So I have a 2011 Highlander that is not even 6 months old. I took it in for its' first oil change week before last and the service center (which happened to be the dealer) wrecked it. They bumped into another car while backing up. The damage was to my rear bumper and they assured me they would fix it at no cost to me and give me a rental at no cost. They told me it would be a simple fix and be good as new.

I was willing to accept these terms but since then I have endured a major ordeal that is pushing me to blowing point. First, it started when they tried to give me a Corolla for the rental. I said no, I want something comparable and it isn't a Corolla...the rental guy was a total prick to me and made me feel like an asshat for wanting something better. But they got me an Escape (which I would hardly call better) it was peppered with dings and I pointed them all out but he refused to mark them on the paper until I threatened him with the service manager. So he wrote it all down (the rental place is a commercial rental service).

So 8 days go by and finally I can pick up my car. I go to get my car, see it in the parking lot and decide to inspect it. I see glue all over the bumper and on the right side a 2 inch gap. I go in and ask to speak with someone concerning the repairs of my car. The manager comes out, inspects the work, apologizes and asks if I can wait. He says it's a simple fix they just didn't click the bumper in and apologized it was half-assed. I agree to wait, 30min later I get my car back. I inspect it and everything looks great. Fast forward to Saturday when I attempt to use my rear hatch... it won't open, neither automatically or manually. I call the dealer b/c at this point I am absolutely livid. I get the service manager again and this time I will him I want a new car b/c mine is fuckered and the value is going to be shit. He just tells me he understands and says he willl have the service center come out to my work on Monday and pick up and drop me off a highlander to drive until they fix it. But honestly at this point, I don't think I trust them to fix it.

If you were in this situation what would you do?

What I would do first is ... I'd buy American. Or at least gotten something that gets more than 8 mpg you American-hating, environment-despising, Middle East Oil-loving heathon you...

But in all seriousness, I shoot a lot of commercials for Browns Nissan down here. They are quite happy to bend over backwards to make someone happy for fear of their clients doing what you are doing right now - ranting on the internet. A toyota dealership has tons of room for competition in your local market I would imagine, demand to speak with someone in management until they offer you something you are happy with (free oil changes and car washes for X duration plus the appropriate fix, or something). If they don't make you happy you should publicly slam them, file with the BBB, and even work with your car insurance agent to sue for lost value. You have plenty of options if they won't work with you, don't settle.

Sorry to hear your distress. It sounds like it is all bieng handled without the insurance companies knowledge.

First if you are still willing to go this route and despise dealing with the service manager speak to the GM of the dealership. Ask that the vehicle and your concerns be addressed. He should be able to give you a new grounded demo to drive during repairs without all the head ache. Have the vehicle repaired by one of the dealerships *other centers, less dealing with that service manager and any bias feelings.

If that doesnt make you feel comfortable, contact your insurance agent and get the vehicle repaired at a place of your choice. Sue for loss time in small claims court. Or just get an attorney involved with your insurance company,

Im willing to bet the GM will address your concerns, and the service managers head will roll.

Good luck

You have them by the balls, don't back down until you get everything you want, and frankly them replacing it isn't out of the question either. Especially since it is near the model year end, just make sure they either get you the same trim level or higher.

Here is a more detailed explanation of all that has happened. This has been posted to various review sites of their business. Yes the formatting sucks b/c I only had 4,000 characters. So, sorry for that but it includes what happened today. And, now that I have my car back I have contacted the GM who responds directly to reviewers on sites like Yelp, Yahoo, etc

I contacted 3 lawfirms in my area yesterday and all were in court :( No one has called me back yet either. I have spoken to my insurance agent twice. Apparently they use this collision center for claims all across the region and they seem hesitant to go after them until I work my way thru all the motions. But, they did tell me that after I get inspected by other body shops and things are still messed up they will go after them.

