Maintenance on your truck by the stealership

Do you ever wondering when taking your truck into a stealership if they actually do all the work they are supposed to. Or even replace your oil. They just take your money and leave your truck some where then call you say it is done. I often wondered?? ANybody have experince in working in a stealership? Any insite

 

Just to be safe, I would assume they do this every time & just do all simple maintenace myself. Oh wait, I do. I know that kinda shit doesn't happen when I do my own maintenance, I have no reason to rip myself off like that. Dealerships are motivated in the other direction. They have no regard for your vehicle. They are only there to make money any way they can, not care about anything. Caring about shit doesn't pay. What does pay is to just learn whatever you need to to do as much for yourself as possible.

 

I know about half of the guys that work at the local dealership. They work on my truck and I work on their bows.

And I went to college with my salesman. It pays to be friends/friendly with your dealership.

 

voted for half and half strictly because i got a good deal on my 09. Have not had anything done to it yet. I am about to change the oil on it for the first time, and am going back and forth about if i should do it my self (never done it before) or take it in for my free 1st oil change (itll cost my $90 for synthetic, free for regular)

 

Personally I'd take advantage of the free oil change

 

With the exception of a replaced cat converter, I've never allowed anyone to work on my truck period. I do all the maintenance and repairs myself. You save lots of money that way. For example, the dealership quoted a price of $1,200 to replace the clutch. I did it myself for around $300. Well worth the efforts to do your own repairs. That and if you screw up, its your fault.

 

well, all the easy stuff like oil, tranny fluid and other simple stuff i do my self. if its a complicated deal like fixing something with the drivetrain. yeah, thats gonna be taken in

 

I believe they do all of the work. If you go in for an oil change theyre gonna change your oil. If they dont really change it and your motor gets trashed they would have to fix it. They keep records of what they do and which mechanic did the work so no one is gonna risk their job. However they are high priced and I'm sure they charge you for more hours than it actually took to finish whatever you dropped it off for.

 

Out of all the vehicles I have had I have always done all of the maintenance myself, that I could do at home. If there is anything that brakes on my car out of warranty than I will try to fix it myself. But if it is something that I fell needs a trained expert or I have no idea how to fix than I will take it in. But I will always try to fix it myself, so I can save some money and it can be fun to work on your car sometimes. Plus I know the job is done right!

As far as my truck is concernd I have done all of the oil changes at home and plan on doing all of the 30,000 mile maintenance jobs at home such as rear diff. oil change, trans. oil change, spark plug change, etc. The only time I have taken my car in is when I had my tires balanced and rotated. And the idiot didn't even put on new weights on any of the tires, he probably did it on purpose to save time thinking I didn't know what a balance was. I will never go there again that's for damn sure. I have also taken my truck in into the dealership only when it had some issues and it was under warranty. Also because I'm not going to spend my own time and money on a truck under warranty when it breaks.

So as much as I can I will do the work/maintenance when I can, I just don't trust people working on my truck, let alone them doing a simple job as an oil change. I hear horror stories all the time of bad oil change jobs and if they can't do a simple job as an oil change or tire balance than why would you trust them to work on other jobs.

 

100% only because im very good friends with three toyota mechanics at the dealership

 

first 4 oil changes are being done by them cause its part of my warranty
thats all the work they will ever get from me

 

Do the oil change yourself. It is very easy. Go to Advanced Auto parts, they have Synthetic onsale with a filter for $25.

The oil drain plug has a crush washer(always use the washer), Buy some of these from the stealership.

Also you can get a good deal on OEM oil filters with the more you buy. I bought a case from the dealer & paid $4 a filter. I have a new washer for every filter.

 

I do trust my Toyota dealerships service department. Can't say the same for the sales department. Why do they always have to play those retarded "let me call my manager" games? But I digress...

I have a relationship with some of the peeps in the service department. I went to school with the assistant (female) service manager so she's the one I contact first.

I also know the guy that did my ToyTec lift kit (chassis tech for 25 years) because of friends I know that he's related to. We talked before and after the install and he did an ACE job.

So, yeah, I do trust my dealer to do the work I ask them to. But, my case is a little unique - not everyone knows the peeps behind the scenes.

