spotv6 Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 thought it may be a good idea to start a new thread to give some ideas for the guys who work at toyota dealerships to have some real customer feedback. on another thread a couple of the guys were saying that they believe that toyota technicians and dealerships dont really overcharge,and that i shouldnt really state that all dealerships are the same. so i will state a couple of instances that i have experienced and lets see if i am all on my lonesome. first taste i had of a toyota dealership was my local one who at the time were also mazda /saab and renault main agents. was quoted £700+ parts for a clutch replacement on a renault and £175 + parts for replacement speedo cable. the reasononing behind this extortion was that the engine would have to be dropped to replace the clutch . took it to a clutch specialist who funnily enough managed to do both jobs with genuine parts for the grand total of £350 now my experiences with toyota dealers............. replacement caliper x1 for 16 year old vehicle £270+ vat!! compared to 2x calpers fully refurbished with all new parts £170inclusive another funny one was replacement plug i was actually told (with a straight face!!!)that they couldnt sell me a part but the only option was to buy a new loom for the bargain price of just over £400!!! so lets hear all the loyal toyota customers regaling their local dealerships for their fantastic value for money service Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 When I was fitting the Mazda RX-8 seat heater switches in the Celica, the Mazda dealer told me it was impossible to sell me the plugs for them on their own, and that I'd need to buy the complete loom... ...thankfully, I found an RX-8 in a scrapyard later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briano Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 only dealing i have had is when they tried to charge me £400 for a fuel tank i desperatly needed couldnt get one from a breaker at the time and managed to talk them down to £300 - bet toyota dealership still made a profit on that transaction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey_matt Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Kings Lynn Toyota are great! and cant recommend them enough espes for GT-Fours, one of the Techies used to own one so is experienced on them, and one of the parts guys owns one, so actually knows which parts your on about when trying to get them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyRacer Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 I've only ever used one Toyota dealership for the last 19 years and have bought 6 new cars from them and my Celica 2nd. hand. Buying new cars and changing before their first MOT I've never needed to pay for any repairs all if any all being under warranty. Over the six new ones that has been one set of shocks, four set of brakes, one set of alloy wheels. two recalls. All my services have been carried out under fixed price menu. I buy all my bits for the Celica independently and they charge me 54.00 per hour +vat to fit parts. I can't complain and over the years they have been extremely good. Customer service has been 2nd. to none and always at the standard I would expect. When I am away on tour they look after my wife fantastically. As she does about 20K per year all the cars are serviced twice per annum. They collect the car from her, leave a courtesy, and return it. On the three unfortunate crashes she has had when I have been away thay have done everything for her needed. I cannot recommend them enough. It is no wonder that they have won the best Toyota custome services in the UK four times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damian1985 Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 replacement caliper x1 for 16 year old vehicle £270+ vat!! compared to 2x calpers fully refurbished with all new parts £170inclusive Surely you are not stupid enough to think that a part for a car that has been out of production for the last 11 years is going to be cheaper than a refurbed one. I agree that many parts are overpriced for sure, ie the cabin filter that they wanted £32 for last yr, I got a blueprint one for £12 but I don't agree that they are all as bad as a few idiots who don't know their arse from their elbow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev 16v Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 I've only had the first two services carried out in 2005/2006 by Mr T, necessary so as not to invalidate the three year warranty. Both were the smaller "interim" service so, IIRC, cost well under £100 each. The only tiny minus, was being charged for topping up the Washer Bottle, which i'd done prior to setting off for Ron Brooks in Ilkeston. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Blue Meenie Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 I hadn't touch a Toyota Garage in the eleven years of owning the Tropicana, as I used local garages (and there had been many blunders ..) When I bought Blu ('94 GT) in Feb, used the local garage again to fit new clutch (£367.62) and Timing Belt & Pulleys (£370.12)... I was having problems with judder, and had had him retracked and balanced, and the garage said I needed new track rods.. so I rang Toyota in Scarborough for the parts. Whilst picking them up I saw a leaflet about 3+Club (on my aged car I would get 50% disc on labour and 20% disc on parts). I asked how much would they charge me to quickly look around the car (bought with little service history, and had 6 previous owners).. Cost me £25 and they told me that I didn't need the track rods (refunded)... told me that the car was sound, wobble was down to wrong alloy bolts, but would need brakes doing in a couple of months... In May they drove to my work (38 miles), dropped me off a brand new state of art hybrid (wow did 78mpg - and fast with speed buttton), and took Blu for Brakes and investigation of vibration, re-fit boot lining with clips £268.70... End of May got them to do Full Service, MOT, fit new cig lighter unit, and more interior clips £304.86)... I used a local tyre garage for 4 x P6000... and this garage nearly killed me 2 weeks ago (aquaplained as 50 on A64).. they had fitted the wrong size tyres... rang Toyota, and they told me what should have been fitted... On Friday, I got a shock when getting the car out for work... oily/water fluid spread all over the underneath of the front end of car ... topped up radiator and drove to work.. kept moving him every couple of hours to check the spillage... pooling, so popped him to the garage across road.. they said i needed a new radiator £280... Told them to put Rad Bung in (£12) for the time being and I'd sort it in a couple to months... Rang Toyota to price up a radiator... they said to see how the bung does first, check for leakage... if it doesn't solve the problem, ring them and they'd pick him up (to investigate first). They never do any work or replace anything until I've had the price breakdown and ask them to do the work and I always aask for and get the hybrid. I can not fault the Scarborough Dealership for service and advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planc Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 The only tiny minus, was being charged for topping up the Washer Bottle, which i'd done prior to setting off for Ron Brooks in Ilkeston. Yeah we get this complaint quite regular but if you fill the bottle to the top then drive to the garage the fluid settles and the air locks budge out, then the techy uses the washers to check the aim. When we then take the washer cap off it looks low. If you top