Complementary Service From a Dishonest Toyota Service Department

I agree that it's very common for car dealers to be incompetent and/or dishonest, Toyota dealers are independant businesses.

One, or a hundred dishonest dealers don't make them all dishonest.

I'm satisfied enough with mine that I no longer will bother marking parts when I go in for service.

 

You raise a good point. I trust the dealer I go to, so it's no longer an issue. But if I were to take my car to a different dealer, I would mark the tires and the oil filter, and check the color of the oil just before I take it in, and recheck everything when I get it back to make sure they did what they say they did. If they do it right the first couple of times, then I'd let it go.

One of the sayings I would hear is that it is good to have a car mechanic you can trust.

Also, I always get a survey from Toyota after each service. That's one way to voice your issues.

Mike

 

Excellent idea to mark your tires tho.

 

I don't trust Toyota dealers or New Yorkers. :madgrin:

 

+1. You can find a bad <anything> franchise location.

 

Not all stereotypes are true. Well, maybe for Toyota dealers...

 

God i hope this is NOT a frequent business acumen. No wonder why DIY is so popular.

 

You might try Kinderhook Toyota, northeast of Hudson. I've been happy with them so far, I've been in twice for service, and each time, they did rotate the tires. But at 20K on a 2010, I'd guess you may be getting close to the end of your 2 years of complementary service.

 

If any one stopping by this post lives in the San Fernando Valley here in so Cal...be warned, NEVER, and I repeat NEVER take your car to Northridge Toyoya, I've got a few horror stories I could tell you that you wouldn't believe could actually happen at a leading manufacturers dealership...and did I mention, NEVER.

 

Sometimes "Free" service isn't.
I'm a confirmed DIY'er.
Cars, M/C's, everything.

I'm not as good as the average ASE wrench swinger to be sure, and I don't have nearly as many tools however (COMMA!) I care about my vehicle much more than any mechanic that I know or have ever heard of.
If I take an hour to do an oil change?
It takes an hour.
Nobody is going to yell at me for not turning out enough work, and I can take as much time as I need to properly do the job.
I know what oil is used. I know where the filter comes from and that in fact it has been changed. I KNOW that the tires have been rotated, or the air filter has been changed.
I've seen good dealerships and bad. Motorcycle and Car. Up North and down South.
Some people have to trust dealerships.
So far.....I'm not one of them.
Time is money. Cut corners=more $$
I've seen to many things, and I've had several good friends that have swung wrenches inside dealerships----most of which have left in discust to other carreers or their own shops.

When infirmities and/or car complexities catch up with me, I might have to use dealerships, but I doubt that I will ever trust them.

 

^Hey, bud, you missed a semicolon before however.

I have a premature infirmity (tendinitis), so I sadly have to settle for the dealership. I had a trusted mechanic. However (comma? ) I have since moved away and know of no replacements adept with the peculiarities of the Prius.

 

My g/f had her last oil change at the dealer as part of a repair for water damage due to Irene. I did the prior change and used a TRD filter. Can't wait to do the next change to see if it's still there.

 

Never take your car back there for anything! Here in MN dealers can use lower paid people to do oil changes not mechanics, I took mine in for one free oil change that was the last,took an hour and a half!

 

With the 10k mile oil change interval, making sure the oil and filter is properly changed is VITAL. Most techs are honest people who just want to make a honest living but THERE ARE some out there who will lie and cheat to make a extra dollar.

 

Dealer Service is a mixed blessing, to say the least. I only use a Dealer Service Dept. when the need is specific to one of our Prii. I prefer shops for routine maintenance (tire rotation, oil changes, etc.) which allow me to talk to the mechanics and actually SEE the work being done... such as NTB.

 

Hey, I married a New Yorker!

 

How do you mark the oil filter - just write Old on it?

 

Writing much of anything on it will be hard while it's still on the car. If you've got the time and access to go this far, and mistrust the dealer enough to do it, you may as well change it yourself. Then, once it's out of the car, you can scratch in the mileage to prove it was changed, and that you've met the service requirements of the warranty.