DarqByte

So the last two weeks have seen me drive quite a few vehicles. Laura and I decided a few weeks back to maybe start looking at a new vehicle to replace my ION. It’s not that I didn’t like my ION. Sure did. But it was getting up in mileage, they’re thinking about cutting the Saturn brand and there are really great incentives for vehicles right now.

So I test drove a couple Toyotas a couple weeks ago. I gave the Corolla and Camry each a shot. I’ve always liked the look of the Camry and I ended up liking the car quire a bit after the drive. The Corolla, not so much. Not really sure why I didn’t care for it much, but I just didn’t.

I then ended up test driving, as a few more days pressed on, a Honda Accord sedan and a Honda Civic coupe. Both were nice, but I was really impressed by the Honda Accord. It was a nice smooth ride and really roomy, I really enjoyed that car. It overtook the Camry as my top choice to trade the ION in for.

I should clarify now, Laura and I said from the get-go that we may not trade the ION in. If we didn’t find the right deal and something we really wanted, then we just weren’t going to trade the ION in.

After Honda I test drove a Hyundai Sonata. It was a nice enough car, but it just didn’t have enough of the special touches that the Camry and Accord had. I also tested out a Nissan Altima, but despite a lot of people liking it and a very high Consumer Reports score, I didn’t really care for it at all.

So lots of cars so far. Well, this past weekend we had to take our Tacoma in for an oil change. I decided that it was a good time for Laura to start test driving some vehicles too. I wanted her to give the Camry a shot and I wanted to get in a test drive of the Scion tC while we were there. Hopefully we were to move on to Honda on Saturday after the oil change and test out the Civic Hybrid, something Laura was keen on giving a shot.

So she drove the Camry and liked it, but not as much as I did. We decided that we really shouldn’t exclude the Prius, even though neither of us had ever really considered it. She thought it would be good to give it a chance since it was a very-high MPG hybrid. Drove it and was really impressed, actually. I hadn’t given a Prius much thought before but I really liked the features, the drive and the mileage it got per gallon.

Laura ended up getting a drive of the Prius as well and she liked it. After her drive we moved on to the Scion tC. Not at all impressed. Fun car for sure, but too low for how I like to sit and drive, and it felt too much like my ION. Fun enough, but not different enough.

So let’s skip ahead… In our parking lot here at work there is a Toyota Matrix parked with my stuff in it. Indeed, I drove it to work today. Left Findlay Toyota with it yesterday afternoon. That is an enormous number of different vehicles I’ve driven if you factor in the ION and Tacoma, for the last two weeks. So we bought a Matrix!

Well… No. We didn’t. Indeed folks, we bought a damn Prius!!! Yeah, I had no idea we’d love it as much as we do. I’d never considered one before because they were never incentivized before and had high prices. But Toyota came out with incentives on the Prius for the first time on May 5th. That, and I was able to negotiate some good stuff for it, so we got a pretty decent deal, I thought. They threw in a nice maintenance deal and gave me more for the ION than it was worth at auction. It didn’t hurt that we were repeat customers to the dealership.

They threw in $2000 off the price thanks to the incentive and we put another $1000 down. After it’s all said and done, we’re not going to be spending much more per month on the Prius over what we were on the ION, thanks to gas savings, etc.

So I have a Toyota Matrix right now because Findlay is correcting a few outstanding issues with the Prius, all visual stuff like paint scuffs and the like. Once it’s done, we’re all happy! I’ve already setup the insurance on it and we’ll be registering it this weekend, hopefully. Time to get my plates on it and have it be a done deal.

I’ll try to post photos of it soon.

Robert Life accord, altima, automobiles, camry, cars, civic, corolla, honda, hyundai, nissan, prius, scion, sonata, tC, toyota, trucks

Alright, so you might have seen whispers and rumors on either my blog or my Twitter account of some fabled letter I’ve been writing to Findlay Toyota. Or perhaps you heard me complaining about some issue I was having with them. Well, fear not. Here is the tale I’ve yet to tell, but shall now.

