Would You Go on a +1000 mile road trip one missing lug nut from each wheel?

Thanks, I guess I can wait for the new key and pray that I don't get a flat. I don't know...I leave tomorrow and this is the last thing I want to worry about.

:redbrick::redbrick::redbrick::redbrick:

I would be on the phone and letting them know you will not tolerate them endangering the safety of your wife and child. They can pull parts from inventory, pull parts off new vehicles on the lot, etc. - you need an acceptable solution now!

Call Toyota, Insist on speaking to the Service Manager, Sales Manager, Owner - Squeak a little! Just squeak politely....

David
 
I would be on the phone and letting them know you will not tolerate them endangering the safety of your wife and child. They can pull parts from inventory, pull parts off new vehicles on the lot, etc. - you need an acceptable solution now!

Call Toyota, Insist on speaking to the Service Manager, Sales Manager, Owner - Squeak a little! Just squeak politely....

David

After speaking with the service advisor (Politely) he agreed to loan me a master wheel lock key. I still will not bring my car there after this ordeal.

I told them that they are insane to let me or any other customer drive off the lot with missing lug nuts. They told me that usually they do if its customers that stick around town but since I am going on a long road trip that I am an exception. crazy! They're just asking for a lawsuit. I really wanted to get into it with them about putting their whole business at risk but whatever. Only a matter of time I guess...

Never going back there again.

Thanks
 
Maybe you can take one of your current lug nuts off to the store and try to find a matching one in the meantime?

All you need to do is confirm that the lug nut seat is the same, and the thread pitch is the same.

Good luck on your trip, and stay safe!

After thinking about it a bit more....I'm positive I can get one myself... but the dealership should be doing the legwork ...not me...they effed up so they should be going the extra mile to resolve this ... not me...if it came down to it I would of sourced one if they failed to resolve the issue....oh well...problem resolved...

Thanks for the advice...
 
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After speaking with the service advisor (Politely) he agreed to loan me a master wheel lock key. I still will not bring my car there after this ordeal.

I told them that they are insane to let me or any other customer drive off the lot with missing lug nuts. They told me that usually they do if its customers that stick around town but since I am going on a long road trip that I am an exception. crazy! They're just asking for a lawsuit. I really wanted to get into it with them about putting their whole business at risk but whatever. Only a matter of time I guess...

Never going back there again.

Thanks

Glad it worked out for you!

Have a good trip, don't let this incident dampen the fun!

Take cool pictures of your trip! Post them, etc!

David
 
I honestly can't believe they actually let you drive away with only 5 of the 6 lugs on each wheel!

Had something happened the liability to the dealership would be over the top. They should have provided you with a loaner car/truck until they fixed their mistake. (i just noticed a couple of posts up that this was mentioned.)

Glad its sorted I would still consider dropping the bomb on them just for being stupid.
 
I can't believe they let you drive it away with one less. I drove a jeep with one less for a short time and the others started to come loose. It really didn't take much I was very surprised. Anyway glad they loaned you a set...
 
Honestly? Aside from the obvious liability and somewhat nagging lack of a wheel lug, under normal driving conditions IF the other 5 are properly torqued it shouldn't really make a significant difference. I'm sure I'll get some heat from people on it, but really 5/6 properly installed lug nuts under normal driving conditions will not spontaneously cause a wheel to fly off on your road trip, now if you were wheeling somewhat hard...then perhaps a case of some concern could be made. But that's not the main reason you made this thread really, we all see those clunkers rolling on 3/5 Lugs day in and day out with no problems.

The real issue here is a Dealer who was unaccommodating to your needs. Now I'm normally one to jump all over a Dealer who does bad work, but the work wasn't the issue here. I've broken a couple wheel locks by accident in my days and I have had many more fracture and break on their own (more than likely from improper prior use of either the previous technician and/or owner) so for me to say definitively that it was the Dealer's fault that they broke your wheel lock is hard for me to stand behind. It becomes a bit of a gray area (assuming the dealer really isn't at fault and it was just a freak accident) because while the vehicle broke in their possession, it wasn't their fault really; similar to how if you brought in a vehicle that decided to throw a rod for no reason when all they did was an Alignment.

That being said, that doesn't mean the Dealer couldn't use this as an opportunity to keep a potential customer by going the extra mile. There are some legal issues that make it a bit finicky for the dealer to lend out things like Wheel Lock Keys (granted, the keys aren't serial numbered and it would be a stretch for someone to nail the dealer for it) because of liability concerns. For example today a customer who lives a good 30+minutes away from the dealership had her Highlander programmed for an additional Smart Key, the problem is the small physical backup key is laser cut and we cannot mail her the key in the mail and thus the customer must physically come get the key in person because of legal issues. So I can understand the Dealer being reluctant to give a customer a wheel lock key, let alone one who is going away for a long road trip.

