Toyota: questionable practices

<net.invalid> wrote in message
news:com... 

All you have to remember is that car dealerships are in the business of
making money. Nothing more, nothing less. Some will be more agressive than
others, but of course they want you to trade in your car. The meat and
potatoes of the car industry is made from used car sales. IMO, 99.99
percent of the time you will lose money on your trade. NO dealer is going
to give you full market value on a trade, they wouldn't make any money.
They might make it seem like your vehichle is "real valuable" on the used
market, but that means that they'll get some "real profit" out of your trade
after they mark it up.

Around here, the dealer service departments are completely separate
from the new and used car sales, body shop, and financing dept. I
doubt they even communicate with each other.

The dealer service is also invaribly the most expensive and most likely
to replace high cost parts. A few years ago, I witnessed the mechanic
telling someone he needed a new carburetor at around $ 500. The
customer pointed out that he had paid over $ 200 just the month before
to have them rebuild the choke. They just shrugged and insisted he needed

a new carburetor.

net.invalid wrote:
 

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 10:11:22 -0500, Mike Berger <net>
wrote:
 

This is true here too! But they are more customer friendly than in
your part of the country!
 


I had a problem with the lock on one of my rear doors and took it to
the dealer's service center to see if I could get it fixed. The
Service Advisor told me they could fix it, but I would have to wait
until they had an open appointment - like a week or two later and then
leave the car with them for at least overnight! - he then suggested
that I take it to a local locksmith who should be able to fix it right
a way.

I went to the shop they suggested and they had no one in the shop at
the time and referred me to another locksmith. I went there and they
sid they would check it out and give me an estimate for the repairs.
Ten minutes later the technician came back and said he had fixed it
and that there would be no charge!

<net.invalid> wrote in message
news:com... 
<snip>
 

I doub't they were trying to get you to trade. Sales departments are
usually completely separate from the service departments. One could care
less about the other.
As for the used car market being 'good'? Actually, the used car market is
in a glut right now. Too many leased vehicles have been returned over the
last couple of years, plus with interest rates so good and dealers offering
so many rebates and whatnot on new vehicles, nobody wants to buy used cars
right now since new cars can be had for such a great deal.

> I had a problem with the lock on one of my rear doors and took it to 

That would make sense since dealers aren't really lock experts so their
solution to any lock problem is likely going to be to just replace the whole
lock mechanism to 'make the problem go away' instead of actually 'fixing'
it. Still, weird that they needed it overnight.

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 16:22:35 GMT, someone who calls themselves
com wrote:
 

You had the Kiddie Lock on by accident, didn't you? ;-)

The dealer's Service Advisor should have thought to have you check
it over the phone, and any decent service technician would have found
it in 10 seconds and sent you on your way for free.

But the problem with the locksmith is he didn't say WHAT fixed it.

Or he did and you didn't want to cop to it, and admit you didn't do
something as freaking simple as READ THE OWNERS MANUAL when you first
bought the car or when you had the problem, where they tell you /all
about/ that little Kiddie Lock lever... :-P

--<< Bruce >>--
--
Bruce L. Bergman, POB 394, Woodland Hills CA 91365, USA
Electrician, Westend Electric (#726700) Agoura, CA

WARNING: UCE Spam E-mail is not welcome here. I report violators.
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On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 17:38:28 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman
<INVALID> wrote:
 

NO! The lock could not be unlocked either electrically or manually, it
was not a case of being unable to just OPEN the damn door.
 

I was in the service area at the time after having been referred to
the dealers service by the mechanic I usually go for ALL my service.

As I said before the door operating mechanism was inoperative and
jammed internally, the service technician did in fact check it and we
then had the discussion regarding what would be involved with getting
an appointment for them servicing it and he then recommended going to
a locksmith.

 

I didn't give a damn about what the locksmith fixed - I had to
conclude that since the locking mechanism was now operational, both
manually and electrically I was satisfied with the fact that it was
fixed and had no reason then nor now to have to know WHAT fixed it -
again I have emphasize that I concluded that HE fixed it, since the
shop had no trained monkeys or chimps around (;-> (Do you think that
they may have a job for you if that were the case?)
 

Again I have to repeat it again, since you seem to be obsessed with
it, this was in no way associated with the activation of that feature
- you are beginning to sound as if you are basing your comments on
your repeated experience with the child protection feature in YOUR car
- how many times have you been locked in your rear seat because of
your inability to understand the function of this feature?

In article <com>,
Jeeters <com> wrote:
 

I agree.

My guess on this is that they don't stock the locks, and they won't
order it until they have the car in hand, and they are shipped overnite
from the parts depot.

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