Toyota Dealers

[scimberk]

After having a very bad experience with a toyota dealer which has been partly documented on here and, eventually opting to get my money back on the car, I decided to take a look at my local toyota main dealers for an approved used IQ up to 3 years old.

So far, including the dealer I bought my original car from, I have checked out cars at 4 main dealers and, if this is the way things are now, I think I will be left with no choice but to buy another make of car.

In the original dealer I found that the car was not prepared properly for me to pick up, with paintwork problems made worse by vey ameaturish repairs, parts missing and service history not present, however, it's the way which dealers cars are presented for sale that is giving me cause for concern now, making me wonder if this is the way things are going to be if I want to buy from within the Toyota network.

At the first main dealer, I noticed 1 IQ on the forecourt, it had scuffed wheels, rust marks dribbling down from parking sensors on the back bumper, various quite major scratches around the body and its fuel flap was bashed into the bodywork.

At the second dealer, they had Two IQs in stock, one almost new and the other 3 years old, the 3 year old had many quite serious scratches on the door and panels around the car, as well as badly scuffed wheels, I didn't look inside, the exterior was enough.

The third dealer had only one IQ in, but this was a 13 plate and was too expensive for me, but was quite nice.

The fourth and by far the worst dealer had several IQs in stock. The first time I visited this dealer a few months ago, they had two in, one had got all 4 wheels scuffed, major scratches to the bodywork, dents in the door and major dents in the bonnet, the other was again scuffed and scratched and had a rear tyre that was flat to the point that the beading was off position on the rim and emergency inflator fluid was dribbling out on the floor. The second visit more recently found 2 IQs for sale again, the first had done scuffs around it, was fairly dirty and had a rear bumper that looked like it had been hit and was out of alignment into the rear bodywork, the other car was suffering from some major scuffs but had 2 massive dents in the door along the upper style line that would not come out unless the door were to be replaced.

Is this the kind of quality I am to expect from main dealers pedalling approved used Toyotas, if so, Toyota need to get things in order before people go elsewhere, it's absolutely disgusting to ask top money for low quality cars and service.

In the past day or do I have been to Smart, Fiat and Ford to look how things are handled there and have found things totally different, well prepared cars that I don't need to see potential in, the car has already been prepared for sale.

If I want a car that is bashed in and have to see the potential in before buying, I will go to an auction, buy a beaten up car, have it PROPERLY checked out, serviced and have a decent body shop repair it to a good standard as well as saving a heap of cash.

I want to buy approved used, but the dealers are not willing to feet decent service or cars.

Your thoughts please.

[Dark Matter]

You could always try to negotiate on price if the car has obvious defects. It is difficult to come to a consensus at to what constitutes fair wear and tear and what is a defect.
My personal opinion is that wheel scuffs are fairly expensive to fix and maybe a negotiating point but dealers are unlikely to fix them. Dents are easily fixed by Smart repairs and many dealers employ a company to remove all minor dings prior to sale. However both show signs of a car being unloved and uncared for. Move on.

Maybe you have been unlucky but my local Toyota dealer seems to keep their used stock in order.

You will inevitably get different dealer experiences and that goes for new cars as well. My partner is in the process of choosing a new car so we did the rounds on Monday at several dealers. For no other reason than they were all next to each other we visited Ford, Mitsubushi, Kia, Lexus, Audi, Hyundai and Vauxhall.

The experience ranged from a functional workshop/showroom and greasy salesman at the Mitsubush dealer, through a very nice well-spoken and helpful lady in the Audi dealership ( a palace to technology) to a suited, booted, knowledgeable and friendly salesman at the Lexus dealer . We also looked at used stock at each dealer and they were all seem to have prepared to very high standard and ready to drive away. Maybe that’s what it is - competition - and your Toyota dealers just don’t think that they have to try too hard.

[scimberk]

I've just been to fiat and their cars are really well presented, that may be a decider. It may be because the Fiat dealer is a smaller concern, whereas the Toyota dealerships are large companies that seem to be taking over the competition.

I honestly have seen better prepared cars at car supermarkets.

As for dent and paint repairs, my car could not be made right by the dealers own body shop and when they called a dent man in to do it, he, it was agreed that he actually put another dent in the car.

Maybe that's why he's called a dent man.

All in all, because this area is covered by large dealership concerns, I don't think I will be buying a Toyota now, the sooner Toyota see this kind of bad feeling happening the better.

They need to get a grip of their dealer network.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Within the EU, under Block Exemption Regulations car manufacturers cannot even specify what oils their dealer networks use, let alone 'get a grip of their dealer network'.

I don't use my local Toyota dealer, as I had two poor test drive experiences - the last one was where they took me out in a test drive in a new car that was being delivered to a customer in a few days time. As regards their used cars, these are well prepared and they are choosy as to which cars they sell and which they trade on.

The Toyota dealer I do use (about 20 miles away), have been excellent re my last three new car purchases, and similarly have well prepared used cars on display.

Both are part of large dealer groups.

[Uncle Buck]

In my experience, every single dealer is different - just like garage/workshops. Some are excellent (I would include my local dealer in this category) & some are pretty poor at best (a Fiat garage I used when I had a Stilo).

If you're not happy with one place then walk away & use another, it's their loss. That is the good aspect of competition, it usually raises the standard. The best dealer I've ever used was an Audi garage, but they were very expensive - just like the cars !

[Dark Matter]

............... The best dealer I've ever used was an Audi garage, but they were very expensive - just like the cars !

