Wondering if anyone else here has had this experience with a dealer. I was told that if I come in with an issue, let's say the brakes aren't working well, and they take the time to check it out and find nothing, they will charge me and it's not covered under the warranty. My argument is that there is a 2 year warranty to not just repair issues, but check them out as well. Has anyone else had this experience? Thus far I haven't been charged anything, but am ambivalent about approaching them with the proverbial "squeak" that I hear, but then they can't find it after four hours of looking.
My son has had several issues with his new Corolla. Several were “no trouble found”. He has never been charged. You might call the Toyota Experience Center if you’re not happy with the dealership.
I read in some other thread, which I can't find it now, that seems to be a general Toyota policy. But it depends on a dealer and to some extent your relationship to the dealer. I don't want to take a car for dealer service and be charged for the warranty repair, but at the same time, the dealer has to pay for the cost of labor for checking. If Toyota is not covering the cost, then someone has to. Some dealers will eat the cost as a goodwill to keep a customer, but I am sure that some customers do abuse it, so they have to charge someone.
I'm sure it's one of those things that they need to have on the books somewhere just so those few customers who obsess on every unfamiliar sound won't be a totally unlimited financial drain. And then they probably have lots of flexibility to not reach for that backstop as long as you're not obviously being that customer.
Interesting comments and they do make some sense. I just think it gives the dealership another avenue to unfairly push off the customer. , I'll probably wade through the warranty manual to see how it's covered.
Brakes are a bad example, since brake wear is excluded from warranty coverage. Dealers live or die by their service department, so they're not motivated to "push off" customers. That said, I can understand a dealer wanting to protect themselves from those customers who are in there every week for some nonsense and wasting everyone's time. Charging someone for a "fishing expedition" isn't always a bad idea.
And I think you will find NOTHING specific to the question that you asked. But if you do, please let us know.
OK, I found the old thread I remember participating in that deals with exactly the same topic. A New Low (Diagnostic Fee for Warranty Work)? | PriusChat It seems the charge is dealer dependant, but Toyota's policy is that a diagnostic fee that ends up not being covered by the warranty repair can be charged to the owner of the car by a Toyota dealer.
Like others have said, the dealerships have to cover themselves from folks who abuse the system. Every time I took my Tacoma in for warranty repairs, I took photos/videos of the problem and showed them to the service advisor to verify they were considered covered under warrant prior to signing any paperwork. Never charged a diagnostic fee for those instances. On a Honda, I was told upfront that if the tech could not reproduce the intermittent issue that I would be charged a diagnostic fee. Fair enough. Someone has to pay to keep the lights on.
Actually, I had a 2014 Prius that had a very distinct sound coming from one of the rear wheels. I brought it in and they went out with me, and actually heard the sound, but then couldn't find anything. They told me to drive it for a week and come back (no charge for this one). Which I did. I came back, same situation, they still did not find anything, and this is when they said they would have to charge me. I felt that they couldn't rectify the issue (which they could hear) twice, so why charge me? They ended up not charging me and the third time around they found the issue, which had something to do with the rear brakes. I can understand the dope that comes in every other day with a complaint on a squeak. My issue, and I should have made it clearer in my initial post, was that they could actually hear the problem, but couldn't fix it, and THEN wanted to charge me. I currently have a 2020 Prime Limited, and so far so good, no issues. But still feel a bit cautious. Adding to that, my buying experience (both times with the same dealer) was not very enjoyable.
if they can't find the issue, they should note it in the records, and when it gets worse and you come back after warranty, it should be covered
One of my local dealers started charging $250 if they don't find a warranty issue. When I called Toyota they were supremely uninterested in the practice and gave me the standard old, "dealers are independent businesses" line. I asked them if that meant the Toyota name on a dealership has no meaning other than informing me which manufacturer's vehicles are offered for sale. Of course that's when the double-speak comes out. When things are going swimmingly Toyota likes to share the spotlight. There's a lot of talk of their "family" of dealerships, and talk of taking care of you. When there's a problem Toyota is suddenly not a part of that family and you're on your own with this independent business Toyota has no control over. Bottom line, Toyota doesn't care what their dealers do unless it's so egregious that it goes viral in some way and they're forced against their will to do something about it to avoid public embarrassment.
Good question. There are two Toyota dealers in my immediate area, and I just don't have the time and ability to travel and visit a wide circle of dealerships. I was going to go to the other dealership when a friend of mine told me about bringing his 2014 Toyota in for regular service. They told him he needed $2400 worth of work which floored him. He took the car to a local mechanic and it ended up being a minor $150 fix. This second dealership has had a number of documented experiences that were similar. Simple rip-offs. So I decided to go with the dealership where I got my 2014. They were also able to get me the exact model/color I wanted... during the pandemic in 2020. For my next car I just may do more extensive shopping before I buy, but my sense is dealerships are pretty similar in their polices and approaches to sales. Some buyers have good experiences, others... not so much. Unfortunately if you want to buy a new vehicle you have little choice but to deal with the dealer.
The next time you buy, you might consider emailing a bunch of internet sales managers at dealerships close to you. I live in the SF Bay Area so dealerships here are plenty. I ended up mailing 10 dealers; those interested in selling a car got back to me within 24 hours. It allowed me to determine the best, worst, and average deals before deciding if the cost savings of a further away dealership was worth the additional time and distance. In my case the 50 mile driven netted me a $1k savings beyond the average quote. I asked for out the door price and full price breakdown on all quotes so there wouldn’t be any additional surprise fees when I got there. The upfront time I spent mailing dealerships was about the same amount of time I would have spent haggling at one dealership, so in my mind it was worth the effort. Of course I was still hit up with the extended warranty and maintenance plan sales pitches, which I politely listened to and declined. Hopefully this approach will work for you the next time you need to purchase a vehicle. Note: I purchased my Prime pre chip shortage.
In my experience, you also need to be sure you have convinced them that you really mean that, or many of them will still try it anyway. They have to be convinced that after you have secured your loan approval and arranged transportation and showed up with your check to pick up the car, you will still turn around and walk out after all that if their numbers have changed. You have to manage to convince them of all that in advance, or else it may happen that on the appointed day you have to surprise them and actually do it. Annoying.
I do the same in Los Angeles area, but it takes patience. 95% of the time they will flat out refuse to quote a price in email. All they will do is offer to have you come in for a test drive. They either want to put you through their high pressure sales routine and if you're not willing, they're not interested, or they don't have the car you're asking for and they want to try and pressure you into an upgrade. If you're persistent you'll eventually get a dealership to bite. It's taken me up to three months to get there, though. I always make sure to start shopping long before I need the car. They've got you in a bind if you need the car and they aren't willing to bargain.
