My horrible experience with Goodyear’s Property claim department.

April 24th 2016 I scheduled an appointment with the Goodyear store located in the parking lot of the Acadiana mall in Lafayette Louisiana. I get there early; they take my truck in at 9:11 a.m. They are to remove my 4 current rims and tires; put them in the bed of my truck and install 4 new 285/75/16 Duratrac’s on some TRD off-road rims with their lifetime (36 month) balance/rotation and free alignment check. While my wheels are off they look at my brake pads and bring it to my attention that I should replace them as well as maybe turn my rotors. Since Sunday is my only day off I decide to let them do it. All of this goes off without a hitch. They let me know that my truck is ready at 12:24 p.m. but I have some rubbing on my Total Chaos UCA’s. Not a big deal, thanks for the heads up. The people working on my truck were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about my truck. To this point these are some of the best people that I have ever paid to work on my truck. I stand all of the rims/tires up against the cab and strap them in place. I leave and drive to Lowes in Abbeville Louisiana, a total of 17 miles about 24 minutes. I then pick up 5 to 7 sheets of plywood, wheel the cart out to the truck, move 2 of the tires to the driver’s side near the tailgate and strap them there, then load the plywood to the passenger side standing up and leaning on the tires. That’s when I notice that the tailgate is bowed. I strap the plywood down and call the shop that just installed my tires, he request I drive back for him to follow procedure. The bow is from them bouncing the rim/tire combo on the opened tailgate when tossing them in the bed. It also caused 2 protrusions below the handle and a dent above the handle. I’m assuming that the dent came from them closing the tailgate. I drive home, about 15 min. and unload the tires and wood into my driveway 10 min. and drive straight back to Goodyear 23 miles about 30 minutes. I meet with that lead guy on duty, he takes pictures, we talk and he says he’s emailed them to his GM. He then tells me about the soft tailgate, to which I inform him that I’m aware of but have never bent the tailgate. I tell him that I’m the only owner of this 2007 Tacoma, I’ve loaded big and small block Chevy engines on their stands, riding mower, 4 wheeler, tractor engine, and numerous other things over the years without ever doing something such as this. I leave this location expecting to hear back in a few days so I go about my days.

Let’s jump forward a few months, I haven’t heard back from them nor did I call. It’s hot at work and the sun is working the shit out of my ice chest so when I head home one weekend I put my camper shell on my truck. Well wouldn’t you know that the shell door won’t close without a lot of convincing due to the bow of the tailgate. I make a few calls over the next week but can never get in touch with the person that I need.

5 months later

Well the job comes to and end and I am back home. So I go to this dealer for the free rotation and balance September 19th 2016 at 8:28 a.m. While in the store that manager that I initially dealt with is not there. So I talk to another representative, I ask how long does it take to be contacted about my issue. He says that should have been done long ago and he makes a note that he will give to the GM, who is expected to be back in a week. They rotate and balance my tires; I’m done by 10:25 a.m. I take the paperwork and head home. At home I have an excel spreadsheet that I have for all of my vehicles, it list in detail everything that is done to my vehicles. Who does the work, date, mileage, cost and any notes or special instructions that come with the job performed. When going to enter the info I notice that they have listed the mileage incorrectly, about 100 miles less. Not an issue, at this time the new tires have 7299 miles on them. Life goes on with no contact.

October 4th I get a call from the original manager that I dealt with, he ask that I send him an email with all of the pictures that I took of my damaged tailgate. Now why would I have to send him pictures if he took some with his phone and sent them to his GM on April 24th? I send him the pictures and requested that he send me back his original correspondence with this manager from April 24th when he originally sent out the pictures and let him know of the issue.

