What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

WHAT I DID TO MY 3rd GEN TODAY...

I didn't modify my truck today...instead I cancelled my service warranty, lifetime wrap policy, gap insurance AND refinanced my loan.

Here's what I learned and why I did what I did. Maybe this will help someone now or in the future.

When I bought my truck I said no to all the extra crapenalia EXCEPT for the policies stated above. When it comes to a new car, it seems practical to extend warranties and to carry gap insurance. However, Toyota has an excellent warranty known as Toyota Care, which was never mentioned in the haggling phase or in the finance phase.

In my situation, I plan on moving within the next two years, therefore the more I studied all of the policies and really read the fine print, the extended warranties and service plan would tie me to the dealer that I bought the car from. That's fine if I was going to keep the car for 10 years AND live in the same area for 10 years and go to the same dealer for all the service.

When I was finally able to understand Toyota care (the only pamphlet I was given when I drove off the lot that mentioned Toyota care was written in Spanish...they ran out of the English one), I realized that in my situation, I would have been paying for Toyota care twice.

Toyota care comes with every vehicle and it is built into the price already. The extended warranty, the service plan, and gap insurance are all prorated if you decide to cancel after 30-60 days. If you cancel before this, then you get 100% reimbursed. I'm convinced if I would have canceled before I moved in 2 years, then I would have seen very little money back from however they define "prorated". I found it curious that there was no prorate table or any way for the consumer to calculate what the prorated refund would look like after 2 years. In short I would have unwittingly paid for Toyota care without the benefit of extending the warranty.

Also, these policies are good only at "participating dealerships". How much ya wanna bet that that would be hard to find where I'm going.

Our finance guy knew our situation but still offered these extras at a better deal than initially offered. I still think it is a little underhanded to know our situation and make us "unpack/unhose" all the detailed stuff in order to get to the truth. He was relying on the fact that most people probably don't take the time to study the contract with all the fine print.

I knew that since I had 30-60 days to cancel with no penalty, that this was worth risking having only a partial understanding at signing and studying it in detail later. Plus my wife and I work in the legal profession so I was daring them to screw me over.

As it turns out they reimbused me 100% within four weeks of me cancelling these policies. Very happy because it came through today.

I was also able to refinance my loan today as well. I've learned that it is best to get pre-approved from a lender and rate of your choice before you go car shopping.
Even though the dealership got us a loan through a highly regarded credit union, and even though our credit score was high, the best rate he could find was 3.89%.

The next day I went to my State Farm agent to get my new truck covered, she asked "how much is your interest rate?" I told her 3.89% and then she did some calculations. She informed me that she could do it at 1.89%. My redponse was "when did State Farm get into the finance game?" and "holy crap that is almost half of the dealership rate through a good credit union!"

So all of this was finalized today. This is what I did with my 3rd Gen today. Hope this helps someone out there in Toyota land.

P.S. Lifetime warranty means 10 years/100,000 miles.

 

Well it is back to work tomorrow but I got most of my projects finished up this week..My son giving the old man a hand bolting down the almost complete bed rack.My mesh grille.. paint is still tacky but it is installed.

Still have a little work left on my sliders then they will go on. That's gonna have to wait till my next day off.

 

Who makes that switch plate

 

Thanks for the plug! My eBay store is at http://stores.ebay.com/tacomavinyldecals

 

Why not go tubular?

 

They are actually nfab knock offs, my wife ordered them for me. They actually feel pretty decent for the price.

 

No way! That's awesome where did she order them from?

 

They came from eBay I believe

 

Got me a new shirt to go with the Taco!

 

My girlfriend asked me how much time I spent on tacomaworld today. I told her like 5 minutes but it was more like an hour. Then she said "I'm mad at tacomaworld. It just gives you a bunch of useless ideas to spend thousands of dollars on your truck."

Well I think they are great ideas. Keep 'em coming!

 

I've got tubular ones now but I want the added adjustability for camber that the aluminum ones provide

 

I just ordered the mesh grill but the entire insert. Now I'm thinking for the price I paid I should have gotten The trd pro grill. That mesh grill is aftermarket. Idk why it's so much

 

Those wheels and tires set up looks bad ass. Mind sharing how much you spent

 

I saw several big ones in at Walmart this morning. You would of loved it.

 

Looks awesome! Love the bronze finish!

 

Love my Pro Grille!

 

This shirt?

 

Big bottom women.

If you want the shirt they are all over the web. Done a Amazon search and found this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Butts-Taco-Trucks-Shirt/dp/B01LWWK5VZ

 

How much they jam you for thst

 

I got it for just under $400. And painted the letters.