Where do you get your service done?

Just curious where most people get regular service done for their Tundras. DIY? Toyota Dealership? Third party shop?

So many bad reviews of Toyota dealership service departments online lately, and I had a real bad experience recently as well. Trying to build up the courage to do it all myself, but not sure I trust myself to be able to inspect everything properly and know what I'm looking for.

 

For years I was using a combination of Stealerships and two Service Shops for basic repairs. The 2002 has never broken down on me and the early years service went to Original Stealership$. After a few years, I returned back to my lifelong Service Center(s) one of which botched an axle bearing replacement twice. Took it to Stealer and they botched it twice, but got it right on the third time.

Conclusion: Do your own work as much as you can. Everyone is in a hurry to get things done, but they do not realize taking a little extra time to do it right makes for less overall time spent to fix things twice.

You’ll save a ton of $ DIY if you follow directions and don’t get stressed easily. Most times you'll do a more complete job than a tech who doesn’t care about the little things around the actual job at task. I don’t blame them for that, but you’ll be better off DIY and have a great sense of satisfaction.

Not sure whats going on with all tech/service these days, but have a few theories that might be starting to effect society like common core math experts and participation trophy winners. Another one is more social media phone screen time and less critical thinking time leading to PPR.

Download a service manual or buy one for your truck. Better yet, get the actual Toyota FSM and start studying. A good set of tools helps, too.

 

I do what little I can myself, and rely on my local Toy store for the rest.

 

My Mechanic lives right next door and his shop is only 10-15 minutes away. I know him and his lifestyle enough to trust him with anything I have. He's been picking our vehicles up and dropping them back off to us for years.

 

^^^ This ^^^

 

I do the work myself. I've collected a good amount of tools over the years I been wrenching on cars. The only thing that holds me back now is my kid...they take up most of my free time lol

 

Free service for a couple years, so I'm using dealership.

After the free service runs out, I'll be taking it to my local mom & pop garage.

 

I'm paranoid about Toyota voiding my warranty if I don't take my truck to them for service, especially since every second service is just rotating the tires so there's no real way to prove I did that like there is with receipts for an oil change. So I'll take my truck to a dealership for service for the first five years. After that, I'll either do it myself or take it to a local shop that my friend takes his 2016 SR5 (and all his other Toyotas) to.

 

I found a mechanic that is a complete nerd when it comes to being a mechanic and hates seeing people getting ripped off.

If it helps he’s a member of http://www.iatn.net/

 

I do most of my own work - I am an ex Auto Mechanic and still have a lot of tools and equipment from my shop - I just dont trust shops to do the right thing anymore

 

I'll add that I've been doing business with the same dealership for over 20 years, we have a very good relationship and they continue to earn my business.

 

I do all of my own work...a wise man once told me "Don't Ever Pay Someone Else to Screw up Your Truck or Your Bikes".

 

I do most of my own work. I try to be cognizant of where my limits are, though (e.g. electronics).
For the mechanical stuff, the best advice I received from a mechanic buddy,
"It only goes back together one way...."

 

Frankly, it depends. Right now I take it to the dealership because

a) it's in warranty and
b) the local dealership is actually pretty dang good.

Out of warranty, oil changes will either be done by me or at the dealer. Small fixes will be @ the local mom-n-pop; bigger stuff likely @ the dealer UNLESS I know it's something another shop can handle.

 

Not rotating tires wont void warranty. Also, Discoount does it for free.

 

the service writers have a lot to do with the 'tech not taking the extra time' piece
my buddy isn't paid by the hour, he's paid by the job, and the hours he gets is determined by the writer.
Example: this brake job will take an hour. For whatever reason it takes 3 hours. Tech is getting paid for 1 hour the service writer put down. End of the week might get paid 40 but worked 80. Can bite you or work to your benefit

 

Since I run both summer (all season) and winter tires on all my vehicles, I honestly wouldn't be that fussed about rotating tires if Toyota didn't say it was required every 6 months or 5000 miles. Again, once it's out of warranty, I suspect I'll only bother if they aren't wearing evenly.

Actually brought my truck in for its first service 1 today and they also checked and confirmed it doesn't have either the fuel pump or the turn signals recall (yet ).

 

Dealer, almost every time for a decade since I bought it. The only thing that's gone wrong that required more than scheduled maintenance was bad calipers, rotors, and pads at the same time this past December, at over 90K. I took it to another shop I use for that. Also took it elsewhere the other times it required brakes or tires. For the caliper/rotor/pad job the shop I use charged about half the price. But my dealer is in line with most other shops as far as standard routine maintenance.

Importantly, they have a shuttle. Drop it in AM, catch shuttle home, take other car to work. Go home and get picked up by the shuttle when it's ready in the evening. If I want an oil change on short notice I've taken it to a shop a few times but when it comes to tuff like coolant, transfer case fluid, diff fluid or transmission fluid exchanges I'm always paranoid stand alone shops will throw whatever they have on the shelves in it rather than what is specifically called for by Toyota.

 

I prefer a place that offers a loaner vehicle because I work in kind of a weird spot that apparently no shuttle driver knows how to get to. Unfortunately, I bought my truck from a small, family-owned dealership (so they say) that doesn't offer loaners. I suppose if I had an issue with the truck and was in a crunch I could take it to the dealer near where I live and work but, after taking the wife's Corolla there twice for recall work, I don't trust them any more. They made sure to tell me about all kinds of phantom leaks that were going to cost thousands of dollars to repair (on a 6 year old Toyota with less than 60k miles) but didn't bother to tell me about my burnt out license plate bulb so I could buy a $3 replacement while I was there.

 

Scotty Kilmer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqhkIOMjCW0

 

DIY with friends who are professionals and I just provide the manpower, bbq, and beer!

 

I have never bought a new vehicle that had a warranty on the tires.

 

Good point.