15,000 service

So at the dealership for the tire rotation and topping off of fluids with a free truck wash. Service advisor asked if I wanted to buy cleaner fluid for gas since the fuel filter doesn’t get removed. Ah no thank you. So would you like to pay for an alignment after the tires are rotated we recommend it at this mileage and it’s on sale for $119.00. Again no thank you. That free tire rotation sure can cost some folks some $$$$$. While waiting checked out the new 2021 Tacoma’s on lot. $40,000 and most are 4cylinder And there’s maybe 5 Tacomas.

 

Dealerships are struggling to make money on maintenance items. I was there last week for the fuel pump recall and they have a new fangled no-touch tire alignment check system when you pull in. Wouldn't you know it, they claim my alignment is off! "Would you like an alignment" they ask? Umm, no, I would not. What I WOULD like you to do is actually change the oil filter when I get an oil change and ACTUALLY do the inspections you check off on that little paper you give me. What a joke.

 

You should do all that “free” stuff yourself. What you don’t see when you give them the keys and walk away for the day just might piss you off.

My dealership couldn’t even get washing the truck right. Firstly, my truck was always spotless. That’s how I start every day or end every day. When I would take it in for warranty work, they felt the need to wash it and I’d get it back with hard water spots all over that I have to clean off, and that’s just them washing the truck. Never mind the over torquing the wheel nuts from the 84lbs to 130lbs when I went in for a tire balance, or how about finding they filled my power steering fluid up with water after they replaced the rack and pinion under warranty. Etc, etc....

Be afraid and protect that truck.

 

Yeah I’ll take the 30 minutes and 30$ to change oil rotate tires myself and know it’s done right then sit there for 2 hours for them to try to upsell me

 

I hear a lot of bad about Toyota service centers, but mine is awesome. Never had any issues. Only go once a year for an inspection now and get the printed out sheets of multipoint inspections, tires wear, brake wear etc. Never tried to sell me anything. Could change when my miles get higher but I do all maintenance myself.

 

K

 

I will probably do the free services (unless something bad happens) just because I can (also because rotating tires is really a pain in the ass imo). But I have almost always changed my own oil simply because it's faster for me to do 3 cars and a motorcycle than it is to drive ONE car to the dealer, wait, wait, wait, wait, repeatedly refuse upsells, and then drive home.

 

Agreed if you don’t have stands or are not lucky enough to have a good friend with a lift in his garage. (As I am thank god) it can be a pain. Just be very weary to accept anything there trying to upsell you on and you’ll be good. What really kills me is I only have availability on the weekends and it’s always such a long wait. And I may be on the inpatient side haha.

 

Credit to you for not biting. I recently began doing all the maintenance myself on all our vehicles. It also helps that I have a tire shop 100ft from my home and the guys usually rotate my tires for free (I still kick them a $10 or $20).

 

I'm going to go in for the free ones too but I usually do my own oil changes. I'm not sure what dealer to go to. I bought my truck at a dealer in Maryland 35 miles from home. the local dealer 5 miles away I personally know several people they tried to scam in service and I definitely don’t want to go there. My choices are Back to Bill Kidds where I bought it, Hanover Toyota 15 miles away, or Bobby Rahal and Falkner both about 20 miles away. I don't know the rep those places have for service.

Doing your own rotations is a pain. I paid a tire shop I got all my tires from ten bucks to do it before.

 

You are describing a standard business model. Pretty much every single business in the US does it the same way. Do you not think Apple or Amazon use this same model? Lol think again. Here's a snip of Amazon. I searched for oil.... they want to sell me oil, a filter wrench and filter. Everybody does it, some are just more blatant than others.

 

This is terrifying. Now i need to check my spydertrax wheel spacers abd make sure they didnt hit then with an impact during tire roto. Pretty sure they only rotated the front and rear driver side tires too...

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/78Ubd_NkWvM

 

Did my 20k service the other day even though I still was covered under Toyota Care. Couldn't bear the thought of letting the dealer do it again. What did I find? Oil filter housing tightened down with the force of a thousand ugga-duggas (naturally), about 75% of the lugs my 150 ft/lb impact couldn't break, and the splines on one of my lugs were so jacked up I had to hammer the fucking socket on. I'm in and out of Autozone enough that whenever it comes time to change the oil I'll have points for $20 off so oil doesn't cost me much.

 

At least they didn't offer you new spark nuts and muffler bearings...

