Does your local dealer also stink?

[Delta1Seven]

At this point, I’m less surprised and more just curious if other people feel the same way about bringing their truck in for service. Do you guys also feel like you can’t really trust the service department because they stink?

I dropped my truck off at my local Toyota dealership for a few warranty concerns. As expected, they came back with the classic “no problem found.” Annoying, but not unexpected.

What really bothered me is they also did me the “favor” of performing a free service without asking or getting approval first.

The issue is that I do all my own maintenance, and I had literally just done an oil change and tire rotation myself using Amsoil, which I trust more than whatever bulk oil the dealership uses. Now I have to rotate my tires again just to get them back to the way they were before they touched it (also I don’t know what method they used but I cross the fronts to the rear)

This is also the same dealership that previously stripped the oil drain plug on my wife’s car, likely from impacting it into the drain pan, so I already don’t feel great about them working on our vehicles.

rant over

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[izzy]

Have not been super impressed with my local dealer. Expressed concerns about my bed being a little crooked, about 1/2" towards the driver side (well documented Tacoma issue, easy fix) and they turned me away. Also asked if they could do anything about the trim on the top of the bed lifting and the response was "it is what it is".

The next dealer to check out the bed-crookedness issue said:

"If Toyota sees the truck was used offroad they will deny the warranty claim"

So I guess the 4x selector is just for show, you're not supposed to use it.

Glad to see trim apparently doesn't matter when it comes to poor service lol

My independent shop took care of my 15k service and will work on the truck going forward. I didn't trust the dealer to not fuck up my skidplate.

Also after the last dealer oil change, they dripped oil into the skidplate, which then dripped onto the garage floor... It's like 4 bolts guys, just take it off, clean the skidplate and do your best to not strip them when you put it back on... whatever. If they did all that and billed me 1/4 hour for skidplate removal and didn't make a mess I would have been fine with the charge. Baffling

 

[Miqie]

At this point, I’m less surprised and more just curious if other people feel the same way about bringing their truck in for service. Do you guys also feel like you can’t really trust the service department because they stink?

I dropped my truck off at my local Toyota dealership for a few warranty concerns. As expected, they came back with the classic “no problem found.” Annoying, but not unexpected.

What really bothered me is they also did me the “favor” of performing a free service without asking or getting approval first.

The issue is that I do all my own maintenance, and I had literally just done an oil change and tire rotation myself using Amsoil, which I trust more than whatever bulk oil the dealership uses. Now I have to rotate my tires again just to get them back to the way they were before they touched it (also I don’t know what method they used but I cross the fronts to the rear)

This is also the same dealership that previously stripped the oil drain plug on my wife’s car, likely from impacting it into the drain pan, so I already don’t feel great about them working on our vehicles.

rant over

Not to diss you, but after what they did to your wife's car, you used them again?

 

[goin2drt]

Local dealer for service is great. Their sales tactics and dept is atrocious and the reason I have bought all three of our last Toyotas from out of state.

 

[PNWkip]

I had to purchase my truck 6 hours away because all of the dealerships in the city I live in are scummy and price their vehicles over market. Toyota was especially bad. They were charging $6K more for a RWD SR5 than I paid for a 4x4 with a long bed 6 hours away. Haven't used them for service. In line with what @izzy mentioned it isn't worth the little bit of savings getting a free oil change to risk them screwing up my skid plate or not torquing down the wheels properly (which has happened around here).
Dealerships just suck all the way around though. When I had my Ioniq 5 the Hyundai dealership was so terrible at diagnosing issues or fixing anything that they had to constantly call engineers in korea and due to time out of service I was eventually able to exercise the lemon law. The trick for me there was when they said "no issue found" I just escalated my issues to corporate, also annoying, but ultimately worked out.
I'd only go to Toyota for a warranty issue, but just like you experienced, wouldn't expect much help.

 

[MJB4450]

Oh come on. The service department isn't that bad.

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[gfk]

Local dealer for service is great. Their sales tactics and dept is atrocious and the reason I have bought all three of our last Toyotas from out of state.

same with me... love their service department. Want to get into a 2026 and they are ridiculous.

 

[MJB4450]

I'll find out tomorrow about my service department. Going in for the rear brake line recall.

 

[LincolnSixAlpha]

At this point, I’m less surprised and more just curious if other people feel the same way about bringing their truck in for service. Do you guys also feel like you can’t really trust the service department because they stink?

I feel your pain man! I do, I've always done my own maintenance, and have gone so far as to just avoid dealerships and not even take them up on their few free oil changes. I just dont trust the dealerships. I'm not very impressed with my Toyota dealership, but then again -- I my impression is that Phoenix is a huge city with a ton of people, and dealerships are always looking to scam you, anyone as many times as they can. In other words there's no desire to build a real relationship with a customer in my opinion. Again, I'm very salty about sales in general, especially in today world.

