From the dealer's mouth!

Just read a thread here about how much the 60K service was gonna cost at the dealer. I agree! way too much money for what they are doing. But something my dealer told me made me consider getting my big service check ups 30K and 60K etc etc at the dealer for this reason. He mentioned that when you have (or if you have) an issue with your TOYOTA, the first thing corporate and or the dealer will check is your service history. "They tend to help out cutomers who have had the major service check up done by TOYOTA." not sure what that meant but i'm considering if maybe paying that $600 may end up helping me down the road?

Just a thought! Of course i do all the 5K check up's and small stuff myself. Not that i COULDN'T do the big check up...it just may be better to have the dealer do them...so they can see my service record IF anything goes wrong.

what are everyones thoughts on this?

 

If you document and keep receipts from all your services it shouldn't matter.

 

Sounds like typical dealer BS to me.

 

how can you document a receipt for something you did yourself?

 

you buy all oem filters from the dealer and keep the receipts... also the the receipts from the oil and all fluids you purchase.. they really cant fight it..

 

when you purchase all of the oem parts at the dealer, have the service department print off a work order with your full vin and mileage and have all the parts billed to the work order and pay for them through the service department. voila!

 

600 bucks!!!

 

$600 bucks? That's a fucking ass raping.

 

Bingo.

The only thing I'd like to see coming out of my "dealers" mouth is teeth. The people at Sparks Toyota in MB are a bunch of buttholes. I'd rather deal with the Ford dealership than those phucktards (I can't believe I just said that but it's true).

 

As for the dealer ripping you of 6 bills for checking a list of things that they probably skip half of; you can get better service by a much more experienced mechanic from the shadetree shop down the road that has been there for many years providing reliable service. There is at least one in every town, just asking around will find the good ones. Also down the road if you have a problem, such as the dealer that will still rape you of many Benjamins & the tech that did the previous service is no longer there; the old reliable mechanic knows exactly what has been done to your ride & will charge a fair price. Dealers will fill you with all kinds of bs just to keep their hands deep in your pocket.

 

I'm going to Wilmington, dammit.

 

HAHAHAHAH x2

 

Heh..y'all need to get a taste of a Land Rover service schedule. And you DON'T want one of these out of warranty, so it's best to let the dealer handle it. Spark plug and wire change? $900. Headgasket replacement? $3400. My favorite (and it requires this every 3500 miles)-Oil change and "inspection"- $277.

 

If you follow a lot of threads on this board where people do not get any factory assistance when outside the guidelines of their factory warranty nine times out of ten they have not spent any money at a dealership for service.
When a dealership is asking for goodwill assistance for a customer for out of warranty repairs, the first question asked by the factory district service and parts manager is does the customer participate (spend money) in the dealership.
Depending on how good of a customer you are warrants what kind of help you get from the factory when you are outside the factory warranty.
So I think it is all about building some type of relationship with a dealership I have seen a lot of goodwill repairs covered. The dealer will put pressure on the factory to get you help when you have spent money in there store whether it is covered 100% or a 50-50 spilt or they buy the part and you pay labor all depends on how good a customer you are.

 

^^^ a whole lot depends on the dealer too, right? First class service from any one regarding anything in this country is cause for celebration, and it is quite clear that there are good dealers and bad dealers. A good relationship with a good dealer, if you got that you are lucky.

 

The dealer cannot make you service your vehicle or deny you warranty service because you did not go to the dealer for their service as long as you have documentation the routine maintenance was done somewhere else.
If you do routine service your self you will have no proof of the service being completed and you risk being denied future warranty work.

Click here to read about the Magnuson Moss of 1975

http://www.impalaclub.com/naisso/magmoss.htm

 

so we are screwed if we DIY!

 

It's not BS.

My mom has bought her 03' Highlander and has the service done at Bowie Toyota. When I bent my tailgate I was at 37K miles (out of warranty for the tailgate TSB). When I went to the dealership to see if they would give it to me anyway they initially said no. They said take it to corporate.

After talking to Toyota Corporate and explaining the situation, explaining that my family has owned 7 Toyotas in the past 25 years and that this dealership was giving me crap over our newest Toyota vehicle they gave Bowie a call and I was in the next day to get my tailgate replaced. Toyota swallowed a $1000+ repair bill when technically didn't have to.

Just my opinion.

 

I've dealt with sparks a few times, what did they do to you? They haven't steered me away so far, they aren't my favorite dealer though, I'll agree with you there.

 

Not really. As mentioned above by BeefTaco the "relationship" you have with the dealer really only comes into play when there may be something outside of the normal warranty guidelines or if you are slightly outside of the coverage period. I worked in the service dept of two different large motorcycle dealers & can speak from experience that there are times when the dealer will try to get assistance from the manufacturer on a repair. The amount of effort the dealer puts forth is almost always directly related to how much service, parts, money you have put into their pockets. I am not saying that this practice is right, it is just the way it is.