to do with the pay system.

And in my area at least, I wouldn't dream of letting a Firestone mechanic work on one of my vehicles. What you've come to expect with Firestone may differ in your area.

not entirely, it's important that you read reviews and ask around for recommendations and do research before picking a mechanic

True. In your search you may find that the best, most highly recommended mechanics are the ones who used to work at dealerships, got disgusted with their practices, and started their own shops.

While dealer mechanics have all the training and factory resources, they are less skilled than mechanics at independent shops.

Oh crap. What exactly is supposed to be in that compartment area? I want to go check and see that the dealer returned all that should be there. Help!

I'll take a picture when I get out of the office, unless someone beats me to it. Should be your jack, and then a rolled tool bag that holds the tire iron and I THINK a small plastic bag with the wheel lock key. I can't be sure about the key because mine is missing.

lol a bit of a shame that I have free oil changes for life.

What a waste cause outside of the 3 mandatory ones I have to do to keep my warranty, I'll be doing the rest myself. Not terrible though. I'm getting one oil change a year so @ like $110 (mobil1 + the $20 oil filter package) per oil change, I'd only be saving $1100 over the course of 10 years. I'd rather pay that than have to deal with a dead engine due to oil starvation and/or have to fight tooth and nail to get cross threaded/stripped holes "fixed".

Oh man- Dick Dyer Toyota- we bought a new FJCruiser from them in 2011- went in for the first "free" oil change/tire rotation. Noticed the still brand new spare was on the mount still- Toyota advises rotating all 5 tires on the FJ and even mounts it on the same alloy rims as the other 4.

So wife takes it next time and the service writer argued with her not wanting to rotate all 5 tires. Finally he agreed to.
What he didn't know is I had marked each rim with a number. She got home, I looked and the left rear was still on the left rear. Apparently they aren't going to do all 5 no matter what.

So next time I took it in- I sat there and watched them pump regular oil in, not the synthetic they showed on the bill- presumably paid by Toyota Corp.
Yes they only did 4 tires again.

Done with them. Just bought a new 4R this week- didn't even go by there to see what they had....