I was driving home after working late last night and see a firetruck with flights flashing in my mirror so I pull over. Little did I know that the curb was broken into chunks, one of which flipped up and put a number of scratches on the side of my car. I figured that it was low enough that I could just get some touch up paint to cover the exposed metal to prevent rusting. So today on the way into work I stop by the local dealer. They tell me that they have just one in stock, but that it was a special order for a customer who had already paid. When I asked if they could check the other Toyota dealer owned by the same company they said that they could actually check all dealers in the area. Despite being in the suburbs of a big city (Philly) with tons of dealers the closest dealer with it in stock was 30 miles away in New Jersey. So my plan to try and cover up the metal before any traces of rust set in were dashed. It got me thinking to just how few times I had actually set foot into a dealer, and just how how poor most of those experiences were. My local dealer (Conicelli) had now let me down twice. The first time was when I had some body work done. They had agreed to do the petal recall while the car was in, but when I picked it up the work had not been done. I had picked up the car late in the day and in the light of day noticed that on top of painting the repaired portion of the car, they also painted my wheel and rim. Back to the dealer and when I asked them to do the recall at the same time, the service manager was a real jerk and would not fit it into the schedule - to this day it has not been done and there is no floormat on the drivers side. Prior to this I had only been in a Toyota dealership a couple of times. The place where I bought the car (in Rhode Island) was fine - not great, not bad. The only other dealer that I had been in - a few months before buying - was absolutely terrible. So, based on my limited interaction with dealers it seems like the bar is very low. So here is the kicker - want to guess what was traded in for the Prius? It was a VW Passat and I'd take VW dealerships and service any day.
Steve, I'm not certain that a dealership not having your touch up paint in stock would really mean they stink... I think you're being a little dramatic here. There are no less than 300 different color choices on current Toyota models, and at least 5,000 different color paint codes from day 1 thru Toyota... so them not stocking one of everything isn't really feasible... even my own parts department orders things like that on demand. Just my 2 cents worth.
The dealer should be commended for not vandalizing your pedal. Sounds like they don't have a good Body Shop. I don't know what they stock in the Parts Dept. but every time I need something they don't have it. Scratches down to the metal--Ouch!!
I agree Toyota dealers (I've been) stink (3). During warranty period very nice, but right after it expires, suddenly my car requires lots of service and maintenance and cost is up to $1000 just for maintenance. I understand they need to make money somehow but in that case they shouldn't have been a Toyota dealer. They charge $100 just to examine the car. Dealership jobs require almost no education/experience so we have to deal with these low-life people. This is the bad side of Toyota.
Normally? I'm not the biggest advocate for the dealers. Especially Toyota dealerships. It ought to be more simple than it is. Car costs X. Sell it for Y. Don't like it? Don't buy it. Oil changes cost this much _____. Don't like it? Go to Jiffy Lube or change it yourself. However (comma!) usually the customer is trying to screw the dealership as much as the dealer is trying to get over on the customer. The dealer is just much better at it, which is why they have niiiiiice big pretty showrooms. If you need touch-up paint you should check EBay or let your fingers do the walking before you just drive into the dealer. If you need body work done and you're in a large urban area, you might want to consider an independent fender and body shop. They have to earn their business on their own merit, and they don't have a factory to dealer relationship that guarantees them a steady stream of work. They "have" to be good enough to make it.....or they won't. Same goes for repairs. I'm sure that there are independent shops that work on G2's in your area. Find one. Probably the reason that the service manager was/is a jerk is that he has to deal with people who are screaming mad because their left window doesn't roll up as quickly as the right one does, or the door doesn't "sound right" when it closes, or the dome light flickers and "&%$## you're GONNA FIX IT because the car is under WARRANTY ^%^$#@!" That's a reason.....not an excuse. I typically buy cars at a dealership. I typically DO NOT get vehicles serviced or fenders straightened at car dealerships. They just don't have a good enough reason (survival) to be competitive in those two fields. YMMV.
Over the years I have had a number of cars and have bought more than a few tubes of touch-up paint and other needs for parts and never had an issue with them being in dealer stock. Perhaps this is a Toyota problem though - frankly there are very few Toyota colors that I think are really special and unique and I would have not even thought twice if my car shared the same color with a few other models. But with the dealer in question did more than just not carry the paint - they did sloppy at best repair work, did not perform recall work that they had agreed to, and then when they were given the chance to make it right did not and were rude about it (see initial post). Diane - would that make me a bit less dramatic? The bigger issue was that this experience just made me reflect on the few times that I have actually stepped into a Toyota dealer - just 3 different dealers all told. The place that I bought my car was fine - the 2 others have been sub-par. Over the years my wife and I have had a decent number of cars - a Saturn, 2 Hondas, 2 Mazdas, a BWM, a VW, a Chrysler and an Acura. Thinking back, all of the dealers were pretty decent both in selling and also servicing the cars. Thank God that Toyota makes such reliable cars.