That still does not absolve the Dealer of this opportunity to both be a better business and retain a customer. TRD Wheel Locks tend to come from the factory already installed on vehicles so its not like they could just crack open a customer package and re-use it on a PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) at a later time when they can have a replacement Wheel Lock Key shipped to them at their convenience. But they still should have either offered to eat the wheel lock kit themselves, or at the very least discount it to you (assuming they had one in stock). Even if the wheel lock kit was not in stock they should have at the very least offered replacement non-wheel lock lug nuts (again if they had them in stock, which they should since I believe they are just standard wheel lug nuts if I remember right).

Now to many people an obvious solution is to recommend an aftermarket set of wheel locks easily attainable from most local tire shops (Gorilla Brand are pretty close to TRD style), there's only one small wrinkle which is that Dealers are sort of structured to where they are not supposed to offer Non-Factory Parts. For example I had a 1st Gen Tacoma who needed an entire steering system (Rack, Hoses, and Pump) which ended up being a bit north of $3k including labor and "Red Box Parts," even though we use Car Quest parts on our Used Cars (even the Toyota Used ones sometimes to save money) we couldn't offer a Customer those "Non-Factory" parts without getting yelled at by higher ups, even though the price would have been a more palpable sub-$1600 repair bill and more reasonable to a prospective customer (in the end the Customer caved and paid for the repair, but I genuinely felt crappy for it and wished I could have saved him the money.)

In the end there were plenty of solutions that the Dealer didn't bother even trying with you which is rather sad, it reminds me of the direction the current dealer I am working at is going and part of the reason I'm strongly considering moving to other venues.
 
Honestly? Aside from the obvious liability and somewhat nagging lack of a wheel lug, under normal driving conditions IF the other 5 are properly torqued it shouldn't really make a significant difference. I'm sure I'll get some heat from people on it, but really 5/6 properly installed lug nuts under normal driving conditions will not spontaneously cause a wheel to fly off on your road trip, now if you were wheeling somewhat hard...then perhaps a case of some concern could be made. But that's not the main reason you made this thread really, we all see those clunkers rolling on 3/5 Lugs day in and day out with no problems.

The real issue here is a Dealer who was unaccommodating to your needs. Now I'm normally one to jump all over a Dealer who does bad work, but the work wasn't the issue here. I've broken a couple wheel locks by accident in my days and I have had many more fracture and break on their own (more than likely from improper prior use of either the previous technician and/or owner) so for me to say definitively that it was the Dealer's fault that they broke your wheel lock is hard for me to stand behind. It becomes a bit of a gray area (assuming the dealer really isn't at fault and it was just a freak accident) because while the vehicle broke in their possession, it wasn't their fault really; similar to how if you brought in a vehicle that decided to throw a rod for no reason when all they did was an Alignment.

That being said, that doesn't mean the Dealer couldn't use this as an opportunity to keep a potential customer by going the extra mile. There are some legal issues that make it a bit finicky for the dealer to lend out things like Wheel Lock Keys (granted, the keys aren't serial numbered and it would be a stretch for someone to nail the dealer for it) because of liability concerns. For example today a customer who lives a good 30+minutes away from the dealership had her Highlander programmed for an additional Smart Key, the problem is the small physical backup key is laser cut and we cannot mail her the key in the mail and thus the customer must physically come get the key in person because of legal issues. So I can understand the Dealer being reluctant to give a customer a wheel lock key, let alone one who is going away for a long road trip.

That still does not absolve the Dealer of this opportunity to both be a better business and retain a customer. TRD Wheel Locks tend to come from the factory already installed on vehicles so its not like they could just crack open a customer package and re-use it on a PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) at a later time when they can have a replacement Wheel Lock Key shipped to them at their convenience. But they still should have either offered to eat the wheel lock kit themselves, or at the very least discount it to you (assuming they had one in stock). Even if the wheel lock kit was not in stock they should have at the very least offered replacement non-wheel lock lug nuts (again if they had them in stock, which they should since I believe they are just standard wheel lug nuts if I remember right).

Now to many people an obvious solution is to recommend an aftermarket set of wheel locks easily attainable from most local tire shops (Gorilla Brand are pretty close to TRD style), there's only one small wrinkle which is that Dealers are sort of structured to where they are not supposed to offer Non-Factory Parts. For example I had a 1st Gen Tacoma who needed an entire steering system (Rack, Hoses, and Pump) which ended up being a bit north of $3k including labor and "Red Box Parts," even though we use Car Quest parts on our Used Cars (even the Toyota Used ones sometimes to save money) we couldn't offer a Customer those "Non-Factory" parts without getting yelled at by higher ups, even though the price would have been a more palpable sub-$1600 repair bill and more reasonable to a prospective customer (in the end the Customer caved and paid for the repair, but I genuinely felt crappy for it and wished I could have saved him the money.)

