I recently got my car serviced at my toyota dealership and decided to get those annoying backup beeps changed, along with one or two other things. (one click opens all doors w/ the fob/disable seatbelt beeps, which is possible according to the Customization section in the owner's manual) Alas, my dealer quoted me $200 to make these changes!! Is this ridiculous, or just the outrageous norm. Is there a cheaper way to get it done? Thanks!
They should do it for free during the 12mo/12k mile unadvertised "adjustment period". Contact Toyota Customer Care and they should be able to grease the skids for you.
My advice is to complain to Toyota & if everything you want changed isn't done for free then submit the satisfaction survey with low scores for everything.
I'd never go back to that dealer and YES give them terrible satisfaction scores and TELL them that you're going to do so. Dealers covet that five star rating very much.
Your dealer is trying to RIP you off. I recently sold my '06 HiHy & traded in a '96 Jeep on the 'cash for clunkers' deal on an '09 Tacoma. Two different dealers wanted between $400 & $500 to do the 60,000 mile check on the HiHy!. It's new owner had her private mechanic/garage in Portland, OR do the complete service for under $60; we had agreed to split what ever the cost was! I now KNOW that Toyota dealers are attempting to RIP us off, folks!!!
Who was it? Pasadena Toyota did mine for free...I bought mine at Manhattan Beach, but they wouldn't do the backup for "safety" reasons...Pasadena did it no questions asked in about 45 minutes...they change my lock settings too...
That's absolutely outrageous!!! Even if they were charging you hourly shop rates, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to make the changes. It's simply a matter of hooking up their computer to your car, opening a configuration menu, clicking on the options you want to change and then saving it back to the car's flash memory. Ourisman Fairfax Toyota in Virginia made these changes for me for no charge when I took the car in a week after I bought it. I think I'd have laughed in your dealer's face if he had quoted me $200! Stu
I had the initial 3,000 mi. service done on our GIII-V on Friday. The new car sales department picked up the oil change cost, and my requested customization changes were handled with a smile and at no cost to me. The whole thing took about 30 minutes and the service department gave me a coupon at the restaurant down the block once I mentioned I was heading over there for breakfast. Having bought numerous vehicles from Metro Toyota (Kalamazoo, MI) over the years, I know they treat all their customers with respect and courtesy. And, they seem to believe in the value of creating long-term relationships rather than just short-term rip-offs. Find a different dealer!
One other suggestion...make a call and ask for the service manager. Explain that this is a brand new car and that you intend to use their dealership for the time you are the owner, but that their effort to charge you for services that should be provided free of charge have made you reluctant to continue to use them. Let them know you've been here at Priuschat and are fully aware that other owners routinely have the programming done for free in the initial year of ownership and are concerned that their dealership may be trying to gouge you. Then let him/her squirm and see what happens. They'll either immediately make things right in order to keep your business or they'll be defensive and try to demean this site and your "information". If they make it right stick with them and keep the manager's name...make a point to shake his hand when you next go in so they know you and that you intend not to be abused. If they're defensive after that, you know you need a new dealer.
My dealer did the beep change in 5 minutes at no charge. It took that long because the computer guy kept asking what other options I wanted changed. As to changing the lock settings DO IT YOURSELF. On my model II I simply hold down the open & closed buttons on the fob at the same time for approx. 5 seconds, until hearing two sets of two beeps and change from driver's door unlocking to all doors being unlockedby grabbing the door handle. Repeat process to revert to original setting.
Just got three settings changed at the dealership recently (Toyota Sunnyvale, CA) after my wife had the car for a week - the reverse beeps, opening all doors on first click of fob and silencing the seat belt warning. All three were done free of charge at the dealership - however i had to try different avenues before getting what I wanted. My initial request via their live online support came to a dead end. The lady mentioned there'd be a $75 charge as this isn't covered under warranty. I said it should be a 5min job and that this isn't a good first impression for someone who just bought a new car from them. I asked who I could talk to about this matter and once I got a name, I promptly ended my chat. I then called up the customer service manager and left a vmail asking what she could do as I'm very disappointed with what just happened. She called back the next day saying that she'd be able to provide it free of charge as much as they need to cover their cost as they valued my custom. In the meanwhile, I had also called the service dept and the guy there promptly advised that he would do it free of charge, no hassles. Anyway, it all worked out at the end but the lesson here is don't stop till you talk to someone who can help...the ones that will know what it means to keep customers happy (and getting them to come back). And it doesn't hurt to let them know that other dealers are doing it for free also (which is what I mentioned to the cust svc mgr) - makes it easier for future fellow Prius drivers to get theirs changed.
While Ourisman DID make the changes, it did take a trip back to get them done. The sales/delivery people refused to make the changes citing the mythical "liability" constraints. When I went to the service department with the owner's manual in hand, they said "OK, as long as you're not actually DISABLING something that's indicated in the manual." I could make the back-up sound a single beep, but they would not have let me turn it off all together (assuming it were even an undocumented possibility).
I took my car in when it was one week old and had the back up beeps reduced to one beep and several other customizable features set. The service tech plugged in a lap top computer and we went down the whole list of preferences. I was charged $30 which I protested as many dealers provide this service at no charge. I am holding off on completing my satisfaction survey pending the dealer's final decision on reversing this charge.
