Observations at my local dealership today..

I took the 2014 with 80K miles in this morning to my local dealership (Toyota of Rockwall) for service.
Front and rear brakes, oil change, tire rotation, AC cutting out, I was afraid a wheel bearing was going out.

The brakes, yes, I could do them myself.
But the hassle of resurfacing the rotors and being on my bad knees, I'd rather pay them to do it.

Oil change, I have no desire to change my own oil.

Rotation was free since they pulled the wheels for the brakes.

AC cutting out, they couldn't duplicate it.
AC will blow warm for anywhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes, then get cold again.
Only happens once a week or every other week.
The charged the system at no charge.

What I thought was a wheel bearing, they said was my tire edges cupping.
I'm about 1 or 2 thousand miles miles from needing new tires anyway.
I'm hearing a slight whomp, whomp , whomp at 30 to 40 mph.
With the tire rotation, it sounds like the rear instead of the front.

Good thing;
They took me home in the shuttle, 20 miles away, and picked me up when it was done.
Took about 5 hours.

Got a phone call 10 minutes after I dropped it off to trade it in.
I said, no thank you.
She kept pushing, I repeated no thank you.
I need to get another 80K miles (or more) and I love not having a vehicle payment.
Took me 3 years to mod the truck I have to my liking.

Talked to my service guy when I picked it up.
They only have 1 new SR5 (only Tundra) on the lot and very few other new vehicles.
He blamed on the chip shortage, lack of availability of rehiring workers in all aspects of building new vehicles.

So if I did trade mine in, which I wouldn't, they didn't even have anything to sell me...

 

Has your cab air filter been checked / replaced recently, either by the dealer or yourself? For the A/C issue, of course.

 

I replace that myself once a year.
I pulled it and blew it out a couple months ago just in case.
It wasn't very dirty and the issue still exists.

Thanks for the input though..

 

Yeah, if you have a 2014 you wouldn't be gaining much trading for a new one other than a new truck payment, assuming you could even find one to replace it. Drive that thing until its done and by that point all this will have blown over and you'll be able to choose between a newer 3rd Gen or a brand new 4th Gen.

 

AC clutch relay may be cause of your ac woes. It’s a special $20 relay.

 

Sales is always going to try and sell you something- even when they have nothing to sell.

Actually even pushier now in some places - after all they have nothing to sell - so they are working phones and email harder.

It’s funny - Toyota has been pushier than ever of late around me - but Ram/Ford are mysteriously not calling at all. More than anyone those 2 have been the pushiest about getting you into the showroom towards me the last 2 years. I am noticing Ram is slowly building up an inventory again too - Ford remains bare - as is Toyota.

 

I think it was a GM dealership here that ran a radio ad saying something along the lines of "we're getting new trucks in every day!"

 

I feel your pain. Went in for my 5k mile check and the guy who sold the truck to me offered me a price higher than what I paid for. Of course he tempted me while I was looking over the new Celica they had parked there but I don’t think that will pull a 30’ trailer.

 

Just heard an ad for a local Nissan dealer this morning saying: Come on down, we have 209 Rogues in stock.

 

Oh boy.

 

What's the new Celica? Haven't seen anything from Toyota on bringing that back

 

Precisely my same thought...

 

There’s an ad on radio near dc if you buy a titan they’ll sell you a leaf for a buck. I wonder what resale prices are on a titan. Ad says good until June 1st.

 

Same here. Can’t see anything on Google other than Toyota filed for a new trademark on the name.

 

A leaf - does that mean an extra leaf to beef up the rear spring suspension, or an electric leaf vehicle. Either way a pass i suppose.

 

Sorry my bad, Supra.... that’s how impressed I was

 

Electric. I’m not interested either, just putting it out there on what dealerships are doing to sell vehicles.

 

My buddy has a 2017 Titan, pretty much the exact same specs as my 2017 Tundra. Almost the same mileage. He was recently offered about 30% less on his Titan than I was on my Tundra. If I remember correctly, he was offered around 24k, and I was offered around 36.

 

I remember Ford doing that a few years back. Buy an F150, get a Ranger for $1 or something like that?

 

Oh, gotcha. It peaked my interest because my wife and her brother’s first cars were Celicas. She got her 74 Celica in 1990, drove it until 1997. That little car was damned solid.

 

Talked to the salesman I bought my 21 Tundra from the other day. He said they only have 9 new vehicles total on the lot, and 22 used. Less than 10% of their normal new inventory.
I’ll probably be taking the 17 in for maintenance next week. We’ll see how hard they try to buy it. They’ve regularly offered to buy it for the last couple of years already.