oil change at a shop?

[cosism]

Originally Posted by gdanaher

Let me attempt to explain TRD. Frequently people buy a new car which is out of their comfortable price range. They spend their car budget on the monthly payment leaving little or nothing for maintenance. People cut corners. Maintenance suffers.

If someone is having trouble coming up with the bucks it takes to take the car to the dealer or >reputable< service center, they might consider getting a car which is less taxing on their monthly budget so that they can better afford the required maintenance.

That is the jist of what I understood as well.

[eddiefromcali]

Originally Posted by Mike Murrell

Your post makes no sense as far as oil changes go. What's the difference in price between a Corolla oil/filter change and a Camry oil/filter change - same year car. Not a whole lot.

You dont get it. Take an econ class. TRD is exagerating too. The original poster never said he couldnt afford the maintenance, only stated a shop he used was now more expensive and didnt make sense to take his car there. Bottom line is, take it to the dealer if youre afraid a lube shop will screw up. If the dealer happens to mess up, then they are liable for their mistake and will have to compensate you for your losses...and Im assuming the dealer is a reputable dealer too. Either way, make sure you check the oil level, oil cap and filter (might be tough to check this one in the parking lot) before you drive off. If you notice something wrong, point it out and have them fix it.

[sickstick]

Originally Posted by Mike Murrell

Your post makes no sense as far as oil changes go. What's the difference in price between a Corolla oil/filter change and a Camry oil/filter change - same year car. Not a whole lot.

You would have to worry about the proper weight of oil and amount with any car given the stupidity of the people who work in today's repair shops. It amazes me just how little, be they lube techs or real techs know about oil viscosity and it's application to particular makes/models.

The best you can hope for is:

- didn't overtighen oil pan drain plug so the next guy can get it out.
- same for the filter as previous comment
- used correct amount of oil. shops that use guns have a tendency to over-fill.
- semi-decent filter. if it's changed every 3K, this becomes less of an issue, contrary to what some believe.
- reinstall oil cap on valve cover

Irregardless of who does it, after you pull out of the shop, pull over ASAP, shut off motor, let it sit at least 5 mins. and check level of oil on dipstick. This is not a conclusive check, but gives you an idea if you're way over or way low.

Oh geez... What he means, (and I don't see why you don't get it) is that if you buy a Corolla, then you'll have plenty of money left over to spend on proper maintenance at the dealership.

[Hialeah Florida]

Originally Posted by lollonais

Dont tell me its Weston Maroone?

No its Lipton Toyata . They do the work but it takes 5 hours or more to get anything done and the dealership looks and runs like a third world country. King Toyota is even worse and didn't do the oil change and when confronted basically said drop dead and said the we can't investigate any further. Thats some asnswer isn't it? This is the 4th dealer we tried and it goes from worse to worser.

BTW like I said before the Totota dealers down here in South Florida[asI called everyone in Broward,Miami-Dade and Palm Beach ] DO NOT USE 5w20 OIL OIL. They do NOT stock it. I know this makes No sense but that is what they do here in the jungle. All other brand dealers and lube places down here DO stock it as that is what we use for the rest of the cars in our fleet.

I have a large family and we have 9 cars. At one time most were 90% Toyotas.We really like Toyotas. We generally put on 150k on our cars and alot of it is in stop and go driving in jungle heat with the a/c always on all the time all year long. Toyotas have always been reliable. Our 94 Camry had 200k miles on it when we sold it last year and the a/c was still ice cold without even having one service since new in 94.All major powertrain parts were original also.Then we started to slowly change our fleet to Ford. I love the Toyota but I hate to say this but our Crown Vic&Grand Marquis are just as good as Toyota and we put 150k miles or more on them. The only thing is we get treated like a human being at Ford instead of being in a third world country at Toyota.

Since this is our 4th dealer we tried we area at the end of our rope here. But don't get me wrong. We lived in Lexington Kentucky at one time and had great service from Toyota. Also in New Jersey they were great. But here its a total nightmare Their might be good dealers further down the road somewhere but we are not going to go drive 50 miles everytime for service.

From what I understand Toyota dosen't own the dealerships down here in the jungle.They are all privately owned so that might be problem.We have called and wrote to Toyota headquarters but getting nowhere and don't want to be bothered anymore.

I will really hate to see the 07 Camry go. It is a real nice tight car and rides great and the a/c is the best ever in this jungle heat but if it gives her panic attacks everytime it goes in its just not worth it. It has been in 5 times with sensor issues and the dealer can't seem to figure it out. Watching them work it seems they haven't a clue as to what their doing.

