1engineer
Moderator
If I knew you were working at my dealership I would tell you the pressure drop from the left rear to right rear brake was a few bar positive and could you please fix it lol.
5th Gen Dealer Bash Thread
- Thread starter 1engineer
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Lester Lugnut
New member
That explains all of the train wreck Toyota Care stories you read about on the various Toyota forums.
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Jhalko
New member
Unfortunately this is what leads to the "I hate all dealer scum" attitude. If Toyota is hiring those kind of folks, the last heep I owned must have been paying their folks Southeast Asia slave labor wages!
This goes to a difference of opinion for me personally, pay to retain good talent even for the basic jobs and it'll come back to you. Whether it's upsells or referrals, you'll make that back and more...
I did laugh at the zip tie when I first saw it... But I had a set of RCi skids to go on sitting right there so easy to have a sense of humor about it.
Lester Lugnut
New member
Toyota isn't hiring them - the dealer is - an operation independent of Toyota. Yeah...I know, the dealer should do better, but how many other mfg/dealer situations are also as botched as what we are talking about here.
Any and everything with an engine of some kind and more.
BlackWorksInc
New member
The problem is that Toyota doesn't hire anyone at the dealerships. Dealerships are privately owned entities separate from Toyota, the best way to look at them is independently owned businesses that are allowed to license Toyota technology and resources to sell, maintain, and repair vehicles to Toyota's specifications.
For the most part Toyota does not really step in/enforce their guidelines to dealerships unless said dealerships are violating warranty practices (mainly because that is obviously coming out of Toyota's pocket.) Toyota, like most manufacturers tends not to be too involved when it comes to the dealership network (mostly because dealers have fought to have a bit of independence in this regard; interesting reason why there are no Tesla dealerships, but rather Tesla Stores/Boutiques like the Apple Store.)
So the issue ends up being that everything from mark-up, service, staff, sales figures, ect. are all dependent on the individual dealership's discretion. Which is why one dealership down the street may sell a door lock actuator for 10% above cost and another may mark it up 60%. While another one sells you a laundry list of "tack-on services" and the one across town only does what the owner's manual says.
I honestly agree with you and think that Toyota as well as other manufacturers should be more involved in enforcing their guidelines/policies on dealerships since these are primarily how their company is represented and the mass public is unaware of the very large gap between Factory & Dealer.
Yeah, well when you and 50 other people want their oil change done at the exact same time at 9am in the morning and there's only 6 lube techs and the other 20 technicians are working on 20 other cars due out that day; it ends up someone is waiting. The reality is that it's not 45minutes to do the actual oil change (well not usually...), but rather it takes 30 minutes until they can get to your car. Trust me, Saturdays are our busier days and I along with one or two techs get pulled off our "big boy" jobs to go clean up the lube line when everyone wants their oil change out in 30 minutes and there's 15 cars waiting. :wow: To be honest, if you want the best service/care you're more likely to get it if the shop has time to actually work on the vehicle properly; vs. "guys we need this car in 10minutes just drain the oil and throw the tires around!"
:moping: Such is the trade sometimes...
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Lester Lugnut
New member
I've used Toyota Care twice for the 4 Runner. The first was the "45 min" variety; the 2nd closer to the all Day version.
Neither met my expectations as I spent time redoing work that was not done correctly.
rpontbriand
New member
Toyota's service center is 'ok' at best. When I went to Infiniti's service center for my Q50 it was really like night and day. So much better than Toyota's in every way IMO.
My biggest gripe with Toyota in my area is longer than advertised wait times and their car washing service. My 8 year old can was a car better than they can! When I had my 2007 Sport, they disabled the anti-lock system due to a recall. The freakin thing was working great ... WTF? They provided no updates on when it would be fixed and coped an attitude when I as for updates periodically. Anyhow, happy to have ABS again on my 2015!
My biggest gripe with Toyota in my area is longer than advertised wait times and their car washing service. My 8 year old can was a car better than they can! When I had my 2007 Sport, they disabled the anti-lock system due to a recall. The freakin thing was working great ... WTF? They provided no updates on when it would be fixed and coped an attitude when I as for updates periodically. Anyhow, happy to have ABS again on my 2015!
Antman
Elite Member
You hate me?out:
Ok, ok. :hug: You? I like you. You seem like you care about your work- in my experience, most don't.
Maybe "I hate 'em all..." was a poor choice of words.
How about, I hate almost every F'n one of them sumbiches?
Seriously though, after years (first new car bought is '89) of poor service and B/S one tends to take a hard-nosed approach. No offense meant here, really!
Ron4RNevada
New member
Good work around here so far. Perhaps northern Nevada just has better quality people in all trades that I've dealt with...... Here are my TWO local Toyota dealership experiences:
Fallon Auto Mall (Ford and Toyota), Fallon NV - I'll give them 5 stars ***** (out of 5). The first week I owned the 4Runner I bought a set of Toyo Open Country MTs. When the tire shop was doing the alignment to handle the big heavy load range E tires. At the end of the alignment the tech disconnected the battery to re-zero the yaw sensors (whatever). When the battery was reconnected he got alarms that wouldn't quit and the engine was disabled. He and I went all through the owners manual trying to get thing calmed to no avail. Finally he called the Toyota dealer down the street who led us through the alarm disable - again to no avail. At five o'clock the Toyota Service Manager and the Senior Mechanic came to our rescue -> They discovered that my car had an aftermarket alarm system installed. I told them get rid of the alarm and fix it. About forty minutes later the alarm was removed and the system returned to normal. The two of them would not take any money!
