Servicing Opinions - Main Dealer Or Time For Indy?

[Dabooka]

Hi chaps,

Just to be clear on my situation, it's out of warranty now. It's really about views on if it's 'worth' sticking to main dealer at my age of car. As it is we've decided we will on this occasion stick with them, mainly because when changing the Battery (see my other thread) I noticved what seems to be a small oil weep at the seat of what I think is injector #2 (second form the left as looking at it). As it had some extensive work done by them a few months ago which proved problematic I want to get it back to them to look at. Hopefully it's just a simple job for them to do.

FInally the issue of servicing vs warranty; my sister in law just bought a new Kia (nice motor) and whemn she mentoined the 7 year warranty I menetioned the servicing should be done by Kia to keep it up. She saw that as a rip off, personally I think it's fairly reasonable!

[Parts-King]

"It will invalidate whats left of the warranty but I'm yet to see the advantage of this.I think the goodwill referred to with toyota only occurs when they know their is a fault with their car (i.e the rav4 diesel engines) and not when something else happens."

"Having a service at an independant does not invalidate any warranty, you must keep all receipts and records. If the car is outside of warranty and you get it serviced at an independant, then you would most likely lose any goodwill if for instance a part failed outside the warranty period. Goodwill is a two way process, you get goodwill for stopping inside the Toyota network, NOT for going to an independant

Kingo"

The posters car, according to their profile, is a 2008 Rav4, which would have come with the 3 yr/60,000 mile new car warranty. So if the car is still within a warranty period, it must have something like an extended warranty - and if that is a Toyota Extended Warranty, then servicing should be done via a Toyota dealer. Presumably, that is why having an independent service would invalidate the warranty the car has.

If you have manufacturers extended warranty then you must have it serviced at a Toyota dealer, it is part of the terms and conditions, and no, block exemption does not apply

Kingo

[Parts-King]

So an example of double dipping by Toyota - the cost of a fairly expensive extended warranty plus assured revenue from servicing!

The extended warranty is by far the best option of any warranty, far better than buying some off the peg warranty, not worth the paper it is written on, which will still have a servicing requirement, very often with small claim limits

[ALake]

So an example of double dipping by Toyota - the cost of a fairly expensive extended warranty plus assured revenue from servicing!

The extended warranty is by far the best option of any warranty, far better than buying some off the peg warranty, not worth the paper it is written on, which will still have a servicing requirement, very often with small claim limits

This isn't my experience which is why I'm prepared to go indy - out of the two dealerships one wanted to charge to even look at the car despite only having bought it from them 1 month prior. The other have had a look but are unable (or unwilling?) to find anything - which makes me wonder whether their mechanics can function without a laptop and an error code.

I'm fairly confident if I took the car to a proper mechanic he would find the problem, as finanically he would have the incentive to do so. The problem I've found with manufacturers warranties (and not just toyota in this case) is that they will faff about - rather than going for the most obvious problem. The only exception I've had to this was with a Ford dealership once when my Focus has the occasional but distinctive noise of a failing starter motor. The garage said they couldn't replicate the issue but based on my description changed the starter motor and all was fixed - now that is what I call customer service. Its a shame that garage is no longer in my area.

[Big Kev]

The 5 year warranty on my car stipulates first three services NO NEED for Mr.T............services 4 and 5 MUST BE Mr. T.

Only had wan service thus far, done at Mr. T, with me supplying the oil............£70.00ish. I have sufficient oil to take me out of warranty period, so Mr. T it shall be.

IMHO, in times of things going wrong allied to servicing issues, Toyota dealer always react more sympathetically. That hopefully will not open yet another thread of "well ma dealer was pish......"

[ALake]

Ma local dealer is pish!

Thats the thing with reputations - they're totally dependent on the dealerships and they can vary a lot. I think toyota are heading the same sort of way that VW have gone - a good reputation being gradually disolved due to poor dealers and the effect of some recalls etc.

