Toyota "Care" Nightmare

Long time lurker here, who finally bought my first taco (MGM DCSB TRD OR) back in February. The forums here have been a great help. Anyways onto the story, because I need to vent:

Took in my 2020 Tacoma today for it's 10k service. I do a good amount of mountain driving (I'm from CO) so I figured I'd get the oil change done even though I'm currently only at 4.5k. Things didn't go as well as I'd hoped.

First off, the service folks totally forgot about me. My paperwork wasn't "closed out" by someone before they went home for the day. I finally realized that I had been sitting around for over two hours and my truck was parked with no one attending to it. As I was checking out, I heard some excuse about "difficulty getting the lug nuts off" (this comes into play later). Anyways, I got my keys back and drove home.

On the way home I realized my tires were overinflated (37 PSI on the computer after a mile down the road). No big deal. I know a bunch of dealers over inflate their tires because come winter everyone's TPMS goes off and people complain. Not a huge deal, despite me now getting worse MPG than normal.

Then I get into my driveway and I notice some of my lug nuts look a bit mangled. I wouldn't call them stripped, but they are on their way. Knowing my luck, I will get a flat on a forest service road during elk season and strip them the rest of the way trying to get the wheel off. Once again, not a huge deal, but shows the kind of workmanship I'm dealing with here. In the back of my head now I'm wondering what else the technicians (using this term loosely) might have screwed up. That said, I go on with my day.

Anyways, I go into the garage this evening and see a few drips of oil under the truck. I get underneath it and see the skid plate is soaked. Drip appears to be coming from the oil filter (I see a small bead). Drain plug area is bone dry. I don't think the soaked skids are from the oil filter (at least I hope not since they are now well lubed, showing a good amount of oil) and might have just been bad placement of a catch pan (splash back). Oil level looks OK (between the two marks, but towards the low side on a cold engine).

Will be calling the dealer tomorrow (they have Saturday service hours). Here are my questions:

1. Would you drive it to the dealer? It's a 20 mile drive and I'll avoid highways just in case my dash lights up. I am monitoring the drip right now, but for now it seems to be a few small drips (skid lubrication excluded). I'm wondering if I should hold firm for a tow.
   
2. How can you switch your Toyota Care to another dealer? Any recommendations in the Denver or CO Springs area for one that can do a basic oil change and tire rotation without these kinds of fuck ups? I don't necessarily want to give up on the free maintenance that came with the truck, but at this point, "free" is not worth the increase in blood pressure.

Update: Dealer is making it right. See page two for details.

 

Forgot to mention, my wait earned me a free tank of gas from the service manager.

 

Prob just spillage from the cartridge canister and you can go to any Toyota dealer for your Toyota care. Similar reasons for me why I won’t go back.

 

Shit man I feel you Toyota care tested my battery on the last service and they disconnected my lightbars and winch and lost the bolt to the battery terminal and said they couldn’t do anything about it and that if I wanted it replaced I would have to pay for another battery anyways regarding your situation you should be good to drive 20 miles because from what you’re describing the leak seems minor and I’m betting the seal on the filter is just fucked up so you could even swap out the filter your self pretty easily if you’re concerned about the drive

 

And you can switch Toyota care locations!

 

No, call toyota care and make them tow it in.
The filter housing could be cracked.
They messed it up, they can correct it. You paid for these services.

 

Lmao good luck with that I don’t know about your guys Toyota dealerships but the ones around me would never do any thing like that...

 

Hello Toyota care, my truck was serviced at xxxxx dealer yesterday for a oil change. The truck is now leaking oil from the filter area and is low on oil when I checked the dip stick. I don't want to damage my engine. Please send the tow truck to xxxxx address please.

 

Towing is covered under Toyota for the first 2 years, not by the Dealers

 

I have had terrible experiences at the dealerships service center where I got my truck. I took it there the first year and a half, and thought a bad experience here or there was a one off, and even recommended it to my friend that had a Tundra (he also had multiple bad services there and quit going before I did), but at some point being sloppy and not caring got to me and I drew the line.
Now I don’t wanna name names *coughAutonationcough*, but I certainly DO NOT RECOMMEND taking your truck there.

On the other hand Stevinson has been awesome. I have been to both locations for service. Although they can be a bit slow because they get swamped, I don’t have any complaints about the work they have done on my truck. This is just my personal experience so far.
Hope that helps, and you find a dealer that can take care of you properly.

 

Got my Toyota 5K care reminder in the mail yesterday for my 2020 Camry. Looked at it, tossed it in the recycled. Learned my lesson years ago...never again.

Just know, the lowest level worker in the garage will be in, driving & work on your new vehicle. What could go wrong, lol.

 

What dealer was this so I know to stay away.

 

The first time I went to test drive a Tacoma, I didn't want to get all excited and buy it. I went to a certain "Nation" dealership precisely because they screwed up my wife's Subaru so bad, that no matter how much I loved the Tacoma, there was no way in hell I would buy another car from them. So as long as my hate for them was stronger than my love for the truck, it was easy to walk away.

 

You can use any dealer for Toyota care no formal switch bring the paper work to the new dealer they like to make it sound like you need to keep taking it there that’s where they make most of their money.
I would have them tow it there tell them about the stripped nuts too.
They Don’t mess around when it come to oil leaks they will Most likely send a truck.
My best friend works for a dealer and I hear all the BS that the dealers pull.
The guy rotating your tires is as low on the totem poll as they come and They don’t get a whole lot of supervision.

 

I stay far away from the dealer. If you dont want to do the work yourself, go to a local mechanic with a good reputation.

 

Yep. I was away so I asked my son to take my wife’s RAV4 in to the dealer for service because it was still on warranty. He calls me saying they are telling him the back brakes are finished. I told him get the hell out of there. I took it to the local garage. I’ve known the owner for years. Told him about the brakes. And he laughed and said “Toyota. End of their month”.

Same brakes on the car 2 years later.

 

If it makes you feel better, do a review on yelp.
Like several have stated, take your business to another dealership. Best wishes on your new ride.

 

I had a similar experience with the dealer service and oil filter:

In the end for me it was still worth it to do the 10k and 20k services (skipping 5k and 15k) to recoup a little money on not having to buy oil/filter for those changes since it's included in the original cost of the truck. Just really necessary to check the dealers work after. I wont be taking my truck back to the dealer for service again unless for recall/Warrenty work.

 

Check your oil level. I went to the dealer until my 45k warranty was up.

 

Finally taking my wifes 2017 carolla in to get painted monday. Its Is the blizzard white that is prone to chipping. We have been arguing back and forth for 6 months about it. I bought the extended warranty , but of course they said it didn't cover paint. Well , it does now and as soon as i pick it up from the Toyota body shop , im cancelling the extended warranty. I can change my own damn oil and be done with them