ArmyofOne

i didnt write off the brand, just the dealer... but check this out... so today i got a call from the corporate liason at my local toyota dealer...lets just say i am ashamed to say that these people are on the same planet as i am. she told me, that because i called corporate before i gave them an opportunity to correct the problem, that they are hereby voiding my toyota factory warranty and are refusing service to myself and my wife indefinately. Hows that for customer service? so its offical, even with 485 a month, im still have the civic...with a **** ton of extras... Josh, I surely hope, and strongly advise, that you review your warrantly documentation, and I hope you have copies of all the documents from when you purchased the car and warranty agreement. Look for anything that suggests the dealership has this authority to revoke your warranty. This smells like complete, total, and utter BULL SH*T on ALL levels! Just because you called the boss first, doesn't give them the authority to revoke something you've already paid for. I'm sorry, but that's simply unfair, and quite frankly, unconstitutional business practice. I would strongly advise you to review your documentation, call the manager and MAKE him/her point to exactly where in your contract that they have this authority under this situation. If they give you the run-around, call Toyota Corp., and tell them to point out exactly where in your documentation they can do this. Furthermore, advise that half-assed, over-paid, taco bell fry cook wanna-be, manager that you are addressing this issue with him as a last ditch effort before exercising your legal options. This isn't business practice towards you Josh. This is staight up, flat faced, theft of your dollars for that warranty, PERIOD. And THEY know it, but hoping you're too stupid or lazy to recognize it. Which, they're sadly mistaken. Short example: Friend of mine in the 80's had a oldsmobile cutlass coupe, bought by his dad from the local mitsubishi dealer. turns out, the car had been totalled in Mississippi a year earlier, of which they found out about. They asked the dealer to do one of the following options (a) refund the money, (b)replace the car © adjust the original purchase price to reflect the true condition of the car. The dealership told them to "p*ss off". Little did they know, his dad was an attorney. Long story short, my friend got a brand new fully loaded eclipse turbo, his dad got $650,000, and the dealership got their business license revoked from the state bureau of economic affairs. This took a whole 90 days to complete. Well i called a dealer in syracuse, they said i could bring my car to them under the warranty, so i think what toyota of watertown was saying si that they are refusing service to me...and im not sure if they can do that, but i know most other businesses can, they have "the right to refuse service to anyone". But do you think i have a case for a lawsuit? i could really use a half a million right now.. .LOL

i didnt write off the brand, just the dealer... but check this out... so today i got a call from the corporate liason at my local toyota dealer...lets just say i am ashamed to say that these people are on the same planet as i am. she told me, that because i called corporate before i gave them an opportunity to correct the problem, that they are hereby voiding my toyota factory warranty and are refusing service to myself and my wife indefinately. Hows that for customer service? so its offical, even with 485 a month, im still have the civic...with a **** ton of extras...

no i have an extended warranty, and they were gonna cover it, but it was still under factory warranty. no matter tho, i traded for an 06 civic, loaded...20 k miles...and i cant complain. it already has tint!!

OK, so let me start by saying im not totally turned off to the brand, they are machines and these things happen. but as long as i am in this vicinity, i will NEVER own another toyota. on the 24th of march, i noticed my 2005 matrix had blown its rear differential seals (the vehcile is AWD) leaking fluid at one point, but there was no more fluid in the diff. for the past few weeks, i had noticed a loud humming noice that did not change pitch at all (regardless of road surface) coming from the rear of the car. i put new tires on, no change in noise or pitch. so on the 24th of march, i took my car to toyota of watertown, also known as waite toyota. I was very rudely told that toyota does not authorize loaner/rental cars unless the repair exceeds eight hours, and i would have to wait 2 days with no car AND pay an $85 diagnosis fee. THEN and only then, if the repair was scheduled to exceed 8 hours, would i get a rental. it is still under the 5 year, 60,000 mile powertrain warranty with only 39,000 miles on the clock. so i say no thank you, and i go to the dealer i purchased the car from, Dealmaker Honda. I have an extended warranty through HondaCare, and it is bumper to bumper, so i had honda take a look at it. they were MORE than happy to do so and gave me a rental free of charge. they called me a week later and told me they had found the problem, but they werent allowed to fix it, because hondacare's warranty will not cover it until toyota's factory coverage ceases at 60,000 miles. meantime they sent the car to waite toyota of watertown (the *BLEEP*s) and are having them fix it, and the honda dealer is coming out of pocket for the rental im driving. so at this point all im out is the money for gas....no biggie. well, today (wednesday)...i got a call from my wife, the honda dealer took delivery of the car from toyota, and the noise is not gone, in fact its worse. back to square one. I go to the toyota dealer EXTREMELY livid and asked if the service tech drove the car after the leaks were repaired. the answer the service manager gave was..."i would think that he did"...this means no. the leaks are gone, but the rear diff is almost certianly bad, because we drove the car for a good while with little/no oil in the rear diff. (completely by no fault of our own. this afternoon while running errands in town, the hum of the rear diff became a loud grinding noise. we are now awaiting word on financing for a 2008 Honda Civic EX. loaded with every feature available...but im reporting this toyota dealership, they cursed at me and led me along like a puppy, and then they disrespected my wife and i have had it. not to mention this is the SECOND time in 40 days the matrix has been in the shop for a somewhat major problem...and the first time it left me stranded. as i said before, i have no issue with the brand of car, even though with less than 40k on the odo, i am having leaks severe enough to do this kind of damage...something is wrong there, so the next toyota i buy will be brand new, or old enough that i dont give a rats !Removed!. my issue is entirely with the dealer at this point. and i have no choice, its the only dealer within 90 miles.

