My first Tacoma might be my last

First of all, I apologize for the angry rant and hope that none of you have had these same experiences and that you love Toyota.

I purchased a 2016 Taco in September, my First Toyota ever. I was so excited and had heard so many good things about the vehicles and company. But tonight, (Valentine's) I was left stranded on the freeway by Toyota's "Roadside assistance" for over 3 hours.

It all started as my girlfriend and I drove to dinner and had a blow out on the freeway. We were forced to stop in bad spot that prohibited me from changing the tire myself due to traffic. I however, have Toyota Roadside assistance *cue the trumpets*. I was really excited to try this service and receive help. It would mean not getting dirty before dinner or being in an unsafe spot. I called the help line and waited on hold for 40 minutes....finally my girlfriend called the number too...she waited 20 minutes and got to an agent first. I told the woman my predicament and informed her that I had a spare. She told me that she would send a tow to take me to the Toyota dealer only 1 mile away to have the tire fixed. Perfect! So, we waited....and waited....and waited. Nearly 30 minutes went by and nothing. I called back and I was told the tow was 15 minutes out. So we waited 20 minutes and nothing. So we called again and were told that it was two minutes out and nothing. We ended up waiting over 2 hours. I finally lost it and told them to send somebody else. So they did. By that time Highway Patrol arrived, blocked lanes and began helping me. OVER 3 HOURS LATER a tow finally arrived...just in time to do absolutely nothing.

Now this is not the only issue, (bad rattle in dash that they can't seem to fix) but it was enough to really grind my gears.

Again, I hope nobody else goes through this, I had a Kia Optima before and had fewer issues. I am hoping my complaint to Toyota gets heard.

 

Three words... AAA.

 

The tow trucks aren't owned by Toyota. They call companies. The company probably told them they were 15 min out. That's not toyotas fault

 

Toyota Care, Toyota roadside assistance etc is just marketing crap, don't mean diddly, just air.

 

Everyone should have AAA man. Plus I don't get what happened? Your car didn't become disabled with a flat, why did CHP have to come and block lanes for you to change a flat?

 

I would dump the Toyota service for AAA

 

Looking at your picture it doesn't seem like a bad spot to change a tire but I wasn't there. But I know I would roll on a blown out tire to a safe spot before I waited 3 hours for a tow truck to come. Unless it was raining, then I'd wait.

 

Its no different then AAA or any other service. They are simply a relay between you and the towing company. My buddy's truck died and we called AAA, took about 2 hours for them to get us. I wouls have just changed the tire and gone about my day. Not hard to do and stay clean. It sucks, but such is life.

 

+1 point for including a picture

 

Clearly you didn't read the full post. Traffic impeded us from changing it till police blocked a lane.

 

Get you some load range e tires if changing a flat is that big of a deal

 

So drive on your flat to a safe spot, change it, and raise hell with Toyota after and make them buy you a new tire. If you can't change a tire maybe you should trade in for a tercel.

Edit - I waited 3 hours for my Allstate towing a few months ago. It's not Hondas fault, not allstates. just life.

 

In his defense, he's not saying he couldn't change the tire because he lacked the knowledge. I understand its risky to change a tire on the side of a freeway.

 

I'm not sure about Toyota but Acura would contract out the service calls to local shops. Can't blame Toyota if that's the case.

 

hey man everyone has bad experiences, this one just happen to be on a special day and it ruined your plans, understandable. but you cant bash on toyota cause they have abysmal road side assistance. when you have a mechanical problem or somthing really serious (under warranty lol) with the truck and take it in, you'll be surprised how they take care of you, well at least down in Cali they do lol. your tire blew, it happens, i know the feeling, cant blame your Tacoma on that either. All im trying to say is be nice to the taco , you take care of it , and it will more then take care of you in the long run

 

Sorry you had a bad day. Glad you and your honey were not hurt. Probably some life lessons here.

 

OP, does your pussy hurt? You're not a bad representation of a metro sexual. I don't care if you're about to get run over by ten tractor trailers. You get you're ass out, change that tire, and get your girlfriend's sweet ass off that god forsaken freeway. Wait,... was that one of your state's finest changing your tire for you?! Sheeeeit.

 

OP ... most of us on this forum know how to change a tire. This is my first toyota. I have owned over 100 cars in my lifetime. This is the first vehicle that I bought all the warranties including roadside until 125,000 miles.

I am at a point in my life where I don't want to change a tire on an expressway ... can I do it .... yup ... wearing nice clothes that I will soil and damage because I am an old mechanic redneck .... yup ... but I pay for a service and expect it, I never had service like this before. I do NOT want my wife trying to change a tire ... not gonna happen. That's what a service is for.

So those with different comments ... you go to a nice dinner for valentines ... but they are busy ... but you are hungry ... your wife can cook .. so you tell her ... get up and git in dat kitchen and cook me dat fud. And she says sure ... because she can cook and you can change a tire. My old lady (wife) would not be too amused .... lol. I am not too sure I would eat what she cooked as she would be chewing on nails ... lol

It is Valentines day every other idiot is on the road .... these services are slow, overworked, and yelled at by people. Toyota is just the link to call tow trucks so you don't have to dig out the yellow pages and search.

So today the service sucked on VALENTINES day .... meh big deal ... things happen ... enjoy your taco ... and hopefully this will be your last hiccup and things will be cool.

Hats off to the trooper who helped you!

 

If I had to call toyota service to get my vehicle towed for a flat tire im pretty sure my girlfriend would have not givin it up that night. Move the vehicle to a safe spot and change the tire. Oh what did you run over to cause the blowout?

 

I can understand the desire to change a tire in a safe spot, I've seen enough bad drivers in the Jax area to know that shoulders are not the safest place to change a tire, and there are a few area's I would never change a tire (like a bridge) That being said... how is waiting 3 hours a problem? Did you expect the Toyota care/roadside assistance to get to you immediately? That's completely unrealistic, and you're not that special.

Also, you state you had only one mile to go to get to the dealership? Why not limp along until you got to a safe spot, or pull off on a side road?

I fail to see or understand how this has anything to do with Toyota or the Tacoma. Good luck to you.