Dolan Toyota, Reno NV - Another five star *****. I have had two free services done so far (35,000 and 40,000 miles) - Skid plates spotless (even though both times I had been off-roading the week before. As 1Engineer said "Oil so clean on the dipstick I could barely see it other than the sheen (Mobil 1)", all fluids topped up including the windshield washer fluid. The car had been washed (but carpets not vacuumed. Both services I had made an appointment for - I arrived 30 minutes early both times - was checked out 45 minutes later. The free coffee in the wait area was a little bit stronger than I usually make it.
My big decision now is which dealer will I be going to when the free service runs out? Fallon is 25 miles away from my place and Reno is 40 miles away. I have experience at Fallon for serious repairs and Reno for routine servicing. What a dilemma!
BTW: I received excellent repair on my previous vehicles also:
The two Land Rovers at Land Rover Rocklin, CA
My Subaru Outback at Gold Country Subaru, Auburn CA
All of the cars and trucks before them the servicing and repairs were done by me - I was younger back then and the vehicles were much simpler.
Fallon Auto Mall (Ford and Toyota), Fallon NV - I'll give them 5 stars ***** (out of 5). The first week I owned the 4Runner I bought a set of Toyo Open Country MTs. When the tire shop was doing the alignment to handle the big heavy load range E tires. At the end of the alignment the tech disconnected the battery to re-zero the yaw sensors (whatever). When the battery was reconnected he got alarms that wouldn't quit and the engine was disabled. He and I went all through the owners manual trying to get thing calmed to no avail. Finally he called the Toyota dealer down the street who led us through the alarm disable - again to no avail. At five o'clock the Toyota Service Manager and the Senior Mechanic came to our rescue -> They discovered that my car had an aftermarket alarm system installed. I told them get rid of the alarm and fix it. About forty minutes later the alarm was removed and the system returned to normal. The two of them would not take any money!
Dolan Toyota, Reno NV - Another five star *****. I have had two free services done so far (35,000 and 40,000 miles) - Skid plates spotless (even though both times I had been off-roading the week before. As 1Engineer said "Oil so clean on the dipstick I could barely see it other than the sheen (Mobil 1)", all fluids topped up including the windshield washer fluid. The car had been washed (but carpets not vacuumed. Both services I had made an appointment for - I arrived 30 minutes early both times - was checked out 45 minutes later. The free coffee in the wait area was a little bit stronger than I usually make it.
My big decision now is which dealer will I be going to when the free service runs out? Fallon is 25 miles away from my place and Reno is 40 miles away. I have experience at Fallon for serious repairs and Reno for routine servicing. What a dilemma!
BTW: I received excellent repair on my previous vehicles also:
The two Land Rovers at Land Rover Rocklin, CA
My Subaru Outback at Gold Country Subaru, Auburn CA
All of the cars and trucks before them the servicing and repairs were done by me - I was younger back then and the vehicles were much simpler.
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tamerunner
New member
I'll play. Took the 'runner in for the first oil change/ tire rotation and the "qualified" lube techs decided not to use the extensions on the lift and bent both running boards. I had to take it back for them to replace them. Then took it in for the headlight and driveshaft TSB and they jacked up my front bumper, using a screwdriver to pry it off and broke tabs in the wheel well. Took several tries and weeks for them to get it close to normal and it still isn't right but.
Jernik
New member
Infiniti? HA! My wife usually takes her G37 in for service. After the very first oil change (at recommended 3,750 miles) we received in the mail a notice that stated our tires were worn and needed replaced. They try selling her BS jobs every time... last one was a service package to "tighten the belts" and "lube the suspension" (shouldn't this be part of LOF anyway, assuming anything under there isn't a sealed unit?). Fortunately, she always calls me to ask what's needed when they pull this. After she told them no to this bogus $400 service package (car has 18,000 miles on it now) they tried telling her the front tires were worn on the inside edge and suggested a 4 wheel alignment. I told her I'd look at it later (still haven't, lol, need to do that) because after all the BS they've been feeding us, I think they're just trying to find ANYTHING for more cash. I don't trust them one bit. Any time they open their mouth about that car my BS meter maxes out.
Funny thing is, if they said something about the moving parts for the convertible top needed to be lubricated and the seals need to be cleaned/maintained, I'd probably bite on that once a year (but not for $400) - she does use the convertible feature on a very regular basis! But they never say a thing about that...
But we're done there. Freebies ran out. I'll be under it for the next oil change. Just got to figure out how to get it off the ground - it's not going to be as easy to get under there as the truck and 4Runner are!
On edit. Had the 4Runner in for one of 4 complimentary Toyotacare services, and all went well. However, they have been houding me to schedule my 1 year 10K mile service for about 6 weeks now... I bought it in late August, and it's only got 8,000 miles on it! :bounce:
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1engineer
Moderator
It's not useless. Your post content is why I started this thread lol.
