Toyota Of Dallas Wrecked my Tacoma

Posting here is a great solution. Let them know that it's online. 2nd, hire an attorney for an hour.

 

They quality of the work does not come into question as much as putting the vehicle back in it's prewrecked as manufactured condition using "genuine" Toyota parts. This is what I insisted on when an accident occured that was not my fault and I'm sure Toyota was very glad I did as well. I specified no filler in my truck. I do not understand why this situation is any different?? You can use the words quality, professional, and accepted standards, but what you are failing to understand is nothing beats the way the vehicle was before it came into your shop other than replacing the parts that you damaged. Why is that so hard to understand??

 

Why wouldn't the owner have a say as to where the vehicle gets repaired?

 

x1000000

 

It's my understanding he did- he brought it back here Monday.

 

It's not hard to understand at all. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of misinformation being thrown around (along with a lot of good information).

Every accident is alittle different- not being trite but it's true. I don't know the details of your accident, but here are some variables: the model year of your vehicle, your covereage, your carrier, whether you are the insured or the claimant, sometimes your claim history can coem to bear- any of these can result in a different set of circumstances for a repair. Some carriers will use OEM if it's under 2 model years, some offer a rider for OEM replacement, etc. Often LKQ parts are used in reapir without the owners knowledge, which is a violation of law in many states.

You wanted OEM, somehow you got it, bu that doesn't infer that anyone, anywhere can expect that.

Sad but true... what is 'required' to be done is not always satisfactory to the other party and that results in conflicts like this.

 

Beating a dead horse. The point is the Dealership wrecked the vehicle. The owner wanted the truck returned to the condition it arrived in and was spoken to in the worst manner possible. Should have been nipped in the bud right there. The dealership should have used some of the money we spend on these vehicles and returned the truck to its original condition. End of story. Or when the customer gets his truck back he could scrape up against a few of the employees involveds vehicles on the way out. That wouldn't be the right thing to do but neither is using a body shop to fix his truck!

 

I agree, but it doesn't mean we need to lose our civility because of it, even if it's the internet.

 

Our society is so binary. Yes or no, right or wrong, stop or go, win or lose. The apparent lack of any perception of gray or middle ground is really sad.

This situation might suck. The heels dug in attitude of many involved in the discussion, without first hand information, is disappointing.

Been in the auto business since the 80s. Good communication skills are a must. Some people are clients. (that is what I look for) Some are customers, others are consumers. I filter consumers out. They chew up time and energy and leave you with less to give to customers and clients. That is the other side. Think what you will.

Flame suit on

 

My local dealer had scuffed up my plastic trim around the OEM radio unit they had replaced. I was ticked off because I felt that being a Toyota dealership they would know of better ways to go about working on these vehicles.

Anyway, my dealer offered to replace the scratched piece with a "NEW" part. My choice was to not let them touch it and cause further damage. I at least felt better that they offered to order a new piece and not repair the old one. Mistakes are made I know but when you just financed a 20ish thousand dollar brand new vehicle that you cannnot return in 30 days or whatever, it is a different story.

I recall trying to pull in a dually truck once when I first started work at a car audio place, I scraped the entire right side of the truck. I was devasted but my place of employment took care of it via the insurance. We were a small local business not some huge dealership.

I felt horrible as the lady had snuck the vehicle away from her husband to surprise him with keyless entry for it. The look an her face almost brought me to tears, of course when she saw how genuinely I was concerned she felt sorry for me and everything turned out great.

I could just imagine what would have happened if I had told her to just sue us for the damages if they were not happy with what we did to repair their vehicle.

(yes I know that a plastic trim piece is less money than body work, dealer parts are still not cheap)

 

I have a similar story. I managed to jam my rear diff lock in place and freeze up the rear axel. It was pretty obvious that the truck could not be driven. I called a towing company and paid the driver and extra $50 to come get me (luckily I was only about 50 from a fire road). When I got to the dealership I explained the situation in great detail and the service rep even told me how important it was that I did not try to drive my truck home and had got it towed. Anyway, the service guy calls me about 5 hours later and says that they will need my truck for a few days. I assumed they were having trouble getting a part, but instead the service guy tells me that there had been some “miscommunication” and the technicians tried to drive my truck causing the axel to grind and send shaving into the transmission, effectively destroying the transmission. Long story short Mossy Toyota replaced my transmission for free as well as the original repairs. I was really disappointed with them and have never gone back to that dealership.

 

I just Wrecked an Expedition at the car dealership I work(ed) at.

it was totaled. and the insurance company forced them to fire me...

they fought with them for a week but no luck...

now I've gotta figure out what I'm gonna do for a living now i have this wreck on my MVR...

and it wasn't even a negligence thing. the brake booster stopped working when I got off the freeway.

Insurance actually gets to say whether or not you can keep your job. and I think thats a bit messed up.

 

Your answer sounds like one that would come from a business. Not a flame, but perceived as coming from someone looking out for their interest. An understandable answer. Would it not make more business sense and have less attention drawn upon yourself just to simply pony up and replace your customer's damaged parts with factory new ones, cut your losses and call it good? It would seem the more practical and the right thing to do. I believe you would be dollars ahead.

 

I retract the statement then as I was incorrect.

 

Neither am I but I did stay in the bed of my Tacoma last night.

 

No flame taken, good points all. It probably sounds like a business answer because I know the business side- the good, the bad and the ugly. Seldom is something as cut & dried as it may seem at first glance.

Sometimes it is better to lay down for the customer- rarely does it come out real dollars ahead, but certainly it can come out ahead in the good will department, which in the long run has a greater impact on profitability.

I spoke with the body shop estimator handling Brian's repair and he said the delivery has been rescheduled for Saturday morning, so that should be the next (and hopefully final) chapter of this saga.

 

So after all of this, the OP is going to have his previously undamaged vehicle repaired, and the dealership along with everyone involved there is going to assume they are great people who just did someone a favor.

The OP will still have a loss on the value of his vehicle....State it as you like, a repaired vehicle (no matter the certification, qualification, or whatever was applied) is still a vehicle that has been damaged and repaired. It's not in the original state that it was in when left in the dealer's care.

 

Maybe if you applied a little of those good communication skills on those consumers you say take up time & energy, you would have more " customers & clients". All customers & clients begin as consumers; it must be nice to be able to afford to filter away business. Sorry, is there a grey area in there? What did you say the name of your business was?

 

No sir, not exactly. I don't know anyone who feels great about this- an unhappy customer is an unhappy customer and no one I've spoken with (Vince, the tech or the adviser) feels great about anything- quite the opposite.

I never denied his loss of value, in fact I acknowledged his loss of value in my first post and his right to have his diminished value documented and even what the process is way back in post 135... I would be surprised if he didn't- not that I've spoken with him or anything.