Do not buy or bring your Toyota for service at this dealership. They only care about getting your money. I have a 2009 Venza purchased from this dealership, and all maintenance done here as well. This model Venza had many issues, with the Check Engine Light (CEL) coming on a lot of times. I brought the car in for the CEL in August 2014, and was diagnosed with needing to replace the stop lamp switch (which was already replaced before as part of a recall) and replace the O2 sensor. A week later, the CEL came back on! The mileage at that time was 58784 mi. Due to busy schedule, I wasn't able to go back to this dealership right away. The CEL came on and off, so I thought maybe it was only a false alarm. Finally, I brought the car in to complain about the CEL; this was almost 2 months after the last service. The mileage at this time was 60210 mi, which meant it was 210 miles over the powertrain warranty. Also, it was over by 3 months from the 60-month powertrain warranty. The service advisor offered free diagnosis, since it hasn't been that long since the last service for what seemed like the same CEL issue. I was told that the codes for the new CEL pointed to failed coils, and I was looking at around $500 to get it fixed. But alas! They spent an hour or two trying to find the defective coil, but it turned out that wasn't the issue! The service advisor told me they had to run more tests and I had to leave the car (it was a Saturday); I was offered a compact courtesy vehicle in place of my crossover SUV. The following Tuesday, I was told about unbalanced pressure which could mean defective piston or engine. What?! Service advisor already made some calls including to the mothership. Since I was over the powertrain warranty (by a mere 210 mi. and 3 months), Toyota Corp said that they will cover the parts (either the pistons or the engine) if I would pay the labor. Ok great! Not really, because labor would cost either $2200 (if replacing engine) or $2300 (if replacing just the piston rings and gasket)! Wtf!!! But if I decided to not pursue the repair, I would still be charged for all the diagnostics performed, which according to the service advisor was about 7 hours of labor. At about $150/hour, that is still a fortune! I felt like I'm trapped, and had no recourse but to authorize the work. Immediately after authorizing the work, I called Toyota's 1-800 number to beg for my case. I was told that if the district was already consulted by the dealership, that the decision was likely final. Great! So Tuesday and Wednesday came for more troubleshooting. I was still hoping that the engine would just be replaced to make it worthwhile to spend $2200. But Thursday came the bad news. Only the piston rings and gasket were going to be replaced. Finally, on Tuesday night, the car was ready and I eventually picked it up Wednesday. So it took 11 days for me to get back my car. Toyota and Autonation Irvine don't care about keeping their customers. Because if they did, they should have covered the cost of all the labor. A Toyota that had a near-replacement of the engine at 60k miles, that's almost unheard of. In hindsight, I should have brought this car to Culver Toyota. I have an insider at Culver Toyota who echoed my sentiment, and said that Culver would have covered the labor if I brought it there. Autonation Irvine just didn't care! And oh yeah, just to give you more examples of the exemplary service of Autonation Irvine... The technician lost my key for the wheel locks, and he didn't bother changing back the dash clock after the battery was disconnected. And smudge marks all over my beige leather seats. Add me to the list of former Toyota owners. Never again. I have 2 young kids and care too much for their safety. I won't gamble their safety on this Venza whose engine has been torn apart and put back by God knows how qualified their techs are. I thought Toyota stood for quality. That was a big mistake.
archer_327
Oct 23, 2014
