Any one else disappointed with their Stealership ?

Good Day Tundra friends. Just wanted to vent and say common sense has officially gone out the window.

So I consider myself a handy guy and try to do as much maintenance on my 2015 Tundra as I can. I have done brakes, oil, small fixes and even the beloved TPMS bypass. Unfortunately due a medical issue I now have trouble with my hands and the ability to use them to do my repairs at times. Which leads me to tell what happened at my Stealership yesterday. I have been wanting to change my coolant for awhile now and costed it out and took into account that I have trouble with my hands and using tools etc. So I drank the kool-aid and booked my 2015 in for the coolant change. So $120 CAD. I know a bit much and I could do it for half that but I was willing to pay it. So I figured at the same time change the upper and lower Rad hoses as it just makes sense as I have 210,000kms on the truck. I asked them to have the hoses and clamps available and honestly the price of those items was reasonable. The service advisor when checking in went through everything with me as far as the work and parts. He then said with the rad hoses there will be labor to change them. As I quietly counted to 10 and breathed deeply, I said sure I understand you have to charge something to pop 4 spring clamps, pull 2 empty hoses off (given the system was drained for the coolant flush, skid plate removed etc that I was having them do for the $120) I said what are we looking at for labor 0.5hrs thinking to myself this literally takes 5 min per hose but hey they won't do it for free. So they will charge a 1/2 hr on it. He said well it's a bit more than that..... the "book rate" for the upper and lower hoses is 1.4hrs EACH.

As my mouth hit the floor, I laughed and said, really ? have you looked at the hoses and their position and accessibility- it is wide open. I said it's a 5min change on each of them. He did agree it "seemed high" I will go ask in the shop about this. As he came back he said ya that's the rate and I cannot adjust it. At that point I wanted to just pull the plug on the all the work but i am a freak for preventative maintenance. I said okay fine. No hose changes, just drop the coolant and do that. Now let's look at this in perspective. 1.4hrs x 2 hoses. 2.8hrs @ $120/hr. (Canadian dollars) =$336 dollars.

I said to him you know 1.4 hrs per hose would be if I came in here and just my hose failed whether it was the upper or lower. 1.4hrs is to drain the system, change a hose, refill system and purge air. I said I am already paying for that with the coolant flush price of $120. He said well if your handy wait and do it yourself I agree. So next summer when I have better hand mobility (dam arthritis) and I drain system down, change those 2 hoses and think about the $336 in labor charges I saved. My Kool aid will taste much sweeter than the Stealerships.

Where has the common sense gone ?
That's my rant on what I thought was a good dealership, however it has become a Stealership of late with no common sense.

 

I would ask the other way around, "Anyone satisfied with their stealership?"...

 

I wouldn’t worry about the hoses. I flushed my coolant and never changed them in my 08 and had it for 13 years/280k miles until I got my new 18. Trucks still good to go. However, that is pure bullshit from the stealership

 

I have been pretty happy with my dealership, they do a great job but i think they might not be the norm.

they give you coffee, cookies, teas. They give you a car wash as well. They also send you a video of the inspection, and let you know the state your car is in. They also communicate really well and let you knew if something needs to be fixed right away or just keep an eye. Anyway, it’s been a good experience so far. Bought two Toyota from them also.

as for the arthritis, look into a low sugar diet, like Mediterranean, or keto diet, or anti inflammatory diet. They work really well for that stuff.

 

Dealerships are scum through and through. It ain't a matter of if you're gonna get ripped off but when... and the chance increases the more you take your truck in. I'm so lucky I have a trusted Toyo mechanic just down the road from me.

 

I have arthritis...very good advise on low sugar diet

 

Dealership(s) we purchased our Tundra and Rav - NO. They are both horrible service.

Local garage we have been dealing with for 20y - YES. Great work, close by, do some free stuff when we need a tweak or tire mounted.

 

It’s my opinion in the coming years dealerships will all turn into “high end” service shops only.

With things like Carvana, Voom, Shift ect. People are moving away from going to brick and mortar dealerships to buy cars. I think it’s rumored in the coming years Ford will have an online factory direct buying option. Then all you need is delivery to your house from the Ford Factory. Or a local Pickup lot where you just pull in get the keys to the car you already paid for and leave.

This removes the need for fancy business man names on a Ford dealership sign. They would only be around for service. Wouldn’t really need big parking lots as none of them would store new cars for sale.

If Ford does do this, safe to assume other big manufacturers will follow also. If I could buy a new Tundra for MSRP directly from the factory in San Antonio I would have already. I would even go there to pick it up. Maybe they throw in a free tour.

The question is, can these existing dealerships stay alive by only robbing people on service? Remove all income from new car sales as they are now factory direct.

Also, I work in what you could call vehicle research. I always get a kick out of my bosses when they suggest we call a local dealer for info on a car. Might have better luck calling your local autozone lol. They both just have a guy behind a keyboard pushing buttons not sure what’s really going on.

For example we had a Ford truck we needed to know if it had a Sync infotainment module. Of the 5 Ford dealers we called, 2 said it did but 3 said it did not. The build sheet I got online directly from Ford clearly stated it did not have said module. How some of the dealers couldn’t read that I don’t know. I guess they just assumed it did and told us yes to get us off the phone.

Long story short I am not really a fan of any dealer, big name or small name used car sales. You want real highway robbery go to an off brand used lot. High interest rates, fees, lies, deception you get it all there.

I would agree a small hometown repair shop is your best bet. They seem to actually care about customers if you find a good one.

 

Man I hear ya!! Typing and any tool work takes much more time to finish anything than it used to. Arthritic fingers/hands make like the digits have a mind of their own and that’s when they get limbered up !!

 

Yup most every time I go into have them do what ever on the vehicles!

