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GREAT Experience at Dealership (coolent inverter recall)

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by dianeinreno, Apr 15, 2012.

  1. dianeinreno

    dianeinreno Member

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    So I just bought my used '07 Prius and found out that it did not have the coolant inverter recall. I made an appointment at the local Prius/Toyota dealer and expected the worse. What a nice surprise!

    They made the appointment for me just a couple days away - did it all in four hours. They did an oil change for me and charged me $44 bucks for it - at a dealer that's a pretty good price. They noticed that my read windshield wiper was going bad and only charged me 6 bucks for that! They did the pedal modification as well and it looks fine to me - they mentioned that if I didn't like it they would put on a new part from Toyota. Plus they had great coffee and munchies and WiFi in the waiting area!

    All the above was really not the experience that I have had at most dealers - these guys were fantastic. I'm going to mention their name if that's OK in the forum - they are Dolan Reno Toyota on Kietske Ave in Reno NV and I had a great experience there and I recommend them for service. Thought I'd pass this on in case anyone else is in my area and wants some decent service.

    EDIT :: Forgot to mention - they gave an me a car inspection and checked codes and washed the car - for free. Way to go!
     
    #1 dianeinreno, Apr 15, 2012
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Good to hear about positive experiences. I think the $44 sounds high for the oil change, but if you're happy then that's great.
     
    #2 efusco, Apr 15, 2012
  3. dianeinreno

    dianeinreno Member

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    It's about 30 dollars give or take to get it done at a Jiffy Lube or Walmart . 10 bucks more to get it done by someone who you know won't wreck your car in the process is priceless.
     
    #3 dianeinreno, Apr 15, 2012
  4. kirbykirb

    kirbykirb New Member

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    It's not priceless, it's $10 more :p
     
    #4 kirbykirb, Apr 23, 2012
  5. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    In Australia the typical price of a most basic service (oil change + look around) at the dealer is around $200. Little wonder I change it myself.
     
    #5 uart, Apr 23, 2012
  6. dianeinreno

    dianeinreno Member

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    Isn't everything so expensive because you all have to drive counterclockwise all the time or something like that?

    All I know is everything is different in Australia. For one thing I would never get a sun roof in my Prius - too afraid of the drop-bears.
     
    #6 dianeinreno, Apr 24, 2012
  7. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

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    they don't drive counterclockwise, they drive upside down, didn't you ever watch the Top Gear episode UK vs Aussies?

    and what is a drop-bear?
     
    #7 cnschult, Apr 24, 2012
  8. R-P

    R-P Active Member

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    First off: I'm glad you had a good experience and I hope it stays that way!!!

    But...

    Why do you trust a brand dealer that much?

    I had my Ford dealer put all four directional tires on the wrong way around. Lifethreatening, as this accumulates water in the middle of the tire instead of diverting it outward...

    My Volvodealer wrote on the workticket that I needed a new brake-fluid-lid and put 90€ behind it as the price. They didn't charge me this as far as I can tell though, but it IS written on the mechanics fill-out list. I later found the lid in the fuse-box (and they did put one on the resevoir, so I now have 2). Let's leave this at 'sloppy'. I don't expect, or even accept 'sloppy' at ~100$ an hour.
    That may not seem too bad, provided I didn't pay for them misplacing the lid, but at the same service, they billed me for new wipers they forgot to fit (let's call this an 'oversight', can happen I guess..., a salesperson helped fitting them on the parkinglot, shows service willingness).
    And they said a part was broken, thus oil got in the electrical connector. I fitted the new part (60$ or so), and it too had oil in the electrical connector within a month... (the oil itself is not conductive, so the old part still worked, so more of a preventive replacement). Hmm, This I'd call an unnecessary replacement. It is not an uncommon problem and I expect them to know and fix either the root-cause of the overpressure that causes the oil to get there, or at least know a new part may fail very quickly too and warn me about this.
    And they told me a vacuum relay (50$) was broken. I bought a new one. Tested the old one because of working on the vacuum circuit before fitting the new one: the old one works flawlessly. This I'd call selling someone something he doesn't need.

    The 4 issues combined: not a good dealer experience...

    Let's hope my nearest Toyota dealer is better than the Volvo or Ford dealer (I haven't even told why I won't be visiting the other two local Volvodealers anymore:mad:).
     
    #8 R-P, Apr 24, 2012
  9. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    LOL, it sounds like Dealerships in the Netherlands are the same standard as here in Australia.

    BTW. What would be the typical price of the most basic service (oil change plus look around) at a dealership in Holland R-P?
     
    #9 uart, Apr 24, 2012
  10. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Ok now you're hitting on the real reason. It's the cost overheads of keeping all those koala bears drugged up and pacified. Yeah they look all sleepy and cute, but if those drugs ever wear off they're killers I tell you!
     
    #10 uart, Apr 24, 2012
  11. R-P

    R-P Active Member

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    do not know. 150€ at the dealer? The Prius needs a service soon, and I will probably go to a Toyotadealer to ask them if I still have any kind of warranty (130kkm and 3.2years old). If not, there's no real reason to keep going to them unless they are not too expensive and give me a good feeling about their abilities...

    I know the Volvo (V70 diesel AWD) was something like 500€ for a big service (~650$US), this includes oil, oil/air/diesel-filters and hours. With softwarechanges to gearbox and parts (e.g. headlight/rear-wipers and other items mentioned above), I was out over 800€ or ~1100$US.
     
    #11 R-P, Apr 24, 2012
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