October 25th I get another call from the original manager that I dealt with. He tells me to go out and get at least 2 estimates and get them to him. I head to my local Toyota dealer 22 miles away, they tell me to go to Luke’s Paint and Body to get the estimate, 2.6 miles from the dealer. I go there and get the estimate but I take issue with the guy doing the appraisal. He says that you can’t bend a tailgate with it open because the cable would break first. The tailgate cap’s tabs are broken; I let him know that because they aren’t on his estimate. He tells me that he can just replace the clips, I let him know it’s a molded piece and that that is what’s broken, as well as it will need the new clips. He tells me how many years he’s been doing this, to which I reply then you should know what I’m talking about. He doesn’t look at the truck again or change the paperwork. I just go home. The other place I am going will see me on the 31st. I scan the estimate I have and send it to the manager letting him know about my concerns with this estimate and that I will go to a second place on the 31st. I don’t expect to hear back from him, and I don’t. I head to Dream Works in Lake Arthur to talk with Jonathan, 28 miles away. He does, as expected a very good job. Slightly higher cost as is to be expected when one includes all the needed parts. I send this to the manager asking him to confirm that he has received my 2 emails with estimates. I don’t hear back within a few hours so I call, he answers and tells me he got the emails and that he will turn them in.

November 8th get a call from Goodyear Property Damage Claims Department (800) 322-4682, they tell me that they want to have a local representative come out and give them an estimate on my vehicle. The following day, at about 10:30 a.m. their guy shows up. He says that Goodyear request that he take pictures of the entire truck inside and out. To which I have no problem because my truck is well maintained, it does have some slight body damage from rock crawling but that is only on the passenger doors and bed. We talk he seems intelligent and sensible. To me you should only be concerned with the area that is in question otherwise you are searching for a negligent owner. He’s now through with his estimate and ask about my other quotes. We discuss and I email him the one from Dream Works Collision Center while we are in my driveway. He then tells me that Goodyear request that before he leaves my driveway he calls them. I go sit on my porch and he remains in the truck in the driveway on the phone. He flags me over while he is on the phone and ask me to pop the hood because they want him to check my fluids, I laugh and ask if he wants the spreadsheet I have on the truck since 2007 when I got it with 18 miles. I’m speaking loud enough for the guy on the phone to hear when I ask if they are fishing for a negligent owner. I’m annoyed now and start naming all of the things that have recently been done, freshly greased undercarriage and TC UCA’s as well as the freshly painted frame and body armor.


I received a letter on Nov 16th dated Nov 10th and postmarked Nov 11th from them letting me know that “based on the results of our third party investigation, we regret to inform you that we will be unable to assist you in the settlement of your claim. Specifically, our investigation determined that there does not appear to be any negligence on the part of our store that would have caused the condition you report.” Now I’m pissed and call them, but it was 4:30 p.m. my time and they were closed. I have never filed an insurance claim and am not trying to screw anyone over, including myself.

November 17th I call the claims department and voice my concerns with their poor procedure. Of course this doesn’t help. I ask her how do I utilize my warranty and free balance and rotations, she says I go to the shop and they will perform these task. I then tell her based on how they handle these claims I cannot risk my vehicle at their locations. I have lost all faith in their insurance department and that I feel that they are unable to properly handle my vehicle. She gives me a number to Customer service (800) 321-2136. I call them and ask how to utilize the free alignment and balance that I have paid for. She ask me to email her a copy of my original invoice and she will try to credit me the $99 I paid for that service. I sent that to her with a shortened version of this and how I feel they are trying to get out of performing their jobs. I also provided her a specific list of the issues that I have with them.

The poor handling of information, I was hardly ever kept in the loop. I had to repeatedly open lines of communication. They got me to drive 100 miles to get them estimates then sent an agent to my home to give them an estimate. I then let them know that I have paid for a service that I feel they can no longer carry out. I ask that they come up with a solution for the cost I have incurred due to their request for me to travel to get estimates, well as that I have paid for this service/warranty.
Not to mention the duration of this. April 24th until November 16th.

I’m awaiting their reply as I type this.

Now on the flip side, they could possibly feel like it falls on Toyota to repair this tailgate as I would guess a tailgate should be able to handle my 96 lbs. rim/tire combo. I’m unable to say how roughly it was placed or tossed onto the tailgate but I can say that in the 9 yrs and 90k miles that I have owned this truck I have never babied my tailgate. Now I’ve always been responsible taken care of my things, I don’t toss things onto a tailgate.


Anyone have any thoughts? It’s completely possible that I’m just a bit angry and unable to view things from all angles at this time, I may read this in a bit and feel like a fool.