Is toyota taking the Pi*s

Toyota dealers can be a bl**dy rip off.

 

I was quoted £550 for a full service and a cam belt change.

 

When i came to collect it the bill was £900

 

There main argument was that the Radiator had to be drained and removed to get at the crank bolt and this was not normal. I later found out that it is normal to do this...They had gone bust by that time so couldnt do anything about it. Never been back to a toyota dealer since.

 

Paul

To state the other side of the argument, apart from the very last time I had a service, I have never had any problems with Toyota not getting the price correct for a service.

For information, a "full" service (assuming you mean a "B" plus tappet clearance - 54000 miles IIRC) weighs in at about £400. A Cambelt change is £220 or so, so if you were quoted £550 for all of that then they did cock it up a bit. £900 is still OTT though.

Just for a tip, before you book your car in with a Toyota dealer, do your homework and understand what is involved with each service because although the "official" line is "AABAAB" at 9000 mile intervals (plus the infamous extra change at 4500 that isn't actually in the handbook but is a good idea), in reality most of the services have different scopes of work.

In fact I have all this on a spreadsheet (surprise) at home - I'll post it up here later.

When you book your car in, make sure that all the extra bits like fluids and plugs are included in the price and check the invoice when you pick the car up to make sure the right bits have been issued. I spotted that cock-up in my last service this way.

Finally, when booking in, don't say "full service" or "A" / "B" service. Give the details of your car and the mileage. This will allow the person booking you in to immediately zero in on the correct service. Imports do not trigger the automatic service scheduling system that Toyota use because it does not recognise the chassis numbers. They have to pick the service from a menu instead and by saying anything other than the mileage you run the risk of getting an "A" or a "full" service from one of teh older schedules (which is what happened to me).

I also have to say that when I brought it to their attention, my local Toyota dealer were fine about doing the omitted work for nothing.

I'm not defending Toyota dealers as a whole. In fact I used to detest my local one until they moved to a new premises and cleaned their act up. If they are legit, then they sould have all the necessary to book your car in and price up the work properly. The problem is that many dealers seem to make a complete balls of it unintentionally, or possibly intentionally to fleece the customer.

Forewarned is forearmed!

I'll post up that spreadsheet later.

Okay, here's the file:

Fairly self-explanatory. Mileage in miles and km along the top. Services down the side.

"A" and "B" are the basic workscopes and then under that are the "extra" bits. NOTE: Except for the timing belt, the rest of the items are included in the prices along the bottom - yes, even the valve clearance check!

Special notes:

Timing belt: Approx £220 all-in (stand-alone job, not part of 63000 mile service).

Valve clearances: This is a cam cover off job. If your dealer tries to fob you off that this will be extra, don't believe them. Later models do not require this check beyond a "listen to see if it rattles and advise accordingly". The Supra is not young enough for this and requires that the clearances are physically measured. There should be a sheet filled in as part of this. If any clearances are out of spec then there will be an additional charge to correct it, however.

The "unique identifier" is a sighty geeky feature whch gives each service a code based on what work is carried out. This lets me easily look for patterns in the sequence. More importantly it allows me to see which futre services will cost what based on ones which have already been done. The prices in green are actual invoices that I have had while I owned the car.

Service schedule for bbs.zip

Nice one Digsy!

We just picked up our MG ZR from its first service - £180! That's a lot of money just to change the oil and keep a dealer stamp/warranty...

(To be fair they have checked lots of other stuff too)

Right- Had a call from Toyota today. Good news.

 

A watchdog researcher had spoken to the manager and addressed my concerns

 

Toyota are now charging me 2 hours labour which is what i agreed to and an o2 sensor price as they think this is what is causing the over fuelling. Not the £2300 price from before. I can't believe they tried it on!

 

Great News

That's incedible. Thank god it's all turned out alright. I lost faith in Toyota when i went in for a indicator harness and they first told me you couldn't buy one as it's attached to the frame, WTF??

If it's still not right you should give Paul Whiffin a call at Whiffbitz.

Thanks guys