In the end there were plenty of solutions that the Dealer didn't bother even trying with you which is rather sad, it reminds me of the direction the current dealer I am working at is going and part of the reason I'm strongly considering moving to other venues.

I completely agree with you. In my head, I thought that the chances of a wheel flying off were rather slim BUT, what if IT DID HAPPEN?

I work in a customer service oriented career troubleshooting/repairing/calibrating laboratory equipment for finicky scientists and I go the extra mile when my customers need something. Most of our customers want their equipment running and in use within an hour of when it breaks! Sometimes its impossible but we find ways to get them through their processes.

I guess this was the type of solution I was looking for.

Like you said, It wasn't about the broken wheel lock key. I was more upset about the way they tried to resolve it. Just bad customer service all around.
 
Hopefully it works out to your satisfaction.

Something like this has happened to me (I broke one on the side of the road, dealer air gun broke another, had a flat discovered dealer had mistakenly kept the key) on three different vehicles and I finally just threw them away, never again.

Do you have a specific reason for having locks? Ditch them for regular lugs if not, no more hassle. Not being able to change a flat is a greater risk than potential theft. Good luck!
 
Honestly? Aside from the obvious liability and somewhat nagging lack of a wheel lug, under normal driving conditions IF the other 5 are properly torqued it shouldn't really make a significant difference. I'm sure I'll get some heat from people on it, but really 5/6 properly installed lug nuts under normal driving conditions will not spontaneously cause a wheel to fly off on your road trip, now if you were wheeling somewhat hard...then perhaps a case of some concern could be made. But that's not the main reason you made this thread really, we all see those clunkers rolling on 3/5 Lugs day in and day out with no problems.

The real issue here is a Dealer who was unaccommodating to your needs. Now I'm normally one to jump all over a Dealer who does bad work, but the work wasn't the issue here. I've broken a couple wheel locks by accident in my days and I have had many more fracture and break on their own (more than likely from improper prior use of either the previous technician and/or owner) so for me to say definitively that it was the Dealer's fault that they broke your wheel lock is hard for me to stand behind. It becomes a bit of a gray area (assuming the dealer really isn't at fault and it was just a freak accident) because while the vehicle broke in their possession, it wasn't their fault really; similar to how if you brought in a vehicle that decided to throw a rod for no reason when all they did was an Alignment.

That being said, that doesn't mean the Dealer couldn't use this as an opportunity to keep a potential customer by going the extra mile. There are some legal issues that make it a bit finicky for the dealer to lend out things like Wheel Lock Keys (granted, the keys aren't serial numbered and it would be a stretch for someone to nail the dealer for it) because of liability concerns. For example today a customer who lives a good 30+minutes away from the dealership had her Highlander programmed for an additional Smart Key, the problem is the small physical backup key is laser cut and we cannot mail her the key in the mail and thus the customer must physically come get the key in person because of legal issues. So I can understand the Dealer being reluctant to give a customer a wheel lock key, let alone one who is going away for a long road trip.

That still does not absolve the Dealer of this opportunity to both be a better business and retain a customer. TRD Wheel Locks tend to come from the factory already installed on vehicles so its not like they could just crack open a customer package and re-use it on a PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) at a later time when they can have a replacement Wheel Lock Key shipped to them at their convenience. But they still should have either offered to eat the wheel lock kit themselves, or at the very least discount it to you (assuming they had one in stock). Even if the wheel lock kit was not in stock they should have at the very least offered replacement non-wheel lock lug nuts (again if they had them in stock, which they should since I believe they are just standard wheel lug nuts if I remember right).

Now to many people an obvious solution is to recommend an aftermarket set of wheel locks easily attainable from most local tire shops (Gorilla Brand are pretty close to TRD style), there's only one small wrinkle which is that Dealers are sort of structured to where they are not supposed to offer Non-Factory Parts. For example I had a 1st Gen Tacoma who needed an entire steering system (Rack, Hoses, and Pump) which ended up being a bit north of $3k including labor and "Red Box Parts," even though we use Car Quest parts on our Used Cars (even the Toyota Used ones sometimes to save money) we couldn't offer a Customer those "Non-Factory" parts without getting yelled at by higher ups, even though the price would have been a more palpable sub-$1600 repair bill and more reasonable to a prospective customer (in the end the Customer caved and paid for the repair, but I genuinely felt crappy for it and wished I could have saved him the money.)

In the end there were plenty of solutions that the Dealer didn't bother even trying with you which is rather sad, it reminds me of the direction the current dealer I am working at is going and part of the reason I'm strongly considering moving to other venues.

Nice Post!

David
 
Good grief I need to get back to work, but the only thing my brain will remember from this thread is, "Don't buy custom rims at the Toyota dealership for some reason I can't remember but it had to do with lugnuts."
 

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