yeah everything is fine LOL. she just wouldnt stop tickling me LMAO yes it was the matrix, and no NC...no rocket fuel...i wish. im actually glad it happened, maybe now i can go more than 165 miles on 11 gallons of gas...

Sooo...i finally figured out my gas mileage myth...only took 2 years. I was minding my own business, driving on fort drum on my way home for my lunch break...no big deal right? i stop at a stop sign and go to get going again and sputter sputter sputter...die...crank sputter sputter sputter...CEL...sputter...i take my !Removed! (at 25 MPH, spitting smoke and gasoline out of the tailpipe) the 10 miles to the dealer i go to (Dealmaker Honda, where i bought the car) and have it diagnosed...im not gonna screw with it, it has a 100,000 mile Honda Care extended service plan. 2 hrs later i find out that it has a ****load of stuff wrong with it... First, the #1 fuel injector went out, then coincedentally (and unrelated) the #1 ignition coil pack went out... then as a result of the Dead Cylinder, it spit out the fuel through the exhaust and blew my O2 sensor, the cat was burned up also as a result. Technician said the Injector was probably faulty from the start and eventually got stuck open...hence my bad fuel mileage...in 10 miles, i burned/spit out about 4 gallons of gas... soooooooo....$850 of someone elses money later, im in a loaner honda civic and i owe these guys nothing cause i bought that warranty...its already paid for itself! anyway, we will see how my mileage improves when i get the car back on tues..

