Toyota Disaster

Okay, I know this is a Dodge blog, but my wife drives a Toyota. It has been a fine car for five years and I have no complaints about the “product”. However, we’ve posted some previous messages about the problems with Dodge dealers and I think we need to pay some equal time to their competitors – specifically, our local Toyota dealer. Here’s the story… (get out your kleenex).

The idiot light on the dash indicated there was an engine problem and the owner’s manual gave no help except to say “Take vehicle to the dealer”. So we did and learned that the catalytic converter was bad. Fortunately (and this is the only good part of this story), this part is warranted for 80,000 mi. so it was a no charge repair for us – in terms of money, but it was not in stock and we had to return the following week.

I won the toss and had to take the car to the dealer on a Friday morning for the repair that was supposed to take 1-2 hours. 3.5 hours after I arrived I was told that the mechanic stripped an oxygen sensor and that they had to order that part – and I would have to bring the car back AGAIN next week. This time they offered us a loaner car so that we could return when the car was ready. That was nice, but it didn’t make-up for the inconvenience, which was just getting under way… Since the car was to be there so long, I asked them to change the oil while they were making these repairs. “No problemo”, I was told.

I was called the following Wednesday (it was promised Tuesday) and told that my car was ready. I drove to the dealer, turned-in my loaner and while speaking to the service manager, it was discovered that they did NOT change the oil. “No”, I said, “I do not want to wait longer while you do this”. I left. That Saturday, my wife took the car to a oil change franchise to get her oil changed. While there she learned that there were missing bolts on the engine shroud and the dip stick tube was swinging in the breeze because another bolt(s) was also missing.

I called the Toyota dealer and expressed extreme frustration with a few expletives thrown in for emphasis. I was told to bring the car in (for the fourth time) and they would replace the missing bolts. When I got to the dealer, I “suggested” that the have a different mechanic make this latest repair – other than the one who already botched the job. They thought that was a good idea and promised they would get on this NOW.

The icing on the cake is that after almost 3 hours waiting, I finally decided that they must have discovered a serious problem, because it doesn’t take hours to replace a few bolts. By now I had it and was P.O’d big time. I went to the service manager’s office and asked what the new problem was. He looked at me like I was crazy and said that the car had been done for hours. It seems that someone “forgot” to tell me that I could leave with my car.

The bottom line is that IMHO, most dealers of any flavor suck. If the dealer’s going to suck anyhow, you may as well be driving the product that makes you happy – cause your dealer won’t!!!