Oh, I got an e-mail from my sales-drone that my truck "has 2,000 miles and needs a checkup," which I ignored. At 5,000 miles I =will= take it in, have them change out the dino for Mobil 1, and whatever else is required, just to have it on the books. I will also tell them I want Mobil 1 5w-30 for the life of the vehicle and to put that on my record.

Will they do it? Dunno. If you're not going to do it yourself, you gotta trust someone.

 

I don't trust my local dealership service department one bit. I took my truck in for them to test drive and check the harsh ride TSB. I got the truck back and it had the same exact same mileage on it as when I dripped it off. They didn't even move it from where I parked it. The receipt I received said it was driven and the mileage recorded on the work order reflected it, but the odometer didn't move from when I parked it at the dealership. I called toyota on the 800 number and they said they would look into it. I received a voice mail from the service department manager saying it was test driven. He flat out lied to corperate and me.

I the dealership would have been open when I picked up my truck I probably would have been arrested, I was that furious.

I am glad this was not the dealership I purchased my truck at. It is just closer and more convienent.

I will never take my truck there again. Everything I can do on my own will do mysely.

If the 09's ever get included in the TSB I will take it back just to prove a point and go to another dealership to have the work done.

Jason

 

Warranty work only.

 

Yup, that sucks hard. Those kind of bastards are still out there.

Post their name so that others in your area can avoid them like the plague.

GL on your next dealership.

 

I don't trust the stealership I bought my taco from. Took it in for an oil change and tire rotation. Pretty sure the oil was done, but the tire rotation WAS NOT done. I had scraped my left rear tire on a curb and when I got it back, the same tire was in the same place. I challenged the guy on it and he swore up and down he had rotated them. I have wheel locks on and my lock was in the same spot it had been when I dropped it off.

The only reason I even go there is because I got suckered into a maintenance plan when I bought the truck... when it's up, I will not go back there.

Next time I go in, I will sit and watch them do the maintenance...

 

i took my 05 Tacoma in for a new front left wheel bearing at 85k miles and i bought a warranty for a million dollars when i got it used with 58k miles last year.... they apparently threw in a free powertrain warranty for 50k miles and didnt tell me... it had a deductable and the warranty i bought had zero deductable and i PAID MORE for that... long story short they didnt even change the wheel bearing and when i called them out on it they took my truck into the back for 2 hours before they showed me that it had the new part.... i've never been back.

 

Lol when I bought my truck, I said I'd do all the maint myself. My sales lady was all "Are you ASE certified?" "No, why would you need a cert to change oil." "Well we're ASE Certified." "Good for you, I'm still doing it myself."

And I do... the only thing I'll probably have the dealer do is the auto tranny fluid change at 100k, since it's near unpossible to do yourself with the sealed unit.

 

Well, I'm 0 for 2 at my dealership's service department so far.

First, the POS Delphi radio in my '09 crapped out when my truck was two days old. The service dept. ordered a replacement without any hassle at all, and I thought hmmm... this is looking good. BUT... when the replacement finally came in and they installed it, they scratched & gouged the hell out of my dash and got grease on my seat. After I took it back & complained, they got the grease off of my seat and replaced the worst of the damaged dash parts (HVAC controls and radio bezel/vent assembly) but there are still some minor scratches in the soft plastic down below the HVAC controls. (BTW, my replacement radio is starting to flake out just like the first one did).

Second, I took it in for the first oil change - because it was free. They said the service also called for a tire rotation - which was not free (which is CHEEZY) but I said "sure... go ahead". A couple of days later, I noticed that the center cap (steel wheels) was missing from my passenger-side front wheel. They either didn't put it back on at all - or put it on improperly and it flew off. I called and complained and again... no hassle... they agreed to replace it - and did.

So, two problems that were mostly resolved without any hassle... but they shouldn't have happened in the first place. Like someone already said, if they can't handle simple jobs like this, how can you trust them to do more complex jobs competently??? I'd like to think that maybe they just put their least-experienced flunkie on my truck for these simple jobs and they really have some good mechanics back there, but how do I know?

Every dealership is different and I'm sure there are some very good mechanics at some of them, but unless you KNOW them, I think you're really rolling the dice when you take your vehicle in to one. I'm going to do as much of my own work as I can and just keep thorough records and all receipts in case I need to make a warranty claim in the future.