Every time I bring a vehicle to the dealer its got a new scratch or other minor damage that I notice after I've paid the bill. Actual repairs usually go pretty well, but the small maintenance jobs get rushed over and include the upsell menu of largely unnecessary items.

 

For me I've decided I'm just going to do the services myself. I do the majority of my own work on everything else I own and when it comes to oil changes I try to do one or two at the same time; like this weekend my GF's Highlander is due (actually over-due) for an oil change and so is my old Pick-up so I'll do them both at the same time. It'll probably take less time for me to do those two then it would for me to take my Taco to the dealer and wait (or leave it and come-back) for it to get serviced, although I'm still a thousand miles or so from my Taco needing it's first service.

BTW It's not just some Toyota dealers which are sketchy. My work truck is leased and has to go to a shop for services (plus I have no way to catch the 15 Quarts of oil that engine holds!) So I take it to a friends shop when it's due. Until last month that truck (Ford F-550) had never been to a dealer since new. Then the Mass Air Flow Sensor went out and since it was under warranty it had to go to a local Ford dealer. They had the truck a week, didn't even work on it for the first three days ('thanks, I literally make my living on this truck so by all means, take your time'). When they finished it (and then hounded me to come and get it since it was taking-up space in their service area) The Service Writer asked why I don't bring it there for regular maintence. I asked him how long it would take for them to service my truck, just a normal 5,000 mile (or in my case, 200 engine hour) service and he said a day. I nodded and said the guy I go to can have it done in an hour, in fact most of the time I call him at noon, he orders the parts (or has them on-hand, he does mostly fleet work on medium-duty trucks like mine) and I stop-in when it's convenient for me. In, out done and I get to stand there and BS with the Tech as he's doing it.

 

yep the upsell is always part of business, when I worked in Food service we always were required to try to upsell all call in customers extra stuff like appetizers, desert items and drinks. they even had mystery shoppers call to make sure we did it.
The upsell don't bother me, just say no. Its selling me things I don't need like a new tire when it can be fixed with a patch or not doing the work correctly like skipping the oil filter or not greasing things then checking off its done. checking off that you checked items you didn't check.

 

Wait till you get past your glorious 100,000 odometer reading and you have to use the ECP Warranty they made you purchase right away or if they were feeling generous they gave you 30 days to come up with $$$$ and then they make you acknowledge on the service papers that you are responsible for the diagnosis fees for the repair.

In my case, I had 200k Platinum ECP.
At 120k had some syncro gear grinding in my 17 Sport manual and took it to Cochrane Toyota, Alberta. The shop tech heard the noise and recommended “transmission replacement”. Service advisor Jonathan Pinter and Shop Manager Cory Bergman said “because I went over 100k, warranty is now provided by “THIRD PARTY” and they don’t pay diagnosis fees”. They wanted me to sign responsibility to $1950 diagnosis fees before they have their tech pull the tranny apart. I said no, drove away and called corporate. They were shocked, felt sorry for me and said their hands were tied because what Cochrane Toyota said. I took it to Charelsglen Toyota in Calgary and discussed the issue with John Perry, Quality Assurance Manager. He test drove it, heard the grinding and said it’s the syncro gear. He also said because I went over 100k, diagnosis fees are paid by me, the standard held by all makes. He put a parts list together and apparently called ECP and was determined the gear and other related possible damaged items are “wearable” parts therefore not covered under ECP. Total repair on me. (I didn’t do the work BUT Mr Perry was at least honest with the transmission repair not covered by ECP. Cochrane Toyota would have had me pay the diagnosis fee and the whole repair bill without telling me I would be on the hook for it all)

Shortly after the truck met its demise hitting the Elk in October and all my problems with misleading Toyota bullshit was over. Now I start again with some knowledge, who I can trust and those to stay away from.

Folks I could buy a complete OEM Toyota manual transmission for $3000US and do the install myself. I call Toyota Canada ECP division and told them I read the fine print on their “worry free” warranty and it says in black and white warranty is there for you “unless it’s a wearable part”.

That’s their way out of not covering the repair. I told ECP ever part on the vehicle is a “wearable part”. She agreed and offered no assurance.

Read the extended warranty fine print and just highlight all the “outs” they have to not cover you.

 

What really blow my nuts is them charging $40 to change a cabin air filter when it cost $12 and 10 minutes to do it yourself.

 

Mobil 1 usually does $12 Rebates for a 5Q jug a few times a year, l usually buy a couple and stash them aside and it ends up costing less than $20 to change the oil.