Texas Edition Tacoma

I KNOW I need to talk to Gulf States about the problem- but no one will give me the number or a contact to call.
The rims have a Toyota center cap logo on them. If Toyota won't stand behind something with their name on it, they shouldn't put their name on it.

I might have to contact Toyota of Plano, Rochardson, and definitely Metroplex Toyota. I want this problem fixed.

 

I talked to a guy at GST about the aftermarket alarm they put on. The number I used is 713-580-3300

 

Thanks, that will come in handy.

 

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Just because the center caps have a "Toyota" label on them does not mean Toyota produced them or markets them, Gulf States contracted these wheels from a wheel supplier/manufacturer along with specs for a center cap. GST is the only one who you need to talk to; once GST clearly states what they will reimburse a dealer for as far as parts and labor goes, a dealer will prob be happy to try and help. The dealer should not and most likely is not going to give you free parts and labor without getting reimbursed by the warranty issuer; who is GST. The dealer does not warrant the vehicle, the manufacturer warants the factory installed items, and any installs by the independant distributor(s) is handled by them.

 

You're giving me the vibe that you think all this is MY fault. Why is that? If it's Gulf states Toyota I need to be talking to, then tell me why the Service Manager, the Parts and Service Manager, the Dealership General Manager, and the Customer Service 800 line haven't told me this?

I really don't think that my expectations are too high here- all I want is to have the authorized agent selected , approved, and installed tires and rims to work with an authorized agent designed, approved, and installed package on a Toyota vehicle sold to me as new, with the authorized agent approved and installed parts listed on the window sticker , which I duly paid for.

And yet, the official line of inquiry has led to little more than lies, deceit, cost to me, offers of an inferior part set BEING SOLD TO ME, and no options given. Nobody I've talked to mentioned that I could talk to Gulf States.

I think ANYONE else in my position would be understandably upset and have similar expectations. If I have to take those rims and tires off the vehicle to prevent tire wear, then the dealer owes me money for selling me an option that I can't use properly.

 

I agree with you 100%. My Tacoma had a few issues after I bought it. And it is the same situation as yours. X-SPs are from Southeast Toyota and Lighthouse Toyota gave me three new tires and one new wheel. All because I was not happy with the way my NEW(Demo)vehicle was handling.

 

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I don't put the blame on you; but for some reason I think the dealer is not helping you as much as I think they should, they might think the tire wear is due to driving habits, they could not like your attitude; not saying you have a bad attitude; but they make think you do. Try another dealer, but remember it is the distributor; GST who put this pkg together, and they; like SET have there own little fiefdom within there respective zone area. You should not expect the dealer to foot the bill for refunding tires/wheels, and the labor involved, but you should expect them to get in contact with GST and get a GST; not Toyota rep involved to see what can be done. I would get firm with the dealer, but not rude, as they perform any warranty work once it is approved, and any GST specific add-ons must be approved by GST before the dealer can do much. I'm surre Toyota Motor Sales USA would love to own GST and SET, but they are not for sale, due to contracts inked many years ago, and they can only pressure them so much to do things. To Toyota, GST add-ons are not much different than the dealer, a shop down the road or the owner themselves doing mods, and then wanting Toyota to handle problems. I hope you get everything taken care of, but getting the dealer to get GST involved is the first phase, good luck.

 

If the dealer doesn't get Gulf States involved by Monday, I will make the call.

 

I have been very satisfied with where I got mine, Toyota of McKinney. When NTB could not get my tires balanced correctly it got taken to the Dealership and those guys were top notch. Even washed the truck after they rebalanced the tires. They were so confident that the rebalance would take care of the shimmy/shake at highway speeds they did not even test drive it afterwards, didn't need to, it was right on the money. But they did ask to be called whether good or bad so I called them and thanked them for their professional/friendly service.

 

THe guy who sold me my truck now works at Toyota of McKinney. Stand up guy. Phil Pratt, if you're in the market, go to him.

 

im not sure how if texas is any different than florida, but i had an issue with my tacoma about the cruise control.....now the dealership kept saying not our fault not our fault, i bought a toyota factory cruise myself had them install it and same problem.... i had bought the extended warranty, and the lemon law clause still applied..... i threatened the dealer with filing a complaint regarding the vehicle as a lemon, and within a week southeast toyota was on it and had the issue fixed. Might have something to stand on if your still under warranty.

 

Truck's got less than 10K miles on it. BETTER be under warrantee!

 

you might just need to say f*** it like i did and tell them to document everything. just buy their tires and pray they do it again. i know it sucks, but on the second into the third time you can start the lemon law process. (atleast thats how it is in florida) After my lemon law coments they fixed it pretty darn quick, because they cant sell it again if its a lemon!! loss of a crap load of money to them. really hope your able to get things worked out i wish i remember the lady i spoke to at southeast toyota because she was really nice. good luck let us know

 

THis is the second time around- second set of tires in under 10K miles.

 

have you started looking at the lemon law qualifications??? that will get them working real quick. i can tell you i found this website for ya regarding the lemon law:
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/services/motor_vehicle/texas_lemon_law/default.htm
hope you can keep the truck looks good but im sure it would be good to go more 5k miles before replacing them

 

Most (not all) lemon laws are the state attorney general's office (or equivilent) VS the manufacturer and a panel of arbitrators; if so, when and if you get an arbitration hearing set up, and whoever Toyota sends gets a look at the vehicle; they will automatically state the tires and wheels are aftermarket, and you will be back at square one, and have to try again. Now if the lemon law is against the distributor, you will get somewhere. You still have the same problem, you have wheels and tires not sold to you by Toyota, but by the distributor GST. So Toyota is not responsible for this particular problem. Go to work on the distributor settling the problem via the dealer. Toyota can produce a build sheet/window sticker that shows exactly how the vehicle rolled off the line, and how it departed the Toyota property on a car carrier or train. Do what it takes to get some contacts @ GST.

 

This dealer has not even brought up the fact that I can contact the distributor. They seem to think that they are the only judge of my problem tha tmatters.
I guess I'm calling the distributor this week. And maybe a couple other people too.

 

I can't understand the dealers reluctance to get GST involved, as they are the ones not only OK any repairs/changes, but will pay them to perform any work done. The dealer could also let GST make any decisions as to what to do and then nicely tell you they would rather not do it themselves and send you to another dealer, and both you and the dealer would be happy. Do you think by chance the dealer might have swapped the tire/wheels with another vehicle and got some similar but different ones from an independent retailer down the road or something? Why not after checking the tire/wheel assy's for obvious problems and also checking the alignment and seeing no problems, just request a regional rep for additional help, sinc any needed repairs will be paid for by GST.

 

No idea. Dealer service manager was supposed to call me today, no joy.

 

That is exactly what I was thinking.

I was in the auto business for many years and what LRH is telling you is exactly right. This is exactly why we never offered any options on new vehicles that did not come directly from the factory. No one will take responsibility when there is a problem.

I feel your pain and I hope you get things worked out but this is not a Toyota issue.