How much does Toyota actually know about their cars?

[Cravo]

My local one Copcutts in Worksop are ok. Used to go school with the owners son and a lot of their mechanics were from the same village so always had a good rapport with them.

Probably also why I bought three cars from them in the past aswell

[Booth]

My local Toyota arent clued up on the parts for the Celica, but they are more than willing to show my the parts diagram so I can point out which one it is.

To be honest I got there so often they know me by name now, I get discount on all parts and they get the diagrams out before asking me what part I need lol.

[scottyyy]

That's good then Cravo . Atleast you know they are decent having good reports and being local etc

You Jammy sod Booth Nice to see some dealers going that extra Mile for their customers.

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[Blaine]

Where's that too Jay? Il ha've to see what this Bridgend one is like in person before judging them by the phone conversation... But looks like a few people had varyd experiences.

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bridgend were quite good for me tbh

Newport on the other hand, they're useless

[scottyyy]

They seemed nice enough on the phone Blaine, just a bit dim. But the woman could be new so not her fault. Aberdare on the otherhand won't even answer the phone.

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[slybunda]

they probably got caller id on the lookout for your number lol./

[scottyyy]

Yea most prob lol

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[thermoacc]

Toyota/Lexus world in Cardiff have been good with me. Then again, I dont use them for servicing, just parts and consumables

[threepot]

When it comes to skilled automotive engineers in dealerships there is a catch 22 present. They will only employ young people with qualifications in the automotive area, e.g. BTEC 2/3 or NVQ 2/3 in Vehicle Maintainence.

But spend a couple of days round your local colleges Automotive workshop and you will realise a fair few of the lads who do those courses are not pushing IQ's of 150 And the lectures are prone to teaching a syllabus which is geared to pass rates which is not challenging their top students - pass rates supply funding in the modern FE college.

Quite often, the lads who are quite experience before they start college drop out through boredom, more often than not they have been doing all the stuff they cover at college with their dad, uncle, brother etc for years.

No one can do 2/3 years at college, then from nowhere be any good at fault finding. Yes they can drop oils, change brake pads, put an exhaust on, change a spring, swap a wheel bearing, fit a CV joint etc - some better than others. But they have not had some fantastic experienced mentors to work beside year on year - that is where good mechanics often come from.

It takes decades of challenging jobs to become good, and that isn't decades of servicing and wear n tear parts replacements.

There are some good guys out there, but I think they are a minority in the industry. I hope I have not offended too many garage workers here

[slybunda]

threepot you the man, show those paper mechanics how its done!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ShaneMag85]

Having worked for a toyota dealership within the service department i can hopefully shed some light on this. Most (not all) of the service representitives have had little or no experience in actually working on vehicles and only have access to select information on a computer in front of them. if you want the best advise from a toyota dealership you need to speak with the guys that actually work on the vehicles day in day out. As for the guy who stated they didnt know what an ssiii was, im not at all suprised by this as a uk dealership have very limited info to jap spec vehicles and will have likely only dealt with uk spec models. But some lucky dealerships will have a representitive thats has actually worked the trade and know thier stuff But to be honest it was very rare we saw any kind of celica come in for any kind of servicing so its no suprise that a lot of dealerships dont have the info or experience readily available. You go in and ask about the gt86 however and they will likely be more clued up

When it comes to skilled automotive engineers in dealerships there is a catch 22 present. They will only employ young people with qualifications in the automotive area, e.g. BTEC 2/3 or NVQ 2/3 in Vehicle Maintainence.

But spend a couple of days round your local colleges Automotive workshop and you will realise a fair few of the lads who do those courses are not pushing IQ's of 150 And the lectures are prone to teaching a syllabus which is geared to pass rates which is not challenging their top students - pass rates supply funding in the modern FE college.

Quite often, the lads who are quite experience before they start college drop out through boredom, more often than not they have been doing all the stuff they cover at college with their dad, uncle, brother etc for years.

No one can do 2/3 years at college, then from nowhere be any good at fault finding. Yes they can drop oils, change brake pads, put an exhaust on, change a spring, swap a wheel bearing, fit a CV joint etc - some better than others. But they have not had some fantastic experienced mentors to work beside year on year - that is where good mechanics often come from.

It takes decades of challenging jobs to become good, and that isn't decades of servicing and wear n tear parts replacements.

There are some good guys out there, but I think they are a minority in the industry. I hope I have not offended too many garage workers here

True however i know for a fact toyota will take apprentices rather than letting them loose straight out of college. they usually shadow the most experienced guys for at least 2 years before letting them loose by themselves as well as having to attend toyota specific college courses to allow them to be trained to thier standards. But even then the not very experienced bit still applies because again not much experience in fault finding

However that was just at my local dealership, others may vary

Edited February 17, 2014 by ShaneMag85

[Jay_28]

When it comes to skilled automotive engineers in dealerships there is a catch 22 present. They will only employ young people with qualifications in the automotive area, e.g. BTEC 2/3 or NVQ 2/3 in Vehicle Maintainence.

But spend a couple of days round your local colleges Automotive workshop and you will realise a fair few of the lads who do those courses are not pushing IQ's of 150 And the lectures are prone to teaching a syllabus which is geared to pass rates which is not challenging their top students - pass rates supply funding in the modern FE college.

Quite often, the lads who are quite experience before they start college drop out through boredom, more often than not they have been doing all the stuff they cover at college with their dad, uncle, brother etc for years.

No one can do 2/3 years at college, then from nowhere be any good at fault finding. Yes they can drop oils, change brake pads, put an exhaust on, change a spring, swap a wheel bearing, fit a CV joint etc - some better than others. But they have not had some fantastic experienced mentors to work beside year on year - that is where good mechanics often come from.

It takes decades of challenging jobs to become good, and that isn't decades of servicing and wear n tear parts replacements.

There are some good guys out there, but I think they are a minority in the industry. I hope I have not offended too many garage workers here

Threepot you always talk complete and utter SENSE! Lol

[threepot]

Sarcasm is pretty witty in my opinion

[cuddles]

My Mr T at Bradford is very good. I have just signed my 05 T Sport (and RAV4) up for a service plan which gives me the next three services, half the MOT ( I pay £25 on day) and they pick the car up at my home. This costs £9.18 per month - £20 for both. The documentation Toyota sent stated it was for people like me who use the car as a second, low mileage car. The three services for each car are all Intermediate services which normally cost £129 with MOT (£50) extra. I think it is a good deal as it will cost me £133 all in for each service. I will keep an eye on the service book and get those extra things done when needed. I can't do my own servicing and feel quite happy to pay that to a main dealer once a year and if it needs a bit of "standard" work doing on it I know a very good local mechanic who can do that. I also got the same deal on my RAV4. Last service plan on each I was paying £20 per month for each car. Toyota must be seeing people leaving them for cheaper servicing to make them come up with this. I told them I was getting fed up of seeing things on the service sheet that i was paying for such as windscreen wash re-fill, oiling hinges and so on. All I want is to pay a mechanic to service the main things and let me check all of those other simple things. Maybe this is what Toyota have now realised.

I have always used main dealers and have been pleased with them. I do tell them bluntly that I will continue to use them while they give good service but will walk away when they let me down.

P.S. My Celica is only one of two Celica's that they service in Bradford and I am constantly told that the mechanics all have a good look at it when it is in and say how good it looks - even up against the GT86 which makes me feel good about owning a Celica.

Edited February 20, 2014 by cuddles