Frame replacement denial?

So I just bought a 2004 DC 4x4. It had been undercoated pretty well before I bought it. I knew there was a little rust under there, but I also knew about the frame warranty so I bought it. I took it to my Toyota dealer where they found a dime sized hole and contacted Toyota in order to get a replacement. Toyota denied the replacement because the PO failed to bring the truck in for the undercoating protection they offered. I have opened a case and am going to fight to get my new frame. Does anybody have any suggestions of what to tell Toyota in order to win my case?

 

if the undercoating wasn't done by Toyota then you are SOL on the deal, sometimes people get it undercoated themselves or used car dealers do it to hide the rust.

you had a good info and a good plan but where you messed up was you should have called a dealership with the vin number before buying it to check the frame warranty was covered

 

I'm not sure if Toyota USA knows anything about undercoating to be honest. My tech sent them a picture of the hole, so I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture that it's been undercoated.

 

it will show up on the service history of the truck when they put the vin number in, that's what they go by.

 

I'm confused. If a Toyota dealer didn't do the undercoating, how would they know it's been done by the VIN? It's not showing up on the owners website when I search the VIN.

 

the dealer enters any service done to the vehicle into the vehicles service history report that is in the national data base.

by putting in the vin number the dealer (any dealer) can see in seconds if they did the frame coating or not, that's how it works.

if its not in the vehicles service history report then it wasn't done by Toyota, simple as that.

you can and should call a dealer by phone and ask them to check the vehicle service report to see if there are any open recalls on it or if it had the frame inspection and frame coating done

 

I understand that. What I'm saying is Toyota USA (customer service) would have no idea of the rust proofing since it was not done by a dealer. Therefore, they won't deny me because of that reason unless they can tell it was rust proofed by the picture sent by my local dealer. They denied it initially because the PO failed to take it to the dealer, when they owned it, to be rustproofed by the local Toyota dealer. My argument is that I shouldn't be punished for their (PO's) stupidity. Oh well, it's worth a shot.

 

your only chance in hell of getting a new frame is ONLY if Toyota did a frame inspection on it and sprayed the coating, if you know 100% for sure they didn't do that then you are SOL period.

sorry but if he didn't do it, then he chose to give up the frame warranty and its now gone so you cant undo his stupidity

 

I'm supposed to hear from Toyota tomorrow, so I'll update this thread with the new info.

 

well good luck with your appeal but with thousands of dollars involved in covering this under warranty, I doubt they will give up a chance to deny you, hopefully your appeal will be successful.

I have no idea the real cost involved in a frame replacement but maybe they will at least offer you a reduced or splitting the cost deal on replacing the frame.

 

first off it wasn't a recall it was a extended warranty for the frames, that they did voluntarily adding 15 years to a frame warranty. however they dropped the frame extended warranty in 2012, if and only if toyota inspected it prior to 2012 does the frame extended warranty take effect for a total of 15 years from the model year. if the PO didnt take it in, your probably out of luck. Or at least that was my understanding of how it works. But i hope for and wish you the best. keep us posted

Mine isnt rusted through in any place, but it has rust that reached the flaking stage, im getting it sand blasted (or will do it myself if i cant find someplace to do it at a reasonable price, i have a good enough compressor, just need a blaster, and will look for a rental) then after it is free of rust i will coat it also myself. All in a effort to make it last as long as it can.

I cant complain to much, i got the truck for free from my brother in law but he lived up in CT with it for 5-6 years and said he never took it to have the frame looked at, never even knew it was possible.

but if you can pull it off i'll give it a shot to

 

I would look for someone close to you to fix the frame if you can`t do it yourself.

If you really want to keep the truck.

I really wonder why the last owner did not have Toyota do the under coating .

Even with my super good relationship with my dealer They would not give or sell me the undercoating Because for it to work it needs to be cured the proper amount of time.

 

the last owner and only other owner of mine never even knew it was a option, so he never took it to get it looked at. and its a 2004, only upsides for my situation are, free truck and while very rusty, it isnt at a stage where it is in need of anything but cleaning and treatment. i do however think it is right on the edge of that limit

in your situation the frame was treated so someone along the line knew it needed help, i dont know if it was a one owner vehicle or not for yours, but it is possible that it had several owners, and one was a diy type who did it themselves and nobody ever thought to check with toyota to see about it.

 

Can't help but notice it's somebody else's fault you bought a truck with a bad frame.

You bought the truck without doing any real research on the frame recall or how it was handled, since you assumed it's just a "I have this truck for your to fix" type of situation. Now you got told that it's your problem, and now the previous owner is the one at fault? Toyota is the one at fault?

Take the blame here, it's your OWN fault. Don't expect a free fix of your mistake, you shouldn't get one. I'm embarrassed for you.

Good luck.

 

The only stupidity is not buying a truck before fully researching it, checking any vehicle history you can find, dealer services done, and recalls performed. It's your fault you bought the truck with a bad frame, end of story.

Toyota didn't have to do this extended frame warranty. Don't try to abuse the system because of your own lack of foresight.

 

My understanding is that if the qualifying truck (those in salted road States) was not brought to Toyota for inspection followed by undercoating (if the frame passed) by end of Dec 2012 then the truck did not get the 15 yr extended frame warranty, period. This was so that Toyota could set an end date to this huge and costly recall. If the previous owner(s) didn't do this then you are SOL unfortunately. Toyota could be VERY nice to you and give you a new frame, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Mine was checked and undercoated in Sept 2011 and has since been checked by the dealer annually. Since it is a 2001, my warranty is likely over in the next year or less.

 

Good luck in your quest. I have to agree with those that have said the dealer undercoating option is the only one that counts. I bought my current Tacoma without checking its service history, but lucked out because the prior owner had the undercoating done by the dealer where the vehicle was purchased in Maine. She's going in for her annual inspection tomorrow.

I've owned four Tacomas; three of them fell under the the repurchase/replace warranty. Toyota has been fair in its treatment of Tacoma owners. All we had to do was follow the instructions. I can't see holding them responsible in the case where the owner did not follow through on the requirements, unless it can be shown that owner did not receive the notices.

When I was at the dealer last week, there was a line of frames waiting to be installed. These were not Tacoma frames though. These were Tundra frames. There were several Tundra boxes on dollies behind the building.

 

I could see if the truck had several owners how it might have been lost in the system but I got several letters from Toyota about this for my Tacoma.

 

I bought a 2003 Tacoma TRD with 85K miles. Eleven months later I had a conversation with the customer service rep at Toyota Headquarters. Here's the long and short of it. My Toyota frame is completely rusted out and the original owner had it inspected but never followed trough with the undercoating. Toyota will do nothing for me. No frame, no spltting the fee for a new frame, etc, etc..
Am I bummed out YES ! But it was really my responsibility to check everything out before the purchase. I can't understand why some idiot would have the frame inspected and not have the undercoating.
My only recourse ( and not a good one) is to go after the dealer who says he never saw any rust, and also approach e-bay who I bought the truck through.
The bottom line is if the required undercoating was not done, END OF STORY !

 

Why does everyone here buy a truck without inspecting it first, and then bitch when it's a rusted out piece of junk? Or even better, they know it's a rusty piece of junk, and expect Toyota to fix it for free.

A fool and his money