Damage at the dealership

So...

Took my truck to get the bed rattle noise fixed. The Toyota employee who was moving cars on the lot just took a sharp right turn and ran over a lexus that was parked next to my truck. All happened right in front of me.

Services manager said that he already ordered a new wheel for me, and called their body-shop guy to take a look at it.

Should i leave my truck at this dealership and have them "fix" the damage? My worry is that they'll do a quick fix on it - buff and quick paint to patch it up. I'm worried that such repair wont be good, and years down the line this particular spot may have a paint failure. Not sure if this is a concern.

Or should i take the truck to a proper body shop and have them remove the bed and properly repair it - probably sand, paint it etc.

Thoughts?

 

If it were me, I’d get insurance involved and / or contact Toyota above the dealership. You want to be taken care of, not patched up quickly off the books so they don’t have to admit it happened and get in trouble.

I reached out to my brother who is a manager at a dealership in Texas and he said you need to be contacting Toyota immediately to report it so their insurance handles the issue

 

Get that depreciation check fo show

no less than $4k

demand it. Scream. Knock some shelves over. Trip a child.

 

This looks like a free extended warranty combined with a.....you guessed it....a free maintenance plan. I would suggest making an appointment to sit with the Service and General Manager.

Best of luck

 

Remove the bed? You're kidding, right?
New wheel, buff the stuff if surface damage only, otherwise sand and re-spray that corner. Remove wheel well plastic molding (whatever they call it) and replace+paint if really scratched up, otherwise same as before.

While this certainly sucks, have reasonable expectations.
-99

Edit:
I would demand a brand new wheel (make sure you are clear on this, otherwise they may try to "recondition" this one...and while they will make it look brand new again, it will start to peal/etc after a couple of years). This is Toyota - don't allow them to substitute "repair" for a piece that can easily be replaced...and I think you have the right to expect a replacement for this, not a repair.
And if you went with your insurance, I'm willing to bet they wouldn't authorize a brand new rim, and only repair.

 

I agree with all of the above , is the truck new and mileage?
I would ask for all of that and not involve insurance , but have dealer fix it off books so it doesn’t show up as an accident on your car fax

 

I just don't believe that you can correctly sand it prime and repaint without taking off the part.

 

So this is the main spot with damage... Seems that there's a plastic protector piece that was on top of it, I guess it's a protection piece from the factory...

And they did order new wheel already

 

I’ve had a similar experience on my Volvo XC90.
I ended up letting the dealer take care of it via a third party body shop they use (which I checked in with, had good ratings and did a great job).

This Dealer had always taken care of us in the past and still do today (wasn’t a reason to distrust them at that moment)

 

If you decide to let them fix it, this is largely in their favor and obviously the conditions they would greatly prefer. Make them work for it, you should be more than made whole of damages. Also, I'd replace that tire
+Maintenance
+Rental while they repair
+Amount for trouble
+Written agreement to repair any other damage caused by damage or repair up until warranty is over, email will work. Insist on this

 

I’d think they would work a little harder to fix your bed rattle now.

 

Well he isn’t complaining about the bed rattling anymore. . .

 

Service advisor (after damaging my truck): now let's go for a test drive to address your primary concern with bed rattling

Me: this isn't my primary concern anymore, not even in the top ten...

 

Ah yes your arm hurts sir? Let me break your leg, how does your arm feel now?

 

This does not help my raging distrust of dealership service centers. Not one bit. Sorry, OP.

 

And it's getting worse every year.

I just bought a 2nd set of jackstands primarily to make tire rotations easier. Wife was watching me complete rotation on both the 4R and Tundra. While removing the stands, I told her "This is just the beginning, you know. Next comes the Harbour Freight welder, then there'll be a pile of shit "project" in the garage. Your car will have to sit outside. After all, it is the oldest and has the most miles. It's only fair." She wasn't amused.

Had a co-worker tell me "you know Discount Tire will do those for free if you blah blah blah." I just said "yeah..." and changed the subject. Like dealerships, I've had mixed experiences at DT too. Just rather do it myself these days.

 

Same. Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm older. But I have zero desire to let anyone else do anything to my vehicles.

 

Thats not buffing out!! Take my word for that.

I would tell them you will take it to the shop of your choice and submit the invoice upon completion. If they cannot move a vehicle, I doubt the competence is there for bodywork

 

Hah I tried to buy 37's at DT. The guy at the counter argued with me saying they would not fit a Toyota and I was wrong it would take a 6'' lift to even come close. Just sell me the tires man , left and went to big o , they took my $2200 and ordered me tires.

 

Talk to the manager, and discuss repairs and compensation. If it is a Toyota certified body shop, their repair should have a lifetime warranty on the areas repaired. But, make sure you check any bedside supports and that all trim clips are intact after repairs.
Try to get (in writing) compensation as free routine fluid & filter service for life at Toyotas recommended intervals.
This will keep them happy by keeping the incident off their insurance (and keep it off of your vehicle report), while also giving you free routine service.

 

Just curious - what makes you think an independent body shop won’t just do the simplest fix and ship it ?