 

it could be worse. Take that same scenario and go with California prices at the Stealership. $220 USD/hour (=$299 CAD)

Stealership is right. Disgusting.

 

Holy cow 220 USD/ hr. I think it's time for a career change. Start fixing out of my own garage between this forum, YouTube and internet I think we have 90% of fixes covered. So much for good old fashioned service. Another example is $20/ tire for balancing at dealer. Hmmm Costco tire centre charges me $5/tire. Just sayin' Stealerships !!!

Now I do have a dealer who is 1 hr away from from me with a hell of a online business. Typically 10-20% off my local dealers parts. I order up and pay the $20 for shipping and I am still money ahead. Never tried them for service though. Plus I do not want to get into travelling for Service. As they say buyer beware. I have also had fantastic purchases from RockAuto.com

 

Hey Sierradevil, I guess I did ask myself why I went to dealership and I chose to go there because I had no references for local garages because I have always done my own work. However as I had mentioned in the OP I have some health issues preventing my hands to work properly.

Hope to be healthy soon and get back at it.

 

I'm certainly not defending any bad dealerships but I have run into both good and bad.

When my wife's Accord (and this was when timing belts were a thing) hit 100K, we booked it in for a belt and water pump change, and he asked if we wanted the external belts done as well. He then said no labor charge since the belts were already coming off. The three belts were about $40 for parts.

When I bought my truck I ran into both. I originally bought a 2016 Colorado 4x4 from a local used car lot. After a week the transmiison started grinding on inital takeoff. I took it back and they took it to the Chevy dealer for me since it still was under warranty. Chevy said they don't hear anything. So the sales maanger told them he and the salesman heard it. After two weeks the sales manager asked waht I wanted to do and I told him I didn't trust the truck. he asked me to stop by and see if they had anything I wanted instead. I drove 2 tacomas and then the Tundra. loved the Tundra. Of course it was higher priced, so we split the difference. They also bought the running boards and the toneau cover I had bought for the Colorado.

The used lot is owned by a retired AF CMSgt I served with. He started when we were both on active duty as his retirement job. it has grown incredibly over the last 20 years, primarily because he still does the right thing.

 

Wow, top shelf service.from the sales manager. Glad to hear it worked out for you. I bet you say you love the Tundra on a regular basis. I know I do and my wife just rolls her eyes. Lol. I have owned alot of vehicles in my driving years - on # 21 with the Tundra.

As they say.... you save the best for last !!!

 

My wife does not understand Tundra love either.

 

Right ??? Just sayin'

 

Do your research and find a good local mechanic. Not one that does tires but diagnostic work. I never forget walking into a shop for an alignment and kid wants his tires rotated. Shop owner said I can do it, but it must cheaper to have discount tire do it, come to me when you have a problem to be solved, I charge an hourly rate, so make me work for my money....

 

I’m a service advisor at Toyota and prior to working there I was a motorcycle mechanic for 8 years, which I still do on my days off. There’s something I refer to as overlapping labor. I.E. changing the hoses IN CONJUNCTION to performing a coolant flush would not warrant and additional 1.4 per hose. I would not have added more than .3 additional time to change the hoses and clamps.

Just a little insight, our hourly shop labor rate is 190.88, so .3 is 57.88. Our manager created some pricing matrix where the labor cost goes up as the labor time increases. So two hours of labor is 411.88. I don’t really understand why they do this but I’m sure our overhead is insane.

The challenge we face internally at OUR shop is that our techs are union. Some of them believe they should be paid based on what “all data” quotes for labor time no matter what. Other techs have my mind set. Which is “let’s take care of the customer and do what’s right”

greed can get the best of anyone, just find the right service advisor at your dealership. Then they won’t be such stealerships.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Every manufacturer should go the way of Tesla and just sell direct to consumers. The price is the price, and if they want to offer sales or incentives then great. It'll avoid things like young or naive people getting ripped off for $5k-$10k more than they should be paying, or dealers selling new vehicles to themselves in times like these and turning around and selling them as "used" for a markup.

 

Thanks Toe404, seemed ridiculous at the time, still does. I have emailed the service manager directly for his perspective. Glad to hear you weigh in from a dealership service advisor perspective. I will find someone reputable to cover my repairs while I am laid up. After that, only one person to blame once I start wrenching again. Me ! Lol.

 

I totally understand the customer point of view, when faced with the cost associated with dealerships. As someone who’s mechanically inclined I cringe at some of the quotes we send out for labor. Task I know that are easy and simple yet cost soooo much damn money. Then again we have customers that top off their oil in the washer fluid tank, so not everyone should start working on there own cars/trucks

 

Have to agree with you BuckWallace. It's the naive innocent young and old getting shafted. When the delearships start closing up, they can look in the mirror at the problem.

I doubt they will ever totally close but what is currently going on has to stop. Shameful

 

I know, very sad. I listened to an advisor once call a customer to say car was ready and in a round about shady way convince them the needed 3 new TOYOTA wipers at $30 each. " the ones you have are okay but not the same as factory" Holy F #$% man how do you live with yourself doing stuff like that. I have always done small.engine work for people too and pretty much break even on part costs and throw in labor for free cause I feel that's what you should do when you love your hobby and your helping someone who's in a tough spot. I don't know, just crazy times

 

I'm disappointed off and on. Have been disappointed various times just enough so that i feel I have to check behind them. Shouldn't have to, but the seed has been planted.

 

I know sad right. I have done the same thing you just get a feeling sometimes something may have been missed. I know I am a picky person and probably not the wanted customer at a dealership service because i am mehanically inclined and do my homework and won't be led down the garden path. I am paying good money and expect good service. If I am not getting that then stay at home invest the money in the tools even if it's a one off and like I said, only one person to blame then.