Toyota dealership scratched wheels. What would you do?

I am guessing you have never worked in tire shop. They are absolutely responsible for damage and can be held accountable. You cannot waive responsibility. I don't know how many people I have claim damage after the fact. The only time a shop gets out of paying is if the damage is noted before working on it.

 

Hmmm gonna take pix and videos prior to my first upcoming visit in another 3,000 miles...

 

Trail rash you put on yourself is way different than someone else damaging it.

I'd go back to the dealer and be very pleasant. I don't think they need to fix it because of the waiver, so your only hope is the good graces of the dealer at this point I fear.

 

I received a survey just today on how my dealership service experience went from Toyota. Hahahahaah!

 

I third these suggestions. Especially if the dealer has already offered to have their repairman look at it, that appears to be accepting responsibility! Take it.

 

I concur; if they offer to pay for repair, take it. The could always claim that they were like that when you showed up and you would be hard pressed to prove otherwise. I had some scratches repaired on some nice BMW wheels once and you could not tell where the damage had been.

 

My local dealer messed one of mine up and I bitched until they agreed to replace it. Lesson learned ( do my own rotations)

 

I’m honestly just leaning towards having them refund me the mounting and balancing fee rather than leave my truck with them for a week or more. Hopefully we can agree on that.

 

I would demand a new set of wheels - that's just unacceptable and I sure as fuck wouldn't want someone trying to 'repair' them - what would they even do?

 

Resurface and repaint. They do it all of the time.

 

That's not acceptable, That's the direct result of not performing your job correctly. For people that say "you can't get them on without some form of scratching" that's not true. There's a way to do it if you take a little bit of patients and respect for your job. I've had the worst luck with Tire guys myself. I never once have taken a tire to a shop and had it mounted without a wheel being scratched once.

I had a similar experience with Les Schwab in Martinez CA. A tech scratched my wheel very badly during a routine "free" flat tire repair. I called him out on it immediately and it was one of those moments where he denied that he did it. I came back and spoke with the service manager the next day and he handled it very professionally at first, until he went back and reviewed the surveillance footage. He said he couldn't see it happen and basically turned into him vs me. He did agree to cover the new wheel. in the end after him mounting and balancing and even scratching the now brand new wheel again. He still basically was calling me a liar while defending his business. I left with the newly scratched wheel went home, touched it up and will not be doing business there again. my hunt for a wheel/tire shop that can put a tire on a wheel without scratching it still continues to this day.

 

As somebody who's worked on wheels and tires for 15 years, wheel repairs are very common. As others have said, most repairs you'd never have a clue where the damage was or not. I completely understand the principle of the dealer. IF the dealer is telling you that they need days/weeks to repair the wheels, I'd ask for new wheels. Refinishing wheels is similar to paint where temp, humidity, etc. come into place. I've arranged for clients to wait ~2 hours at the store while the repairs were made to the wheels. If the service manager is worth his salt, he'll schedule them to be there while you wait, fix it, and have you back on the road, OR replace them.

 

That sucks big time. That's why I hate to have other people working on my car if I can help it. Do they even use a torque wrench for the lug nuts? Every time I buy a car/truck, they give x number of free oil changes but I just do it myself. I figure they let the least trained to do stuff like oil changes and I can just see them stripping the drain plug and screwing something up with the weird oil filters on these Tacomas. Not worth the risk.

 

OP, sorry that happened to you. I hope it works out in your favor -- either a repair or new wheels. It does seem like the dealer is owning up to it by saying they can repair it.

Please post back how your situation gets resolved. I am very curious to see if they repair it and how it turns out. As in most cases, discussing it with them in a reasonable manner might lead to the best outcome. Good for you in having before pictures.

Look forward to hearing that it works out in your favor ...

 

So true, I went against my better judgement and had them do it as opposed to a local mechanic. Partly my fault. I can’t imagine someone trusting a dealership to do a frame replacement recall. That would be a nightmare scenario.

 

Not an issue if proper equipment is being utilized...

@IPNPULZ , I couldn't agree more. There are lots of shops that use a Hunter Revolution Mounter and a Hunter Road Force Elite Balancer. These machines are capable of mounting and balancing a Carbon Fiber or any other wheel.... without leaving a single mark.

 

That's some amateur mount and unmount tire job. I've only seen disclosures when it comes to 19+ inch wheels and low profile tires but never with those easy truck tires. Go back to the dealer and have them replace or repair the damages.

 

The hard part for you is proving that they did it. unless you have proof it wasn't there before youre prob SOL

 

Go back to the dealer. Speak with the Service Manager. Don't go all bonkers to pull a Karen or Kevin......just keep to the facts.

Listen to what they offer.

You need to give the shop the chance to make corrections.

I seriously doubt new wheels will be offered. The damage isn't severe enough to warrant new wheels.

 

With all due respect, you can demand all you want. What are you going to do if they say "sorry, no?" You can stop doing business with them of course, but after you go through the aggravation of going up the dealership management chain and/or contacting Toyota, the only real alternative you have is to sue them. By the time you add up the cost of the time you spent chasing the dealer, the cost of filing the complaint in small claims court and serving the defendant, and the time you will spend in court, you will probably have spent more money trying to solve the problem than the cost of the actual damages. I understand being assertive and demanding may feel better, but in the end it's counterproductive.