Toyota redeems bad word of an employee, awards new frame :)

Less than a week. Like 3 days

 

about a week or so in my case.

 

I used to work for a call center in the quality department. Tell them you want the call pulled for sure. I have done that in the past with a company when they were trying to screw me after an agent told me something and they fixed it right away.


Edit...looks like things are fixed. Good deal!! Welcome to TW!!

 

As things now appear to be corrected...Welcome to TW!

 

Thanks for your responses. It has been a little over a week since I took the truck in to have the frame inspected. they are aware of the holes in the frame. It hasn't been long enough for me to start getting worried. Hopefully I'll get the call to bring it in by Monday. If it hits the 2 week mark (wed Apr 27) I may have to call in and see what is taking so long.

 

It was next day for me. Not sure if the relationship with the parts department i have through the shop had anything to do with it or the fact that my frame was split in half

 

Here with what could be the last update on this thread!

So today I got my truck in to the Toyota dealership to sit and wait for its new frame. Woohoo! It took a bit longer than average (2.5 weeks) since my inspection to get the call back to bring it in, but I am happy nonetheless. Who could complain about a free frame replacement. But now I have ANOTHER question for you guys who have gone through the same ordeal.

So at the dealership they wouldn't give me a time frame for when I would get the truck back. They just told me "months". No real ballpark dates except (hopefully) within a year. Which is totally fine with me. But they set me up with a rental car from enterprise. I was under the impression that since my vehicle is in the shop due to the frame warranty they would cover ALL the costs of the rental car. The initial rental fee is waived but enterprise still wanted me to pay $18 a day for insurance. I definitely want insurance on the vehicle (2016 ford escape) since if it were totaled i would owe at least $25,000. But this will get pricey because thats roughly $540 a month to insure the vehicle at the most basic rate (full rate is $39 a day!). What if I have the rental car for 6 months? Thats a couple grand on top of normal driving/gas consumption. Do any of you have experience with this and can shed some light on my situation? Did Toyota corporate pay for insurance on your rental cars?

 

Most credit cards (platinum or insurace will have you covered). I rent a car atleast twice a month for personal and almost every week for work. My Amex covers me when renting personal and work mastercard covers when working. Rental place will give you the song and dance it's best to go through them...don't believe them.

Plus if you have liability that follows you no matter what car you drive.

 

Great news OP! Glad to read it worked out for you.

For the rental insurance, ask your personal auto insurance to see if they cover rental vehicles too. I know when I go on vacation and rent vehicles I decline getting auto insurance from the car rental place because my insurance covers it (USAA).

 

Thanks Joe and Opteron for the quick replies!
I will call my insurance company. I already feel lucky to have qualified for a new frame, I don't want to push my luck by asking Toyota for anything else haha. This is my first time renting a vehicle so I guess I should've checked with my insurance before posting here to find this out! Now the waiting game begins. If you guys are interested I can post a new thread or new pics in a few months once I get my truck back with the new frame!!!

 

Don't worry about pushing your luck with Toyota. If you're already paying for insurance that follows you as you are in the rental, it makes no sense to pay for additional insurance. Just check your policy and verify with your insurer that this is the case, and let Enterprise know that you will be declining ther offered coverage. Assuming you have it.

 

And yes, please keep us updated as things happen.

 

Update?

 

Hey OP! Hopefully you'll get as lucky as I did, my frame came in just over a month after the dealership ordered it. Should be getting the truck back in the next few days which will have been less than 2 months my truck has been gone

 

I am jealous, same thing happened to me, phone calls to Toyota and was told I would be helped so I bought the truck and then was told " sorry your vehicle was not inspected" so I welded the frame myself

Still a nice truck for $5500

04 with 120000 miles, very clean 6 cylinder 5 speed

Runs perfect

 

Could you give me the number you call Toyota for the Frame check up? Thanks

 

same thing happened to me OP, did all the research but the dealers here really have no clue what is going on. both pretended they knew nothing of the frame replacement program. about 5 weeks ago i took my truck in since i noticed another hole in the frame, the dealer took the pics and sent them to the reginal toyota HQ. ive already talked to the Top HQ about it and they said its def under waranty since it was sprayed by toyota back in 2011. the dealer never called me back after a month of waiting so i contacted them and they said the frame replacement was approved. the dealer said it will be at least 4 months before they get the frame in and about 1 1/2 weeks to swap out.

ive ordered the OME Group buy kit and the Allpro UCA's already. now looking at wheels and tires, brakelines and anyting else i can think of.

Good luck on everything OP! TW is not good on the wallet like stated above, this is me in the Group buy section and the for sale threads.

 

I bet once this whole frame thing with Toyota blows over, there's gonna be a major uptick in chop shop activity. A pretty common practice is to swap the frames out from a stolen car to a legitimate one, the Toyota guys will be able to do a frame swap with their eyes closed!

 

Hi again TW.

Here for the (almost) 2 month update. Just got a call this morning about the truck. They just started working on it and it should be done in 1-2 weeks!! I'm quite happy and cant wait to get out of this '16 ford escape rental and back into my '03 tacoma.

However, I was also informed that I need a new fuel tank skid plate since my original one disintegrated as they began working on the truck. He told me an OEM one would be around $625 and no labor costs. Do you guys have any experience with a solid aftermarket option?

cheers

 

Junk yard or car-parts.com

you can also try tap recycler in freson..... http://fresno-taprecycling.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=35_106_108