Let’s talk dealer service rip-offs

I had to get my yearly inspection done so I am at the dealer. Figured I would use my ToyotaCare and do the 20k service. The truck only has 7700 miles, but the service is free and includes an oil change and tire rotation. Last service was a year ago.

Waiting in the lobby and the service advisor comes in and says due to my off-road tires the rotation would not be included. KO’s 33’s. I asked how much, $86.88! I had to repeat what he said because I thought I heard wrong. I even took the center caps off before coming and had the adapter ready.

Guess it is time to get my Jack and stands out.

 

This just proves that minor modifications can bite you in the ass.just saying

 

On my one year old FJ Cruiser, in for the free routine service, they wanted to lubricate my drive shaft for $200 extra.

 

I always ask the dealer not to rotate my tires because I do that myself when I swap from summer to winter and back but they still do anyway.

 

But why? Because they’re heavier? There are lots of legitimate reasons why modifications might interfere with normal maintenance, I can’t imagine how this is logically one of them.

 

Firestone rotates for free. Not sure if that’s because of the lifetime alinements.

 

‘Toyota and Costco wouldn’t sell me tires 3% (if I remember correctly) larger than stock (265/65’s). It could be an extension of their tire rule.

 

Crazy. Especially if I can get that done on any street corner downtown for $25 .

 

I get that dealers may refuse to deal with tires that deviate from stock, but I still don’t understand it in this case. The tires are already on the truck. Any concerns about negative impact on the truck are already baked in. I assume a dealer doesn’t want to hang new tires on a truck that are oversized because they might be liable for whatever issue might arise…I’m making this up, but say, a differential failure. But to simply move around the oversized tires that are already on the truck? What could their liability possibly be. Seems dumb.

 

I had to think about this one for a minute, but I actually understand where they are coming from. Somewhat.

In a world full of cheap and dirty lifts, they don't want their free rotation blamed for issues that cropped up from the customer's cheap and dirty lift. (like if one fender suddenly starts rubbing after rotation) But where they lost me was when they put a price on it. That's horseshit. Either do it as part of the service or not at all.

 

My dealer quoted me $650 + parts to install the remote tailgate lock

I ended up ordering the lock kit from another dealer online and it took me about an hour to install it in my driveway.

 

Most tire dealers here that sell you a set of new tires will give you free tire rotation for as long as you have those tires on your vehicle

 

Find a better dealership. I see a lot of posts about dealerships that do shoddy service or deny service or void warranties because of minor mods. Stop supporting those dealerships.

That said, I realize people may be handcuffed to the options in their region, which sucks. For those folks, you unfortunately have to pay to play...or don't mod your truck.

All THAT said....seriously....declining to rotate larger tires and then trying to charge for it? That's some petty shit.

 

It's just a way for them to get more money.

Several months back I had my truck at the dealer for a transmission service that I didn't feel like messing with. Figured while I was there I would have my tires rotated. While sitting in the waiting area the service rep. comes to me and says they won't rotate my tires unless I buy new lug nuts, says the ones I have are swollen and might not go back on which was total B.S. I told him the lug nuts are fine and not to worry about the rotation.

The following weekend I took the truck to my local tire shop that does rotations for free and they had no issues with doing the rotation.

 

What's this all about?

Probably did you a favor...
The manual states front to rear rotation. You really want a rear-cross rotation. Drop the spare and put it on one of the rears and continue rotating...only have to jack one corner at a time.

 

"...swollen lug nuts.."

Sounds painful.

 

Wow!

Your truck only has 7700 miles!

I hit 2 years of ownership on May 14, 2023.

My 20K Mile TCM (Toyota Care Maintenance) is scheduled next month and my Sport just broke 15K miles.

Sucks to hear that your oversized tires causes this kind of concern.

My plan is to go from 265/65R17 to 265/70R17s without any mods when my tires need replacing.

 

Times must be pretty damn good for the garage. Back in the day, tire rotations included brake and suspension inspections. Brake and suspension inspections often resulted in fat pay checks.

 

I went home, pulled out jack, stands, impact and torque wrench. 35 minutes later, easiest money saved. Those tire do weigh a crap load though. 81# each tire and rim.

Noticed they left a bolt out of my skid. 4 bolts out, 4 in. Not hard.

 

I usually mess with tires anymore and just take my vehicles to Discount Tire. Always free rotations and never any issues.