Naughty Toyota

November 9, 2007

I took my new T-sport to my nearest dealership today for one of thier free safety/visual inspections.

I left it there and went to do some chirstmas shopping in the town

returned later expecting a good green safety report just hightlighing my low front tyre tread, and a loose rear wheel arch liner

but no, amost every box was amber ticked!

which got me a bit worried, sat down and talked to the guy.

1. Front discs worn and corroded, pads badly worn

2. loose side repeater housing - not really worried about that one

3. front ARB bushes worn/perished, freepaly

4. O/S/R top susp. mount worn

5. front tyres on legal limit

6. aux/alternator belt cracked and perished

about 400-500 pounds worth of work

now with the cars low-ish milage i found this a bit suspect, as my last yaris had all green boxes at 69,000 miles

i took it to 3 different independent garages who checked the car and they let me have a look myself

all of them were completely honest with me (and i could see for myself) that 90% of the work wasnt actually needed.

Yes the ARB bushes were cracked/perishing, but they had not collapsed, and there was no play in them

top supension mount was fine

brake pads had plenty left on them, and the dics were only slightly corroded on the inside around the edge, nothing to worry about i was told by the other garages.

and the aux belt, abasoutly spotless, not a mark on it

id expect this from some garages, but not a dealership

and the guy i was dealing with was fully aware i was a mechanic myself, yet still tried to fob me off with uneeded work!

i havent spoke to them about it yet, but i think i will give them a peice of my mind

still, they washed my car for me, and put a little bit of fuel in, which was nice while i was off doing my shopping ;)

i would reccomend getting one of the safety reports though, its good to know what going on, and you get a free wash n vac while you go off and do whatever. :P

also, should i name and shame the dealership/group? or not?