up before hand simply tell the service desk it doesn't need topping and they will write it on the job card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotv6 Posted July 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Surely you are not stupid enough to think that a part for a car that has been out of production for the last 11 years is going to be cheaper than a refurbed one. I agree that many parts are overpriced for sure, ie the cabin filter that they wanted £32 for last yr, I got a blueprint one for £12 but I don't agree that they are all as bad as a few idiots who don't know their arse from their elbow. funnily enough i dont think i am being stupid !! what i do believe is stupid is toyota still thinking that parts for a car that is now worth peanuts,that they still have millions of parts lying in parts bins all over the world,should be retailed at the same prices (plus inflation)as when the vehicles were relatively new :rolleyes: i dont think anywhere i stated that they didnt know their arse from their elbow?? the problem i have found is that what used to be called mechanics are now called technicians! technicians replace parts ----mechanics repair cars seems like a good 50/50 split on experiences some good some bad keep em coming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celica-190 Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 (edited) I went to order a new rear wiper arm a couple of months ago,rang me went to pick it up and when I got there it was just the rubber they had sent Idiots But I did get a handful of free fuses for the 6 whilst I was there for my trouble Edited July 19, 2011 by celica-90 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mole2704 Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 Toyota Norwich always seem disorganised in terms of return customers, but for sales I cant fault them. Toyota Bedford (Bromham) ont he other hand are great. I've been there 3-4 times so far, and only paid once for a problem I caused. That was £30 labour to diagnose the blown fuse and ~£2 for the replacement which arrived the next day. The guy on reception was different to the one i'd seen the day before but without giving any details he knew who i was, why i was there and sorted it immediately. On the other hand i had one of those "specail offer" letters in the post from HQ and phoned ot try and get them to do my service on the cheap, but the just offered free oil with my MOT test and wouldn't do anything else, but my MOT etst was in March so no good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeighV6 Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 Well it is common knowledege that I don't like Toyota Dealers, as they couldnt even time cams correclty and up blowing my engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTDAZ Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 Experiences of Toyota Dealerships and why I will never use them again:- Bolton - These raised the cost of my service when I got my car MOT'd cheaper else where (so I decided to go somewhere else for the service). Manchester Sale - Took the car for a servce, waited 20 mins for one of the technicians to tell me they couldn't get my car on the ramps because it was too low (I have a standard Gen 7 GT) Manchester Swindon - Technician decided to put an extra half a litre of oil in the engine (this was 10mm over the maximum mark on the dip stick), this was also reported to Toyota GB - even the women on the other end of the phone could not believe it and said the technician should get a warning (This is the one thing that pi"$ed me off the most, the most basic thing to do to a car - filling the engine with oil) So to sum up my experience - shite Daz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperman Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 i will add mine i guess. toyota dealer in salisbury. first off when i got the car, when in to get some touch up paint as some one had used many colour before and non had been close. first off i was told that my model of car didnt exist. then show him out the show room window that it was in front of his face.took the reg number and it didnt come up on there system at all. gave them the paint code, he told me that i must have it wrong as it didnt exist. showed him a picture of the vin plate just to make sure and nothing. now i know its an import but i go to halfords and they run the reg and it comes up with the paint code 6k8. spot on and they mix the paint that is not perfect but a very close match. next time was when the speed sensor on the car went. went to the local parts dealers, all of them recognise the number plate by the way. they told me that its a toyota only part. so expecting the worst, you know when its "toyota only" to take the vaseline with you . well it wasnt to bad in the end, they wanted about £180 plus the vat. thought well cant get it any where else so ok how long to get it as the car is in bits? they then came back with 2-4 weeks. im sorry what? the response "yes sir, we have to order it direct for toyota japan as yours is an import". well thats just crap, i think i'll leave it then. got hold of rhdjapan.com who i have used before. tell them what im after. get an email back within a few hours (think it was) £86 delivered straight from toyota japan. ok'ed it and it got to me in 3 days. no import duties to pay as well . to say that toyota deals in the uk and putting a small mark up on parts is an understatement. as we know the £86 had shipping cost and toyota japans mark up on it. :rolleyes: now i know that an import is very confusing and i shouldnt expect much as they are "completely different and made in a different language by a different company, in a different factory by men with 3 eyes and five arms". but the fact that even a halfords monkey can mash keys on a computer and pull up that its a toyota celica says that toyota (in salisbury at least) are doing some thing wrong. so my experience with toyota dealers is shall we say, not so good. andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzzzythedog Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 my experiences are simple enough every time i have approached them they offer unrivaled service and quality , they work out of immaculate workshops and have wonderful displays of there present ranges theres a reason for this if a job is worth 50 quid an hour they charge £120 + vat your paying for the shiny showroom theres was once a time where toyota could be considered for work , simple reason is theres a book with the hrs writen down on how long a job costs , the parts are a known entity so its just down to the book hours to up the price , if a book gives it as 2 hrs for a clutch then its a good price given that the local mechanic may charge less but would take longer , you would get a first class service for the same money as second class , they would check out the car fully ( hunting for more work ) and wash and vac it for you ( good service ) recently thought the continued price hikes mean toyotas themselves are now at approx twice what the layman pays elsehwere regardless of the speed , mix in the price of parts are now a serious serious piss take then i for 1 dont really care if toyota continue on as a company , to supply only a spring for a st185 i was quoted £180 , thats 1 spring , i dont know about the vat , based on this its possible you would be charged a thousand pounds to have all your springs changed , for this they can suck my greasy cheesy stump , no way , recently it was £840 or so for a drive shaft !!!!!! GTFO toyota Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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