Is the Toyota dealership a good place to have your truck serviced?

Our local toyota dealership gave me very competitive prices on a timing belt, water pump, thermostat, front cam and crank seal replacement on my truck.
It seems this would be the place to go to have the work done but what is the consensus on here? Are they good?
Thanks
J & K

 

I haven't had any problems at my local toyota dealership, they are always pretty good. Haven't screwed me yet. The others might have something else to say though.

 

its depends, I got a better price on front strut replacement from a Toyota dealer thinking they have the knowledge and if any parts are needed they would have them, I wished I would have researched other options it didn't come out as well as I would have thought

 

LOL, only if you want to get shit in the mail for the rest of your life about how your truck is "highly sought after" and "you could trade it in for a leased base model 3rd gen for $300 a month"

 

holy shit my dad owns the last year of the no-def cummins diesels and he gets these constantly.

 

I'd look up reviews on the individual dealership, they seem to vary widely. I've had great luck with Nissan dealerships, but no experience with Toyota.

 

research,research, word of mouth, ask on TW for good mechanics in your locale best bets

 

And they try so hard too. I get them for my Nissan, complete with "hand written" looking post it notes from the "local" sales manager. Nevermind that the stamp cancellation zip code is on the other side of the country. . Idiots.

 

If you can find an independent mechanic you trust you'll get the same work done and save at least 1/2 what the dealers charge. I don't let dealers work on my stuff unless it is under warranty and on their dime as a rule, but I have a mechanic that I trust. If not take it to the dealer and bend over.

I was at the Grand Canyon 3 years ago when a U-Joint started going bad on my Tacoma. Considering I was over 1700 miles from home and didn't know any locals I drove 80 miles to Flagstaff and paid them almost $300 to replace it. I could have had it done locally for about $100. I knew I was going to get screwed, but also knew the chances of getting screwed worse by someone other than a dealer were very real.

Ain't that the truth. During the 3 hour wait at the dealer in Flagstaff I was harassed numerous times trying to get me to just trade for a new one while I was in there. And I'm still getting stuff in the mail from them. Like I'm going to drive 1700 miles to trade.

 

I've been doing my research and checking around. The dealer actually beat most of the other shops around even my regular guys that is why I am asking. Thanks for all the advice and I guess I need a thread and ask for a good repair shop in Portland...
thanks again for all your input.

 

Hahahahhaha dude I really can't believe this type of marketing still works for the dealerships. I really can't believe how much people don't question this stuff. About 7 years ago an acquaintance of mine got suckered into trading in his first gen Honda Fit(little freaking awesome made in Japan car) because he got a 'letter' from the dealership saying Japan has had bad hurricanes and earthquakes and there is big need for your Honda Fit back on Japan. If you'd like to trade it in we will give you full trade for it. he even showed me the 'authorized certified' letter. He traded it in on a new Civic that he didn't like near as much but he believes he helped out humanity in Japan.... I didn't have the heart to tell him. Good good dude and I didn't want him to feel that dumb, so just kept my mouth closed

 

I still get this crap from the dealer we bought my wife's Corolla from, just because we drove there in my Tacoma. Wasn't even considering trading it in or anything. Guy just most have seen us drive up in it, lol.

That' said, I get the same "offers" for my '17 4Runner. They just want to to trade it in and buy whatever they have on the lot.

 

I ended up calling said dealership and talking to whoever the fuck was in their marketing dept to remove me from their stupid mailing list. It actually worked.

 

Only service your vehicle at a dealership when it is under warranty.
After that only take your car to a trusted mechanic. If you don't know one then ask around to your family and friends.
I worked for dealerships previously and was horrified at how I saw them rip people off. Customer loyalty is a business tool for them. I could go on about this for an hour. It is standard procedure to squeeze every penny they can out of you. I am amazed as well at the number of people I have seen go back for more of it. Stay away from them.

 

i don't ever get those kind of mailings!
thank goodness i know right

 

I got them a few times years ago from Toyota but they gave up.
What's a trip now is I get solicit mailers from Mercedes and Audi about taking a test drive in one of theirs/trade in for my Lexus. Never expected that out of left field.

