Independent Toyota Specialist's

[Kojac]

Can members recommend a good independent toyota specialist accessible from South-West London? 

Happy to travel.

He works about 15 mins away from heathrow (neighbour).

[Kojac]

Seriously? No one?

[FROSTYBALLS]

This question gets raised quite often - and frequently there are few, if any, responses.

[Steven83]

my previous car was a bmw, the main dealer cost a fortune so I used a specialist.

i only really did this to maintain some resell value as it was a performance car and I know buyers like to see it was cared for by bmw trained hands.

but when it comes to Toyota does it really need a specialist?

 

to maintain my warranty I will use the main dealer for servicing but anything else I’ll just go to a normal garage unless it’s something engine related as I have a hybrid. 

 

 

[TonyHSD]

39 minutes ago, Steven83 said:

my previous car was a bmw, the main dealer cost a fortune so I used a specialist.

i only really did this to maintain some resell value as it was a performance car and I know buyers like to see it was cared for by bmw trained hands.

but when it comes to Toyota does it really need a specialist?

 

to maintain my warranty I will use the main dealer for servicing but anything else I’ll just go to a normal garage unless it’s something engine related as I have a hybrid. 

 

 

Back in 2010-2015 many garages did not wanted to work on Toyota hybrids at all claiming they had no training to work on hybrids and the most interesting was that they even didn’t want to do a simple oil and filter change , imagine anything else like egr service or Battery fan cleaning., but now most garages had done courses to their staff to work on hybrids and electric cars. There some called Toyota hybrids specialist in London ( east London) particularly but I would not take my car there, just a personal preference 👍

[Roy124]

Mr Google threw up a good number but perhaps not close enough. 

It might also be ordinary Toyota garages calling them specialists.  You would really need to check out all suitable ones who say they are.  I have Toyotek near me and it looks promising. 

You could ask Honest John too. 

[Cyker]

It's weird ain't it - Lots of 'specialists' for the german brands, but I rarely see actual specialists for Toyotas.

TBH the thing about Toyotas is they are much much easier to work on than many german cars (You don't have to take the whole engine out to change a filter for instance...), and the workshop manuals are very easy to access via toyota-tech.eu so maybe there's not such a demand for them?

For the non-hybrid cars, I think you just need to find a garage who actually cares and have some pride in their work, and they'd be able to do pretty much anything on the car. My travelling mechanic loved working on my little Yaris Mk1 because everything was so accessible compared to the BMWs and Audis he normally deals with! Sadly he won't touch hybrids as he's not trained or certified for them. I know there's a garage in Enfield called Pressbay motors who do hybrid work (Was chatting to them while they were trying to figure out yet another problem on my old Mk2, and they mentioned 3 of their techs were getting certification for working with high-voltage stuff for EVs and hybrids!)

With a hybrid you're kinda stuck with Toyota as no other garage will give you the hybrid Battery warranty. I think Toyota realised this which is why the introduced the Relax warranty  - The services are a lot more expensive than they used to be compared to before the old gold/silver scheme was introduced, but if you factor in the cost of an annual warranty from e.g. warranty direct, it looks a lot better.

 

[Catlover]

Cyber, you don’t have to have your car serviced by Toyota to get the annual 12 month hybrid Battery warranty. Just book it in for the hybrid Battery health check, cost me £45 to get the wife’s Auris hybrid checked and got the certificate to prove it. Some time later my local garage changed engine oI/filter and I checked the engine air and pollen filter.

[Stivino]

I have always found German cars to be easy to work on from as far back as the eighties.

i.e.  You can change brake discs on the modern VW group cars without removing the caliper mounting brackets. Swing the caliper out the way and pull the disc out, simples.

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, Stivino said:

I have always found German cars to be easy to work on from as far back as the eighties.

i.e.  You can change brake discs on the modern VW group cars without removing the caliper mounting brackets. Swing the caliper out the way and pull the disc out, simples.

You can do similar with Toyota brakes.,

the German cars used to be like Toyota back then but since late 1990’s 2000’s these are the worst cars to work on, even easy tasks like changing a pollen filter, light bulb or Battery requires special tools and a lots of dismantling, great patience and plenty of time. Doing a bigger jobs like timing belts, chains, transmission fluids, egr cleaning etc it’s a nightmare. , plus they require many parts to be replaced just for a service, something that in Toyota and most other Japanese cars would be classed as proper repair, German cars are worse than French at the moment.  