This is the next to the last Toyota in our fleet and it will be sad to see it go which will be this weekend as she getting her Mustang this weekend.

We still have a 86 Corolla left. It sill runs great. The only major thing we did with that was put a a/c compressor in it. Everything else is still original. Sears services that one. Believe it or not they are honest and really do change the oil when it goes in.

[Mike Murrell]

Originally Posted by Hialeah Florida

From what I understand Toyota dosen't own the dealerships down here in the jungle.They are all privately owned so that might be problem.

No car mfg. in the U. S owns any dealership. All U. S. dealerships are privately owned. This is not unique to South Florida.

Toyota mfgs. the car and sells to independently owned dealerships.

Complaining to Toyota Corp. in today's world is a waste of time. Been there. I used their online complaint site and several days later received a response from an "offshore" person.

The customer reps at the dealerships I've spoken with were employed by that dealership, so you can imagine how that went.

All in all, Toyota's customer service attitude has fallen down quite a bit.

Obviously some dealerships are better than others, but what you're experiencing goes on all over the country.

[Hialeah Florida]

Originally Posted by lammydi

Wow, things sure are not the same in our own country.
Here in San Diego, after a few minutes greeting with the service advisor I headed straight to the "customer lounge" for big screen TV with new sofa and free coffee. I also have my choice of going to the quiet room with cubicle with laptop plug-in so I can do my work if I wanted to. All this nice and comfort AC tall ceiling room but I am usually in-n-out less than an hour. There are also free shuttle available to take you anywhere within the 60 miles radius. I have built the relationship with the Service Advisor Manager so I always get a free rental (another Camry) if they know it's gonna take more than an hour to do any service.
I guess I appreciate things more now that I know not all Toyota dearlerships are the same.

You are very very lucky to have that kind of service. Our Ford/Linc-Merc dealer has all that above but not Toyota here in South Florida.Now if Toyota had that kind of service our large fleet would have stayed Toyota for sure.

I can safely say there is NO Toyota dealer like the one you decribed anywhere in South Florida and most likely not anywhere in Florida all together. In fact up north they were OK but not as good as yours.

Its good to know there are good decent Toyota dealers around in other parts of the country.I hope the Toyota dealers down here read what you had to say about your dealer.

[lammydi]

Originally Posted by eddiefromcali

You dont get it. Take an econ class. TRD is exagerating too. The original poster never said he couldnt afford the maintenance, only stated a shop he used was now more expensive and didnt make sense to take his car there. Bottom line is, take it to the dealer if youre afraid a lube shop will screw up. If the dealer happens to mess up, then they are liable for their mistake and will have to compensate you for your losses...and Im assuming the dealer is a reputable dealer too. Either way, make sure you check the oil level, oil cap and filter (might be tough to check this one in the parking lot) before you drive off. If you notice something wrong, point it out and have them fix it.

+1 Also don't forget to check the Air Filter. One time I caught it on the spot before I drive off they forgot to close the air filter box on my 03 Highlander. I talked to the Service Advisor so he can have a "talk with" the person whom worked on my car to prevent it happen again.

[lammydi]

Originally Posted by Hialeah Florida

No its Lipton Toyata . They do the work but it takes 5 hours or more to get anything done and the dealership looks and runs like a third world country. King Toyota is even worse and didn't do the oil change and when confronted basically said drop dead and said the we can't investigate any further. Thats some asnswer isn't it? This is the 4th dealer we tried and it goes from worse to worser.

BTW like I said before the Totota dealers down here in South Florida[asI called everyone in Broward,Miami-Dade and Palm Beach ] DO NOT USE 5w20 OIL OIL. They do NOT stock it. I know this makes No sense but that is what they do here in the jungle. All other brand dealers and lube places down here DO stock it as that is what we use for the rest of the cars in our fleet.

I have a large family and we have 9 cars. At one time most were 90% Toyotas.We really like Toyotas. We generally put on 150k on our cars and alot of it is in stop and go driving in jungle heat with the a/c always on all the time all year long. Toyotas have always been reliable. Our 94 Camry had 200k miles on it when we sold it last year and the a/c was still ice cold without even having one service since new in 94.All major powertrain parts were original also.Then we started to slowly change our fleet to Ford. I love the Toyota but I hate to say this but our Crown Vic&Grand Marquis are just as good as Toyota and we put 150k miles or more on them. The only thing is we get treated like a human being at Ford instead of being in a third world country at Toyota.

Since this is our 4th dealer we tried we area at the end of our rope here. But don't get me wrong. We lived in Lexington Kentucky at one time and had great service from Toyota. Also in New Jersey they were great. But here its a total nightmare Their might be good dealers further down the road somewhere but we are not going to go drive 50 miles everytime for service.