maryland and back to NY... well upon my return from iraq, the US Army was kind enough to grant me 30 days of PAID leave from the army...so Meghan and I loaded up our 2005 Toyota Matrix XR (4wd of course ;) ) and we embarked on our journey... From our home at Fort Drum NY we drove 10 hours to Indianapolis IN starting at 0500 hrs on the 15th of dec. Along the way we encountered some HELLACIOUS lake effect snow in Ohio and indiana...never been more glad to have the 4wd on the matrix. We spent 2 days there, and from there we drove 15 hours to Fort Worth TX. We stayed with my folks, who have acquired a 2nd house on Eagle Mountain Lake. its gorgeous, but under heavy renovation as its been empty for 2 years and was built in 1974...and never updated. when i arrived there was paneling everywere (UGH!!!) and YELLOW countertops and linoleoum in the kitchen and bathrooms. YUCK!! So the days consisted of Remodeling a decrpeit house, and the nights consisted of drinking and spending time with family at the other house in a hot tub and heated pool. for those who are wondering, mom still has her 2006 Camry XLE and dad still has his 2002 F150 Limited. They also have 2 motorcycles now, a 2006 Honda Valkyrie and a 2006 Kawasaki Cruiser (not sure what model, but it resembles a harley and sounds GOOOOOOD). Dad took my wife and I fishing on his 2004 19' Tracker bassboat. My Brother, Shawn, has been diligantly working to finish his 1996 Ford Ranger, its now Bagged and sitting on the ground, with the ability to raise and lower up to 10"...it still needs some work, but its his baby. He is also the proud owner of a 1984 Toyota truck (RN 84 i believe) with a 2 barrel 4 cyl and auto trans...i put a new rear trans seal in it and it runs like a dream...with 360K on the odo...next up, body drop...way to go shawn! Myself and all of LOC are proud of your accomplsihments. Shawn will also be getting married to Kalee in the future. no date set yet, but it will be after Shawns graduation from college. after about 2 and a half weeks in Fort Worth, of seeing old friends and family both close and distant, we embarked on our journey home, which would take us to Willis TX to stay overnight with my grandmother, then Lake Charles Lousiana, to see my Great aunt and uncle. I also had to do some preventative maintenance on the matrix at this point, nothing major, but i was looking under the hood (checking fluids and whatnot) and i noticed our serpentine belt was frayed and cracking. I figured better to change it now then be stranded in the smokey or appalachian mountains on the way home. so i went to autozone and grabbed a belt and did some DIY in the driveway (never leave home on a cross country trip without a bag of at least basic tools...) We then surveyed the still ever present hurricane damage along the coast....and are still amazed that people still manage to get along there. From there we embarked on a short 6 hour drive to Mobile AL to stay a few days with my Great Grandparents...it was a good visit, but we couldnt stay long, my great grandmother is 81 and my great grandfather is 90 so niether of them can handle visitors for long. they still get around ok, but grandma needs her walker some of the time. They are also the proud owners of an 06 Camry XLE that they purchased in august 2006. they are very pleased with it. Then, Meghan and I got back in the matrix for the 22+ hour drive STRAIGHT back to NY. I drove 18 hrs and she drove the last 4...i was so tired i was putting us and those around us in danger. so i pulled over in PA and let her drive the rest of the way. So yeah, that is why i have been MIA for the last 26 or so days. still got a few days left. all in all i must say i am VERY impressed with toyota's reliability. and even with the 4wd and the automatic, i still averaged 350 miles on 11 gallons of gas...so around 33 mpg. thats pretty damned good. now if i could just figure out the lack of city mileage. LOL. so its back to the daily grind for me on monday. anyway, we had a blast and look forward to doing it again next year. you will be seeing me here alot more now LOL, sorry i have been gone so long.

well to be honest, i really dont want to do anything until we get our family situation working right...we are debating on a baby and home buying and i sold my car so i wanna wait until i can pay cash. besides, as good of a deal as it would be to buy your beautiful car, i realy dont want to do that and bring it up here in all the salt...cause that would undo every repair you just made...and then some.

you would seriously deliver it yourself? you are really...REALLY tempting me...seriously... ohhhhh meghan.... :whistles: (seriously dont sell it yet...the escort will be out from under my hair as soon as i get back and it will be nice to get into a car that i wont be upside down on from day one) ...would you take $6800? if not, how low will you go? dont let me take advantage of you because we are friends...im all about fair and i dont want to screw you out of well...anything. As for the maintenance, you know me...taker' apart and puter' back together all day long...and manage to eat all 3 meals in the process...and drink lots of alkyhol. :D

$7,900? geez i wish i had that sitting around right now... :cries:

im sorry i forgot to update you guys... actually, you will be presently suprised and pleased to know that: We took care of it. Meghan drove to Syracuse and spoke to the Service manager at the Syracuse dealer, then she spoke to the regional manager for toyota. Not only did she get the problem fixed in Syracuse, but the regional manager said he would (and i quote) "Go to Toyota of Watertown and personally take care of the problem, rest assured you wont have to deal with that treatment or that individual anymore, this isnt the first complaint i have had about him." He then wrote her a dealer check for the tank of gas she used to get there, gave her the 30,000 mile service for free and told her that if we come back to one of his dealers for our next car, he will hook us up. He also included a 25% coupon off the timing belt change coming up at 90,000 miles, valid at any toyota dealer/service center in the country. way to go toyota!

My wife's car has had a problem with the AC draining into the pass. side floorboard. Today she took it to the local toyota dealership, (the only one we have in watertown NY) and they told her because the car was involved in an accident on the pass. side, the factory warranty is void. and they would have to charger her $650 to rip the car apart and find the source, let it dry and put it back together. HOLD ON...Warranty Void aver an accident? I have never heard of this, this car has 20,000 miles on it, still under the factory bumper to bumper. something as small as an AC drain hose, there should be no issue fixing. the accident was all cosmetic anyway, though extensively damaged ($5,750 in damage, both doors, front bumper cover, rear bumper cover, rear fender, front fender, R/F wheel and R/S rocker panel.) The repairs were done at an Authorized Toyota Body Repair Center, with OEM toyota parts...so tell me again why the warranty is void? is there a way i can resolve this situation from Iraq. I think the whole reason they are doing this is because my wife went in there by herself, in a predominately military town, and i would like to chew someones !Removed! over this. any suggestions?