Is it because they gave you a piece of paper SAYING they were gonna do a bunch of stuff ? Of course not every shop cuts corners and over bills insurance - but you’d be surprised at how many WILL. Whose enforcing things on them - it’s not like there’s a fraud and compliance inspector watching over.

Yea - I’d demand a new wheel - it’s not that much and they will ship the old one off for reman. What I can see beyond that - scrape to the guard - take about 15 minutes to remove and replace - if it didn’t effect the paint below - count both yourself and the dealer lucky. I’d hate to have to repaint a bedside over such a little area so low down.

And I’d ask for something for the trouble - what’s it worth - personally I’m thinking g in the $500 range. Get greedy with demands and they WILL tell you to take a hike. I mean - worst case - ask, they say no and then call their bluff by spending $50 on small claims seeking $1,000. Maybe you find a judge who is sympathetic and doesn’t ask too many questions - or maybe you waste $50. Worst case - it cost them a couple hours of their legal teams time answering you and it would have been cheaper to have just given you the $500 to start.

 

guffaw!!

 

Get their estimate and see what they propose before assuming they won't do it correctly. They should give a written estimate as if you're coming in for outside damage that says precisely what they propose to do from beginning to end with parts and labor costs that you won't pay broken down for each step.

My 2021 F150 just got a huge shopping cart dent and paint gouge and there was no bed removal to repair. The private body shop I used worked the damage out from behind, removed trim tail lights and tailgate, painted it on the truck, and I can't tell it happened. I don't see why a body shop would remove the bed to do that. Maybe if the bed skin was damaged to the point it's impractical to repair they cut it off and put a new one on. Make them replace that flare if it's scuffed. IS that scuffed bed corner a painted removable lower trim piece or just lower stick on anti chip film? I can't tell from the pics and it's been awhile since I've seen a Gen3 in person. If that bed corner that's all scuffed up is a painted piece just have them take it off and paint it, put it back on and replace the wheel. IF it's all one piece of sheet metal for that bed side, let them prep it, mask everything, remove the bumper and tailgate and other trim, and repaint the bed side because that doesn't look like something that can be buffed or touched up. And body shops don't really like to try to blend partial panel repairs anymore. Both body shops where I got estimates said painting that side of the bed even for one small paint gouge like I had is the only way they do it with today's paints. Get your new wheel, ask for 1-2 payments to be made or for a free maintenance plan to be thrown in. Thank them for going out of their way to make it right, and get on with life. Good chance another body shop is going to propose a fix process similar to the dealer. The two shops I took my F150 to had nearly identical repair processes in their estimates with prices less than 100 dollars apart.

The alarm bell that should be set off would be if that bed side is a single panel and there are clearly paint gouges down to primer and metal on it and they propose anything short of removing everything that's removable from that side of the bed, then prepping and painting that entire side. In my opinion that would be the only way a reputable body shop would write up a proposal for damage down to the metal or primer in that area unless a customer paying cash to fix a beater pushed for something cheap and decent looking to hold them over for a bit.


Life happens. My wife smashed the crap out of the side of my 09 Crewmax in 2009 a few months after I bought it and paid to repair it. I remember flipping out over how perfect the fix had to be. 13 years later after it served as my family road trip vehicle and took its beating there were scratches and scuffs all over that thing anyway and I wasn't too worried about any of it anymore.

 

Yes, leave the truck and get a loaner/rental from the dealer. Get an understanding of what the repair will entail and since you are not a body repairman, you are going to have to talk to other body shops to get estimates and compare the proposed fixes. The body shop/dealer should warranty the work and that usually comes with documentation.

Again, you are not an expert at this and what you think is a "proper repair" (Bed removal) is way off in this case. That little bit of damage does not warrant bed removal...they actually might need to "blend" the paint into the cab and they can do that with the bed removed.

 

I think that area has sprayed chip guard ( rough painted/clear coated surface from factory) and a clear stone shield applicay on top of it. It doesn’t look like sheet metal is creased but I would get a second opinion from a high end body shop to be sure. It will be pretty tough to buff out the marks on a rough sprayed surface. Unless the applicay is all that is damaged it will need to be repainted and cleared to be like new. This can be done on the truck. If it needs to be repainted they don’t need to remove the bed or panel to do a good job. Hopefully it’s not dented and a new applicay and a new OEM wheel can correct the damage. Definitely get a second opinion.

 

Thank you all for feedback!

I had service manager call me today and he convinced me to give their body shop a try, and also had gm from body shop call me to assure me they'll call me to discuss repair before.

So I'll give them a chance so far to make it right.

All I needed is some sympathy and a genuine sorry... Unlike the girl who crashed my truck on the Toyota lot, not even a sorry...

I'll report back

 

Sounds like you are handling it good! Don't listen to the "demand a new PRO" crowd, it's the same here as at the Taco forum I guess... lots of, shall we say, "lofty expectations".

 

I too would first try to trust the dealership. If you don’t you should not have your truck serviced there at all. Mistakes can happen.