Alignments not under warranty?

Took my '13 tacoma in for a possible alignment problem, right off the bat service guy trys to charge me $100 for an alignment! Keep in mind the truck has 16,000 miles in it still well with in the 3 years 36,000 miles "top to bottom, bumper to bumper" warranty.

So wtf, why are alignments not covered under the warranty?!

Anyone else have the same issue with this?

 

If it were aligned improperly when you drove it off the lot, should be covered. However, there's a lot of things that can screw up an alignment in 16k miles. Curbs, big potholes, rocks, they will all cause issues. Warranty is for factory defects.

 

U get 1 free alignment in the first year of ownership at r dealership. But if u have went off road or anything it could have knocked it off

 

x2

Not considered a warranty item anyways, plus there are so many factors that can affect alignment.

Like skidooman said, if you can prove some *other* "defect" -caused- the issue, then possibly, but just because it is out of alignment means nothing.

In addition to skidooman's comments, Lifting and Lowering will affect alignment. I would also assume that removing and replacing anything on the front end, including wheel backspacing and tire sizes, will exagerate any out of spec condition.

All it takes is 1 bad pot hole and your alignment is shot.

 

It's 1 year 20k for alignment warranty and only one time

 

That 1 year and 20k only applies if u have no lift at my work

 

dont pay it. take it to firestone and get a "lifetime alignment" now you have a warranty on it at least then you get your moneys worth

 

Not warranty.

 

A/C is also another item with a shortened warranty. I found that out on my Mazda 3 when it was a little low on coolant after about 2 years. Not sure if Toyota is the same but I would imagine they are.

 

i wonder about the 125k platinum on that one. i know it was a SPECIFIC selling point when i bought mine. dealer finance guy even pulled up a camry file to show the cost without warranty

 

Good luck, I paid for the extended warranty on that Mazda and still no A/C coverage.

 

Toyota covers a/c under warranty

 

That's pretty strange. Did you go into the dealership complaining about an "effect", like A/C not blowing cold air, or asking them to recharge the A/C refrigerant?

"Service adjustments" intuitively include things like suspension alignment, parking brake adjustment, aiming headlights, etc., but recharging A/C is not typical maintenance.

 

Yep, I had issues with my A/C freezing up after extended use. They still charged me to service it, even with Mazda's extended warranty.

 

It has been many years since I had Firestone do this, but at the time it was $139~ish lifetime... (At the time Firestone's regular alignments were like $79 or something. )

Nice insurance - The only problem was I never needed it, and sold the truck years later.... It's non transferable btw.


You can find a decent shop today to do an alignment for about $60 bucks.... Just look around... [You can actually do it yourself with a tape-measure ... ]


But Konvict you are right, lifetime from Firestone is a hell of a deal ....

 

You can rebuild the front end and ballpark it enough to make it to the shop with a tape measure and a couple of long STRAIGHT 4x2s, but you can't do a proper alignment that won't wear tires.

Firestone scares me. I've had problems any time I've had anything other than tire installation done by a tire shop.
Not cheap, but I stick with the dealer.

Firestone fucked up the brakes in one of my cars, and my wife's car burned to the ground 2 days after getting it back from Goodyear.

 

True, they ALL scare me.

Burned to the ground ? Damn wtf ... that's not funny ....


Way back when, I rebuilt the front end of a truck with drop spindals etc etc, and tape-measured the alignment to ballpark it, then drove it to the shop.

It was IN spec. LMFAO. (I used a good tape and the treads on the tires, not 4x4s down the sides.)
Yup, just lucky I guess,,, but lol it is a true story....

 

now that someone has mentioned the driveway tape measure method. i used to do it all the time

My 86 yota on 35x15.50 swamper tsl's on 15x12 wheels. Was always getting bashed out of alignment so i did it probably almost monthly. It was pretty good on that truck

And i have done it a few times on other vehicles just to be good enough to drive to the shop, but i wont be doing it for daily drivers sake anytime soon Unless i drive an old beater every day again.

 

i have never had the lifetime done yet on a truck, but on my 2000 mr2 i did it because it was multilink rear, and it cost $170 vs a normal 4 wheel for it running around $90-100..

it was worth it, because i had it aligned at least 3-4 times.

Firestone does scare me, for anything else. but so does every other shop. If im not the one turning wrenches i stress over who is. I have a hit on my credit, well i think it fell off now, it was a few years ago but it was some card Firestone slipped in the pile of paperwork. (credit card) they charged $12 or maybe $16 to it and i didnt even know i had it... that was a PITA to track down a year later when i found out it was on my credit.. Im still pissed. So needless to say i read the paperwork i sign now. I think the bill was because they were the only show around here that would mount my 30 series tires for the mr2, and they wanted $20 each if i remember right.

 

I got some tires and rims on my 2013 taco and that caused some issues after getting some sand dunes and dirt off road paths. I go the alignment done perfect at Franks. Good shop here in so cal. Toyota fucking sucks. They told me to align my truck they had to REMOVE the steering wheel..WTF.... so I went to franks he says WTF. He aligns it pretty much perfect According to my tire and wheel size. I went 17x9 and stock I believe is 17x7.5 also in tires Is only 265 70 17 compared to stock at 265 65 17. Soon enough I Went to some sand and dirt roads and I have a bit of toe issues now.. so I'm guessing some rough driving got that out of place///anyone with these type of scenarios?