Here's the thing with warranties. Like it or not, they are a game. Dan and I were talking today after I got back from the dealership and we agree that the game starts the DAY you buy your truck and continues until the warranty period is over. I have learned a lot over the past year and a half with my truck and look at things differently now than I ever have.
Rick, you played the game to get your diff fixed. By going to my service writer at one of the biggest Toyota Dealerships in Georgia (if not THE biggest) your warranty was much more likley to be honored. These things are about numbers. The dealerships LOSE MONEY on warranty repairs. If they have a bad month with warranty repairs, they won't honor any more. So the smaller the dealership (Milton) the less likely for warranty coverage. Toyota Corporate has VERY little to do with this and will just parrot their dealerships. Crap, yes. True, also yes.
The other part of the game is relationship. Where do you have your toyota serviced? I've known my service writer for close to 10 years (minus the Nissan years, but we don't like to talk about those, just too painful). I brought my truck in to see him after I bought it at another dealer. He remembered me from 6 years prior, I let him know that I wanted to use him for service exclusively, and for that I wanted him to be honest and forthright with me. I also told him that if he treated me well, I would recommend him and his team to my friends, who also all drive FJ Cruisers. The first time I came in with a repair (cut CV boot while installing lift) I was prepared to eat it because I did it installing the lift. He told me that I should have just come in and that he would have covered it under warranty (I already had the part, etc.). Nice. I also don't march in there with a chip on my shoulder from reading all this stuff on the web. They don't know the background usually, so I am nice, understanding, but also very firm in my desires.
Today I took the truck in for an oil change, etc. I also asked them to wash it. He made a comment how I didn't have my offroad tires on and chit chatted about the truck for a while. I also asked him what do to if my rear diff blew. He said that as long as he didn't see visable evidence of an impact or other damage on the outside, then he would cover it. I told him that the truck was all sorts of scratched up underneath, he's seen it, he knows I wheel it. He said yes he knows, but if it's not damaged he would cover it.
NOW, I am not naive enough to think that when my diff blows (because I know it will) that there isn't the possibility of them not covering it. Sure...but I have the groundwork down and I have done what I can to build the relationship to get it covered.
Marshall, thank you for laying that foundation with Ralph Hayes. That's what we need for sure.
OK, all that being said. I don't think it's right to have to play this game to get what is promised to you. And I'll tell you what, if after all that, Toyota denys my diff under warranty, I will march my happy a$$ right to a lawyer and file a claim against the Dealership and Toyota.
But, on another note...I do believe in you play, you pay. If this were anything OTHER than a defective part, I'd be on the side of you broke it you bought it. Dan just replaced the gears in his front diff that blew up to the tune of $800. Now, we all know how hard Dan wheels that tank, but he accepts the responsibility that things break and cost money (granted he does whine about it a lot, but he knows what he's in for).
OK, I know I am on a bit of a soapbox, but I just think that there are ways to get things done, and I think that there are ways to get things not done and I wanted to share my philosophy on them both.
are there any production dates after which this problem was resolved (i.e., have they started putting the hardened gears into newer FJC's)?