 

My local dealers mechanics are as good as a lot mechanics. They are more expensive then most and I never felt like I was getting premium service. They always tried to up sell me unnecessary work. I guess i'm one of their few customers who can tell the difference.

 

Actually, your best bet is doing the work yourself because you're going to take your time and make sure the job is done right. You would think Toyota dealership mechanics are the ones you can trust with your rig but that doesn't hold true in my experience. The quote "Experts" still screw up all the time. A lot of dealerships and shops pay their mechanics via a Flat Rate System. If the mechanic can perform the job under the billed time, they can make more money. Guess what that does? It encourages the mechanics to work faster. I don't know about you guys but when I work fast, I tend to make more mistakes. This is how bolts and nuts get cross-threaded and other simple mistakes get made because the guy is in a hurry.

If you want to take on the challenge of doing the work yourself, here's a couple videos that will help you out.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vHC46ypHxWc

https://www.youtube.com/embed/mErd7xoBS9I

 

my truck has been near 100% dealer serviced & maintained since the day i bot it 22 & a half years ago, (i had new tires & batteries done outside of their realm ... once I changed my own air filter that i bot on sale at the dealer parts dept. yay me i did work on my truck, and perhaps a wiper blade once i did an insert refill can't quite remember anymore. I change my own air filter now because they no longer offer all-inclusive maintenance packages and have not since maybe 11 or 12 years ago

somewhere along the line their 'customer service' took a mighty turn for the worse, perhaps when the 2nd gens started out being the fresh and new kids on the block?

you can only imagine what it is like now with the flood of 3rd gen Tacomas coming in under the warranty picture, 1st gens in my do not seem so common anymore for some reason, especially the really old ones from the '90s

This past summer i went ahead and had the dealer do the entire cooling system exchange & flushed out, since the whole system had never been evacuated entirely before (always had drain and fills semi annually as part of a maintenance package in the past) ... the price was 'reasonable' and I always feel chipper about spending good money on my truck to keep it happy and worry free

about 2 months and a few thousand miles later after this service I noticed the top radiator hose starts leaking while checking the oil as i was headed out of town for about 500 miles roundtrip. I stopped back at the dealer that did this service and was quoted $280 to change the hose and re-add whatever newish coolant was lost, apparently i was mistaken to think this cooling system service included checking THE ENTIRE SYSTEM for proper operation in which they definitely would have seen the bad hose connection and cleaned it up. I had to cancel the out-of-town plans and order a new hose from Camelback in AZ (local dealer wanted over twice for same hose!) waited for hose to arrive, bot some Toyota pink coolant online and did the job myself (yay me again! i did some more work on my own truck ) the top hose was not terribly difficult since it could be done standing erect for the entire period and save my knees from wear and tear (very important to me) and just had to wait about an hour for the radiator to cool down to safely open the cap and remove the hose.

i never have trusted any non-Toyota jack-of-all mechanics in this hick town that have to know pretty much all makes and models, you know there is going to be a bad situation sooner or later imo
just never thought this bad situation would happen at my local 'trusted' Toyota dealer

this is not the first time something phishy has gone on with my truck in the past 10-15 years, it happened just a week ago!
its just the most troubling since I may not have noticed the coolant link and been way out in the middle of nowhere and starting to overheat from a lack of coolant. And maybe I would not have even noticed that and much worse things would've happened to the

... another chapter in the never-ending soapbox of trying to keep a well-maintained truck!

 

very well put @Timmah!
some of this mechanics stuff is 'awkwardly' challenging to some of the possibly non-mechanically inclined, let alone near impossible when heavy and dangerous work is required without proper equipment for safety

but your videos work wonders for education and confidence!
thanks for all that you do for us on TW

have you ever made a tutorial on the proper removal and re-install of a fuel tank?
that is something that i will need to be doing when the weather warms up here
and there is no way in heck a toyota mechanic is going to be making me a personal house call to make sure everything is put back together properly!
they will want me to tow my truck back into their shop and put it back on more than likely