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[71Corolla]

Living in Calgary, I have had a few dealings with Heninger Toyota.

Many years ago, I was looking for a winter beater, and I happened to see an 81 or 82 Corolla for sale there. Normally I don't bother with going to dealerships for used vehicles, but this one looked clean. I took it for a test drive, and the steering felt VERY wonky, it pulled to one side, and the steering wheel felt about as connected to the road as a sponge. I pulled over, looked the car over a bit, looked under it, then popped the hood. I was quite shocked to say the least. The right strut tower had broken completely away and was resting on the air cleaner. Actually, the air cleaner was supporting it.

So I went back to the dealer and talked to salesman, specifically asking him about a warranty. He told me they'd give me 3 months, and that the car had been thoroughly checked, as had all their cars. At that point I got pretty pissed off, popped the hood and showed the guy what was going on. Thinking the guy would apologize, instead he asked me if I wanted to buy the car for cheaper!!!!!! I basically told him to go fuck himself for trying to sell me a death trap. (BTW, the strut tower had been welded on poorly, the car had obviously been repaired from an accident)

My cousin had an 89 Supra that she was getting serviced there. I suspected something was up because after they did an oil change, I noticed the filter looked a bit dirty, like it was used. I checked the oil, it did NOT look like new oil. It looked like oil does after it has been in use for 10,000 miles. I am pretty certain they were "servicing" the car but doing absolutely nothing. I told her never to go back there.

I recently took my 2001 Camry there because of a CEL, they quoted me about $1400.00. Worse, they charged me $160.00 to tell me what was wrong, and refused to lower it even though I did not want the work done and only wanted to pick up my car. I should have never gone there, but I bought the car used and wanted a service history, and I had a hunch the previous owner took it there because he lived not too far from Heninger. (the guy I got if from didn't have a service history to give me). They were able to print the service history for me, which was good. I fixed the problem myself by replacing the famous VSV for EGR, cost me $120.00 for a geniune part, the light never came back on.

I bought and MR2 there in '86, I SPECIFICALLY and emphatically told them to NOT wax my new car, to not polish it, and also to NOT undercoat it. They did anyway. I refused to take delivery of the car, and had also made them write on the sales contract to NOT do the above. They gave me hell and argued with me, then told me it would cost me $500 to bring in another one. Eventually they caved, and got me another car.

I used to buy parts there at a discount (I worked out a deal with the manager because I purchased a significant quantity) the service manager there was very nice. But would I recommend anyone getting service there or buying a car there? No way. In my experience, they often have contempt for the customer, rip you off on parts and service, and generally do not even come close to following the "customer is always right" credo.

I will say this, I don't think Heninger is the worst dealer out there, I think most dealerships are pretty much the same, at least in my experience. Sit in the service center waiting room at Heninger Toyota and listen to what the owners are charged for, and what the service reps tell them about their cars. They prey on people's stupidity big time. I could spend all day pointing out the errors, rip-offs, and outright lies the dealer tells people. They replace parts that don't need to be replaced, do services on the car that are basically MADE UP, and generally do everything in their power to charge as much as possible. But I believe this is par for the course for most dealers.

Looking over the service history for my 01 Camry, some of the stuff on there is totally bogus! They kept charging the previous owner for lubing the door hinges, oiling the latches, lubing the parking brake parts, rotating the tires every oil change (why?) and balancing the tires much more than needed. How many times does a door hinge need to be lubed? And looking at my hinges, they were NEVER lubed. Neither were any parking brake components. Other stupid things too, like tightening the drive belts, (yea right, I have never needed to do this) flushing the cooling system far too often, flushing the transmission, cleaning the injectors, replacing bulbs all over the car etc. etc. Firstly, I'm not even sure they actually did any of this stuff, secondly if they did, they did it FAR too often just to make money.

So to answer your question, I am damn sure there are MANY customers that have had way worse problems than you. Way worse. An urban myth says that someone at Heninger dropped a brand new Supra off of a lift lol, don't know if that actually happened.