My first Tacoma might be my last

I actually saw a dude changing a tire on the side of the highway a couple days ago. The roads are extra narrow in the winter, so he pulled over as far as he could and was literally laying in the snow on the side of the road positioning the jack so he could chang his tire. He was driving an old Hyundai Accent....I felt bad for that guy.

 

Most of you guys are fricken ball bags. Why? Because you are sitting at home pounding your meat on Vday so you are in a bad mood? Don't be dicks. It's pretty lame when you guys act like kids, although I'm sure a lot of you are.

OP, sucks about your ordeal. I had to help my girls younger brother change a tire a while back due to the same circumstances. It was the rear drivers side. Vehicle was about 2 inches from the lane (small shoulder). Cars were flying by with no regard. It was super sketchy so I understand where you are coming from. We crawled off the hwy and changed the tire.
I've been with AAA for 10+ years. Used them a handful of times and response times were always under an hour.
Don't let the bad service from Toyota care skew your opinion on the vehicle. Hope you have a better day dude.

 

THIS

 

@mbcorry, the amazing things you've heard about the vehicles are about the vehicles, not Toyota care. I think that Toyota makes incredible vehicles but has pretty shitty service.

That being said, I feel for you. Nobody wants to get down and dirty with a spare tire on your way to dinner with your girl. I would have done the same thing but I have AAA. Definitely worth the switch if you are willing to dump Toyota Care.

If you didn't mind changing your own tire, its safe to roll really slowly for a short distance to a point where you can safely change the tire off road or something. Just for future reference if this ever happens again.

Hope you had a good V-Day after all that!

 

I'm just taking a guess at this, but I notice the OP's profile pic shows ample amounts of snow.

I live in MA and the past 2 days temps have been single digits not to speak of wind chill. If that's where he is as well, I can't say I blame him for not wanting to be outside.

 

Whether the OP should have changed the tire or not, the OP paid for a service that was useless.

How many of the people bitching about the OP would take their vehicle in for some sort of service, pay for it then accept that no work was performed?

 

WOW, toyotacare comes with this service and I'm looking at why he should be beat up for using it??
Ya, ok, 3 hours is ridiculous, but it's Sunday and there isn't a full fleet of tow trucks out there.

 

Fair enough on that count.

I called AAA a few yrs ago to change my tire. In my defense I was wearing a $400 suit.

 

I too would suggest you make up a kit to keep in the truck with jumper cables, a couple flares, a couple reflectors, and maybe a couple of those super bright LED flashers and a good flashlight. Also a pair of gloves, a hat and even a pair of coveralls if you dress for success or work often.

Guessing you don't have any hand tools on board either.
Even if you can't use them (yet) maybe someone who stops to help can and don't buy junk !

Be Prepared man ! A new truck won't save you from these bits of life's uncertainties.

Kudo's to the cop, I think you owe him a little something extra, a card and a gift cert for dinner anyway.
Maybe call his boss and let him know how he went above and beyond for you.

 

The part I don't understand is why have Toyota call a tow truck when you can do it just as easy, why have a middle man. Been there done that.

To contrary the OPs story, I have one that really impressed me about Toyota trucks: I was out hunting and was probably 30 miles from the closest town and highway on dirt roads. I noticed my TPMS light came on so I got out to look at my tires. None of them looked flat so I went on my way thinking one of them was just a little low. I started to think maybe I was not on even ground and didn't notice the low tire. So I get out again and it seemed maybe one tire was lower than the others couldn't really tell but I decided I would change it out even though it was raining and muddy because I knew at some point I would be on the highway. Better safe than sorry I thought.

Once I got to town I gave the low tire to a tire shop, you wouldn't believe what they found...somehow a 10 inch x 1/4 inch spike was inserted into the tire. I must have picked it up when I turned around in an abandoned campsite? Thank God I did not drive with that thing in there on the highway. Props to Toyota for the early warning system.

 

Who paid for what? Toyota Care is free.

 

I don't blame the OP for calling Toyotacare. I can and have changed tires, doesn't mean I want to. I can imagine a scenario where I have roadside assistance and I get a flat where don't mind waiting an hour or two or more for assistance just because I don't want to have to crawl under the truck to grab the spare.

Being shocked that it takes awhile for a tow truck to arrive and ready to sell or get rid of a 5 month old truck because of a flat tire is a bit over dramatic.

 

Went from 6 pages to 2 lmao

 

Tow trucks often take way longer than you would think they should. Most don't care how long you have to wait. They know you're not going anywhere. It's like $3/month to add roadside assistance to my State Farm insurance, so it's a cheap backup to toyotacare.

 

Might be easier to just delete the thread...

 

Pretty sure the service would be free through Toyota care and not free if he would have called himself

 

Exactly! The only lesson learned is that tow trucks can take forever!

 

Or maybe contribute to it constructively.

Most likely mods cleaning up...not the OP.

Given all the drunks and texting while driving accidents I wouldn't blame the OP for not wanting to die over a tire.