Although my dealer hasn't screwed anything up, the service folks seem to be doing their jobs, and not leaving messes, or screwing things up which tells me they are getting paid decent, and managed well. The service person I was assigned too, though made me feel as if he was doing me favors, then trying to upsell me on their fuel cleaner, and few other things telling me I needed to buy for unfounded reasons. When I pressed him, he backed down.

For the record, I love Amsoil products, and in fact I love their Performance Improver Fuel cleaner. Every vehicle I use it in (every 3k miles) runs better, and seems to have more power.

So I think there are some of us who are fortunate that can do our own work.

Regarding your oil comment, I went to the dealer @ 24K for my last free oil change. I sure dont know what oil they use, but I just changed my oil again @ 28K the other day and I noticed the truck was running smoother. Go figure, I was thinking that their bulk oil must be garbage. Of course I dont know for sure, but sure noticed a minor difference there.

As I mentioned I loved Amsoil products, I'm trying something different with this truck, I've been using the Costco 0W-20 Synthetic Oil which is produced by Highline Warren LLC and seems to rate well. I'm doing this for cost purposes since I'm changing oil on the 3-4k marks. So far I've been impressed with it, but may flip to Amsoil in the future again.

I have the diff's, transmission, and transfer case oil changes coming up in a few thousand miles, and will be doing all amsoil products there.

 

[maxx075]

I feel your pain man! I do, I've always done my own maintenance, and have gone so far as to just avoid dealerships and not even take them up on their few free oil changes. I just dont trust the dealerships. I'm not very impressed with my Toyota dealership, but then again -- I my impression is that Phoenix is a huge city with a ton of people, and dealerships are always looking to scam you, anyone as many times as they can. In other words there's no desire to build a real relationship with a customer in my opinion. Again, I'm very salty about sales in general, especially in today world.

Although my dealer hasn't screwed anything up, the service folks seem to be doing their jobs, and not leaving messes, or screwing things up which tells me they are getting paid decent, and managed well. The service person I was assigned too, though made me feel as if he was doing me favors, then trying to upsell me on their fuel cleaner, and few other things telling me I needed to buy for unfounded reasons. When I pressed him, he backed down.

For the record, I love Amsoil products, and in fact I love their Performance Improver Fuel cleaner. Every vehicle I use it in (every 3k miles) runs better, and seems to have more power.

So I think there are some of us who are fortunate that can do our own work.

Regarding your oil comment, I went to the dealer @ 24K for my last free oil change. I sure dont know what oil they use, but I just changed my oil again @ 28K the other day and I noticed the truck was running smoother. Go figure, I was thinking that their bulk oil must be garbage. Of course I dont know for sure, but sure noticed a minor difference there.

As I mentioned I loved Amsoil products, I'm trying something different with this truck, I've been using the Costco 0W-20 Synthetic Oil which is produced by Highline Warren LLC and seems to rate well. I'm doing this for cost purposes since I'm changing oil on the 3-4k marks. So far I've been impressed with it, but may flip to Amsoil in the future again.

I have the diff's, transmission, and transfer case oil changes coming up in a few thousand miles, and will be doing all amsoil products there.

Hopefully your rear diff fill plug isn't like mine was and required an impact wrench to get loose.

 

[Dirt]

I use 3 different dealerships, each in different states, each between 100 and 150 miles away. 1 has great sales folks, the other two have efficient, seemingly responsible service departments; time will tell. I quit a closer one when the sales dept. mislead my wife's buying experience (after buying 4 Toyota's from them over the years.)

 

[LincolnSixAlpha]

Hopefully your rear diff fill plug isn't like mine was and required an impact wrench to get loose.

Ugh... And I ended up dislocating my elbow a few months back trying to remove the fill plug for my '97 Jeep TJ front axle diff. I'm not going to do that again. I'll just assume I'll be using the impact wrench for those bolts.

 

[maxx075]

Ugh... And I ended up dislocating my elbow a few months back trying to remove the fill plug for my '97 Jeep TJ front axle diff. I'm not going to do that again. I'll just assume I'll be using the impact wrench for those bolts.

Wouldn't be a bad idea lol. I had less trouble with the front bolts that are at a higher torque rating. Factory must have cranked the rears on mine.

 

[Texas Bob]

Local dealer for service is great. Their sales tactics and dept is atrocious and the reason I have bought all three of our last Toyotas from out of state.

I guess I'm driving from Texas to Kentucky for any warranty work...

 

[MJB4450]

Had my rear brake recall done last Wednesday. Made an appointment for opening time. Vehicle was taken right in. Work took two hours. Truck came back unmolested. Fix looks good. They surprised me and I'm satisfied. They also have one of those new A.I. UV vehicle scanners you drive through at the entrance to scan the entire vehicle to see if they can find any problems.

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