Dealership Service Dept - Good or Bad?

If a customer complains in the forrest and a survey isn't around to hear it... DID THEY EVEN MAKE A SOUND!?

 

Ha, fair point. A vast majority of my dealership experiences have been in Alabama. Perhaps the grass is greener else where. For the sake of others, I hope it is.

 

Funny enough the one good thing I hear about Alabama is that Bermuda grass is as GREEN as it gets lol

Edit: and of course Forrest Gump

 

You, my friend, have pulled back the curtain on this whole forum, if not the internet as a whole.

Bravo!

 

I would be informative to survey those who have warrantee items needing replacement or repair.

 

My local dealer is excellent, with knowledgeable staff, good operations and good facilities. Acton Toyota of Littleton. They will even service and support mods and special requests and give generally decent new car prices. Naturally they want to “maintain” a vehicle as New so if you are an imbecile and want to pay for unnecessary tire rotations and cabin filters they will suggest them, but as soon as the realize you are not, they don’t keep on that path. They have a few top notch mechanics whom they know I trust who they schedule for me any time I bring in any one of my Toyota’s, and over the years have warrentied or discounted amicably if I had any real issues.

 

Bill Penney Toyota in Huntsville Alabama is terrible. 550 dollars for a transmission pan replacement. Also they recommended WS transmission fluid and the truck takes Type IV. It’s the 4 cylinder Tacoma with the A340E transmission. It’s annoying. Dealerships charge the premium price in their market space, consumers should expect nothing short of excellence. They charge the absolute market premium, I mean c’mon.

 

Frankfort Toyota (used to be Glenn Toyota Frankfort) have been great to me. I've only had to pay for one service...I do mostly everything myself. I've had a couple warranty repairs done by them and they've always been great. Somehow I get "assigned" the same Service Advisor every time and this goes back at least five years. I'm knowledgeable and I think they know that so they give me the most knowledgeable advisor it seems. I bought my Scion from them in '05 and that salesman is still there. There is very low turnover at this dealer...I saw the same folks (even techs) working there this week when I went in for frame inspection that I saw on my first visit shortly after I bought my '09 in 2013. They've never "suggested" service to me. They know I do all regular maintenance myself and have never once tried to upsell me anything. They do what I ask and don't try to waste my time.

 

My dealer sells multiple brands of cars. I had already purchased 4 vehicles in the last several years. 08 Hyundai Accent, 08 Hyundai Elantra, 14 Hyundai Santa Fe XL, and a 17 Corolla. They really came through and treated me well on every vehicle. For any major work, I always shopped around and found their prices competitive.

I also bought a 14 civic. Car was fine, dealer was a money grubbing piece of shit. Everytime I had a warranty question, they would charge $100 to look at it. Had the AC go after 3 years, under warranty still. Charged me $100 to tell me that it would cost $600 to fix. Fuck you Honda. Never getting another dime of my money, traded the civic in on the Tacoma.

 

Yeah I learned along time ago that the dealer never loses and it’s usually true. But i seen good and bad experiences since i was a towtruck driver for 14 yrs and some dealers r far worse then others but they generally don’t last to long and if they do it’s high turnover and bad reviews! Thats one reason why i never delt with premier toyota which sold out to the current langway toyota! Biggest difference between them premier’s owner was a suit and tie guy (i think he was just a real estate guy) and the current guy is the jeans and a button up guy and when he’s down here (has other dealerships) he walks around and greets his customers and has dent over backwards for friends of his customers which will keep him going

 

Stealerships are a mixed bag. Over 30 years ago I worked at one and that experience taught me lifelong lessons. Their "culture" is what drives them, just like ANY business entity. If the owners/managers are shitholes, then you'll likely get shithole service. If one is bad, hopefully there's another nearby for the consumer to visit.

 

I've been to two unrelated dealers five different times and I have no complaints.

Online scheduling is easy. Employees were overly courteous. They did the appropriate maintenance. Really, my only complaint is their wait time on one occasion. The other four experiences were quick, or I dropped the truck off.

I had a problem with my Entune headunit on my 2014 Tundra. The dealership replaced the entire headunit under warranty ($1200 retail), no questions asked.

 

I'll be taking the truck in for my 5000mile ToyotaCare service next week, so I'll let you know how it goes.

 

has anybody bought a vehicle at 1 place and (moved or just got fed up or a dealer got sold) and went elsewhere and either got better service or shunned for not buying through that dealer? The place i bought my accord would bend over backwards for me, took in a vehicle different from what they sell drove me to a parts store to get the part i needed and fixed it for cheap cause i bought my accord there and ive sent atleast a dozen people their way. ( one hand washes the other)

 

I don't mind taking my truck to the dealership for the free maintenance and warranty stuff. I probably wouldn't take it there when it's out of warranty though, I have a local garage that I know the owner personally who I trust much more. Hell, he fixed my A/C in my 2012 even after Toyota tried 4 times and couldn't fix it. Even though it was still under warranty and I had to pay him to fix it, it wasn't doing me any good taking it to the dealer "for free" only to have them give me bs excuses why they couldn't fix it. When the service woman told me "it's too cold to charge the AC in your truck, bring it back tomorrow" I know they were just jerking be around. They were the ones that told me to bring it in at 8am that morning to begin with!

 

Mine's been great.

 

Temecula Toyota hands down worst dealership service department in California, might be in the running for worst in America.

 

i would complain if i was treated that way!!! Plus I’d more then likely find another dealer if a vehicle is under warranty why should i pay someone else?

 

I will definitely miss both Baxter Toyota of Lincoln and Performance Toyota of La Vista when I move. Hopefully Wichita has a good dealer.