Toyota Dealers Uk.vs Eu Mainland

[Lazyporter]

Hello to all.

I have been reading a few of the discutions on the forum and 1 little thread seems to run through the whole thing.

I am seariously getting the impresion that Toyota dealers in the UK are a bunch of chancers. They seem to be unable to do simple compresion/pressure tests on the cylinders and cooling systems to fault find, there are sugestions that they just stamp the books without acctually doing things as are detailed in the workshop manuals for sevecing. It is !Removed! scary.

I live in the United States of Europe and the dealers here have bent over backwards to help me when things have gone wrong, ok they are flippin tight to give a courtisy car but hey you can´t win all the time. My Hilux had a collapsed fuel filter, middle of winter, the dealers took it in, dropped me off at work, fixed it that day and picked me up to come and collect my truck. They also went the extra mile(1.6km´s) to help me get the correct tow bar and anciliaries for the Hilux after the wrong bits were sent out. Even brought the Avensis 40 km to the test area so I could get it on the road, then when I went back to get a few new filters the dealer gave them to me at a discount and then fit for me-for free- also fixed the lose screws in the centre console. The sales man stopped me in the street the other day to tell me they had my model in the estate version if I am intrested in swapping.

Have I got it wrong or is there a pattern here?

Have a nice day.

[FROSTYBALLS]

As with any dealer network, be it in the UK or elsewhere in the EU, one can have good and bad experiences.

As regards my supplying Toyota dealership (not my local dealer), I have had very good experiences, both in terms of purchasing new cars and in servicing - which includes neat stone chip touch ins at no charge, discounts on parts, etc. Similarly with our second car, a Hyundai, we have had very good experiences. Cars have always been ready on time, scheduled work done, washed and vacuumed, etc.

There are some dealerships (various manufacturers) where I will not return - generally through poor experiences on the sales side.

[Heidfirst]

I have used 3 different Toyota dealers for maintenance. All have been fine.

Certainly a step above Ford/Vauxhall dealers.

As Frosty says these things are variable - I'm sure that this is true in & between Continental EU countries too.

[Parts-King]

Have I got it wrong or is there a pattern here?

Yes I think you have it wrong

You will always have good and bad experiences in life. There was a certain sports shop chain that I would never visit again the service was so poor, that chain went bust and closed down. There is nothing like market forces to bring these things to a conclusion

How long do you think a dealership would be in business if every time a customer went in for a service they would not do the work and just stamp the book? I think you are looking at things too simplistically, in fact your whole post has the phrase "troll" written all over it for me

As someone who has worked in the motor trade for 39 years I find it offensive that you should tar everyone with the same brush, maybe everybody in your line of work is a charlatan too? No? Thought not, give some of us a bit of credit

Kingo

[t-spiritpete]

Well said Kingo and others ..... I couldn't have put it better myself.

Most people who use forums of any kind use them to solve a problem they may have or to have a moan and very rarely go on to praise a dealer or their car etc, I am very happy with both my Avensis and Yaris along with any work I have had done a my local Toyota dealership, they are polite, friendly, helpful and do the job right and if they didn't Toyota GB would sort it as they do get feedback. I like Kingo have been in the trade most of my life and customer service is paramount or you lose business and it maybe worth mentioning here that Toyota is the Number 1 car manufacturer for car sales in the world (even though GM is the largest) and they didn't get there with a bad product or service.

Pete.

[Lazyporter]

Hello again.

I did not come here to pick a fight. The troll comment was a bit off to be honnest. But I do have a bit of free time at the moment and I do spend some of it reading the forum, yes people come here to ask things about their cars and talk about common issues, I just could not help but notice a few times where people said that their local dealers and workshops were found wanting. I live on mainland Europe, the dealerships I have delt with here also have their bad points along with their good points. Just Toyota here seem to put alot of effort into helping their customers.

But looking at the replies it seems that some of the people out there still care for the work they do and have a love/passion for what they do. Just wanted to know if things were as they seem or that only the bad points come accross.

[FROSTYBALLS]

I think what also needs to be added, is that sometimes people have unrealistic expectations, or don't know how things work in practice.

Goodwill contributions for out-of-warranty repairs are an example. Provided a vehicle has a dealer network service history, most manufacturers will consider goodwill contributions for repairs outside of warranty sympathetically - and Toyota seem to be one of the best as regards this. However, where people have taken their car outside of the dealer network for servicing, and suddenly have need of a major repair, some get annoyed when a goodwill contribution is turned down, try to blame the manufacturer for a lack of support, and post accordingly. When in reality, if they had remained loyal to the manufacturer's dealer network, the story could well have been different.

Forums are a good way of finding out what problems people have with their cars, but forums only paint part of the picture.

[Parts-King]

I did not come here to pick a fight. The troll comment was a bit off to be honnest.

....and so was saying

I am seariously getting the impresion that Toyota dealers in the UK are a bunch of chancers

The vast majority of customers from any franchise are completely satisfied with the service they receive from their dealer, and when it does go wrong, or expectations are not met, for whatever reason, then people like yourself are likely to come onto a forum and vent their spleen without caring too much about what they say. I am sorry you thought my comment was a "bit off" but I think you deserved it in the circumstances ;)

[frankie406]

Don't start me on vauxhall.as for toyota they couldn't help me enough great help even though I didn't buy the car from them!