77,000ish. 224 FWHP, 227 FWTQ. Im gonna miss her. :cries:

A friend of mine is writing me a $6,500 check for my ZX-2. Im sure gonna miss that car, it was a blast to drive, but i sure am glad to be out from under it. it was a good car, but i was way upside down on it...Plus with Meghan not working, and me in iraq we definately dont need 2 cars. So all in all, looks like i will be saving about $300 a month when i get back (160 for the payment and the rest is gas maintenance and ins...

get a new mechanic Yes this is great advice... <_< I swear, if everyone fired their mechanic every time they made a mistake, there would be alot of unemployed mechanics out there... Its quality posts like this one that turn people away from us for help. if you dont have any valuable advice, please allow those who know what they are doing to help and assist those who dont. FWIW the valve seals were 95% of the problem, the PCV valve is the other 5%. change it. its causing oil blow by past your rings as suggested earlier. it costs like $4 for the part and a half hour of labor. enjoy!

PM User nc211, he should have the contact info of one of my guys in DFW who can get you a decent price on some paint. but with hazmat shipping, it will cost just as much prolly to get it where you are...and it would definately be easier.

more info, need mileage... does it do it only on startup? until the engine is warm? or all the time? the car has 52000 miles, the smoke is there for about 3-5seconds its baby bluish in color and only appears when the car is cold or has been sitting for a couple of hours. I think it might be just excessive carbon buildup or it could be entirely normal...try using Seafoam in you engine. For your year and mileage i highly doubt you have much, if any wear on your valvetrain or piston rings, which usually cause blue smoke. if the seafoam does not work (do a search on "seafoam") then i suggest you take it to a qualified mechanic in your area... also, you could have a friend stand behind your car while you rev the engine and see if the smoke gets worse as the engine speeds up... these types of problems are really hard to diagnose over the internet, hence my reccomendation for a mechanic...if i sat here and said anything more than i have, i would either confuse myself, you or just totally waste your time. :)

If the camry engine is a V6??? then it will be a direct bolt in, trust me, i had a 90ES250 that i rebuilt from the ground up. it will drop right in and bolt to the tranny too! Mechanically, that car is a 1990 camry...on steroids. OH!!! and while its out...I have a BRAND NEW power steering pump...i paid $425. My ES got totalled before i could put it in...its still in the bag from toyota, give me $100 and its yours...ill even pay shipping. it has all the seals and everything still in the plastic. also, if i were you, i would rebuild that lexus engine...save you some dough if the camry engine craps any time soon.

more info, need mileage... does it do it only on startup? until the engine is warm? or all the time?

naw I don' think its like that. They said they would have no problem ordering the pearl paint but they just said it was up to me to decide. I went to 2 different body shops and they both said pearl paint was a lot more expensive. I may just be better off changing the color of the car to another white. I'm thinking about Crystal white or Opal white. Which one do you guys think looks the best? Are there any others? So...you say the pearl is to expensive to repair...but you can afford to repaint the entire car? an LS400 is a large car...every time i have been somewhere to inqire about a repaint on my ES250 (not even a color change), they quoted in the neighborhood of $2,000-$3,000.... :whistles: and it is a MUCH smaller car (think 1990 Camry). if you are being quoted $750 for pearl white, you are getting taken, that should only be like $300 for enough paint to do minimal repairs, if even that. $750 for paint only is what i was quoted to do my ENTIRE Es250 in Black Jade Metallic Pearl (dark green-black pearl pant). the rest was labor...paint isnt that exensive, if you go to the dealer i gauruntee they will sell you all the paint you need for much cheaper than that. then you can store the paint and save up for the repairs to be proper, just remember to keep it IN THE HOUSE, not in the basement/non climate controlled garage, shed, etc. for ordinary paint this is fine, but it will go bad under other than ideal conditions eventually. your lexus body shop should tell you this. Depending on where you live i may or may not know someone at a lexus/toyota dealer near you...id be happ to help you. if i dont, i can find a place for you to get your paint and bypass the middle man. dont forget that in addition to your paint, a 3rd party body shop may charge you extra for the overhead for the courier etc, to get the paint to their door.

I did the one on my ES250 and alltogether, about $1150 P&L. the rack is what you need. from toyota, the part will be EXPENSIVE...around $900 for my 1990 ES250 i had many moons ago...

