Need Help A.S.A.P Please dealer issues!!!!!!!

Thats absolutely not true. I provided several links for the very same mirror in my post above. It may be true you can't buy it from Toyota, but you absolutely can buy the very same mirror Toyota puts on the Prius with Homelink for much less than $450.

 

Well, IF they LIED about the after market mirror and !you can prove that! in your shoes I would raise enough h... to make it work! Don't let a lying manager get away with screwing you over! BUT without proof IN WRITING you likely would be out of luck.

We are 3 week owners of an 08 red Prius with 4 plus leather et al. Hope you get it done.

Alan

 

Maybe things are different with the 08 models, but I have an 05 base model Prius, and the dealer added the dimming Homelink mirror (and a cd changer).

 

Awwww somebody's been feeding y'all a line of crap! I have personally installed Gentex mirrors with homelink in several Priuses. Even as recent as last week! Find a dealer that is willing to work with you by checking other models of Toyota for a Gentex mirror with Homelink. The only bit of caution when dealing with side curtain airbags is to route the wiring for the mirror tightly with the factory wiring that is already in place. That way, incase of an accident, (God Forbid!) the mirror wiring will not interfere with airbag activation. It simply requires a little more attention to detail.

 

I used to work for a Toyota dealership, and know for a fact that you can add an auto dimming mirror to a Prius. Dealerships generally don't want to do it because they will usually have a union shop that will charge really high rates for service. This cost will then be passed along to you, and more often than not the customer will say it is way too much money. That job is probably about a 3 hour and when you add the part to that cost you are probably looking at $500-$600 dollars for a mirror. As far as the 2006 vs. 2008 mirror goes, it is exactly the same, so don't worry about that.

In terms of returning the vehicle, the only way you can do that is if you trade the Prius in for something else. When you trade it in, they will give you a wholesale amount for the car you just bought, meaning you will instantly lose thousands. In the car business there is no window of time that allows customers the right to return a vehicle.

I recently left the car business and am working with customers on their behalf to help them when dealing with car dealers.

 

a union shop? have yet to see one of those.

most techs make $20 an hour or less flat rate, and most dealer rates are over $80 per hour now. so tell me who's making the money?

 

I guess it would depend on your market if you see many union shops. Generally all dealerships in larger markets are union. If they are not, they have to pay similar wages to a union to retain employees.

You must be in a small market if most of the mechanics you know of are only making about $20 per hour, as that is about what they generally start out making upon completion of a tech school.

Also, I never implied mechanics were the ones making all the money. I realize the dealerships are the ones making the most. Several dealerships I worked at charged over $100 per hour for service, while the experienced techs made anywhere from $30-$35 per hour.

 

one of the biggest toyota dealers in the southeast. in a fairly large metro area. have yet to even hear of a union shop.

one guy still only makes $25 an hour flat rate after having worked at the same place for 20+ years.

 

Wow. That seems low. Maybe the difference in wages is due to a lower cost of living as well as a lack of state income taxes. I am in Chicago, and the guys here don't have to have much tenure at all to make over $25 per hour.

 

the median home cost here is $248,300
7% state income tax (in our bracket)
2% food tax (all food items, not just junk food)
6.75% local sales tax
i don't know property tax rates, but people here pay a yearly tax on homes and vehicles
______

According to the Illinois Association of REALTORS latest report, the Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) median home sale price for 2007 was $254,000
IL Individual Income Tax rates: 1990 through 2007 3.00%
6.25% il sales tax
1% il tax on "qualifying" food
couldn't find reliable property tax info

if anything cost of living is more here.
you're sure you're talking about flat rate and not hourly return?

 

Just an interesting side note here..... I USED to work at one particular dealer that was a corporate owned entity..... (I now work at a MUCH BETTER dealership which is family owned) The corporate place had a point at which union reps were to be coming in to speak with the techs about trying to unionize the shops (we were part of a large automall) The coporate "Lords of the Manor" made a counter offer in that they offered some "special perks" in the terms of money and bonuses. Perhaps not exactly legal..... but they got what they wanted.... no union.

On the other hand.... the top techs in my shop are well below $25 an hour flat rate.

 

Thats great! That dealer really went to bat to make good on their promise to you.