[Parts-King]

A dealer invests millions of pounds in being a Toyota dealer, the franchise standards have to be continually met. No dealer deliberatly sets out to be bad, its a complex business and sometimes hampered by a high turnover of staff, particularly in sales and with large groups and multi franchise operations. In our own business, we have a very low turnover, but we are a family run business. It only takes one customer to be disgruntled with just one aspect of the operation, maybe the product, a salesman, the service desk or whatever. The vast majority of customers at any dealer will be very happy, but as you can see all over this forum, people will come on and say their dealer was bad because of XYZ, it doesnt make them a bad dealer, but it does in the eyes of that customer. It is how these customer complaints are handled that matters, in the vast majority of cases there will be an amicable solution, but there will be some who will never darken the doors of their dealer again, hopefully they are few and far between. As for pish??? :lol:

Kingo

[ALake]

A dealer invests millions of pounds in being a Toyota dealer, the franchise standards have to be continually met. No dealer deliberatly sets out to be bad, its a complex business and sometimes hampered by a high turnover of staff, particularly in sales and with large groups and multi franchise operations. In our own business, we have a very low turnover, but we are a family run business. It only takes one customer to be disgruntled with just one aspect of the operation, maybe the product, a salesman, the service desk or whatever. The vast majority of customers at any dealer will be very happy, but as you can see all over this forum, people will come on and say their dealer was bad because of XYZ, it doesnt make them a bad dealer, but it does in the eyes of that customer. It is how these customer complaints are handled that matters, in the vast majority of cases there will be an amicable solution, but there will be some who will never darken the doors of their dealer again, hopefully they are few and far between. As for pish??? :lol:

Kingo

Good points there - I bet a lot of the dealers that are family based have better reputations purely because its their business and they care about its future. Obviously not the case with my dealer who don't care whether I am happy or not (and quite a few other people from speaking locally)

Its a shame because thats my point of contact with toyota effectively, and that how you gain your opinions.

[Heidfirst]

The 5 year warranty on my car stipulates first three services NO NEED for Mr.T............services 4 and 5 MUST BE Mr. T.

Only had wan service thus far, done at Mr. T, with me supplying the oil............£70.00ish. I have sufficient oil to take me out of warranty period, so Mr. T it shall be.

IMHO, in times of things going wrong allied to servicing issues, Toyota dealer always react more sympathetically. That hopefully will not open yet another thread of "well ma dealer was pish......"

May I ask which Mr. T that was (in my experience they are not all happy to do servicing with customer supplying lubricants etc.)?

So far AC Linwood "no, AC Bishopbriggs "yes" & Western in Edinburgh used to be OK with it.

[Big Kev]

Bishopbriggs, Heidy......as I have stated before, and possibly by treating them as I would have myself treated, I have an excellent rapport with both service and sales side, but sales side have WELL turned over in personnel since I got well messed aboot a couple of years back.

Also gave them the job OF RENEWING REAR BRAKES COMPLETELY.....100%......and I supplied all material for wife's 2004 Rav......

discs / pads / handbrake shoes. Not only did they do it at a good price, they discounted it further when they remembered its age, fgs.......and neatly laid out all removed bits on broon paper in the boot.

[dwilson]

I suppose at the end of the day we will each decide how to spend our money and the risks we are willing to take. For my RAV and my Aygo I have so far used Toyota main dealer for servicing but for an old Micra I use an independent who only do what is necessary and charge appropriately (unlike a tyre outlet who I asked to give the Micra a "health and safety" check and wasted my time, and theirs, by suggesting all kinds of things needed replacing when they didn't - luckily I was suspicious and didn't proceed).

[firemac]

I've always used TGB main dealers for servicing all our Toyotas irrespective of age; apart from one who wasn't competent to diagnose a failing cat whilst the car was still under extended warranty despite a series of replacement sensors over 3 months and whose door I'll never darken again, they've all been good to excellent.

Apart from the warranty security, I've always found their costs to be fair enough and sometimes cheaper than after market suppliers or indies. At the end of the day I'm pretty sure that I've paid more than I could have if I had gone for cheapest on every opportunity but I feel that I've had a good deal from Mr.T overall.

I also agree with Kingo in that one pi55ed-off punter doesn't automatically = lousy dealership. Some people are just naturally !Removed!-minded and expect RR service at Mini rates and such people will never recognise value unless there is a £ sign in front of it. Of course there are genuine complaints and the quality of the dealership is shown by the way the complaint is handled. There's no such thing as 100% quality 100% of the time.