Re: Toyota of Hackensack, NJ: Review

If I am ever in Hackensack I will defnitely not go to a Toyota dealer there, and, there are others out there like the one you mention.......if Toyota was a producer/distributor/seller of gasoline how much do you think you would pay per gallon of gas.......whew....

Gordon

I submitted this review of Toyota of Hackensack, NJ, to the mechanics > review section of Car Talk's site
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but > they never posted it. Apparently, they don't post negative reviews. I > hope Usenet readers will find it useful. > > Review of Toyota of Hackensack, NJ > > Overpriced, dishonest, rude. It's hard to express how bad I think this > place is, but that's as good a start as any. > > In the interest of fairness, let me say that they're fairly courteous > when they're trying to take your money. And, they have a shuttle van, > so they'll take you home and pick you up later in the day. > Nevertheless, I wouldn't take my car here again. > > I initially took my Camry 4-cylinder to Toyota of Hackensack because I > wanted to get the timing belt changed and they had a good special, > priced at $200. I expected I'd get the water pump and oil seals > replaced, but unfortunately I didn't price those things beforehand. A > few hours after bringing in my car, they called me with the prices. For > the water pump, the price included about 1.5 hours of labor (billed at > $85/hr); for the oil seals, about 1 hour of labor. I asked directly, > "Given that I'm already paying for the timing belt replacement, does it > really take that much labor to do the extra work?" I was told yes. > Later on, I learned that that's not true at all. The water pump > requires dealing with only 3 screws. A good, honest mechanic will > charge little or nothing extra for labor for the water pump and oil > seals, if they're already doing the timing belt. > > Later on, when I pursued this issue with the service manager, he said > that they use standard book prices and it doesn't matter how much time > a job really would take -- and that's that. > > Although I went in because of the timing belt special, I came out > paying an arm and a leg. To make matters worse, I had a 10%-off coupon, > which hadn't been applied properly. A service guy tried to tell me that > they hadn't applied it to the entire price because they'd reduced the > number of hours of labor instead! Considering how much they jacked up > the labor, this was clearly bogus. Later on, I also discovered that the > cap for the windshield wiper fluid was broken off. I tried to get them > to replace it, but they were rude and kept saying that they couldn't be > sure their mechanic had done it. He was the only one under there except > for me, and it sure wasn't me. After I spent so much money there, you'd > think they'd give me a new cap, but no. > > There's no way I'd recommend that anyone go to Toyota of Hackensack. I > needed some more work done and I went to Park Performance (aka Toyota & > BMW Autoworks) in Fairview, NJ. What a difference. You can have > confidence in their work and their honesty, at a reasonable price. Park > Performance replaced my front axle boots for $250, using Toyota parts > they buy through Toyota of Hackensack. Toyota of Hackensack had given > me a price of $556 for the same job. I calculate that Toyota of > Hackensack would have charged me for 5.5 hours of labor, whereas Park > Performance charged for 3 hours at $60/hr. How can the difference be > that big? For the work Toyota of Hackensack did for me, Park > Performance would have done it for $100 less, and Park's work would > have included the timing belt tensioners, which weren't replaced by > Hackensack. > > Don't make the mistake of going to Toyota of Hackensack. You've been > warned. >
Reply to
Raneman-GR
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Sorry for the top-post; the last guy started it so blame him if it bugs you!

This exemplifies the difference between a dealer and a private mechanic: The "book." At dealers, everything is billed by what the "book" says for labor. If the book says replacing something takes 1.5 hours, that's what you are gonna pay @ their labor rate. It doesn't matter if it takes 10 minutes or 3 hours....

In a scenario like the one below, a private mechanic would usually cut you a break. "Already doing some work for you? Get something else while I'm in there? Sure, no problem!" Maybe tack on a quarter hour if anything.

But dealers, in my experience, are always hooked on the book. And they won't budge. It's a good reason to avoid Dealers if you need multiple parts/jobs AND the car is out of warranty....

.02

Reply to
Big Kahuna

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