A similar experience from my look around dealers the other day. The Audi dealer was hugely impressive - more like a motoring temple - and the staff very friendly.

As for expensive. Don't confuse price with value. Of all the manufacturers vehicles we tried that day, the Q3 my partner fell in love with was head and shoulders above everything else we looked at in almost every department. Even surprisingly on price. There are some excellent deals available at the moment.

[Uncle Buck]

I'm not confusing anything Nick - the reason I sold my used Audi is that I simply couldn't afford to keep it. Every time it went into the garage it cost hundreds of pounds, no matter whether it was an oil change, service or a cambelt. I always left with an empty wallet. Their service & workmanship was very good, but for me it was just too expensive. I've never owned another car which drained my bank account so quickly.

[bobkneale]

I suspect that not all dealers (or dealerships) are the same, I also have had a less than perfect experience from my Toyota dealer after I bought a approved used IQ in late Jan 2013, I will keep my little IQ for a few years, however I will not be using that dealer again, and I will not be buying another Toyota, as my previous experiences over 40 years of motoring across three continents have all been better than my Toyota one. Perhaps I was lucky before ? My best previous experience a few years ago was possibly Audi, (That was in South Africa) it was a truly world class experience and it was a very well made and very reliable car.

Positive Regards, Bob

[scimberk]

My local dealer is 20 miles or so away, the next are 40 or so miles, but owned by the same group. If I want one that is owned by another company, I have to travel over 120 miles round trip, for a car, which in my experience is probably no better than an auction car for lots more money. That's the problem with large concerns swallowing up other dealers, goof if they are good, but awful if they are not too good.

A few weeks earlier I bought a grand vitara from a suzuki main dealer and found thei tea and coffee not as good but their service better and second hand cars in a much better state of presentation. I asked them to fit extras and this was done both quickly, painlessly and on time.

[Dark Matter]

“Value” comment not aimed at you personally! sorry if I gave that impression It was more of a general statement.

The cost of maintaining a “prestige” car can be eye watering and disproportionate to the residual value of the car. My experience is that once a car gets to about 3 years old all sort of things start to need attention regardless of make and MOTs loom. Hence I’m not interested in car purchase any more - the Lease deal on the Q3 was very good indeed – with the dealer stumping up a sizable contribution to the deposit and a generous trade in for an ageing SAAB

[DFish]

When I was looking at buying my iQ I visited the local dealers. The idiot salesman thought that a 300 yard drive on a straight road and a single roundabout was a full drive! Needless to say I went elsewhere to purchase it. I since found out that at the same dealers was the nice gent who sold me my Leon, had a chat with him about it as this was around the time of the GT86 coming out. He laughed when I told him who it was and said he's a bit of a c*ck anyway, and to see someone else. Servicing side of things does alter depending on where you go and the brand of car you drive, and this is the main reason that once out of warranty I use independents over main dealers. The labour costs are almost the same, but I feel I get a better level of service from them.

Fish

[scimberk]

Yesterday I had my faith restored in car dealers, but not in Toyota dealers. I went to yet another Fiat garage, their second hand cars were properly prepared for sale, those that wernt were hidden out of the way and being worked on whilst I was there. Suzuki were the same and refused to put a car on display until it was prepared for sale, they said they found this worked best as they never had complaints and knew exactly how much they could sell a car for. Mercedes/Smart was wonderful, like Suzuki, they were not pushy, helpful and their cars were excellent and surprisingly inexpensive in comparison to the Toyota IQ. Dont get me wrong, I prefer the IQ, but my experience of owning one has been ruined and all the dealers within a 40 mile radius of me seem to think its fine to put incomplete, damaged, tatty, dirty and in one case unroadworthy cars on display for you to IMAGINE what it MAY look like if their bodyshop and service department do their job properly, which is not guaranteed.

Thanks Toyota, your dealer network is a great advert for other marques.

[bobkneale]

Yesterday I had my faith restored in car dealers, but not in Toyota dealers. I went to yet another Fiat garage, their second hand cars were properly prepared for sale, those that wernt were hidden out of the way and being worked on whilst I was there. Suzuki were the same and refused to put a car on display until it was prepared for sale, they said they found this worked best as they never had complaints and knew exactly how much they could sell a car for. Mercedes/Smart was wonderful, like Suzuki, they were not pushy, helpful and their cars were excellent and surprisingly inexpensive in comparison to the Toyota IQ. Dont get me wrong, I prefer the IQ, but my experience of owning one has been ruined and all the dealers within a 40 mile radius of me seem to think its fine to put incomplete, damaged, tatty, dirty and in one case unroadworthy cars on display for you to IMAGINE what it MAY look like if their bodyshop and service department do their job properly, which is not guaranteed.

Thanks Toyota, your dealer network is a great advert for other marques.

Once you get an "experience" it cannot be taken away from you, so if it is a bad one then possibly a "good little car" will not be purchased and the brand name "Toyota" in this case tarnished almost forever. Perhaps this is a learning that Toyota need to experience before they wake up and see that some things need to change ? Hey Ho That's Life !

[Grumpy stumpy]

Have had same problem with two local toyota dealers, looked at three iq's all beat up, ended buying private. Also have travelled miles to look at a lexus rx400 h at lexus Leeds,derby and my local dealer norwich, all horrendous condition for the money. Lexus dealers don,t do any prep until deal done and then get them ready to view, that was what I was told when I complained to lexus uk, not good if you travel miles and are told by the dealer that they are A1 condition.