Dealer removed protective film behind door handles?

First off, I am new here, thanks for the great resource. I am upset with my dealer and want to see if anyone here has had a similar experience.

I recently bought a 2011 DC SB V6 AT SR5 4x4. While I was looking the truck over on the dealer lot I noticed that there was a protective film, body color, behind the door handles. It would protect your door from the scratches the door might get if you had long fingernails or rings and grabbed the door handle.
I noticed the same/similar product on the leading edge of the rear fender flares.

We strike a deal and go to the office to fill out paper work and all that. The salesman, who was great, tries to sell me a few add-ons. One of those is the protective film that I mentioned earlier. He walked me over to a Prius that was in the showroom and showed it to me and all that.

I was thinking to myself, "I know that it already on the truck, weird..." So, I passed on the $200 they wanted for it.

A few days go by.....

I recall the issue there and check my doors, the film has been peeled off, and not a thorough job was not done. I can see little pieces still adhered to the car.

The leading edge of the rear fender flare still has the film.

Well, I was a little pissed, but I didn't need to light a fire about some film.

It did rub me the wrong way that they actually paid an employee to rip the film off, just to throw it away, because I didn't buy it, even though I did by it when we agreed to a specific price for a specific truck, ......

A few days after that...

My sister wants to check out a Highlander and a Sienna. We go to the dealer. While we are there, I see my salesman and I confront him about it. He says that is costs $200.... I say I bought it already and that's crap, etc........

He gets me the manager and I tell him the story and he offers to put it back on, for $200. He would not even budge one inch regarding the backward nature of it all.

We finish our conversation. My sister liked the Sienna. I tell her how the conversation went. She walks over the the manager and says that if they put the film back on my truck and don't take it off the Sienna, she will buy the Sienna right here right now. They say no.

Unbelievable. Turned down $28k sale for the $10 bucks in protective film.

Please let me know what our experiences have been in regard to this.

-Is it on your 2011 (or older)?
-Did you pay extra so that they didn't peel it off?
-Does Toyota know, as I believe to be the case, dealers are trying to sell standard pieces as options?

Sorry for the long story. Thanks for the great forum

 

I don't know anything about the stuff that was under your door handles, but the stuff on the bed is factory installed on all Tacomas.

 

The dealer in Reno adds that in the "sierra" package and they want a couple thousand for it all. I know the tactic of buying a car and not paying for stuff you "don't want" and a lot of dealers leave it on as the cost to remove is too much to bother, it sounds to me like you didn't want or pay for it so I am not sure where the issue comes from. You can go to any place that does the clear bra and get it done for a LOT less.

 

Typically, the $200 protective film is applied to the front bumper, leading edge of the hood, etc.

My Taco didn't have the film behind the door handle, neither did any of the other Tacos in the dealer's showroom. Film on the leading edge of the fender flare is factory standard. If you look at the truck from the side, the front mudguards only provide protection up to the length of the cab, so the film on the bed is quite mandatory to avoid rock chips.

Do the other new Tacos in your dealer's lot have the film behind the handles?

 

honestly i've never seen a tacoma with this behind the door handles, including my 2011.

 

The problem is not so much that I didn't want it, its that they took it off. Realistically, 99 out of 100 buyers wouldn't notice the stuff had ever been there anyway.
I said I want THIS truck for THIS price, and they said, "deal."
They wanted to sell me the film twice. A totally legitimate question is,

What else did they take off the truck that they did not tell me about?

It is all very backwards.

 

When you select a specific item and say "I don't want that" or "I don't want to pay for that" I think the dealer is in their right to then remove that item as it is not from the factor, it is a dealer add-on to make additional profit, just like extended warranty. The dealer I bought from had the warranty "added" to the price, I said NO and they said OK and removed it from the price, I also didn't get the warranty.

 

lol i would go to a different dealer and see if they would sell you just the door hand pieces. Usually if you talk to the service manager they can help you out. I just talked to my service manager and got my leaf spring TSB done with no questions before they included the 09s.

 

just forget about it, you don't need it unless you wear diamond rings, in which case you should have bought a ridgeline.

 

If I made deal for a particular unit on the lot then I would expext it to come with what it had on it when the deal was struck. I personally would have nothing more to do with the dealership in question other than maybe writing to the owner of said dealership and letting them know how they lost your sisters business over such a minor issue. Whether the factory put it on or not. it was on the vehicle when they made you an offer... Bad business practice from that stealership...

 

^x2

 

Well it sounds like your dealer gets enough business if they're willing to turn down a $28K sale for $200 in protective film......take your business elsewhere from now on.

To me, if you're not going to have the protective film added to the bumper, grill, and leading edge of the hood; why would you care about the door panel under the door handle? As others have said, Tacoma's don't come with the film standard other than in the back corner of the rear door and on the leading edge of the rear fender flare.

 

My '08 has the film behind the handles. I bought the truck used. I thought it was a nice feature and you can see scratches in the film that would have been on the truck. I wouldn't pay $200.00 for it. I would find another dealer though.

 

They were in the right to remove the lining because you didn't pay for the package although I'm surprised they actually tore it off. I'm not completely surprised they turned down the sale of the Sienna because in their minds it's a $400 item. Either way, I'd find another dealer because that one is going to be miserable to deal with if you have any service problems with your truck.

 

Sounds like they added it to a bunch of " in stock " trucks.
Then they offer it as an extra, which you declined to pay for.
So since they could not get you to pay the extra they decided to eat it and take it off, not very well but that is the way they decided to play it.

Now since they were going to lose their cost either way they decided to remove it instead of just being a good guy and give it to you.

Just ask them to properly clean the remnents off and call it a day.

The dealer calls the clear bra/protectant guy and he does a bunch of cars at one time to lower the cost per unit.

 

I'd like to know how the confrontation went from the dealers point of view.

 

in retrospect i guess you could have not kept it to yourself that it was already on the truck and tell the sales guy "actually its already been installed so you may as well throw it in" if he declined to throw it in then you could say, well just take it off. similar to how they etch glass and do that sherlock engraving shit. They are retards for taking it off. i would take your business in the future elsewhere including warranty work. also you may receive a survey, tell toyota about it. \the best revenge is your own happiness.

 

omg.. sorry but i want to flip out right now... there is nothing that pisses me off more than that kind of thing.. freeking dealers man, do they have to sign something when they start the job saying they promise to be low lifes and complete scum bags. i just dont understand why they just cant be honest.. i think if they were honest they would have more loyal customers and in the end they money from that would end up making up for all the money they lost from stealing from ppl. and thats the end of my rant.

 

i agree....if its on there when you agree to the truck and terms then it should stay on. i work at a dealer (in parts) and they put that film on every car, including behind the door handles. they try to swindle people into buying it and most people do. the people that notice and say they dont want it just end up with it for free and we leave it on. Its the same for tinted windows, we do it to every car, charge $250 for it and if youre smart enough to say no thanks then you get it free.

 

I can see the approach some see that if it was on there when you bought the truck, then it shouldn't have been removed.

However, this seems no different than their anti-theft devices they install in the vehicles on the lot with the little microchip key. If you want to pay for it, it's already installed and they leave it. But if you don't want to pay for it, they leave the pieces installed and mounted to your dash, disconnect it from the computer/starter (whatever those things are wired to), and don't give you the key. You then have a keyhole item with wires on it mounted down low on the dash.

Your situation sounds exactly like this latter example. The dealer added an extra piece of equipment (film to protect the paint while people got in/out of the truck and test drove it) to protect it while it was on the lot. Most people know all about the security systems they install and how they handle those, so this shouldn't be a surprise to most.