[Konrad C]

I just saw this post, so hopefully not too late in response. If you can get to Sidcup, you could try Tech One - http://www.tech-one.co.uk/ 


https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Tech+One+Toyota+Specialists/@51.4245722,0.1057599,19z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d8ac0358a3601b:0xb2b7f6a6b833f4da!8m2!3d51.4244213!4d0.1063052!5m1!1e1?hl=en

[Stivino]

On 10/29/2021 at 3:41 PM, TonyHSD said:

the German cars used to be like Toyota back then

They are like that now.

[Cyker]

Some of them maybe, but a lot are not.

A customer was telling me how he couldn't even change the 12v Battery in his BMW without having to get a garage to program it into the ECU!

They seem to be deliberately engineering them to discourage DIY servicing and repair. Even modern Golfs need specialist tools to get at some of the parts (I think it was a Golf anyway...), but with Toyota you pretty much just need a standard socket and spanner set and you can take the whole car apart! (And a trim removal tool... they seem to really like their clips and plastic pop-pins!  )

[Steven83]

2 hours ago, Cyker said:

Some of them maybe, but a lot are not.

A customer was telling me how he couldn't even change the 12v battery in his BMW without having to get a garage to program it into the ECU!

They seem to be deliberately engineering them to discourage DIY servicing and repair. Even modern Golfs need specialist tools to get at some of the parts (I think it was a Golf anyway...), but with Toyota you pretty much just need a standard socket and spanner set and you can take the whole car apart! (And a trim removal tool... they seem to really like their clips and plastic pop-pins!  )

My bmw Battery needed programming.

the modern BMWs will charge the Battery more aggressively as it ages to make sure it produced enough energy when needed (starting a 3litre engine uses more volts) 

but when you put a new Battery in you need to programme it so that the charge is set back to how it should be.

[Cyker]

That makes sense, but the car should be able to sense that itself, and even if it couldn't you should be able to just press a button/menu option to tell it a new Battery is installed; The bit I don't get is the Battery has an actual code printed on it that you need to use an ODB2 tool to enter into the car's ECU for it to work properly!

 

[Kojac]

On 10/30/2021 at 9:38 AM, Konrad C said:

I just saw this post, so hopefully not too late in response. If you can get to Sidcup, you could try Tech One - http://www.tech-one.co.uk/ 


https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Tech+One+Toyota+Specialists/@51.4245722,0.1057599,19z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d8ac0358a3601b:0xb2b7f6a6b833f4da!8m2!3d51.4244213!4d0.1063052!5m1!1e1?hl=en

What do fellow members think about trying this place out?

Has anyone had any experience of them?

 

[Konrad C]

14 hours ago, Kojac said:

What do fellow members think about trying this place out?

Has anyone had any experience of them?

 

I haven't need to use Tech One, but my mechanic who is Toyota trained use to work with the owner at Toyota, so knows him. 

I did a general Google search for Toyota specialists and found this - https://www.service4service.co.uk/manufacturers/toyota

Outside of routine servicing, is there anything wrong with the car that is Toyota specific? I say this, because apart from the EPB, the Valvematic engine only weakness is the Valvematic controllers. The diesels can be fixed by any competent garage with the latest equipment.

[AisinW]

Most mechanics has a chart and database for service handbook. In most cases, the price for Toyota, Honda,Mazda, and Nissan are cheaper because how easy working with any Japanese cars.  You generally only need basic tools. Hex wrench and sockets 8, 10, 12, 14, 17 mm.  Sometimes may need 19, 22, and 24 for differentials,etc.  Hex allen keys is cheap too.  £50 toolset is enough. 

Apart for maintenance, any adults can work with Toyota Corolla/Auris. Everything is simple and the same as regular car except when you deal with high voltage system.  Even the AC system is not that hard. I replaced the evaporator on Prius 2006, it takes time but can be done with relatively simple basic tools for less than £100 total.  I have to buy AC gauges and vacuum pump. My mechanics cannot use his to prevent contamination with PAG oil. Hybrid uses 100V compresor and need ND11 oil or the compressor will be shorted. Generally when working with AC, you need clean tool, they are the same as regular car with 134a refrigerant. 

My advice, any mechanics know how to work with it, the same as non hybrid except the HV system and AC. 

[Wooster]

I've never used them, but these guys say they are specialists in hybid servicing:  hevra.org.uk/index