Prius Down!

People are taking this too personally, as if they built the car themselves. Jonnycat26, of course you're taking it personally because your car is having serious problems, which is bound to happen whether you're buying a new car or a blender - so I'm not trying to trivialize your problems or concerns, I hope whatever is wrong with your car *can't* be fixed so you'll get a new one that's less buggy. Excluding that from happening, I hope they fix it and you never have a problem again.

I've never dealt with Toyota before, but I like this car, and I've heard good things about their servicing and quality. I think it's pretty rude of others to jump down Jonny's throat when he's simply having major problems with a product he purchased - perhaps you'd be right to do so if he was campaigning to remove all toyota cars from the road, but he's obviously not.

Let us know how it goes and I hope the problem is corrected quickly and accurately!

-m.

 

Here here.

I too wish you good luck on dealing with the dealer Johnnycat26.
I have only been to a Toyota dealer for minor service in the past, and have still had a pretty rough time.
I think the issue with Toyota service departments is that they don't get as much experience because Toyotas are known to be practically maintanance free.
The whole situation is bitter-sweet because on one hand you are USHUALLY getting a quality product, but on the other hand you aren't getting many highly experienced people to work on the car.

Once again, good luck.

~Andrew

 

I have not found this to be the case. I have been going to Toyota dealers for all scheduled maintenance for 250,000 miles on my 1985 Camry and 233,000 miles so far on my 1994 Camry. The service departments were generally pretty busy.

This is not to say that I have been 100% satisfied with the service at all Toyota dealers (there are 5 that I have used on a regular basis since 1985, and a couple more that I have gone to occasionally). I have had mostly good experiences, but some bad experiences, too.

But, at any rate, I don't get the sense that a Toyota service department is likely to be full of laid-off Maytag repairmen, twiddling their thumbs and taking naps.

 

I've often wondered if I might have a better chance with an independent Toyota mechanic -- i.e., a guy who runs his own shop, and specializes on Toyotas -- but isn't employed by a Toyota service center.

Three problems I can see with this, though:

• I'm unclear on whether taking the car to an independent mechanic voids the Toyota warranty.
• Since the Prius and its technology are relatively new, I don't know how many independent guys would be proficient with it (or at least, more proficient than the average Toyota Service Center chap.)
• It's of course possible that you'll get an independent dud mechanic.
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