Bird Strike

[Red Yaris 54]

Hit a pheasant today at approx 50 mph

Stupid bird was running across road right to left......changed it's mind and started back left to right ...then changed it's mind yet again as traffic approaching on the right.......Stupid thing ran straight into my path!

Result.....One dead pheasant wedged in my lower grill.......one cracked lower grill......one cracked plastic radiator side blind

Cost of parts approx £50 + VAT.....Dealer thinks that front bumper may have to come off to replace grill, but cannot be sure???

Likely labour charges (approx 2 hours labour)..........???

Looks like it may be a costly experience!

[Red Yaris 54]

Hit a pheasant today at approx 50 mph

Stupid bird was running across road right to left......changed it's mind and started back left to right ...then changed it's mind yet again as traffic approaching on the right.......Stupid thing ran straight into my path!

Result.....One dead pheasant wedged in my lower grill.......one cracked lower grill......one cracked plastic radiator side blind

Cost of parts approx £50 + VAT.....Dealer thinks that front bumper may have to come off to replace grill, but cannot be sure???

Likely labour charges (approx 2 hours labour)..........???

Looks like it may be a costly experience!

Any Toyota Techies out there able to say if the bumper needs to be removed to replace the lower grill on a Verso S??

[Jan&tone]

Unlucky you!

I had a similar experience on the Isle of Wight last week but with a pigeon.... It was chasing another and both flew low across the front of the car, the lead bird got away with it, the chasing one hit the bonnet about half way back, slid up to the wipers, lost it's head theremand smeared blood all over the passenger side of the windscreen! Luckily no damage ro the car though...

That evening we saw a small deer dead by the side of the road, no doubt whoever hit that would have had some damage

[Red Yaris 54]

Finally got dealer to confirm that max time for job will be 0.75 hour... so have booked in for repair hopefully by end of week...apparently workshop not very busy

Really depends on availability of parts!

Watch this space

Edit:

Parts available booked in for Friday Morning

[Red Yaris 54]

Arrived at 10AM.....pre arranged time

Service receptionist: Did you have it booked in for today?

Me: Sure I even called in late Wednesday and saw it on your screen

After 5 minutes

Service Receptionist: Ah yes here it is!

So keys handed over and I get a coffee and sit down to wait

15 minutes later....Technician comes into waiting area: Could you come with me sir

Walk into workshop....Front bumper off car Technician says : We need another part sir

Me: why is that then?

Technician: Well plastic plate to side of radiator is broken

Me: Yes I know ......Your Worksop supervisor told me that last week when he priced the job up!.......(By now I can see they had ordered the wrong part)

Technician: Well I will have to put your bumper back and you will have to bring it back to have the bumper removed again to fit the correct part when we get it

Me: So who is paying for this?

By now the management had taken an interest......Probably because I had begun to get "rather agitated" and threatened to totally withdraw my future custom from the dealership (having purchased many Toyotas from them and had them serviced by them)

After much discussion they have ordered the new part and I will go back Monday afternoon to have the job completed at the originally quoted price

To cap it all the Service Receptionist asked if I would like to pay today for the work!!

I have made it clear that there will be no payment till the work is completed to my satisfaction

I was then given my keys and went to my car in the car park to discover a loose (broken) plastic fixing under the offside front wheel arch.....It locates and secures the wheel arch liner......Oh Dear!

Back inside again, broken fixing in hand.....Parts manager will now ensure that replacement fixing is available for Monday!

I AM NOW LEFT TO CHEW THE SITUATION OVER THIS WEEKEND........MANY YEARS OF GOOD SERVICE AND TOTAL TRUST IN THIS DEALERSHIP HAVE BEEN PUT IN JEPEODY AS A RESULT OF SUCH APPALLING MISMANAGEMENT.......SUCH A SIMPLE TASK HAS TURNED INTO A SORRY SAGA OF TOTAL INCOMPETANCE BY A PREVIOUSLY TRUSTED DEALER

Monday will give them a chance to redeem the situation......So....Watch this space ...Yet again!

[Parts-King]

Oh heck, Good luck on Monday Steve

Kingo

[Red Yaris 54]

Took the Verso S in to have the work completed......arrived a few minutes early

Technician straight on it.......I was offered a coffee asked if I would like a newspaper to read and generally "pampered"

30 minutes later..... Service receptionist says "All done sir"

Paperwork sorted , I was handed the keys and the friendly sales exec came out with me to ensure I was satisfied with the work

Car back to new condition.......dealership has regained a bit of trust

Next scheduled visit........Annual service (April 2012)

[SRsmithy]

my father in law had a problem with the touch screen media system, it kept going off when he went over a bump in the road (which in this country is all the time)

he took it in and they ordered a new unit, around 2 weeks waiting it finally arrived, he sat down with a coffee and after 45 min the tec came out and say the unit they ordered was wrong as the connectors on the back was wrong.

so ordered another unit and 1 week later had it fixed, but they has scratched the plastic surrounds so got to go and have them replaced.

seems to me the tecs dont care if the car gets marked as its not theres or just dont care full stop.

[jirehn]

That's too bad dude, What did you do on this and in your car?

[korat102]

Birds and traffic don't mix. When they're in the air, most of them dive if they see trouble, it's an instinctive reaction to birds of prey that may be attacking. Diving doesn't do much good when they're being attacked by cars though.

When I was out in my Prius not so long ago, I had a bird bounce off my headlight. Cloud of feathers, no sign of the bird and no damage luckily.

[Cyker]

I always get a bit worried when I see low flying birds crossing the motorway for this sort of reason!

It always amazes me how much damage they cause on impact and the shower of feathers is horrific - It's like the bird's exploded

<rant>

re. the dealer experience, this has been par for the course for me. The problem I think is there are too many people involved in the process and they are too inexperienced and inflexible at anything outside standard servicing - You get the service guy you need to talk to who you agree the work with, but then it goes onto the computer and then to the parts department and the mechanics and like a game of chinese whispers, smeg knows what you'll end up with at the end.

Every time I've had to get something unusual done, they've buggered it up by ordering the wrong part or getting confused what actually needed to be done.

The last service I did there I specifically asked for the Full+ to make sure everything was fresh before I handed it down to my brother and had confirmation of this from 2 people but they ended up doing the intermediate!

And every time I need a part that's even a bit unusual, e.g. a wing mirror, ARB droplinks and bushes or wiper motor, they have always managed to order the wrong part despite having my reg and VIN, and for some reason all the parts for my Yaris seem to have to come from Japan so it's anything up to a week's delay, which gets doubled when they find they somehow ordered the wrong part!

I can't fault them for the regular servicing and the checklist they go through is handy for pre-empting problems, but whenever I need anything else done out of the ordinary, I usually get the parts myself (ToyoDIY FTW! :D) and call the travelling mechanic I know to do it instead.