Why you should never trust a dealership

Went in recently for a recall. Also due for a ToyotaCare service.

Service advisor hands me a piece of paper "yeah the only thing you really need to get done is your engine air filter. It's due for a change."

I said oh. That's interesting. He told me don't worry, it'll probably make it to about 15,000 miles. I was so reassured.

See what they didn't know is about an hour before the appointment, I put a brand new OEM air filter in the truck. Then I drove about 20 miles to the dealership. On a paved road, on a dry day. I could've put that thing in the box and resold it as new.

This is the first oil change I've had done at a dealership in 17 years. And it is officially the last time I will ever go to a dealership for anything.

 

I think you meant ‘stealership’. However, I am willing to give them benefit of the doubt. There may have been some misinformation with another customer. What they say when you told them your Taco had a new filter?

 

To give them the benefit of the doubt, they're probably just going off the miles and didn't look at the air filter yet?

I've had good and bad experiences with dealerships. SF Toyota treats my truck well though and the service writer is a nice guy.

 

I'm no fan of car dealers, but how were they supposed to know that you already changed the air filter?

At least they didn't charge you $50 for a $5 can of gas treatment that you didn't need and have no way of verifying that they added it.

 

Brother, it's the nature of the game.
You see, they told you need a filter now. But it'll make it a bit longer (15k)
So the next time you are in there, you are REALLY going to need one.
The guy scrubbing the toilets has to get paid too.......
That overpriced air filter is what makes it possible for him to get a paycheck.

It's all in the game.
You either play, or you don't.

Pay to play.
Or do it yourself and don't play or pay.

 

Just so you know… Dealerships make majority of their income with services. It’s why they charge crazy money to change the air filter.

 

He was looking at mileage. And he was apparently correct since you changed it the same day. He had no way to know that. This doesn't sound like a problem at all. In fact, I'd rate this as quite honest. The guy told you the truth and didn't try to upsell you stuff you didn't need. If I'm reading this right, he didn't even try to sell you an air filter. It sounds like he just advised you that you were close and to do it before 15,000 miles.

 

Very typical of all if not most of dealers, the air filter, cabin filter and wipers is the one I hear most. It doesn't take a whole lot of time or effort to change them yourself. But, some people would just say just do it. My neighbor took his Lexus for 30k service and came our paying $2200, new tires, new brake pads, etc, etc. I asked him why? He said because they told him they needed to be replaced. Heck of a lot of money for an oil/filter change which is probably all he needed.

 

I usually skew towards giving dealers the benefit of the doubt cause I was a dealer tech for about a decade so I have a decent idea of how they actually work.
But they should have visuslly checked the engine airfilter before recommending it, cabin air filters I never checked cause it takes to long and you can judge how dirty it will be based on how dirty the inside of the vehicle is and how dirty the engine air filter is.
In fairness to the SA they never see the actual problem unless its really extreme so they just get a list of what the tech said is needed and the quote from the parts dept, if it is roughly what other vehicles need at that mileage its not questioned.

 

They were trying to help you out by letting you know it’s time soon based off miles, why you so mad

 

I've played that game before. I said "the air filter is brand new. What makes you think it needs changed?"

-"Oh, uh, we typically go by what's recommended by mileage interval."

"So, where it says 'inspect' in the book, you recommend replace?"

-"The vast majority of customers don't pay attention to such critical items like you obviously do. We just have to recommend all maintenance items in case it hasn't been performed." (nice bailout, props.)
-"Anyways, your windshield wipers are due for replacement."

I just looked over my glasses at him on that until he backtracked with "haha just kidding."

 

I didn't even bother. I just said oh OK. it wasn't worth the energy.

Because what they're doing is they're telling you they're inspecting the air filter. There's an implication here that it's actually been looked at.

If you're just going by mileage you're not inspecting shit. Because when I inspected it the day before, it needed to be changed. That's how I knew it needed to be changed. I looked at it. 15,000 miles was too long. Because it was full of sand.

 

He told you that based on mileage, which is perfectly reasonable. Now if he had said the filter was disgustingly dirty and needed replacement, then you'd have a valid complaint.

 

Only time I've fooled with dealer service was on my '17 w/ the leaky diff. Warranty repair, no issues at all. Having said that, I don't even use the free oil changes, rather just do it myself. Wife's Rav4 had doubled-up oil plug gaskets after dealer service. Didnt find it till i changed it the next time, no idea how it didnt leak. Then, on her 4runner, a different dealer had crossthreaded 3 of the 4 bolts on the metal skid plate. Never again, unless theres warranty work

 

I'm mostly lost on that. Did you start by telling the dealer you changed the filter? My long-running experience is dealers and independent service places both vary with quality also sharing the challenges to have staff with reading skills. Good dealers haven't given me the problem where some independents have staff and owners who operate by opinions vs follow directions.

A tip I always give is when you do a dealer check in make sure they show you their screen or a print out with your instructions even if they're as simple as refer to Toyota's documentation.

 

I can't believe how many replies here are excusing the OPs experience at the dealership service department.

People rely on believing that the dealership will be the experts for their vehicle, and in fact, the dealership shows how little they care by not even inspecting the air filter before making a recommendation.

I distrust the dealership so much that when our 2020 Toyota left my wife stranded, I fixed it myself to avoid the headache of dealing with the local Toyota dealership. In fact, when I found out why her Toyota left her stranded, I realized I made the right choice, they would not have been able to find the problem and it would've been a back and forth wasting our time

 

I had a dealer tell me once- “your brake pads need to be replaced. They’ve worn down to 6mm- that’s almost metal-on-metal!” Luckily I know how much 6mm is, and it is most definitely not anywhere near metal-on-metal and went many more thousands of miles before changing the pads.

 

This right here. It’s all the lazy “I don’t care” people that the dealerships drool over and they assume every customers are the same until they’re not. If you refuse to pay and you’d rather diy then you are the exception.

 

what went wrong with it?

 

If anyone is interested, you can document self maintenance in your MyToyota account following these directions.

https://support.toyota.com/s/article/How-do-I-add-a-servic-7558?language=en_US