Am I being unreasonable?

I need some honest feedback, I feel like I got ripped off but I don't want to be myopic. Just let me know what you think, if you would.
I have a third generation Tacoma which was struck by two deer on the right rear (honest they ran into me) and so I had to repair the right quarter panel. I took it to Toyota for two reasons; one I hoped they would do the best job, and two because they guaranteed their repair for the life of the truck. The Toyota dealership is right in the middle of the US, center of Kansas, intersection of I-35 and i-70 area. That's important for the rest of this. They repaired the Tacoma, and I went down the road. At least for a while. The rock guards kept peeling off, but they replaced them under their guarantee. Then I moved to Eastern Iowa. Recently, and I'll attach pictures (you have to kind of zoom in on to see because the truck is white), the clear coat came off like leaves. I called them and asked them what I should do and they said you'll have to drive back here to have it fixed. I said I live out of state, they said they couldn't help that. I called corporate Toyota, they said the same thing. So to get this repair, guaranteed for the life of the truck, I have to drive hundreds of miles, get a motel I guess, stay while they fix it, drive back, lose all the time I'm gone, well you see where it's going. Before I start posting reviews, does my request seem unreasonable? I could use some honest feedback. Any help appreciated.

 

This is typical, the work done was guaranteed by the local dealership, not Toyota.

 

The way I see it, you have two choices: 1) drive back to Kansas to have it fixed, hopefully for good, and 2) pay someone locally to fix it right.

 

Lesson for the future.

Find a good local body shop for body work. A dealership is good for one thing- warranty repair. And know that if a repair guess wrong, yes, it's on you to get it back to them for rework.

 

Thanks! I'm off to find a body shop.

 

I don’t see why you couldn’t have another shop fix it and send that dealer the invoice. Seems more than reasonable to me.

 

It seems rare to me that a Toyota dealership would do bodywork (not their cup of tea). It's a specialized industry. I'm guessing the dealer outsourced the work to a local body shop. Also, insurance companies will generally have a list of body shops they recommend. Did you call the insurance company?

 

I did. The ins co told me to take my pick, so unfortunately I chose Conklin Toyota. If you look them up you'll see they have a body shop. They also glued my hood sheet metal when it started coming off right after I bought the truck (warantee repair).

 

^this… any dealer I’m familiar with always just outsourced body work.

 

Alrighty. You are dealing with that particular dealer and not Toyota corp. I think it varies by manufacturer, but dealers are generally semi-autonomous.

 

I would say not necessarily unreasonable but maybe lack of understanding. Virtually all dealerships are owned by an individual who pays the manufacturer to sell their product. Sometime dealerships are called "franchise dealers". This is common for most companies even McDonalds and KFC. A Toyota dealership is not owned or managed by the corporation Toyota. Any guarantee for work done not covered by manufacture warranty is from the dealership which a single entity. The guarantee you were given is only for the dealership you used, not by any other dealer or "Toyota".

 

I posted up above I'm looking for a body shop. I did go back and look at the guarantee I got and it didn't say anything about that Toyota body shop, but one thing about living to be this age, you learn a lot if you pay attention. Thanks for the help everybody.

 

My uncle owned a tiny Ford dealership in rural southern Minnesota. He was owner, but he had a contract with Ford. When he retired, he was unable to pass on the franchise to anyone, because Ford had decided they didn't need the tiny rural Ford dealership anymore. It's consists of on abandoned building in a mostly abandoned little town now. I attended his funeral in the same town a few years back. He was big into going fast in cars and boats.

 

Eastern Iowa also.
fwiw, stay away from Deery Bro's. They are understaffed, fairly unhelpful and I suspect a bit of thievery there.
Try the Toyota in Hiawatha IA. Good people and seem reasonable.

.02c

 

Mhmm. Right on.

 

Well, you clearly are not in Kansas anymore.

Your interpretation of "life of the truck" warranty was too broad. It lives at the dealer, not with Mother Yota. Your options are not great, but you either pay to get it fixed locally at a reputable body shop (recommend), or take it back to the original dealer in Kansas for warranty repair(not recommend). Sorry for the hassle brother..

 

Thanks for taking the time for all the feedback. Warnings heeded! Great forum. Picked up my spirits

 

Just be glad the truck runs

 

Maybe research how much it costs locally to fix, and then compare to travel resources,,, or maybe even having it shipped to the original shop?
Worth a look, but until you get a local out of pocket quote, you won’t know.

GL

 

It's RUN great. I looked for a while and finally found the cast-iron 4cyl with the 5-sperd manual 4x4. Nobody apparently wanted it so I got it for 20k, new in '16. I figure I can keep it and do whatever as I'll never be able to replace it.