"All repair work must be done in our shop" (1 Viewer)

[James Kelly]

Well I finally bought my '02 Riverrock. My question is this: on the bill of sale, it listed the Toyota Certification number for the vehicle (it is Toyota certified for 7 years from the date of original purchase/100K miles), but it also said "all repair work must be done in our shop". When I asked about this, the salesman and manager insisted it was standard on all forms and applied only to New York State Lemon Law repairs (first 90 days, 3000 miles). Since this work would already be covered under the Toyota Certification warranty, I demanded it be struck out. They gave me a hard time about it, but when I refused to sign the bill of sale and took out a piece of paper and began taking notes, they did cross it out on the original bill of sale and two duplicates with much anger.

Anyway, here's my question: Was I being a paranoid pain in the ass, or if I had signed this could they force me to do all repair work, including that covered by the Toyota Certification warranty, in their (the dealer's) shop?


(I felt I had good reason to be paranoid because the previous day they had tried to sell me the vehicle without Toyota Certification, and when I called them on it they insisted it was a "salesman's clerical error", but that's another story

 

[calamaridog]

Typical lies and deception which, unfortunetly, is rampant in the industry.

My opinion, take it for what it is worth. I'm not sure of the laws in your state.

 

[100 TD]

Interesting from an OZ perspective, I would think if you had signed then you would have had to do exactly as stated.
In 1994 I hiked around the US, although mainly Canada and Alaska, and purchased a secondhand Toyota Corolla from Conneticuit Toyota dealer and had a few problems before I got out the gate, I asked about towing and was told it was covered, I demanded it be written on the contract, I said the windscreen wipers didn't work properly and demanded it be written onthe contract, and also the brakes were U/S and had it written on the sale contract and be repaired. They did not want to write the towing on the contract but I demanded. When I picked up the vehicle, the wipers were not fixed, they said they work OK if you turn them off when they are at the bottom of the screen and that is how they are supposed to be. I said no way, fix them, they said no and parts are not available anyway, I pulled the contract out and showed them the written bit and funny how parts arrived that day that were previously unobtainable!

If you sign a contract stipulating that repairs can only be done at a dealers place, then I expect you are trapped, unless you cancel in the first few days (if the US has laws to let you get out of a contract in the first few days in case you decide you have made a big mistake) or unless it is illegal to write a contract in this fashion.

 

[100 TD]

I suppose you should also mention the name of the dealer that did this to you so others may be aware if they are purchasing from them. Be sure to state the facts though and the fact that they did remove it from the conntract after much hassles.

 

[cabron]

Sounds like they were trying to create a Monopoly in order to get more money from Toyota for all warranty work etc. Good thing you wouldnt allow it.

 

[donco]

Warrantee work

Don't worry about it. Toyota is going to deny the warrantee anyway. I bought an '00 LC off-lease, CPO from the dealer & they waffled and denied every claim I tried to submit, their warrantee wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. Find a good indie or do the work yourself, keep good records for resale, and save yourself the aggrevation.

 

[macneill]

I'm not familiar with the laws, but I would have done what you did. If it's covered under a "Toyota" warranty, the I would imagine you should be able to take the truck to any Toyota dealer.

I think they were just being greedy bastids.

Congrats on the new rig.

 

[tabraha]

You made a wise decision to take a stand against that verbage. Whether it was standard as they said or not; it was still wrong. Just another way to weasel out of any warranty work should it arise.

 

[tabraha]

Oh yeah, CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

 

[Campfire]

Slight of hand

First, Congrats on the new rig. It's always worth the wait to get want you want.
After spending 20+ years in Dealership parts and service, I've had to deal with all the "promises" of the F&I (finance & Insurance) guys. This is where the "closer" works. He sells you the warranty, locking lug nuts, paint sealant, fabric gaurd,... all to add to the gross profit of the deal.
Chances are that every "certified used car" that the dealer sold with the "all repair work must be done in our shop" clause, always come back there and the paperwork was never turned into Toyota. The dealer keeps the money in slush funds, and administers it's own warranty program. And then denies all your claims.

Now I know I'm walking the line here, & don't mean to offend SinCity or CruiserDan. Most dealers are are on the up & up, and do it by the book and take pride in their CSI (customer satifaction index) and wantto keep you as a customer. CruiserDan works at American Toyota, look up their name on Google and see the effort put out by that dealer. There are always bad apples in the bunch.

Paranoid? Do some homework, call your local DA and ask how many complaints have been filed against the dealer in the last year. Call the BBB, and do the same. BUT FOR YOUR SAFETY, call Toyota Customer relations and verify you have a TOYOTA CERTIFIED contract. Spend some time and get yourself peace of mind. Always make sure that "certified used car" warranty contracts are from the manufacturer on their forms, not from "Joe's Toyota Certified" program.

 

[tabraha]

Jeff, funny you should bring that up. There was a used car dealer local to me that was just busted for the practice of selling warranties, never turning them in and not honoring them. He's incarcerated now. I also believe there are a few loansharks from Florida that want to break his legs but that's a story for the chit chat forum!

It's a good point you raise.

 

[jmarlo]

Neither a dealer nor a retailer can compel you to have service or maintenance work done in their facility. This violates the "anti-tying" provisions within anti trust law. Similarly, Toyota cannot require you to use Toyota motor oil or Toyota air filters because this would create an unfair monopoly in favor of Toyota suppliers and against aftermarket suppliers.

When you want to make a warranty claim, you must obviously go to a dealer for that work. However, if you are in BFE and not close to a dealer, you can have the work done by any shop and then submit your bill for reimbursement to Toyota. A consumer is not expected to take unreasonable steps to obtain warranty work.

Take a look at the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act (searc the web) and it will describe this in more detail. This is Federal law, which will apply in New York statel, in conjuction with New York lemon laws (no state law can supercede or contradict a federal law, in this instance).

Make sure you keep receipts from where ever you have work done. If you do the work yourself, keep receipts for parts, and jot down how much time you spent. This is sufficient to show that the work was performed.

You were smart to cross out the offending language. However, even if you had not, you would not have been required to take the truck to the dealer only for repairs, for the reasons mentioned above.

 

[e9999]

good job on standing your ground!

about the extended warranty, we got a Toy one on the 03 and we already got out our $$ worth

 

[LXPearl]

James - congratulations on your newly acquired 100. Toyota dealers traditionally have scored rather low on customer service in Consumer Reports. In general, I have found dealers rather shifty. Great job catching them on it.

I have found a couple Toyota dealers that are good, but its because I have been a service customer and they treat me better because of it. The extended warranty on a new Toyota is better purchased after the sale. The dealerships do not all sell Toyota warranties via Toyota Financial Services (TFS) - many have their own 3rd party (e.g. United Auto). You have until the new car warranty expires to buy the new car extension. As JMarlo indicated - if you don't use Toyota service, then they will want to see receipts to show you bought the correct parts and supplies (not just Toyota brand). All is fine if dealing with TFS.

e9999: an extended warranty from Toyota will typically cost over $1500. Have you already had that much in warranty work after 36K miles?