From what I understand Toyota dosen't own the dealerships down here in the jungle.They are all privately owned so that might be problem.We have called and wrote to Toyota headquarters but getting nowhere and don't want to be bothered anymore.

I will really hate to see the 07 Camry go. It is a real nice tight car and rides great and the a/c is the best ever in this jungle heat but if it gives her panic attacks everytime it goes in its just not worth it. It has been in 5 times with sensor issues and the dealer can't seem to figure it out. Watching them work it seems they haven't a clue as to what their doing.

This is the next to the last Toyota in our fleet and it will be sad to see it go which will be this weekend as she getting her Mustang this weekend.

We still have a 86 Corolla left. It sill runs great. The only major thing we did with that was put a a/c compressor in it. Everything else is still original. Sears services that one. Believe it or not they are honest and really do change the oil when it goes in.

Why did you go from Toyota to Ford? Why not to Honda? In my opinion, Toyota and Honda are the same when it comes to reliable. Just my .02

[lollonais]

Try Weston Toyota. They are quick if you get there early. I really went there once thinking I was going to be there for 2 hours. I was even thinking on test driving the new Tundra, but 45 minutes later, they called me, the car was done. I was like damn. They are pretty nice, they took care of my A/C there too, about the smell. Their parts are expensive though.

[majik]

One busy day w/out checking the forums and all of a sudden I get lots of replies. Thanks for all the tips, guys!

Originally Posted by geoff5093

It says on the oil filler cap what type of oil to use, whenever I brought my old Camry to a quick lube place they looked at it and used the correct oil.

Interesting, I haven't noticed this.

Originally Posted by geoff5093

But on my new car, I spend the extra $5-$10 and have it done at the dealer, just in case anything happens I can prove that it was done at a Toyota dealer, so it would be covered with no questions asked.

As other's have suggested, maybe I'll just go this route. The extra fee would be worth it.

Originally Posted by ShawnM

Just out of curiousity, what kinda shop dosent carry 5-30 oil? Even 5-20 for that matter is used on most toyota, honda, and fords. Every shop should either have the oil in stock or have instant access to it, just like they do for the oil filters.

Well, that first shop I was talking abou said they didn't carry it. They said they could go get some at $3/qt. extra....oh and that it would take at least an hour to do just that (they weren't busy at all). I'm not sure if they really didn't have 5w-30 or they were just saying that to charge me more......I just went and bougt it myself.

[Hialeah Florida]

Originally Posted by lammydi

Why did you go from Toyota to Ford? Why not to Honda? In my opinion, Toyota and Honda are the same when it comes to reliable. Just my .02

We were thinking about Honda until several of out friends with 02 and newer Accords and Civics told us they had major problems with their A/C and it costed them close to 700 bucks to fix it. Not good in Miami jungle heat where the heat index is over 100 everyday in the summer. Summertime here is 10 months long and the A/C is on all winter also as it is still a blazing sun during the daytime hours.

Our neighbor works for the Miami-Dade police department and he said they keep their Crown Victorias for 150k miles with very little issues. He also has a Grand Marquis for his personnel car and puts on over 200k miles with just regular service so we thought we would give it a shot. Turned out they are just as good as Toyota . It burns more gas but not buy much as its worth it for the comfort. As long as we can get 200k miles out of our cars its ok to us. Plus they are a low maintence vehicle like the Toyota. Plus we like the 4.6 V8 power. The Camry had alot of hesitation and was at times was a hazord on the highway. With our Crown Vics and Grand Marquis we don't fell any hesitation at all even though those cars are also TSB .

Then the thing is when we bring it in for a oil change we don't have the 5 hour cattle wait. We are out in 45 minuites or less which is unheard of with Toyota here in South Florida. At least in North Broward.

We bought a Crown Vic with 100k miles that was a former F.H.P. car and and it ran fine for another 100k miles but who really wants to ride around in a rolling toilet though by 200k miles the smell is gone.

She is trading her 07 Camry LE with 5k miles on it for a 07 Grand Marquis LS with 5k miles on it. Its her car and 2900 bucks .She was going to get a Mustang but changed her mind today. She is so happy she won't have to deal with Toyota anymore.

Turns out Toyota called her today to ask about how she liked her last service. She said it sucked as always and is so done with Toyota you can put a fork in me now thats how done i am. I'm sorry to see the 07 Camry go but i guess its for the best.

Now if we lived in San Diego we would have most likely stayed with Toyota.