I did the one on my ES250 and alltogether, about $1150 P&L. the rack is what you need. from toyota, the part will be EXPENSIVE...around $900 for my 1990 ES250 i had many moons ago...

...not to be a smartass but...in every car i have ever had...and i have had alot, all you have to do is push the lighter in, and when it pops, its ready for use...in one car, it even shot clear into my hand! :P :) :D :D Im JK, glad you squared him away blake., how you doin anyway?

Actually even if you want to wait until Thanksgiving you should still talk to someone now. A good realtor won't push you into anything and its important that you have a picture of what your options are and what this transaction is going to cost you now so you can make any preparations for Thanksgiving. I've had initial consultations with buyer clients that haven't bought for over a year, but the initial consultation is still important. The more time you have to plan the better off you are. As long as you have an income at all that you can deduct mortgage income from, it makes sense to have a mortgage. If they pulled credit at the CU then the scores are accurate, they pull directly from the bureaus. The issue seems to be these online deals. In fact when I got approved to purchase this investment I just purchased my scores were as much as 25 points lower in reality than they were on like FreeCreditReport.com. As long as you have your BAH in writing from the Army the lender can use this to offset any DTI problems when they approve you. I absolutely agree. I do mostly residential sales and listing, a little commercial but not much. Unfortunately I'm not licensed in NY and even if I were, without knowing the area I wouldn't be much help to you. I can find you an agent up there every bit as good as me that knows the area and knows the values, you'll be better off with that. I wish it were 7-10% lol. In reality its more like 5-6%, 7-10% for land and for commercial. The buyer's agent is almost always paid by the seller. So out of a 6% commission if I were a listing agent and you were the buyer's agent, I would get 3% and you would get 3% and then however much of the 3% we would get to keep would be dependent on what we have negotiated with our companies. If there was no buyer's agent and the listing agent sold the property directly to the buyer he would, absent any agreement with the seller dictating otherwise, make the entire 6%. So, the answer to your question is its really free for you to be represented by a buyer's agent. Most companies charge the buyer a small administrative fee, we charge $295 but I always waive that to the client and pay it myself. I'm making a *lot* of money on a transaction, and it seems petty to me to then turn around and ask the buyer for that fee but not everybody does that. Now, some people will tell you if you don't have an agent the seller will give you a better deal but that has overwhelmingly not been my experience. This year I've saved my buyers an average of 8% over the sales price of the homes they've bought, would they have been able to do as well without me negotiating for them? I don't think so. When you're thinking about a $650,000 house, 8% is $52,000. Nothing to sneeze at. huh...so it really is "practically" free for the buyer? ill be damned. ill take you up on some of those names then i guess steve. i will have a hard time meeting with them being in iraq, you think they will want hostile fire pay to come visit me? LMAO I'm jp, seriously, the names ill give to megs and she can call around and maybe go look at a few houses. NC, yes my wife is VERY handy around the house, excellent with money, and best of all she isnt stupid LOL. she never repairs or replaces anything without talking to me about it first and if she cant talk to me, she calls my dad.

yeah ralph, i talked to my dad and i had misunderstood this. i can only have one AT A TIME! lol. oops. looking like a VA loan is the way to go....ill keep you guys posted, meghan will be doing some reasearch until i come home, as we cant make a financial descision like this one without both parties present. Hold of on the names steve, as i said, give me till around thanksgiving... I REALLY do NOT want to rush this. at all. this is the LARGEST financial commitment i have made in my life (aside from getting married :P) and i dont want to botch it up. as far as income goes, meghan is still unemployed...but with my promotion my base pay has gone up. the credit check was done at the credit union i am a member of, as a courtesy to us for the purpose of homebuying. my only issue i can forsee is my debt to income ratio...with meghan not working, its like 52%...however, if i turn in my housing and begin getting my BAH (basic allowance for housing, which i would get a sa homeonwner and it would pay my mortgage). then i would be WELL under my 50% D2I ratio. ...food for thought. I just figure since the housing in my area is going private, they are gonna make us sign a lease for $1200 a month plus utilities, which i can, but DO NOT WANT to put in someone elses pocket. if im gonna pay that much, it will be on a property so i have something to show for it in 5 years, not just giving it away to my landlord, that is stupid IMO. Steve, is there a way you would be willing to fly/drive up from DC to represent me? If you even do that sort of thing. I dont know what kind of real estate you deal in... also, realtors, i know how they work on the selling end, you sell your property with them, and they get a cut, usually 7-10%. how do they charge for the services when your a buuyer? and can these charges be integrated into your mortgage?