Purchase Dealership vs. Service Dealership

I recently joined this group because I am looking to purchase a 2024 Tundra and looking to learn more about your experiences, struggles, potential upgrades as well as your successes. The local dealers do not have what I am looking for so I am considering purchasing a 2024 Tundra from a dealer that’s not in my city, but will be carrying it to a dealer that is closest to me for service and potential issues. Do any of you have any experiences in how Toyota dealerships handle customers that do not purchase the vehicle from them?

 

Doesn't really matter.
If it's a good dealership, they'll be taking care of you, if they're a bad service dealership then they won't magically become a good one if you buy truck from them.

 

If i'm understanding correct, I did the same thing. My local dealer did not have the configuration that I wanted. They called other dealers in the area and found what I wanted. The two dealers did a swap and my Tundra was delivered to my local dealer.

 

I bought mine 3 hours away and never intend to visit them, again. There is a dealership 30mins away for oil changes, but I drive an hour and a half for trusted service without being nickel and dime’d to death (I suppose the updated version is $50 and C noted to death!). About the only static you’ll get from a good service department is if a customer that bought from that dealership comes in with a problem and they see them ahead of you, but that’s to be expected.

 

Local dealer doesn't seem to know where I bought it, they just look at the computer to see warranty and the included free service stuff. I went to LA to get what I wanted and saved over $3k. Local dealer is 5 minutes from my house and LA is a 3 hour drive.

 

We buy all our vehicles from one dealer and have all of them serviced at another. They love to have our business and we are treated as if we purchased our vehicles from where we take them for service. They do not care one bit, and this should not be a worry of any sort.

 

Bought mine 2 hours away. No issues with local dealer servicing.

Service department is the big continuing revenue stream holy Grail. Any dealer that only services their sales is flattening revenue that could reduce their overhead %. Just dumb.

If you get into a lemon or severe defect situation to escalate the selling dealer maybe your comm point because Toyo/Lexus loves to defer you to the dealer. I would just keep that in mind when comparing prices. I bought from a very solid dealer group. Money is money but sometimes a few hundred or a thousand bucks is not with buying from Al the Ex Cons Toyota.

 

Same here. I buy from the dealer who will give me the best deal, wherever that may be... Serviced locally.

 

In a perfect world, it shouldn't matter where you buy your car vs where you service your car. At the end of the day, every Toyota dealer has/should work on your car if its under warranty.

*but* there are some benefits of buying at the same place you will be getting your car serviced

For example if you needed a last minute service on a very busy day, knowing the sales department who you bought your car from can help you get some priority when it comes to getting in for service. Getting priority for a loaner car etc...

The most important thing is to build a rapport with a service advisor, you know them, they know you, it makes the biggest difference if you actually know the service advisor on even the most basic level, you will get treated 100x better than anyone else.

 

When I bought my '22 Tundra I was calling around in February. The dealer, across the state line, but the closest dealer to me at 45 miles away, told me he had 3 questions for me to be able to sell me a new Tundra. 1. Will I service the vehicle there. I said sure. 2. Do I have a newer trade-in. Yes. 3. Will I finance through Toyota. Sure. The salesman then "allowed" me to shop with them. That was Covid times/Covid inventory. Times are different now! Dealers are scrambling to sell the new ones and service departments will work on your vehicle if you schedule with them.

 

Reality is a lot of dealerships changed hands due to plump financials selling every car they could get over list during COVID presenting a golden opportunity to sell out. A decent sized or larger dealer in a metro for a good brand is a 8 figure transaction.

That is why fewer dealers are titled John Smith Toyota and are now Toyota of Mayberry. The owners increasing foreign or large conglomerates are plumping up and selling dealerships for a quickie profit as the plan coming in. If you want to know if your dealership fits that mode go to the website and try to figure out who is the owner. If you can't it is a likely a plumper owned dealership that has or will change hands.

My local service dealer sold out first of 2023. Same name but not a single face I recognize in service or sales. 100% turnover

 

As sales starts to slow down, the dealer will turn to the service department to be the primary cash flow so service customers should start to become more important during that time

 

Most dealers would prefer you bought and had it serviced there, but if they had to take one over the other, they'd rather the service. That's continual, while a sale is a one-time thing.

 

this has not been my experience, nor any one I know.

when buying the car you are a number. When coming for service you are a number.

some people think if you buy a car, and service it at the same dealer you will be treated better. Any problem,with warranty and the dealer will “go to bat for you”, etc.

Nope.

money is money. The dealer service department doesn’t care where you bought the vehicle. Your money is just as green as the guy who bought elsewhere

 

shit man, truth ^

Im so lucky that I have a good dealer for buying and service, really nice, makes my lean more to toyota for all the purchases I make.

 

I disagree, and this is someone that has been in the dealer/auto industry for 15+ years

If the tech has only time to do one more service at the end of the Friday, and there are 2 cars left in the queue...If that service advisor knows that customer because he bought it from the sales guy he had lunch with the other day, he is going to get that car done first and call the other customer with the bad news that their car wont be done. He knows there's a good chance that first customer will be coming back so he will prioritize that customer.

 

My closest dealer sold me a used car that was wrecked without telling me. Then, I figured sales and service might be different. So, I took my 4Runner in for some minor service work, and when I got it back they told me it had an oil leak they "would like to fix." I said I'd look at it. I drove it home and sure enough there was a bad oil burning smell coming from under the hood that definitely wasn't there before. I opened it up, saw oil smoke coming from the exhaust manifold, and tightened up the valve cover gaskets which were really loose. If you go somewhere else to buy your rig (I went 60 miles away) don't take it to a dealer that you avoided in the first place. Check cars.com for dealer ratings, they're the most reliable.