Warranty work question

Did they bill you for it?

Sounds like they had a Factory Rep look at it (this is mere speculation on my part) and decided it was something that needed replacing (in a CYA situation) and didn't want any record of it.

I would call them and say, Hey, I didn't get any paperwork for this. After paying $385, I'd like some documentation.

If they balk at that, I would call Toyota Canada and say, "Yo! What up?!?! I paid a lot of $$$ for this and it looks like they're burying it" and see what they have to say about it.

I bet they charged you for a defect and don't want to admit it. I hope you paid with something traceable like a check or a Credit Card.

.//Hachiroku trolled:

No, I didn't pay anything for it. They just told me what I would have had to pay if it wasn't under warranty.

No, I wouldn't have paid anything and not gotten a receipt.

cordially, as always,

rm

Kinda like those commercials that say "A $500.00 value for only $29.95"?

For any warranty work Chrysler has done for me I've received a receipt showing what Chrysler paid the dealer for the repair. Is Toyota covering up this repair?

You should always get the customer copy of the repair order, whether the work was covered by warranty or not. It was probably an oversight, just go back and ask.

Sorry...I missed the part about Warranty Work...

I don;t think I ever got a repair order for warranty work...I can't recall. There was one car that had a bad throw-out bearing in '78, another that had a corroded slave cylinder for the clutch in '80, and a '74 Corolla that the rear end went on. I think I got a slip with the throw-out bearing, but I can't recall.

However, with the new Lemon Laws (at least here in Mass) if an item is reparied under warranty, then the clock starts all over again.

Let's say you have a 36 month, 36,000 mile warranty. So, let's say you're at 32,000 miles and the AT blows. According to Mass lemon laws, the warranty for the Transmission starts all over again! So, if at 64,000 miles (and under 72 months!) they have to replace it AGAIN if it blows, and so forth.

In this case, I certainly WOULD ask for a Repair Order! Come to think of it, when I returned my Scion for a new battery a few weeks ago, they DID give me a no-charge Repair order...

Err, Hachi San,

In Mass, the clock does not start over again whenever a repair is performed. Also, the lemon law for a new or leased vehicle applies for 1 year of 15,000 miles, whichever comes first, not for the term of the new vehicle warranty, which is generally longer.

AFAIK, the clock does not re-start in any state lemon law unless a vehicle is replaced. The replacement vehicle basically gets a new warranty and lemon law.

Oh, no! When I was selling used cars, it specifically stated on the Info Sheet in the windows that any repair started the clock all over again..for THAT part. Not the entire car. If a car fails three times for the SAME defect, the dealer has to buy it back if the owner chooses, of course for the current market value minus mileage, damage, etc. But thet part gets the original warranty all over again!

It has gotten REAL tought to sell cars in Mass since you were here, Ray!

I'm new to this tiny url stuff, but here is a link to the Mass state site regarding new vehicle lemon laws:

so if that doesn't work, here is the original:

Here is a link to the actual law: here is a link to the used vehicle lemon law: Under the new vehicle lemon law, only defects that impair the use, value, or safety of the vehicle are covered, and the dealer has to make 3 repair attempts or the vehicle has to be down for 15 business days, and after that prerequisite, the consumer has to give the manufacturer 1 final chance, and the manufacturer has 7 days to fix it. There is no provision for the clock to start over, at least in any of the Mass state sites. Believe me, I am very familiar with that law, since people used to threaten me with it every day. The biggest change from when I was there is the inclusion of leased vehicles.

As far as repairs performed by a dealer, the repairs are covered for the balance of the manufacturer's warranty for the affected part or 12 months,

12,000 miles, whichever is longer.

Hmmm....this appears to have changed. Within the last couple years. The forms that we had were printed by one of 'those' companies that specializes in printing forms to comply with laws for various states, and the ones we had specified the repaired part was covered under the original warranty. Either this was what was in effect when they first printed our forms (our forms were a few years old...I think the owner was getting a new batch when I left) or the printing company goofed!

Believe me...if the owner notices the difference, he WILL have them changed! Although, he was pretty good on repairs, as long as you didn't nickle and dime him for stuff you could replace yourself like windshield wipers, etc. If you did, then by law we were able to charge up to $100 per reapiar, and he certainly would. If you took care of the little stuff by yourself, or it was an Inspection issue, then I saw him do very large reapirs for nothing, just to have a happy customer (Inspection repairs are by law, but blown trannies by beating your truck through the woods aren't!) He was actually pretty good.

>

I forget the name of the company that prints those forms as well as bills of sales, key tags, repair orders, etc. Perhaps the owner had a more generous warranty that the law required?

>>

LOL! Certainly not! He was pretty good about fixing things, but boy, he sure didn't LIKE to! These were boilerplate deals made up according to what state you had your business. There were a few times he told people we weren't going to fix things, because they had done something that aggrivated the situation, but most of the time we'd just fix it.

As a followup, today I opened my mail and I found a copy of the work order from Hogewoning Toyota for the warranty work they did for me. I was all keyed up to go in there and demand the damned thing, and here they sent it to me without me saying a word.

Needless to say, I am impressed. I have bought new vehicles from Chrysler, GM and Honda (in 1981) and the Toyota experience is totally different. I am curious as to whether the other Japanese dealers treat you with the same kind of respect.

cordially, as always,

rm

Remember that all car manufacturers have good dealers and bad dealers. So don't judge a company based on an experience with only one of its dealers.