In the last yrs. I have bought 6 (2 at a time each visit) vehicles from this dealer and have had nothing but fantastic experiences until now. On 9/7 I took my '11 Highlander in for the first 5k mile service. While waiting I was told that my car had been wrecked but not to worry all would be taken care of, it would "look good as new". At 1st I was ok but wanted to see my car and then questions started popping up I felt pressured to accept their offer to repair and didn't feel like I had time to assess my options. I saw how bad the damage was, I would need a new bumper. I was then told I would receive a rental until my car was repaired. The Enterprise guy I worked with a jerk to me b/c I told him I did not want the Corolla he was trying to put me in. A corolla doesn't compare to a highlander. He told me I would have to work this out with the dealer b/c if he asked it would sound like "he was asking for more money". I was aghast to be told this, really unprofessional in my opinion, he also wouldn't mark the damage on the rental. So I spoke to Mike the service mgr who told the Enterprise guy to give me whatever I wanted. I had to wait over an hour to receive a piece of junk Escape that sounded like the gears were grinding every time I shifted and it smelled horrible but I needed an SUV so I sucked it up, and the XM sub died 3 days before my car was done. I called Fri. to see if my car was ready and was told Tues. or Wed. at the latest. Wed. afternoon and still no word so I call the collision center and am told my car is ready. I went to get my car and saw it in the parking lot, upon inspecting it I noticed that something did not look right so I went inside and told the lady at the counter. A guy came out and said he would help me, I showed him my concerns...the bumper did not look like it was on correctly and there was glue everywhere. He asked me if I could wait and he would have it fixed. 30min later he tells me the car is ready. I drive it home and all seems ok. Then on Saturday morning I attempt to use my rear hatch and it won't budge either using the automatic opener or the manual button in the back. Upon closer inspection it appears that my bumper is on crooked and the right side is flush against the hatch. I was livid and knew I would blow up so I had my partner call Mike again with my complaints. I was assured that on Monday someone would pick up my car and give me a "comparable" rental while they fix it. Around 10am Monday(9/19) and no word from Toyota. So I called and left Mike a msg saying that at this point I wonder if I needed legal counsel b/c things were not going well. 5min later I hear from Jeff at the collision center apologizing for his tardiness which didn't make me feel very important or like my issues were important remember Toyota wrecked my car not me. Anyway he tells me he can't get me a car and asks if they can still come get it. I ok this but am not happy about it, it is just another way that I have been made to feel like this dealership doesn't care about the stress or time this ordeal has caused me. A few hours later I am told that the bumper and hatch are fixed and that it was b/c someone didn't put the bumper on correctly and that when they tested my hatch a blanket I have in the rear got caught in it. So 3 attempts to right a wrong they did to me all the time I was made to feel extremely inconvenienced & had terrible customer service. Today I got a free tank of gas when it was returned whooopie my brand new car has been wrecked and I get a tank of gas. I hope this is all resolved now but I am going to have my inspected for valuation by other body shops. In the end I will *never* use this collision center for any body work on any car I have and I am not sure I want to buy from here in the future. I had to make all the contacts and it felt like it only mattered to them when I engaged them. Promises were made that were not kept, and I did not feel like a valued customer.

Also you might try calling their national sales line, especially if you're a repeat customer.

http://consumerist.com/company/toyota/

Burn it to the ground!

Everyone has a boss and noone in their right mind would want to be fired right now. Keep climbing up the hierarchy at that dealership until you reach the owner if you have to. Eventually someone will make it right out of fear of losing their job in order to make it right, plus they get to fire whatever subordinates they don't like if they can be linked to the fiasco so you should find someone motivated to help you for whatever reasoning. Even so, dealers are supposed to meet some standards set forth buy the car brands they sell, so there is still more avenues to pursue above a dealer.

If it seems the dealership's whole corporate attitude is crap all the way to the top and reps from the car bran give you the snub, only than get a lawyer. Just be prepared to pay more for the litigation and the resolution taking far longer than what it would have cost to just take the car to an independent bodyshop to get it fixed and move on. Lawyer = you don't care about fixing the car. You just want to get revenge.

IMHO, the lawyer card gets overplayed. People need to be able to work things out like rational people and there is no reason why that can't happen. Lawyers are 80% of the reason why things are so fucked up in this country.

IMHO, the lawyer card gets overplayed. People need to be able to work things out like rational people and there is no reason why that can't happen. Lawyers are 80% of the reason why things are so fucked up in this country.

That is very good advice. first you would have to prove negligence or fraud in what amounts to probably less than $2000 in damage and that they neglected to address the issue which they did albeit very poorly.
best bet is to continue to be a caustic bitch on a crusade to raise hell until they offer up something worth while for all the bullshit they put you through. more than a tank of gas. that is rather insulting.

I really hope you can manage to get some butts kicked and asses chewed but I hope it doesn't end up with someone on the jobless line. that's really what we need less of these days.

I had a problem recently at the nearest Mercedes dealership when I had service on my car. Long story short, there were several things I wasn't happy about when I got my car back on the service trip. I won't go into details, but I was caused a fair amount of inconvenience 4 hours from home because of something they fucked up.

I spoke to Mercedes USA and informed them that I wouldn't go back to that particular service center as there is another Mercedes dealership/center in my city. They got ahold of the service manager, and I got a free complete detailing ($280) and my rear brakes replaced ($479) due to the inconvenience.

A good dealership that wants to retain your business will take care of you. If they won't, be sure to reiterate to them and Toyota USA that either you will choose another dealership for your future business or another brand completely and most likely Toyota USA will "force" the dealership you had issue with to take care of you.

One phone call to Toyota USA could get the dealership to jump through hoops for you. What do you have to lose?

Updates!
I did eventually get in touch with the GM who offered me up to 50k miles maintenance on my car meaning 5k, 10k, 25k, etc whatever parts I need replaced air filters, hoses, etc all covered this on top of my lifetime inspections and oil changes. I also told them that I am taking my vehicle to other dealerships to have the work inspected and if they say valuation or repair is bad I will come back. To the person that says $2k is all I am probably staring at I disagree. When it comes to vehicle depreciation especially when the car is only 6 months old and a top of the line trim in the model class and my worry has been if there is more damage b/c even now my bumper still does not appear to be fitting right.

Hopefully will know more after this weekend. In any case the GM was very accommodating and apologetic. He noted the failures of his collision center and the Enterprise place. He said both of those things he has been working on b/c sadly I am not the only person recently to complain about similar things. He is well aware of how badly these events make their image look and he is trying all he can to fix it. I am also promised a free detail on my next service/oil change., I had forgotten about that... the service manager gave me a card for that the day this happened.

Well, at least you didn't lawyer up. Fuck lawyers.