Bad alignment from the dealer

So, the Sandy Taco is ready for her ~5000 mile inspection from the dealer. She's at 6500+.

From the dealership, on the long drive home, I noticed the steering wheel was a few degrees off to the left. I thought nothing of it, because she tracked straight and didn't shake at highway speed. I figured it would be fine to let her run as is until the first free service.

I inspected the tires tonight, and they are definitely showing signs of faulty alignment. From the front of the vehicle, the inside drivers' side tire is scrubbed, and the outside of the passenger side is scrubbed.

On the rear, the driver's side tire is scrubbed inside and the passenger side is scrubbed outside.

One more thing to add to service mgr's list when I show up at 0:dark:15 tomorrow morning.

 

Since you didn't take it right back they will probably say you hit a curb or pothole and make it your dime to fix. Hopefully you reported it right after you bought it

 

My 2017 taco had bad alignment from factory (Texas build). Took me a while to notice.....once the ‘honeymoon’ started wearing off I realized the steering was sorta FUBAR. Funny thing is I couldn’t decide if it pulled left or right......seemed to do both. It turns out it had a degree or two of toe-out on the front wheels, which will cause left or right pull depending on what you do with the steering. I took it to the dealer, and they fixed it no charge. They said there was no way what they found could have been my fault. Told me the alignment was “crazy”.

 

They’ll likely take it for a test drive and say that the tech couldn’t reproduce the issue. They won’t throw it on the rack just on your word and they’ll do whatever they can to avoid that unless the issue is very noticeable and reproducible.

Either way, bringing it up now and having it documented in your paperwork is a must.

If they don’t do anything, just keep bringing it up on every service so that it’s documented. Then push hard shortly before your bumper-to-bumper warranty is up.

Dunno, that’s just what I would do. I suppose you could raise hell now and be a nightmare customer but even that may not work and may just put you on the shit list w the stealership

 

Should have called your service advisor when you got home or from your cell phone on the drive home.

 

Maybe I’m lucky to have the dealer I have, but this adversarial “me against Toyota” vibe doesn’t exist where I live. I’m always surprised how often people on TW are told the dealer is going to screw them if they don’t wage war from day one about the smallest complaints. I’ve owned Toyotas for 27 years now and never had a single problem with a local dealer denying warranty, or disputing anything I bring to their attention.

Anyways.....if a dealer won’t check alignment on a new truck with poor alignment, when many tire shops will do the same check for free, that’s sucks. Move to Canada maybe.

 

No off-road, only gravel roads in the local forests and WMAs.

 

Same here. My dealer is awesome. Doesn't mean I trust them to do everything on my vehicle, but warranty claims have always been taken care of 100% - even the secondary air injection system... good luck OP, I hope they'll fix it for you. An alignment seems like a cheap and easy fix to ensure a happy customer.

 

I never have dealers do alignments. Ever.

The only thing they see a vehicle for is warranty or recall work.

And I've only had warranty work on one vehicle, over 20 years ago.

As far as all this 'free' oil change nonsense, I can't be bothered. And I'm retired!

 

I guess I'm lucky as well I have a great service department. I'll do some of the service stuff on my vehicles but for the most part I let them do the services. When I'm working I'm filthy all week and when they'll do the work for like $12 more that's a no brainer. Besides they register the service work in the computer which would be one of the reasons there was never a question asked when they rebuilt the lower half of the engine in my scion on their dime

 

I'm getting some Bilstein 5100's installed from my dealer... fingers crossed they know what they're doing.

 

Why on earth wouldn't you use an independent shop?

What is the value in paying higher dealer labor for something like this?

 

Did the dealer "do" an alignment on your 6,500 mile taco? Why? No reason for them to touch anything unless you asked for it.

 

So they brought the truck back around and gave me the service ticket. I checked it out to make sure they listed all of the fluids, etc. Oil change, etc. Then I asked the service guy if he read all of the comments on my ticket, re: bad door checkstrap, rear axle off-center, uneven tire wear, etc. He said yes, and they would do an alignment under warranty within 12,000 miles, but since "my" vehicle was over 20,000, it would be $79.95.

Wait a minute... I said my vehicle only has 6900 and is in for the first free service... It was really funny when I pointed out that the ticket he gave me was for a 2016 Camry with 20,000 miles. The service guy when I pointed out the service ticket was not mine, mutters “I swear they don’t do anything right…”

Wow, that’s a real confidence booster. Yeah, that’s what I said.

He was much more accommodating and listened to all of my complaints, took a look at the rear axle issue (obviously the passenger side rear wheel is ~2" further out in the fender than the driver side). He told me they would get it up on the lift and do the alignment and check the axle ASAP.

 

All is well. They basically kissed my ass and did the alignment within an hour. Also ordered a new checkstrap for the driver side door and will call me next week to swing by and get it installed.

I guess this dealership is one of the good ones!

Riverside Toyota in Rome, Georgia. Free Starbucks coffee, WiFi, hotdogs, popcorn and a sweet lounge with a kids room. Not a bad place to spend a rainy Saturday.

Pete the service manager looked me in the eye and listened to everything I told him, made notes and followed up on all issues. Every time I looked in the service bay, he was busting his ass to keep the line moving and interacting with customers. It was a long wait and 2 trips through service bay, but a little communication went a long way to getting a very positive result.

Don't be the customer from hell. Be the Jedi customer from Planet Logic. Firm, logical and respectful wins the day... provided the person on the other end of the convo follows the same ethics.