This all began on Saturday, January 10. Laura and I took the truck in for its regularly-scheduled oil change and tire rotation. When told it would take 20 minutes, it took an hour and a half. I didn’t stay irritated for long, even though we’d made an appointment.

Sometime Sunday the 11th, Laura noticed that the hubcaps on the driver’s side of the truck were missing. We quickly concluded that Findlay Toyota must have left them off because we’d never noticed them missing before.

Laura called Findlay Toyota on Monday the 12th to resolve the issue. They told her that we had to bring the truck in in order for them to order the hubcaps. She didn’t understand why but told me.

Since Findlay Toyota closes service at 6pm, Laura never has the opportunity to take the truck in after work. Thus, I planned to do it on Tuesday the 13th. I called as well that day to make sure I really did have to bring the truck in. It perplexed me that they didn’t know whta hubcaps to order, and I got my answer — they manufactured the 2007 Tacomas with any of 5 different hubcap models, and had no records who had what hubcaps on what truck since they’re so interchangeable. Oy.

So I took it in and explained the situation. The service rep asked me if I had my receipt from the oil change. Apparently, they will mark down the condition of the truck and any missing parts when you bring it in. He needed to verify they had left off the hubcaps and we didn’t bring the truck in with them missing… No, I did not have the receipt. I was not told to bring it, neither was Laura.

He checked his computer and they didn’t have the records scanned yet. Thus, a wasted trip. Well, at least he was able to get the hubcap part number down. He told me to call on Friday to see if they had the paperwork scanned yet… But then again, they should have called me when they did. Gah.

So I call on Friday the 16th and ask if the paperwork is scanned. Yup, it sure is, and they verified that there were no missing hubcaps marked. I also verified on my receipt at home. So I asked if they had the hubcaps in stock. He said he didn’t know what hubcaps were on my truck.

Wait, what? Didn’t I already take the truck down so they could get the damn part numbers? Yup, I did, and no, they didn’t. I had to take it down again… Frickin’ gotta be kidding me. Although I knew I needed to take it down there to get the hubcaps put on, but still!

On Wednesday the 21st I took the truck down to Findlay again. Again, I had to explain the situation because for the umpteenth time I got someone new in the service department. He brought up the receipt and sure enough there were no marks for hubcaps. He left for what seemed like an interminable amount of time and came back. The verdict?

In September’s oil change, we took the truck in without hubcaps. What? Er… What? He showed me the receipt from the September oil change and indeed, the hubcaps were marked as missing. He said he would warranty the hubcaps anyway, explaining to me how often people come in thinking Findlay left off their hubcaps.

He had one in stock and put it on the truck. I’m going in tomorrow to get the other one.

Now that my long story is over with, some thoughts.

1. I think he warrantied the hubcaps because on the most recent receipt, the one that I had to wait for them to scan, they didn’t mark the hubcaps as missing. If they had then, he probably wouldn’t have warrantied them. But since they didn’t mark it, they did make a mistake.
2. They could have left them off of the truck in the oil change before September.
3. They could have left them off on the most recent oil change and marked an old receipt to make themselves look better… But I have copies, I highly, highly doubt they did this. Why would any shop, really? Too deceitful.

So likely, the two hubcaps were missing off of the truck for awhile, but Findlay did make a mistake in not noting that on our most recent oil change. They also made mistakes in not telling us we needed the receipt and not taking down the hubcap number when they said that they would.

We live 20.1 miles from Findlay Toyota. The truck gets about 21 miles per gallon, which leaves us at a gallon one-way. Not to mention the transit time of at least a half-hour one-way. So Findlay didn’t do us any favors in needing us to go back so many damn times.

I’m going to check the September oil change receipt when I get home today, but I bet it shows the two hubcaps missing. Oh well.

Robert Life findlay toyota, hubcaps, toyota, toyota tacoma, truck, vehicle